Hope you had a good week!

I spent this week hanging out with Mitya and catching up with friends who I haven’t seen in a while because of the hustle and bustle of work. So good to see them. I am also catching up on TV, and yesterday, I happened to catch a bunch of episodes of Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown. I don’t know about you, but I have seen A LOT of Anthony Bourdain shows. Because he was funny and caring and curious, and so respectful toward the culture and people of every place he visited. He went to Ukraine, for goodness sake. How many travel shows go to Ukraine?

The weekend he died, I felt like stopping random people and talking to them about him. I finally talked to a friend at a Zumba class, and I felt a little better just talking about the horror and sadness of it all. He had a daughter, man. The only comfort may be in the legacy he left through so many beautiful episodes.

You know, with everything going on at the border, Anthony had a good show to address it (true for a lot topics). The one about Houston. I saw it yesterday.

He starts the show at Robert E. Lee high school, in an ESL classroom, with so many different people all coming together to learn how to build a better life. He then goes to talk to some people of all walks of life, from Congolese farmers to Indian cricket players to Mexican quinceneras to Vietnamese fishermen. People ask me all the time, “Why did you like Houston so much?” This is why. All these diverse people living and working and eating together. So many people focused on making a better life for their families. Houston has many problems that I don’t want to sugarcoat, but it also has this charm that Anthony captured perfectly. Immigrants just wanting a better life for their families.

I hear what you may be saying. This immigration issue is so much more complicated than a Parts Unknown episode. It is and it isn’t, y’all. At the very least, it deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, just as Anthony Bourdain would do.

I want to be the kind of person Anthony was. Curious and kind. Which is something to model for my kids. I don’t have all the answers, but I want to learn and explore. And I want to talk to people with kindness, starting with my own kids. So that’s my goal for this week—speak with kindness and respect, even when they are driving me bonkers and I just want to go to the beach, alone. To be like Anthony and take the time to ask questions, to listen carefully, and answer honestly instead of making the answer into something I think is easier to hear. Curious and kind. That’s it.

Thank you, Anthony, for leaving so many shows to teach us and remind us of our common humanity. Thanks especially for going to Ukraine and to Houston. We miss you.