Snowflakey Idealism…

…and “Beorn’s Comforting Chai”

Have I stopped shedding my liberal snowflake tears? Sure, but I’m still disturbed. Bigly.

However, I was thinking that a president is generally a reaction to the previous president. Therefore, Obama was a severe reaction to Bush. Trump is an egregious reaction to Obama. So it follows that the next president will be completely opposite to Trump.

SHE will be in her 50s, perhaps a lesbian, but old enough to not be driven by sexual desires. She doesn’t objectify women… or men. Perhaps she will have served in the military in some capacity and she will have an advanced degree from a state-run university. She reads for pleasure and to further her education. She will have had at least one child and she will have reared that child herself for the most part. She knows about pain. Her parents were lower middle-class and knew how to take care of money because there often wasn’t enough of it around.

Nevertheless, she persisted.

She believes in the Constitution and has actually read the whole thing, though she also believes it should be a document that occasionally must change with the times.

She will have ancestors from 6 continents and her skin will be of a natural hue that is hard to determine, only because she exemplifies her mixed background. She will consider herself a spiritual humanist who believes that all religions have their strengths and their weaknesses, but all religions have the right to exist.

She knows about science and perhaps she has even studied it. She knows climate change is real.

She is not a slave to money, nor is she only concerned with materialism and ostentation. 

She sees paths forward, not backward. Perhaps she has experience in running a business successfully. She definitely has experience in local politics and volunteer work.

She wants her fellow citizens to feel welcome and wanted and part of the greater good. She wants to expand civil rights, not diminish them.

She has empathy, compassion, and strength. She won’t suffer fools, sycophants, or tyrants. Yet she also strives not to take everything personally, for she knows that each individual has serious concerns going on in their lives. It’s not all about her.

She was probably out marching on January 21, 2017, wearing a pink pussy hat.

(You know, even if our next president is not a SHE, even a HE with all the above qualities would be a welcome change…)

From “The Hobbit”—Beorn

I believe Beorn would also be inclined to use cream instead of milk in this recipe. He probably metabolizes cream better than you or I can since he changes into a bear—I imagine that kind of metamorphosis takes an enormous amount of energy. There is no such thing as cholesterol in Middle-earth.

This is known simply as Comforting Chai in my cookbook.

“Beorn’s Comforting Chai”

• 1 cinnamon stick, broken into 3 pieces
• 2 star anise
• 6 cardamom pods
• 8 whole cloves
• 20 whole peppercorns
• 1″ piece of fresh ginger, washed, unpeeled, cut into ¼” slices
• 3 cups water
• 3 regular-sized tea bags (use a fruity variety, such as Constant Comment or Orange Zinger)
• 3-4 tablespoons honey, or more to taste
• 1 cup 1% milk

Use a 4-cup glass measure for this recipe. In a 2-quart saucepan, combine the first seven ingredients. Bring to a boil, then simmer over a medium heat, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, add the tea bags, cover, and let it steep for 5 minutes. Put a small, fine-mesh strainer over the 4-cup glass measure. Pour the liquid into this and squeeze out the liquid from the tea bags. Discard all solids. You’ll have about 2½-2¾ cups left. Pour this back into the saucepan. Add the honey and milk. Stir over low heat just until the honey dissolves. Carefully pour into 2-3 mugs, or pour this back into the glass measure so you can pour it more carefully. Serves 2-3, depending on how much comfort you need.