I also made some venison meatballs with mozzarella cheese in the middle. My dad and I ate these as open-faced meatball subs. I love meatballs because you can make a ton then freeze to grab to throw on any pasta or heat up for a sub any other time. I always choose venison when I can since we have a freezer full and it’s better than beef. ​

Since film awards shows are coming up (albeit a little later than usual), I have started my yearly trek to watch as many as the nominated films and documentaries as possible. Even though nominations aren’t out yet, it’s clear what some of the frontrunners will be so I can still get started. A few weeks ago I watched the Pixar animated film “Soul”. I loved this movie so much! Pixar usually does no wrong, and this one did not disappoint. The film was a great reminder to appreciate the little, everyday things in life. It also told how you don’t always have some predestined “higher purpose” in life that you constantly are trying to obtain. While striving to be the best of the best and this sought after achievement, you can very easily miss many wonderful things that surround you day by day. It certainly was a great reminder to me to sit back and take in the beauty around me, whether it be a lightly falling snowfall, a red sky at sunrise, Lola sprinting in the new snow, bright red cardinals eating at the bird feeder.... There really is a lot to take in and appreciate. ​

It's stating the obvious that after a rough 2020, 2021 isn't off to the best start. I never want to be too political here, and try to use this creative outlet to be positive and share a little joy. So, when thinking of what to write to start off the new year my mind kept focusing on the good. What can we do to spread positivity and try to counteract the hate and negativity? Little things cannot solve everything, but what if every person did one little thing to help someone else? Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing with lasting effect? I'm optimistic enough to think so.
Many people are struggling right now and cannot give back financially. But, there are still ways to support our local communities and help those who are even worse shape than we are. Or for those in the worst shape, ways that they can still give back, spread joy and feel connected and tied to a larger cause. I brainstormed some ways to show some love right in your own community without any financial obligation. Interspersed are some of my favorite quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr., who we remember and honor on this day. Let his words sink in, and let's all show a little love this year.

1. Clean out your closet and donate clothes to a local organization. When I moved back in with my parents back in October, I was putting things away in the front closet and found a few winter jackets of mine from when I was in high school. Obviously, they have not been worn in more than a decade, but they are still in good shape. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has old clothes or coats hanging around. January is the coldest month on the calendar; I know there are people right here in my own community who would appreciate a warm winter coat right about now. An easy way to give back and help yourself get cleaned and organized, too.

3. Volunteer at local food distributions or soup kitchens. I am in awe every time I see pictures of the cars lined up for the food distributions we have held in my town. The other day on the way to work I saw it first-hand. So many people are in need right now to simply put food on their families' table. I know in my town they are always looking for volunteers to help sort and load the food on these days. Soup kitchens may not be able to operate quite like normal due to COVID-19, but when I've volunteered before I've worked behind the scenes in the stock rooms unpacking and sorting donations. With what is likely an increase in donations during the recent holidays, soup kitchens may be able to have volunteers behind the scenes helping in these areas.  A simple phone call could get you that information.

4. Volunteer at the local animal shelter. Our furry friends need love, too! There are many ways to help at shelters where there is limited contact with others. Help clean out kennels. Take a shelter dog for a walk. Spend some time petting cats and getting them better acclimated to new humans. Again, a simple phone call to your local shelter will tell you what you can and cannot do and what kind of help they need. Many also appreciate donations of towels, blankets and comforters. So while you're cleaning out your clothes and coat closets, check your linen closet, too.

5. Donate blood / Join Be The Match / Sign up to be an organ donor. There are things we can do today that can significantly help someone else down the road. With the hospitals crowded, blood donations are still vital to keep patients alive and healthy. Years ago one of the teams I worked with introduced me to the organization Be The Match. It registers people to be possible bone marrow transplants. If I remember correctly, you spit in a tube or swab your mouth or something just as easy, and then they enter you into the system and contact you down the road if you ever show up as a potential match for someone who needs a bone marrow transplant. I was just speaking with someone the other day who's husband has been battling cancer; they were left without many options, but then this organization found a match and the husband had a successful treatment this past week. It really works! I was so proud to tell her that I was involved in the organization. If you're uneasy about donating blood or bone marrow, sign up to be an organ donor. Or check that you are. It's amazing how we can help others stay alive after our time has gone.

Most of my fellow bibliophiles know that September 1 is the first day classes start at the greatest school of witchcraft and wizardry, Hogwarts. I completed reading my recent stack extremely quickly, so I decided to go back and reread the entire HP series to save some cash on buying more books. At least it will save me a week or two. I started book one the morning of the first and am already starting book two tonight. I was thinking about why I seem so connected to my books and reading lately, and I think it's truly for escape. Books are how I escape everything going on in the world and my life right now. These last few weeks have been rough, especially this past month, so I think I am reading nonstop to escape from all the negativity around me. It's a place I can go with different people and different events and a world entirely separate. Perhaps this makes immersing myself at Hogwarts the next week or two so appealing. What's a better place to escape to?!

