The treasures we’d never leave behind. The mighty, yet mundane, tokens of a life well lived that we carry with us so that when you’re holding it, even for a brief moment, you can close your eyes and see them sitting beside you.
On this lap board, my mom completed a lifetime of New York Times crossword puzzles– in pen. She wrote countless thank you, birthday, condolence, and holiday cards. As a self-taught calligrapher, she completed hundreds of wedding invitations for friend’s children’s upcoming nuptials– freehand. She wrote thousands of first drafts of scripts and speeches of all kinds for all speakers and audiences from business presentations, to eulogies. She journaled her secrets, fears, travels, dreams, goals and those she held for the ones she loved.
Often sitting on her bed, the faint scent of her signature Coco Mademoiselle ever present, she filled out volumes of applications and paperwork for her daughter and parents. She expertly edited proposals, homework assignments, resumes, articles, and corrected all of my many spelling and grammatical errors. In her numerous decorative notebooks, she sketched ideas, plans, and collateral to be used in her varied professional and volunteer roles. She composed impassioned letters to right wrongs and injustices she found in her communities– in two languages.
My mother was a brilliant writer and a profoundly generous woman. I think of her now and how she might have used her mighty fine-tipped pen and this lap board. Perhaps she’d co-write the perfect script reflecting the times for M@L, a shared dream sadly unfulfilled, or support the BLM movement, console those suffering from the impacts of Coronavirus, and combat the atrocities of this administration.
When people talk about the call out culture, I think of my mother– a true Libra, always looking for balance– who was the first to start a sentence with “in all fairness…” to respect the opposing side, but ultimately bring people together under a common good.
Like her, though we may not always have the buying power, we will continue in our small ways with our resources, networks and skillsets to demonstrate love, support, and appreciation for those in our communities who are making this world a better place. To that end, in collaboration with Font Lord Studios (AKA my husband, Greg), the featured image above captures our work in progress of new menu designs for our favorite vegan restaurant, Majani Vegan Cuisine.
Located in the heart of the South Shore neighborhood, Majani’s mission is to provide delicious vegan cuisine to epicureans and health-conscious patrons in Chicagoland, using the freshest ingredients from local gardens. Watch our film, Progress Towards a More Inclusive Chicago, featuring married co-owners, Chefs Nasya & Tsadakeeyah, to see why these two are small business and relationship goals!
After we wrapped shooting of the film, Chef T., a man of few words but many impressive actions, pulled my then-boyfriend, Greg, aside and whispered, “you take care of her,” and Greg simply replied, “yes, Chef. I will.” Chefs N + T’s leadership and how they commit their love and talents to feeding the community are not only a constant source of inspiration, but their partnership remains the example to which we aspire.
Though this film chronicles the opening of their first restaurant three years ago, we think their small business success story is not only relevant for today, but needed. We look forward to soon sharing their continued growth and uplifting impact on the community, how they’ve risen to meet the needs of South Side residents prior to and amid challenging pandemic-related employment and food shortages, celebrate the opening of a second location in the Pullman neighborhood at One Eleven Food Hall, and catering for another famous South Shore couple, the Obamas.
We continue to use my mother’s lap board still, to carry on all the above… well, except the calligraphy. However, as you’ll note in the BTS collage below, in addition to her roles as my dear friend and Exec Producer of this film, Grace, hand-drew all the menu boards that still remain in the restaurant today– freehand.
Did this post make you want to eat your feelings but you’d like to keep it healthy? You can order Majani for dinner tonight! We recommend the BBQ cauliflower, fried oyster mushrooms, falafel burger, and carrot cake! Follow Majani’s journey on their Instagram and share pics of what menu items you love!
