As I promised in my last post, hello from Florida! I got here yesterday afternoon and the weather has been perfect. The sunshine can be blinding. As my brother noted, “That’s what sunglasses are for.” Divided highways are everywhere! So are gated communities and amusement parks. I’m hanging out with my brother and his girlfriend and giving my sandal tan a fighting chance at a triumphant return.
Today we visited Disney Springs, which is a giant outdoor shopping plaza. Vegan options were everywhere. I got pizza from Blaze, which was yummy and pretty reasonably priced, and I sampled vegan cookie dough from a food truck and passed so many other yummy-looking treats.
They didn’t charge extra for vegan cheese!
Disney is an empire. The three of us tooled around on buses, the skyliner, and the monorail, hopping between the parks and resorts. I tried Dole whip, a Disney-famous naturally vegan pineapple soft serve, and I understand the hype. Tomorrow we’re meeting up with some of my brother’s friends and going to City Walk, and I’m very excited to go to Voodoo Donuts.
Dole whip, featuring my brother
Food aside, it’s been fun walking around in the sunshine and getting to be with my brother in what seems to be his happy place. (Side note: all the Disney employees—or should I say cast members—are so nice! My little New England heart just kept bursting. No wonder they call it the Happiest Place on Earth.) (Second side note: In my CS class last semester, we talked about how Disney’s copyright keeps getting extended, but it’s due to expire again soon. I’m really curious about what would happen if Disney lost its copyright of Mickey Mouse.)
In non-food-related news, my mom and I saw the Just Mercy movie on Tuesday. The book, which I read as part of my peace and justice studies class, came highly recommended from my professor—she’s bought copies and left them places for people to stumble upon. It’s the true story of lawyer Bryan Stevenson’s quest to provide legal counsel for death row inmates. To date, he and his Equal Justice Initiative have exonerated over 140 wrongly convicted people. They do incredible work, and it’s infuriating that this work still needs to be done.
See the movie, and definitely also read the book. It’s a memoir but it reads like fiction. When Just Mercy chapters were assigned for class, reading them was like taking a break from homework. I left the movie theater on Tuesday with a renewed desire to do something, to help people who are most vulnerable in our society.