The Cost of Opposition
A Recipe for Fierceness
NY Times, Thursday, May 8, 2025
No One Has Ever Defeated Autocracy From the Sidelines—“When the costs of defiance are shared, they become easier for individuals to bear.”
At 80, I Oppose
At 80, I Get Gutsy
This is the title of my working manuscript, At 80, I Get Gutsy: A Memoir in Essays. As the author of an LGBTQ novel, promoting my book in Florida is frustrating and filled with fear. So, I have decided to oppose this regime the only way I know. As an octogenarian I have no power, but I do have a pen.
A Recipe for Fierceness
The word ‘recipe,’ derived from the Latin for ‘take’ (recipere), was originally used as a header on medical prescriptions—Rx. While the meaning of the word has changed to a list of ingredients and a procedure resulting in a food product, the medical piece is not lost when taken from the standpoint of food as medicine. Today, in nutrition studies of gut health, food is linked to longevity, mood, even tone of voice and well-being.
In 2015, after retiring from a nutrition career, and living a sedentary lifestyle, a diagnosis of pre-diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure caused me to reevaluate my priorities. I read articles and books and decided to focus on gut health.
My kitchen counter resembled a chemistry lab: vats of briny sauerkraut, pickled vegetables, bottles of kombucha brewing, glass bowls filled with cultures such as yogurt, and carafes of fermented kefir. When I stepped over to the kitchen sink, I was greeted by wheat sprouts growing in the dampness as I aimed to develop and nurture unique cultures. In diversity is strength I murmur as I add another beet to the veggies.
One morning after I’ve been teaching a nutrition class on the microbiome in my community, my beau turns to me and says, “Do you realize since you’ve been teaching the gut class, even your voice has changed?”
Feeling, sensing, urging all begin in the gut. Serotonin, the feel-good hormone, resides there. The biome communicates with the brain signaling butterflies in the stomach, gut-feeling, and even intuition. The whole process is just beginning to be known. Who would have thought I’d become confident, my tone fierce?
‘Fierce’ is not a word anyone would have used to describe me. That is, not for the first seventy-six years of my life. ‘Nice, sweet, compliant—perfect,’ is more like it. But perfection has a price.
At the age of seventy-seven, I figured my pioneering days were over. I’m slow to make the connection between the bacteria in my gut and the courage it takes to publish a tale of inclusion—a love story—a curious exploration of gender, sexuality, and cultural expectations.
I underestimate how fierce I need to be as I advocate for the LGBTQ community.
The key to a healthy gut is diversity—a wide range of bacteria populating my colon. How ironic. The more variety of microbes, the better my chances of staving off disease. The metaphor for a healthy body is the same as a healthy planet. The secret is multeity, an assortment, a hodgepodge, mélange, literally a mixed bag. The more diverse we are, the stronger.
I’d learn to be bold, speak up and use my voice, create recipes to fuel my fierceness. I’d encourage everyone to get healthy. You can’t #persist or #resist if you’re not strong.
I pick up my pen, tear open the paper bag, remove the kefir, and take a swig of the fermented liquid I call my magic potion. Then I boldly step into an arena someone my age has no place being.
I love that you are fierce in a way that is even surprising you. What an inspiration.
Fierce Warrior Woman, Goddess of Fermentation, transformed from inside out. How you are an inspiration, Trish!! El Salvador has no idea how you would transform their world from fomented hatred to fermented health. But I do. Brava, Trish!!