My most recent completed stack started off deep. Both How to be an Antiracist and I'm Still Here were extremely relevant during this time in American society. While I wasn't a huge fan of how Kendi wrote his book and preferred the writing style of Channing Brown, I enjoyed that both took personal experiences to frame how we need to think about our racial differences and systemic racism. I encourage everyone to take in both.
Normal People was given to my by my friend Heather. Not at all what I expected but very good. I'm curious how the show on Hulu is. If you've seen it let me know! I followed that with two books based on real events: The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Before We Were Yours. The former is another horrific retelling of life in one of the worst times in world history, while the other informed me of something I knew nothing about and was also terrifying. Both were sad and depressing, not going to lie. I still recommend reading both, but keep in mind I would not consider either light reading or a good, mindless beach read.
The last four were all good but none were ones that particularly stood out. If you want a historical fiction tale of multiple lives and storylines weaving into one, read The Paris Hours. If you want a fictional look at how our society views skin color, in a captivating story of family, read The Vanishing Half. If you want a current, twisting tale of murder and mystery that will keep you guessing and in the end say, "You go, girls!," read The Guest List. And if you want another historical fiction pick with spies and secrets and a touch of true-life literary history, read The Secrets We Kept.
Now, I leave you to return back to my beloved Harry Potter. Be well. And continue to love above all else.

Yesterday I came across vitriol spewed on social media toward strangers by an acquaintance. (We’ll stick to acquaintance for all intents and purposes). It disgusted me. It made me question how someone who grew up with the same background as me could think so differently and have such misconstrued thoughts they believed were built on facts. Here are my facts. Here are my beliefs. It’s hard for me to be silent when I feel so strongly.
 
I fully understand how videos can be edited, how they can have selected start and stop points, how they can come from different angles. I have a degree in broadcast journalism. I get it. I fully understand how news stories are biased, how journalism is politicized and how statements can be skewed as facts. I nearly completed an advanced degree in public relations. I get it.
 
The treatment of blacks in the United States has become a politicized issue, but it is a human issue. It is not red and blue; it is black and white. If you aren’t afraid of being assaulted when pulled over for a minor traffic issue, or mistaken for a criminal when out for a run, or apprehended strictly for the color of your skin, do not judge the feelings of those that do (here’s looking at you, privileged white people!) Racial inequality and systemic racism are real. If you don’t believe it, look around you. Read up on this country’s history. Not the history you learned in cookie-cutter WASP grade schools, but the true history told by the people who lived it. 
 
Did Anthony Diaz deserve to die for hitting a car with a football and resisting arrest? Did Amadou Diiallo deserve to get shot at 41 times for being mistaken for a rapist and running to his apartment door, reaching for his wallet while in the vestibule? Did Abner Louima deserve to be beaten and sodomized for interfering in a fight? Did Sean Bell deserve to be shot to death after 50 rounds were fired for driving away from an undercover cop? Did Oscar Grant deserve to be held to the ground and shot in the back for being involved in a fight and resisting arrest? Did Walter Scott deserve to be shot and killed for having a break light out and running away from an officer after a physical altercation? Did Laquan MacDonald deserve to be shot 16 times for not dropping a knife, while walking away from officers, and after dropping to the ground after the first shot? Did Terence Crutcher deserve to be shot and killed for his car breaking down and reaching into the vehicle, where there was no weapon?
 
How many more names could I mention? Far, far too many more. Stories we’re all familiar with. I wonder what it takes for a person’s first instinct to be to draw a gun and fire to kill. Not to stop or to injure, but to kill. I am a hunter. I understand very well the different placement of a kill shot and a shot to injure. All police officers should as well. And they should have to go through more rigorous training. If they have the ability to hold someone’s life in their hands, they need to be ready for that circumstance. Doctors have to. Pilots have to. Teachers even have to. Police officers should have to go through training and education that is thorough enough that if they are faced with a difficult situation, their first instinct is not to pull a trigger because they are fearful. Unless someone is firing at them, an officer should never fire their weapon. Unless you are absolutely certain your life is at stake, how dare someone fire to take someone else’s life? And 16 shots? 41 shots? That one I need explained because I will never understand.
 
I whole-heartedly support the men and women who put on the badge every day and head to work to serve and protect us. It is a dangerous job. One I don’t think I would ever want to do. However, they made the conscious choice to enter that occupation. They joined the force knowing their life could be in peril. Their bravery every day is applauded. But they do not have the right to take a life. Just as no one should fire at them, they should also not fire at another human being. If a criminal gets away because the police can’t apprehend him, fine. There’ll be another chance to catch the person. Criminals are dumb. But that criminal does not deserve to die for all the petty theft, or because they look suspicious or because they reached for some unknown object. And no one deserves to be brutalized because of the color of their skin.
 
My great-grandparents grew up in the time of Jim Crow. My parents grew up in the time of desegregation. I grew up in the time of Rodney King. Today’s children are growing up in the time of Black Lives Matter. What do we need to do make sure the next generation doesn’t go through their own version of this? How do I assure the 18 to 22 year-old students I spoke to this week that they matter? How can I assure my friends that their beautiful three-year-olds and baby-to-be won’t have to go through this mistreatment?
 
We judge people based on their appearances. We make instant assumptions based on what others look like. Sadly, it’s human nature. But you know what’s also an innate human trait? And perhaps the strongest of all? LOVE. Let’s strip away our differences and recognize that at our core we are all human. Black, white, red, yellow, purple, green, it doesn’t matter. 160 IQ or 61, it doesn’t matter. Work in a plush corner office or unemployed using drugs to cope, it doesn’t matter. Has never even uttered a swear word or has a long past of wrongdoing, it doesn’t matter. People don’t deserve to die. It is not our role as humans to take another life. It is not natural, it is not right, it is not just.
 
I only wish we all could understand this. I’m at a loss of what to do. So, I write because it’s my therapy, and I pray because I believe in a higher power. And most of all, I love because I am human.