What’s American

Reflections on this place and a really old jacket

My dad’s jacket. More on that down the page.

Dear Friends,

Today is the 4th of July and, well, I am not really celebrating, not like I used to.

For so much of my youth, I just wanted to belong. And then I finally kind of did. Lately, though, it’s been hard to ignore that a big chunk of America doesn’t want me, or people like me, here. That makes things a lot more complicated.

And yet, here I am. I would be lying if I said I didn’t love this place—its beauty, its grace, and its goodness. I am not going anywhere, and I’ll continue to help fight for the life, liberty, and happiness we all deserve.

xo Christine

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Good Things

• Cool June days

• Wandering the new LACMA David Geffen Galleries

• Making art at the Yoko Ono exhibit

• A slender box of donuts

• Putting the yard back together

• The YMCA (the place, not the song—well, maybe also the song)

• Podcasts that make workouts zoom by

• Poppi on ice

• Four day weekends

• Relief from driving duty

• Perfectly seared salmon on orzo salad

• A fan of Pantone color chips

Good Poem*

Please indulge my sharing a poem that I wrote years ago. It just felt right for the day.

made in the u.s.a.
by Christine Castro Hughes

i think i lost my father’s jacket.

the beat up navy blue one,
with its threads all worn,
sleeves all stained
and zipper broken.

it was his first jacket here in america,
the cloth as old as i.

he doesn’t even know i’ve been wearing it,
dragging it to school with me,
tying it around my waist,
wrapping it around my body.
the sleeves are too long and it’s really baggy,
but it keeps me warm
and i like it.

people often compliment it.
nice jacket, they say, and my hands sit in the pockets
and my face lights up
proud.

it was his first jacket here in america, i say
eager and ready to tell them the story
our story of how we came.
oh, they say, and move on
leaving me there.
alone.

they don’t get it,
i realize.
how much the jacket means
how much the jacket says.
it’s more important
than any plastic green card or stamped up passport.

it’s our flag.

so you see i have to find that jacket.
i must.

or people will forget
that i belong here
just like they do.

*If I may say so myself

Good Quote

Good Deed of the Day

Be kind to your neighbors. Depending on where you live, that might just be waving hello as you pull out of your driveway, or if you’re both lucky, you might have summer’s bounty growing in your garden to share. Community is everything.