Monday Matter: Dill labneh, double agents and discarded shirts

Your weekly Foreign Bodies roundup

Every Monday, we send subscribers and gift recipients of immigrant mental health and storytelling newsletter Foreign Bodies stories we recently inhaled and adored. This is also a chance to do some housekeeping and give shout-outs and all that jazz. Roundups are usually written by Fiza and edited by Farah.

First things first

A little housekeeping

Thank God for dogs on depression days

Good Monday morning, Foreign Bodies fam—and Ramadan Mubarak to all who celebrate! I’ve been in and out of funks these days, but it seems the not-so-great days aren’t as bad as they’ve been in the past, so I’m counting this as a big win. In fact, I didn’t realize how “well” I’ve generally been doing until a phone call yesterday with a friend (hi, Saf!) when she asked and I had little to complain about, and upon reflection, much more to feel grateful for. That’s not to say waking has been easy or that I’ve been more productive lately; in fact, I’ve actually been moving slower in recent weeks. But as always, the slowdown has paid off tremendously. Here’s what’s been making my life a little sweeter:

• Lady getting me out of the house when I’m in a depressive funk

• late night date nights out in the city with the bestie

• Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All at Once

• finally finishing a book

• Severance and Pachinko (both on Apple TV+)

• Simone Ashley in the second season of Bridgerton

• an Instagram group chat with my favorite Aries and Pisces

• the sweet, juicy Fuji apples from my local co-op

• this Mellow Morning playlist on Spotify

• how competitive my dad gets on Apple Watch

• Sophie Vershbow the dog foster/whisperer

• the dill labneh at Delbar in Inman Park

• Ramadan TikTok

• the excitement before my first tattoo!

• all my animals

• Prozac and multivitamins

A musical start to your Mondays 🎧

One song to groove to, cry to, drive to and share

This week’s pick is a personal favorite and is currently playing as I type out today’s roundup. Black Pumas, led by singer/songwriter Eric Burton and guitarist Adrian Quesada is an American psychedelic soul band out of Austin, Texas. In 2020, they were nominated for their first Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

Resource(s) of the week

Something helpful and interesting and cool (*storytelling opportunity)