Friday, March 4, 2016

Friday Favorites: Food, Mitt Romney, Serial, and an Apostle

I have been captivated by Michael Pollen's four-part documentary, Cooked, on Netflix. Apparently, Pollen wrote a book in 2013 of the same title, exploring food and its meaning and impact on our world. While I've watched the episodes of the documentary, I'm reminded of how powerful and meaningful cooking is. I spend an enormous amount of time each day cooking and preparing food. Sometimes it is creatively stimulating, other times it is painfully mundane. Wherever I fall on the spectrum during the day, food is necessary. I'm pretty old-fashioned in that I prepare many of our meals from scratch. I bake my own bread regularly, bake most of our sweets, and prepare at least two home-cooked meals a day for my family. I highly recommend the documentary series and now I plan to reserve the book from my library.

Mitt Romney gave a powerful speech the other day to the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah. He had strong words to say about Donald Trump (#nevertrump) that I wish everyone would heed. I feel that Donald Trump has fractured the Republican Party beyond repair and all the ugliness has just seeped out of the party. Nathaniel Givens has an excellent post about the speech on his blog.

I was blown away by the first season of Serial, a podcast, which deeply explored one story over the course of several episodes. In the first season, the producers investigated and discuessed the case of Adnan Syed, a man convincted of the murder of his girlfriend in the late 90s. It was a fascinating podcast series and I would recommend it to anyone.

In season 2, the producers investigate the strange and compelling story of Bowe Bergdahl, a soldier who deserted in Afghanistan,  was captured by the Taliban, and held as a POW for 5 years. The United States traded five Taliban prisoners for Bowe's release. Bowe's story is extremely controversial, especially within the military. After listening to 9 episodes, I feel like I have a much better understanding of what happened. I still support the military in the bringing Bowe to trial to face his court martial for desertion.

Losing a loved one is always painful. Elder Ballard, an apostle for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints shares the experience of losing his grandson. I was really touched by his testimony and faith.

© 2007-2016 TIFFANY WACASER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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