I love that movie Arrival - it's one of the few films that my husband (sci-fi nerd) and I (language nerd) can both agree is genius. As for the rest, I don't know what to say, other than hang in there, Jenna. It's all we can do.
I really want to see it again on a bigger screen than an airplane screen. It was beautiful and so evocative. And the ending with the message for all the nations - pretty interesting considering when the film was released.
Ha, I went to save the Miso Mushroom and Leek Pasta to my recipe box and it was already there :). Thank you for these reflections; having an international perspective is so important.
The Thread is priceless! Thank you for that. I was considering leaving because that platform was getting so hostile and chaotic. Blocked so many trolls lately!
I am so conflicted about leaving. It's the only Meta product I use now, but the community there still feels more cozy than Bluesky which is so charged politically. I haven't come across too many trolls yet. Plus, I'm also of the mind that if they chase us all out, it's another right-wing site and they've won? I don't know if that logic flies, but isn't this what they want? I dunno...
I dunno either! Yeah, Bluesky is still so clunky. And most of my followers there are beer bros for some reason? I feel like we've built this cute community on Threads, but I've used it less lately.
Beer bros hahaha. The site UI hurts my eyes. It's not super pleasant to use. I haven't made any meaningful connections yet so I don't know who anyone is. And yeah, Threads has def changed and some people are gone for sure, but it's still largely pleasant though I'm definitely on it less too.
this david lynch clip is the best!!! Maybe the best thing about being in Miami with all that artistic energy was the feeling of wandering through ideas all the time.
I was also out of the country on 9-11 (living in Japan for a few decades), but living there meant I had subscriptions to English-language papers in place and could listen to AFN on the radio for news at that time. Of course, nothing made it clearer to me that the world doesn't revolve around America than living in a place in which, when the globe was pictured, it centered on Japan's position rather than America's.
While you are correct that proving you belong here is part of the American experience, a big reason for that is that the potential to do so exists in the U.S. in a way that it does nowhere else. I was and always would be an outsider in Japan, as would you. The tug and pull of what it means to be "American" is the result of our cultural complexity. The experience is far more "binary" (for lack of a better word) in many other cultures. There is no debate. You either are or are not, and, in many cases, there is no integrating possible no matter how long you live there, no matter how culturally adept you are, and no matter how well you speak the langauge. You will never, ever really belong.
It is a very hard time to be an American right now if you are neither white nor male. I'm 60, and I'm not spending four years of my last precious ones on earth living in constant despair over the state of things. I'm focusing on my immediate life and what I can do with my time and for the people around me. Turning away from social media and the toxic discourse is incredibly important to mentally surviving right now. Unfortunately, that is my privilege as a white woman. It troubles me more than I can express that the road ahead is going to be diffcult for poor and brown-skinned people and there is literally nothing I can do about it besides vote, advocate, and make donations. I was doing that before, and we've landed where we are now. It is hard not to feel that it doesn't matter what I do.
Really appreciate this thoughtful comment. Perhaps you're right about belonging, because it is a pillar of American culture. Or, it was. It just feels very threatened and every immigrant understands because that has always been our experience, to prove that we belong. Just because it's possible doesn't mean it hasn't been a struggle. And I certainly understand what you mean about always being an outsider in Asia as an Asian American. It's what I experienced going back to Korea for the first time when I was 10, but then was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't as much as I anticipated when I went back after a long absence two years ago. I was only there for 3 weeks and a tourist so I imagine that it's an entirely different experience. But this is the quintessential experience of non-white immigrants. Never really belonging anywhere.
It's very understandable to feel despair and feel like there is nothing we can do even though we have tried and still didn't keep him out. Take a rest and a pause. The only reason why I can't feel this way is because this is what they want. I can't give them the satisfaction of that.
Odd that we both reached back to 9/11 in our posts this week. When confronted with disasters, natural or manmade, 9/11 is still the baseline my brain goes back to.
Yeah. Maybe it's our age, maybe because it was truly the first huge tragedy in our adulthood. Maybe because it happened before social media. Everything after it changed.
Arrival was so good!! I wept basically throughout the last half. I loved it. I can only imagine how much I would cry watching it on a plane. A flight attendant once was like, "Are you ok" when I was crying at Strictly Ballroom and then she said, "That isn't even a sad movie." 😏
I love that movie Arrival - it's one of the few films that my husband (sci-fi nerd) and I (language nerd) can both agree is genius. As for the rest, I don't know what to say, other than hang in there, Jenna. It's all we can do.
