The system is. not. broken.
Reflecting on LAPD clearing the Echo Park encampment of people living in tents: This strikes me as a perfect example of the idea that the function of a system is *what it does.* It's not that our systems are broken. That would imply we can just fix up what we've ...
Reflecting on #StopAsianHate Day
Yesterday, March 26, was #StopAsianHate Day. To my White friends in particular, I offer two things I'm reflecting on: 1/ This article in which, among other Asian-American voices, my trusted college friend Sumalee Montano shared her experience: "In her Los Angeles neighborhood a few weeks ago, an unmasked woman breathed ...
Stop and smell the jasmine
Lately my neighbors' tumbling mass of super sweet jasmine stops me in my tracks on my morning coffeewalks and reminds me of a children's story that made a big impression on Small Me: There's a very poor old man living in a very small village. He's so poor, he can ...
On the anti-Asian terrorism in Atlanta: An offering to the dead and the living
Today I want to give my time and care to honor the dead, and the living. I have an offering for each. Whether you read this for learning, or for the affirmation of feeling seen, here’s my offering: For the dead: Say their names I join in mourning with the ...
And the Adulting Award goes to…
Y'all, I am feeling pretty darned adulty over here and going to celebrate for a second. Last night I had a wave of anxiety about a Thing That Might Happen Tomorrow (TTMHT). Started telling myself a story in which a few random recent nothings were signs that a big scary ...
When one door opens
On my mind this Monday morning, a story from my grandfather about the meaning of work: Grampa spent his career at GE back when that was a thing. He was an inventor with an insatiably restless mind. At one point, GE was building a huge new factory. Grampa was one ...
My. worst. speech. ever.
I've got a weekend to-do list as long as my arm but I've also got something to say about the slow death-by-a-thousand-cuts of so many aspects of the minimum wage, unemployment, and direct aid pieces of the American Rescue Plan in Congress and I'm just gonna make time for it, ...
Keeping it really real
I'm about to keep it really real, friends. This is the antibiotic I was given yesterday, to treat the infected spot where my skin picking and hair pulling unfortunately collided a few weeks ago via a pair of tweezers. If you think that's shocking or gross, don't worry, I'm fine ...
Eulogy for my father
My dad in his happy place Twelve years. A day, and forever. Not sure which. But it does, finally, feel like enough distance that I can bear to go back and find the eulogy I wrote for his funeral. It was the best I could do to build a memorial ...
Off the beaten path
2 days ago, I made an impulse turn from my usual path and found myself on a posh Newport Beach street that I've never biked before. The homes are mostly walled off, except the ones that are in the process of being torn down and rebuilt even swankier. So I ...
The pattern is, there is no pattern
You guys. I just saw it so clearly it took my breath away. The pattern is, there is no pattern. Walk with me here for a sec: We've got a holiday today, so I'm on an extra-leisurely coffeewalk. Thinking about the sine wave hum of anxiety that backgrounds my existence, ...
Ranting on Impeachment Redux
Short rant ahead so listen up: 1. I am a lifelong coward. Conflict averse like you wouldn't believe. People angry at me feels like death. 2. Offhand I can think of no fewer than three occasions when I have deliberately risked my career on a principle. Including once where I ...
