Letter: How will you celebrate this Inauguration Day?

To the editor:

Inauguration Day approaches. I imagine many are thinking how to observe this transformative day in the life of our country.

Our family recently installed a big, new American flag on the front of our house. Snapping in the wind, it’s a vivid reminder of the hope that the United States has been for so many.

Thinking about hope, I will make gumbo on Jan. 20. It makes perfect sense as a wonderful way to celebrate the incoming administration! Join me? Just google “Paul Prudhomme” for some wonderful recipes. And don’t forget the cornbread!

“Gumbo diplomacy” is a term coined by Linda Thomas-Greenfield, nominee for ambassador to the United Nations. An experienced diplomat, she’s from Louisiana. She has, in many places while representing the U.S., invited new friends over to eat. She says: “Wherever I was posted, I’d invite people of all walks, then make homemade gumbo. That’s how you break down barriers, connect, and see each other as humans.”

The diversity, experience and competence of so many nominees already named is a reason to celebrate on Jan. 20, as if Joe Biden and Kamala Harris weren’t enough!

I think I’ll get some champagne to go with that gumbo.

Lynne Foster Shifriss, Bloomington

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