I'm an older Asian-American female so you'd think I would feel trepidation about walking around lately, given all the publicity about violence against older Asian-American females. But though I live in New Mexico, a state which has the worst property and violent crime rate in the country according to some measures, I don't feel any more threatened than usual. When we started to hear that wearing face masks could prevent transmitting Covid-19, I resisted at first. I felt like I stood out because I was used to thinking of face masks as an urban Japanese thing. Now that wearing face masks is de rigueur, I feel like wearing a face mask makes me slightly anonymous. Which is laughable, because several times now I've run into friends in stores who have no problem recognizing me with a mask on! Early on in the pandemic, my mom, aunt, and cousin all sent me face masks they sewed themselves. Each piece of fabric has a story attached, and when I wear them I feel protected and loved. Being an older Asian-American woman is splendid! More positives than negatives. 10/10 would do it again.
April 18, 2021
The inauguration was today. I've never seen Melania look so happy, and honestly I'll miss how comical she was. Like definitely a harbinger of evil, but she was so funny because of how awful she was as First Lady. Like, I didn't even know that was a job you could mess up with. I felt relief waking up and seeing Trump fly away like a villain fleeing the scene of a crime, and while I was upset that we're paying for his trip to his club, I'm just happy he's "gone". But I don't feel relief. I enjoyed the ceremony, I mean Lady Gaga performed *performed*. She was ready. But it's not like a whole new world. I guess normalcy is the goal, but what does that even mean anymore? Twitter memes are the thin strand by which I'm hanging.
January 21, 2021