Monday Matter: Junk food, wild swimming and a pandemic winter
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. This week’s issue is public to inform readers about Issue 19, out Wednesday.
First things first
A little housekeeping
🧵What keeps you going?
Telling someone with symptoms of depression and anxiety to be grateful for what they have is rarely helpful, and it can actually do more harm than good. But research has shown that practicing some gratitude in private or in public has helped individuals with anxiety and depression already in counseling. Last week, I asked you if this is a coping mechanism for you. If so, what are the big and small things that keep you going—excluding treatment?
Save the date for Issue 19 (finally!)
Excited to finally have a date for the next issue of Foreign Bodies. I’ll be discussing the confusing, misunderstood and somewhat mystical nature of suicidal ideation, expanding on my own personal experiences. Out this Wednesday, Dec. 2!
A musical start to your Mondays 🎧
One international song to groove to, cry to, drive to and share
This week’s pick comes from my brother, Faiz! “Ojalá” is by Silvio Rodríguez, a Cuban musician dubbed “the accidental hero” by The Guardian. For Latin Americans, the paper reported in 2006, Rodríguez is the equivalent of the Beatles and Dylan combined. “An Arabic-Spanish word meaning ‘let's hope so’, Ojalá sums up the questioning attitude to life he's held since he began composing with his guitar while doing military service back in the 1960s. By writing songs that capture the doubts, dreams and beliefs of people's inner lives, he has become one of the most influential political singers alive, the man who changed the face of 20th-century song in Latin America and Spain, even if he is still largely unknown in the English-speaking world.”
Resource(s) of the week
Something helpful and interesting and cool (*storytelling opportunity)
2020 Virtual Posada: A free queer holiday community event for the LGBTQ+ migrant community hosted by the LGBTQ Center Orange County and Familia scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 12. Learn more about the event here and register at bit.ly/queerposada20!
*SLICE Magazine is open for personal essay, flash fiction and poetry submissions and is encouraging writers of color to submit! More information and rates available at slicemagazine.org/submit. Deadline: 12/1 (SOON!)
Read this!
Personal stories I’m loving
Junk Food Was Our Love Language (C Pam Zhang, The New York Times): “The next time the urge strikes, and the air feels particularly thin, I’ll have another nugget or two or four. There will be the rush of additives, the hit of engineered pleasure, and — though I know I can’t comprehend a dead man in all his contradictions, and I admit that to imagine my father’s motivations is not to know them — in that moment, in a communion across a golden crust, I will understand my father completely.” A beautiful essay on grief, communication barriers, indulgence and vice—and, of course, love. Read here.
Comb or brush? An immigrant’s knotty dilemma (Anu Kandikuppa, The Rumpus): “When I came to America twenty-five years ago I packed a comb, maybe two, in my luggage,” writes Kandikuppa. “Years later, after I finished my graduate studies, after I got married, after I had kids and they grew up a little and allowed me time for such minutia, I turned my attention to the fact that most people in America owned a hairbrush.” A story about small acts of resistance and overlooked privilege. Read here.
How Wild Swimming Keeps My Mental Health Afloat (Evie Muir, Catapult): In therapy, Muir “communicated how being in nature improved my mood drastically and immediately; it gave me the capacity to cope with external pressures.” This year, as the United Kingdom went into lockdown, she turned to swimming in the wild, cold waters. “I can step into a lake or reservoir feeling like a shell of a girl, desperate for a hug and for someone to tell her everything’s going to be okay, and emerge an empowered self-confident woman.” Read here.
Towards a New Horizon (Fariha Róisín, Hazlitt): I love a literary undoing through music. In this essay, writer Fariha Róisín reconnects with the melancholy of beloved tunes of her youth, which she clung to “as a form of catharsis from my violent homelife,” and reflects upon the power of music as a roadmap toward new, often better days. “I had forgotten the part of me that can do this, this part of me that I abandoned as a way to adopt adulthood, to be, I assume, less sentimental. To heighten a feeling, but numb another one. That’s what I began to think survival looked like: blurring my pain in order to deal with it.” Read here.
Dispatch from the Clorox War (Poetry by Andrea Cote Botero, translated from Spanish by Craig Epplin, Guernica Mag): I believe there are two worlds./In one of them I clean it all,/ all the time./In that world my laborious routines/serve to cleanse the day and its objects./I’m talking—in part—about dust,/the layer that overflows everything./But now it’s more than dust.” Read more.
