vol. 4: april ed.
“The best remedy for those who are frightened, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere they can be alone, alone with the sky, nature and G-d. For then and only then can you feel that everything is as it should be and that G-d wants people to be happy amid nature’s beauty and simplicity.
As long as this exists, and that should be forever, I know that there will be solace for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances. I firmly believe that nature can bring comfort to all who suffer.” - Anne Frank, Feb. 23, 1944 (when she was 14 years old).
Hello newsletter readers! I’m very grateful you’re here. It feels absurdly indulgent to have a corner of the internet all to myself to share things that inspired me each month, so thank you for reading. :)
April has been a bit nutty (hence you are receiving this in early May!). While I resolved not to make this letter about professional doings, I did have the pleasure of doing some exciting artistic things this month. As well as my usual teaching (so cool to see my students improving and becoming more passionate about making music!), I filmed a movie of Cecilia Livingston’s opera Singing Only Softly, in which I play Anne Frank, with Loose Tea Music Theatre. I also sang a slightly off-season Messiah as soprano soloist with the Kindred Spirits Orchestra in Markham, Ontario (no cuts! Three hours in all + six numbers for me…!), and am looking forward to joining Against the Grain Theatre for an Opera Pub at Toronto’s Tranzac Club next week. I also completed my 40-hour training to be a Restorative Yoga Teacher (200-hr training starts next week!). So… I’m catching my breath a bit!
As far as reading goes, by far the most beautiful and pleasurable thing I read this month was Ocean Vuong’s new poetry collection, Time is a Mother. I first read Vuong’s debut novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous in 2020, and quickly became an avid consumer of anything Vuong-related. His poetry speaks poignantly and tenderly to our times and this latest collection will be particularly moving to anyone who’s experienced grief or the loss of a loved one. Vuong is also a former refugee from Vietnam and speaks beautifully to this experience in a time where millions of refugees are seeking safe havens around the world. A few of my favourite lines:
“In my language, the one I recall now only by closing my
eyes, the word for love is Yêu.
And the word for weakness is Yếu.”
One of the poems from this collection was published online here.
Luckily for us super-fans, Vuong has given many wonderful interviews. For my Canadian readers, one place to start might be with CBC’s Eleanor Wachtel (though I also enjoyed his NPR interview on Fresh Air!). Here’s a tiny Youtube snippet on this wonder of humanity: Ocean Vuong's Brief But Spectacular Take on grief and language.
My sister’s birthday breakfast congee:
As far as baking goes, this month was half spent in bed with a mysteriously Covid-like flu (never tested positive though, so who knows!), and the other half was busy with Passover/yoga/singing gigs, so there wasn’t much time for treats, but… I did make a delicious Passover cake by Leah Koenig (though I recognize most people won’t want to bake with Matzo meal when it’s not Passover! But her recipes are fantastic in general), lots of yummy breakfasts (my saving grace) and Nigella Lawson’s Malted Malteser Chocolate Cake for my sister and brother-in-law’s birthdays. As far as breakfasts go, my stand-out breakfast of the month was the congee my brother-in-law makes my sister every year for her birthday. He shared this delicious recipe for me as a starting place for anyone looking to try it!
That’s all for this month - see you in a few weeks for a May roundup. :) xx