Monday Matter: Return flights, kimchi and Betty White

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

The first Monday of 2022

Good morning and Happy New Year to all of you. Today feels like the most Monday of Mondays over here in Atlanta. The wind is absolutely roaring outside and we’re expected to see temperatures drop from the high 60s and mid-70s to the 20s. These dramatic daily shifts in weather are really weighing on my body and my mind. I know it’s silly to want the weather to be a little more stable considering the science states we should expect otherwise, but I feel a strange grief about losing the seasons I remember from childhood—or from movies, books, whatever. Anyway. I’m trying to make it a weekly newsletter ritual to list the few things, people, or experiences keeping my spirits a little higher, so here’s what’s made me smile in recent days:

• a group chat with two of my best girls

• yet another paint-by-numbers kit (and the excitement on my grandparents’ faces when I show them the final product)

• being in my house again! I loved spending time at my parents’, but I do tend to emotionally and creatively thrive in solitude and am just so grateful to have a space that’s all mine

• my recovering family dog, Scamper

• the rigatoni bolognese and tuscan chicken fettucine from Osteria 832

• my younger cousin and that one time she came over just to read on the porch with Lady

• Trader Joe’s Moroccan Mint Green Tea sweetened with a tiny bit of multi-floral clover honey

• the Media Industry Secret Santa put on by Sonia Weiser of Opportunities of the Week! It was so lovely to come home to a Barnes & Noble gift card from my secret snowflake :)

• Prozac, always

• vaccines (I’m finally boosted!)

• an annual sense of renewal, even if I’m struggling to find my own right now

• climate scientists

• The Lady and the Dale documentary on HBO Max (!!!)

• Betty White and my fifth rewatch of Golden Girls

• my bestie’s love for Marvel and superhero movies

A musical start to your Mondays 🎧

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

I found this week’s pick through Spotify’s Latin Indie Classics playlist and immediately fell in love with Natalia Lacunza’s voice. Lacunza is a 22-year-old Spanish singer-songwriter from Pamplona, Spain, who first gained recognition in 2018 after placing third in the Spanish reality television talent competition, Operación Triunfo. The next year, she released her debut single, “Nana Triste,” featuring Spanish guitarist and artist Guitarricadelafuente.

Resource(s) of the week

Something helpful and interesting and cool (*storytelling opportunity)