I really want to see it again on a bigger screen than an airplane screen. It was beautiful and so evocative. And the ending with the message for all the nations - pretty interesting considering when the film was released.
Ha, I went to save the Miso Mushroom and Leek Pasta to my recipe box and it was already there :). Thank you for these reflections; having an international perspective is so important.
You should try it, it's really good! My kid was gifted a Cooking subscription from Grandma and she found the recipe.
The Thread is priceless! Thank you for that. I was considering leaving because that platform was getting so hostile and chaotic. Blocked so many trolls lately!
I am so conflicted about leaving. It's the only Meta product I use now, but the community there still feels more cozy than Bluesky which is so charged politically. I haven't come across too many trolls yet. Plus, I'm also of the mind that if they chase us all out, it's another right-wing site and they've won? I don't know if that logic flies, but isn't this what they want? I dunno...
I dunno either! Yeah, Bluesky is still so clunky. And most of my followers there are beer bros for some reason? I feel like we've built this cute community on Threads, but I've used it less lately.
Beer bros hahaha. The site UI hurts my eyes. It's not super pleasant to use. I haven't made any meaningful connections yet so I don't know who anyone is. And yeah, Threads has def changed and some people are gone for sure, but it's still largely pleasant though I'm definitely on it less too.
this david lynch clip is the best!!! Maybe the best thing about being in Miami with all that artistic energy was the feeling of wandering through ideas all the time.
I love it. And we're having the same thread conversations on two different threads haha. You mean Miami for YoungArts?
lol yup!
I was also out of the country on 9-11 (living in Japan for a few decades), but living there meant I had subscriptions to English-language papers in place and could listen to AFN on the radio for news at that time. Of course, nothing made it clearer to me that the world doesn't revolve around America than living in a place in which, when the globe was pictured, it centered on Japan's position rather than America's.
While you are correct that proving you belong here is part of the American experience, a big reason for that is that the potential to do so exists in the U.S. in a way that it does nowhere else. I was and always would be an outsider in Japan, as would you. The tug and pull of what it means to be "American" is the result of our cultural complexity. The experience is far more "binary" (for lack of a better word) in many other cultures. There is no debate. You either are or are not, and, in many cases, there is no integrating possible no matter how long you live there, no matter how culturally adept you are, and no matter how well you speak the langauge. You will never, ever really belong.
It is a very hard time to be an American right now if you are neither white nor male. I'm 60, and I'm not spending four years of my last precious ones on earth living in constant despair over the state of things. I'm focusing on my immediate life and what I can do with my time and for the people around me. Turning away from social media and the toxic discourse is incredibly important to mentally surviving right now. Unfortunately, that is my privilege as a white woman. It troubles me more than I can express that the road ahead is going to be diffcult for poor and brown-skinned people and there is literally nothing I can do about it besides vote, advocate, and make donations. I was doing that before, and we've landed where we are now. It is hard not to feel that it doesn't matter what I do.
Really appreciate this thoughtful comment. Perhaps you're right about belonging, because it is a pillar of American culture. Or, it was. It just feels very threatened and every immigrant understands because that has always been our experience, to prove that we belong. Just because it's possible doesn't mean it hasn't been a struggle. And I certainly understand what you mean about always being an outsider in Asia as an Asian American. It's what I experienced going back to Korea for the first time when I was 10, but then was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't as much as I anticipated when I went back after a long absence two years ago. I was only there for 3 weeks and a tourist so I imagine that it's an entirely different experience. But this is the quintessential experience of non-white immigrants. Never really belonging anywhere.
It's very understandable to feel despair and feel like there is nothing we can do even though we have tried and still didn't keep him out. Take a rest and a pause. The only reason why I can't feel this way is because this is what they want. I can't give them the satisfaction of that.
Odd that we both reached back to 9/11 in our posts this week. When confronted with disasters, natural or manmade, 9/11 is still the baseline my brain goes back to.
Yeah. Maybe it's our age, maybe because it was truly the first huge tragedy in our adulthood. Maybe because it happened before social media. Everything after it changed.
Yes. And here we are today. Sigh. 💗
Arrival was so good!! I wept basically throughout the last half. I loved it. I can only imagine how much I would cry watching it on a plane. A flight attendant once was like, "Are you ok" when I was crying at Strictly Ballroom and then she said, "That isn't even a sad movie." 😏