The Unexpected Toll Of Being Asian-American On Social Media During COVID-19 (Su-Jit Lin, Huffington Post): “Beyond the worry for my health as part of the susceptible population of sufferers of autoimmune disease, beyond my fears for immunocompromised immediate family members and my concerns for my future prospects and job security as a writer specializing in two of the hardest-hit industries ― travel and food ― I have the additional burden of apology to shoulder. The responsibility to defend an entire country of people to which, as an ABC (American-born Chinese), I have no more than ancestral kinship.” An honest account on the emotional toll of discrimination. Read here.
The Losses We Share (Meghan Markle, NYT Opinion): “I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second.” The Duchess of Sussex shares a short, intimate and harrowing story of miscarriage amid a backdrop of pains heard around the world—from a global pandemic and racism to civil unrest. Read here.
In the news
Relevant news coverage that doesn’t really fall under our larger mission to de-stigmatize through personal storytelling, but is still essential reading for anyone who wants to stay up-to-date on immigrant and refugee mental health and well-being.
How Immigrant Communities Are Confronting COVID Challenges (Macollvie J. Neel, Yes Magazine): From Feet in 2 Worlds, a project that brings the work of immigrant journalists to digital news sites and public radio, comes this feature on the unique challenges immigrants have been facing during the pandemic. “There’s something about immigrants that makes us almost expansive in our thinking, because in our neighborhood, the world meets,” said S. Mitra Kalita, founder of Epicenter-NYC, a nascent publication that aims to connect largely immigrant communities. “We are rethinking norms,” Kalita added. “We are redefining the mainstream, instead of the mainstream always having to define us.” Read here.
How a ‘mindful’ approach helped a youth mental health program gain acceptance in St. Paul’s Hmong community (Andy Steiner, MinnPost): A lovely feature on Minnesota’s Hlub Zoo, a school-based mental health program serving Hmong and other Southeast Asian students and their families. The group, whose name translates roughly to “Love well grow well,” celebrates 10 years of service this year. Read here.
The Mental Health Toll of a Pandemic Winter (Gabrielle Drolet, The Walrus): There’s no blanket solution for the challenges of the cold dark season. But there are ways to make it more bearable, reports Drolet. “What makes a good coping strategy for seasonal depression varies depending on the person: for Maya, it’s seeing a doctor and spending time with her family. For Natasha O’Neill, an undergraduate student at Wilfrid Laurier University’s Brantford campus, spending time outside is the most important part of dealing with her low moods and unshakeable exhaustion.” Read here.
New research 📑
Driving equity in health care: Lessons from COVID-19 (Aswita Tan-McGrory, MBA, MSPH, Harvard Health): Part of a candid, reflective series on the impact of COVID-19 on communities of color, and responses aimed at improving health equity. One such learning among some immigrant groups: “Overwhelmingly, our health center providers, interpreters, and immigration advocates tell us that immigrant patients are reluctant to participate in virtual visits, enroll in our patient portal, or come to our health care facility because they are afraid we will share their personal information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).” Read here.
+1
One sorta unrelated story on my mind
The Dream Job Is Dead. Long Live The Good Enough Job. (Rainesford Stauffer, Refinery29): “‘The whole idea that work has to be where you get meaning out of your life and fulfillment, exclusively, is very inherently capitalistic and like, very inherently where we are as a society,’ says Demi. At the end of the day, Demi’s job doesn’t come home with them: It’s not their passion, it’s not their source of identity — it’s just a necessity, a tool that allows them to have a fulfilling life beyond work.” Read here.
Bookshelf
Books and collections I’m currently reading (plus reader-recommended works!)
Currently listening to: Sorry I Missed You by Suzy Krause, a “high energy, feel-good story about the ghosts of our past and the importance of human connections.” (Kirkus Reviews)
Reader rec from Kris B.: Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer, “an inspired weaving of indigenous knowledge, plant science, and personal narrative from a distinguished professor of science and a Native American.” (Birch Bark Books)
Remember, we always have tons of wonderful stories and resources available at foreignbodies.net.
Love to see it
Shout-outs, thank-yous and more
A thread on “high-functioning” anxiety and productivity worth bookmarking:
I really love to see it. So happy for you, Julie.
Check out the latest issue of Vesna Jaksic Lowe’s Immigrant Strong, a monthly newsletter with writing by immigrants and refugees:
An essay on reforming global mental health from The Correspondent’s Tanmoy Goswami, who I recommend you all follow on Twitter!
And lastly, some painting videos! I’ve been doing the Pantone Challenge on my Instagram and sharing the time-lapsed videos on Twitter. Enjoy!
That’s it for now.
Did you absolutely hate this? Open to criticism and suggestions. See ya later!
Love,
Fiza
Special thanks to our Foreign Bodies Sustaining Members Hannah B., Safurah B., Alex C., Alma C., Rebecca C., Rodrigo C., Katie H., Liz S., Puja S., Roz T., Diane W. and my mama.