At 8 pm on January 12th in the year 2016, President Barack Obama gave his final State of The Union address. He spoke that night about his hopes for the future of the country, his regret that fear and partisanship had gotten worse during his 8 years, his support for Joe Biden’s moonshot goal to cure Cancer, the harmful effects of ongoing income inequality, the crisis of climate change, and several other important topics.

What President Obama didn’t know is that he left off any mention of the most important thing that had happened that day. A little after 2 pm on that same day, my daughter Hannah was born. I’m not familiar with the protocol for how White House writers decide what makes it into the speech or not, but in my humble opinion, they missed an opportunity to mention a matter of great national importance.

In all seriousness, I’ll never forget that day. Becoming a father. Watching my wife bring life into the world. Meeting my daughter for the first time. Plenty of dads had warned me about the sleepless nights to come and the changes that were in store for my relationship and my social life… but no one ever told me about how much love I’d suddenly be capable of feeling. The new depths to which I understand the words love, and sacrifice, and purpose. Nothing was the same.

Amongst all of this, I still watched the State of the Union that night from the hospital room. I didn’t expect the President to mention the world-changing news in my life, but I was curious what he’d say during his final time speaking in that forum. I appreciated his remarks. His reflections on a marathon well run, while acknowledging his shortcomings and pointing out headwinds that the American people would continue to face.

Tomorrow is President Joe Biden’s first time on a similar stage. One hundred days into his presidency, he’ll be giving remarks to a joint session of Congress. Stepping into office during a raging pandemic, many have said that Biden has faced a tougher challenge than any other American President on his first days in office. I’m not sure what I hope or expect that he’ll say tomorrow. I suppose I look forward to hearing his vision for what comes next for this country as we climb out of this national health crisis. I look forward to hearing his thoughts on what role American can play in helping the rest of the world climb out of this pandemic also. (note: pray for India as they are dealing with skyrocketing cases and deaths from a resurgence of COVID)

Do you have any hopes for what President Biden might say tomorrow? If you were President at this moment, what would you want to say to the American people, to the world, and to Congress?

Anyway, while I don’t have a nation to helm… I do need to get back to putting the dough into the oven this morning. This brings me to another question for you. One of my favorite things that I get to learn from bread customers each week is your plans for how you will use your bread. The meals that you all make with sourdough are inspiring, and I’d like to compile and share people’s favorites. So I have a request for you.

Will you please share with me what your favorite uses for sourdough bread are? If you’re feeling ambitious you can send a recipe, but even just a mention of a meal that you like to use it for is helpful too.

I’m looking forward to learning from you all and hopefully will get to share my findings with the group.

Finally, if you’d like to pre-order bread to pick up this Thursday, I’d love for you to do that now on the Bread & Justice store page.

Cheers,
Mo
the baker

P.S. This is the last call for anyone who might be interested in bread club for the month of May. Bread Club is a monthly subscription to guarantee yourself sourdough every Tuesday of every month. Many of the spots have been spoken for, but we still have a couple of memberships available next month. If you’d like to be on the list to join when a spot opens up, please just reply to this email and let me know!