Michelle Damiani

“There is a passage in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn where the main character, Francie, talks about when her diet of stale bread and potatoes begins to feel flat, she takes her allowance and buys a pickle. She works on that pickle all day, and relishes its sourness. Then the bread and potatoes taste good again. This Thanksgiving is our pickle. It has shaken our frame for Thanksgiving, what it means, how to think about it, and how to celebrate it. We had to let go of some things we always do, and in doing so, the things we’ve kept felt all the more special.”
― Michelle Damiani, Il Bel Centro: A Year in the Beautiful Center

“I need to remind myself that every time I choose what is easy—checking a website instead of reading, eating leftover Halloween candy instead of reheating soup, putting a movie on for the kids instead of pursuing a common interest, sending Keith to the store so I don’t have to deal with it—I am denying myself an opportunity to stretch, to feel, to deepen.”
― Michelle Damiani, Il Bel Centro: A Year in the Beautiful Center