• DIY — Mod Podge • Food/Travel — Icelandic Food • Humor — My Chancy Behavior • Author Spotlight — Emerian Rich • Music — Opening a Music Studio • City Spotlight — Santa Cruz • #Enhancingyourhorizon — Using Tarot in Your Creative Life • Food — Spicy Asian Chicken with Green Beans and Mushroom • Fitness — Using a Treadmill Desk • Autism — Chasing the Horizon • Gardening — Death and Rebirth • Health — Imposter Syndrome • Poetry Corner — Reflection
The SEARCH: Winter 2020 issue is coming soon!
Are you ready to cook for the holidays?
Food is necessary for life. Eating well is a way to care for ourselves and others. Sure, we can slap together enough calo-ries to get us through the day, but isn’t it better to savor a well-constructed meal? Whether a late-night snack while standing over the sink or a multi-course meal, our foods tell something about our lives. Like most pleasures in life, it should be mod-erate, varied, and shared.
In this month’s issue, we take a deeper look into food be-cause eating involves more than flavor. There’s nothing quite like a beautiful cake or simple fried egg to make you feel like a success. Beyond our amazing recipes, we want you to feel at home in the kitchen. An organized and accessible kitchen re-moves frustration. Sometimes frustration is worth it, though. Children are eager learners. Teaching them can be slow and messy but is ultimately rewarding. How wonderful to help someone become more independent. From home-grown gar-dens to appliances to help you cook, there are many ways to celebrate the human conditions of hunger and satiety. Food is intention turned into reality.
Letter from the Editor,
Heather Roulo Editorial Director
Family traditions have happened for as long as families have existed. We learn a view of how things should be done, and what we learn in childhood often has a profound effect. Our expectations are set for what it means to celebrate a holiday, take a vacation, and even eat a meal.
As we grow older, we might question the ways things were done. The fading effect of the great depression or the increase in digital photography encourages us to move in new directions. There are fewer photo albums but more Facebook pages, and don’t they sometimes serve the same purpose? Do we still need our kids to clean their plate when calories are cheap and plentiful? Instead, we can teach about healthy eating and balanced meals, as obesity becomes the new problem of our time.
Yet, family traditions are more and less than the sum of these things. They provide comfort and connection. They can be an excuse to get together, a shared language, and a way to return to better times. Family traditions call you back to childhood, home, and safety. Sometimes we embrace tradition, other times we buck it, but it is a touchpoint for identity.
Whether you’re setting up a household of your own, combining households, or introducing children and grandchildren, family traditions must be negotiated and created. They sometimes happen spontaneously, like the books each generation reads to their children at bedtime. Other times, they’re considered and well thought out, like how to celebrate major holidays. Either way, they give us sometime to return to. When life is uncertain, tradition remains. As sure as the sun will rise, we will celebrate another year and another birthday with our family’s version of a perfect, traditional, birthday cake.
Women’s empowerment, the theme for this issue of SEARCH Magazine, isn’t new. Strong women have existed throughout history. Feminism also isn’t a new idea. It has been embraced by some, but also received a backlash. As equality came closer, for many people the need for feminism receded, as the battle seemed won and it was assumed momentum would carry us all to a more equitable world without having to continue to fight.
In recent years, newer revelations, like the #MeToo movement, have shone a light on areas where society hasn’t progressed as far as many assumed. Yet in other ways, we can also see the successes as women rise in corporate structures, political power, and take their places among award-winning scientists and athletes.
Women’s empowerment doesn’t have to come at a cost and isn’t something to be defended against. Instead, it is the lifting up of all of us. A world where everyone is empowered is a better place. In SEARCH Magazine we celebrate women and what they accomplish every day.
Celebrate empowerment in the way that suits you best: travel solo, listen to a female composer, cook a recipe from The Joy of Cooking, and reflect on how far the world has come. We get there by discussing ideas, laughing at our humorist’s mansplaining, and by getting stronger. From female hockey teams to women entrepreneurs, like SEARCH Magazine’s owner, empowerment is happening. It comes from within and without, and the message we should always be sending is that, yes, we can succeed. All of us.
Seneca wrote that luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Really, who doesn’t want to be lucky?
When I say preparation, the average person’s mind goes to dark places of disasters and go-bags. Sure, we must consider that, but preparation can also be about working out or traveling internationally.
We spend much of our lives preparing for what comes next, especially in school where it is often about the next paper, test, or graduation. Raised like that, who can blame us if we sometimes forget to look up. As kids, it is instilled in us that preparation matters. It certainly helps, but the other side of the coin is indefinable anxiety. I sometimes wish every potential disaster came with a go-bag I could stuff to give myself confidence.
Then again, there are people who are constantly caught unprepared and lament their bad luck.
The trick is to strike a happy balance. Prepare for the things that matter, or you only get one shot at, and then stop. Instead of imagining the what-ifs, enjoy the preparations you’ve already made and pat yourself on the back.
Some of the most beautiful moments in life come from the unexpected. Remember to challenge yourself and travel into the unknown. While a little preparation goes a long way, perhaps more important than any single article on preparation is the ability to anticipate and take one or two steps to make tomorrow more comfortable than today. So, enjoy some DIY projects, put a bowl of Pantry Chili on to simmer, turn up your favorite tune, and realize that if today wasn’t a disaster, you’re doing just fine.
Aren’t you the lucky one!
Watch for our upcoming Winter 2019 SEARCH Magazine issue on how to be prepared for anything.
The intrigue of space is undeniable. Whether it is the romantic glow of the moon, questions about our place in the universe, or pure scientific wonder that drives our imagination, we long to know more. The vast night sky demands that we raise our eyes from our everyday problems and recognize a different perspective.
Perhaps one day mankind will travel beyond our small sphere. Until then, we must celebrate the successes of our robots as they visit Mars and travel beyond the edge of our solar system, gathering knowledge to improve our lives and expand our understanding of what is possible. They can explore much more inexpensively and without risking an astronaut’s life.
While we perfect our science and consider options, we study images from far away, reap the benefits of material and engineering innovations, and speculate on what is still to be discovered. We may not travel in style, like Elon Musk’s red Tesla, but humans are curious and driven. So, enjoy a star-shaped cookie, paint a planet diorama, and consider what the future may bring to the exploration of space.
structures, political power, and take their places among award-winning scientists and athletes.
