A Girl's Gotta Eat

Hot wings, biscuits, fried chicken, samosas, break-and-bake cookies...you serve it up, we will probably, most likely eat it. But every now and then (like literally this very moment), we reevaluate what we eat. A girl’s gotta eat, but a girl’s also gotta consider the religious, environmental and physical implications of the food we put in our bodies.

So where do you start? How do you become more mindful of all that it takes to get food on your plate? We had no idea! So, we decided to ask our favorite farmer, Amirah AbuLughod, all about food—growing it, slaughtering it and consuming it. Eat up!

We're Listening 

Do y’all ever wonder how an issue becomes the issue to talk about? Like what led to every politician needing to state where they stand on reproductive rights or same sex marriage? Well we’ve been listening to the Radiolab podcast on Supreme Court cases, More Perfect, to find out. More Perfect’s episode on gun control is a particularly interesting look into the debate about the Second Amendment. You may be surprised to learn the important role that the Black Panthers played in turning “the right to bear arms” into a national discussion.

What We Got Open 

• Ikhlas: This has been causing my heart unease all week. May Allah protect the people of Palestine and grant them security, peace and a home in this life and the hereafter.  

• Makkah: I’m a very passionate and opinionated person, so I was surprised to be so intrigued by this article, which is kind of about the opposite: emotional detachment. Apparently emotionally detaching at work can be an effective means for coping with stress, honestly assessing our self-worth and overall happiness.

• Ikhlas: I’ve been thinking a lot about pregnancy and birthing, and the health risks that come with it. The CDC estimates that black mothers in the U.S. die at three to four times the rate of white mothers, one of the widest of all racial disparities in women’s health. Put another way, a black woman is 22% more likely to die from heart disease than a white woman, 71% more likely to perish from cervical cancer, but 300% more likely to die from pregnancy- or childbirth-related causes. ProPublica has the story. (Note: No, I’m not pregnant. But when the time comes iA Allah will make it easy for me.)

• Makkah: I promise to stop raving about More Perfect, but you HAVE to listen to their episode on how women gained equal constitutional rights as men. Ruth Bader Ginsburg,  a CURRENT Supreme Court justice, played a key role in this effort. We like to pretend that equality is a given, but the people who actually helped grant us many of the rights we enjoy are still living, breathing and working.

• Ikhlas: Makkah and I almost had a heart attack watching this Atlanta mayoral race (and I don’t even technically live in Atlanta! Decatur where it’s greater, always), and it’s not over yet. A recount expected next week.

• Makkah: Eve Ewing has done it again. In her recent essay for Medium’s Words that Matter series, Dr. Ewing cautions us to resist lying to ourselves and saying “this isn’t us” whenever a mass shooting occurs. In her essay, Dr. Ewing explores the central role that violence has played in every stage of American history.

We Just Think It's Funny How...

• Ikhlas: ...People are always talking about the north this and the north that but I see y’all coming back south, though.

• Makkah: ...White families will adopt you, return you once they see that you’re Black, then search for you 50 years later to make sure they made the right choice.

Shoutout of the Week 

A special shout to friend and former guest of the podcast Maryam Adamu for creating a list of books by women of color authors to send to incarcerated mothers in Oklahoma, most of whom are black or women of color. Click this link to donate a book.

Read more about the 100 Books for 100 Women project below:

Still She Rises is located in and dedicated to serving the community of North Tulsa, Oklahoma. As in the rest of the country, Black women and women of color make up a disproportionate percentage of the incarcerated population in Oklahoma. Some of our clients will remain in Tulsa County Jail for months on end. One client, awaiting trial for a possible life sentence, shared with us that she reads multiple books each week and reading is the only thing helping her stay positive and maintain a semblance of normalcy and dignity in her life. Our clients deserve excellent reading material, protagonists who looks like them, and stories by authors who write to and for them. We hope you will consider donating one of the listed books. The jail only accepts new, paperback copies. ***Once you add a book to your cart, select the STACIE HOLLOWAY shipping address.***