Chef's Kiss 👩🍳💋
This is a reminder that there is no definitive evidence that MSG is harmful.
Hellooooo! We'll be taking a break until 2021! We've really enjoyed whipping this newsletter together for you almost every week in the past 6 months (omg), but we realized we are in need of some rest. 😴
We'd be enormously grateful if you could share your quick thoughts on how you feel about our newsletter at this anonymous form here (should take <2 minutes).
And... all we'd want for Christmas is if you share or forward this newsletter with two friends. 🥺
Love,
Melinda and Jamie
You may have missed...
🧺 Farmers in India are leading one of the largest protests in history. It's estimated that over 250 million workers, farmers, and allies took part in a national strike on Thursday 11/26. Agricultural states, including Punjab, are protesting against three agricultural bills that could "privatize the agricultural system, making them vulnerable to corporate exploitation."
👩🏽🔬 15-year-old Gitanjali Rao is named Time's Kid of the Year: she has many impressive accomplishments: she created a device to detect lead in water and a device to diagnose prescription opioid addiction. She also made an app that uses AI to help reduce cyberbullying. (Well... I'm feeling a bit inadequate right now)
👨🏽⚕️ Dr. Vivek Murthy was nominated by Biden to be U.S. Surgeon General - he was previously Surgeon General under the Obama administration.
🗞️ If you saw fake news being peddled in family WhatsApps, Facebook, or WeChats, know that you are not alone. Especially this election cycle, Asian American voters were flooded with far right-wing news. This type of misinformation is hard to track given the "lack of political solidarity" among different cultural, economic, and religious groups, and, often, these articles and YouTube videos play off anti-communist government fears and lack of existing non-English media outlets.
Chef's Specials
📕 I just finished the book Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha, and I really recommend it... she's such a good storyteller, tackling the tough and relevant topic of racial tensions between Black and Korean communities in LA. Her 2019 novel is based on the real-life killing of 15-year-old Latasha Harlins in 1991 by Korean-American store owner and clerk, Soon Ja Du. (Netflix recently released a documentary, A Love Song for Latasha, celebrating her life.)
📛 Angel Desai, award-winning actress and founding member of the Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC), talks about reclaiming her birth name "Apsara" in her short musical Lady Apsara.
🏫 Last month (November 6) was the anniversary of the longest student strike in U.S. history - the start of the Third World Liberation Front strikes of 1968. In these strikes, a "multi-ethnic coalition of students" fought for Ethnic Studies, more faculty of color, and more students of color in colleges. Check out this article on the fight for Asian American and Ethnic Studies back then and today.
🏥 A quick article on Muslim Girl: This Nurse Shares Why Muslim Women Working In Healthcare Is Vital
💌 Anne Anlin Cheng talks through her experiences in interracial relationships as an East Asian woman, cancer treatment, and navigating both during COVID-19. A longer read, but worthwhile.
💕 A Modern Love story recommended by a friend in which journalist Meher Ahmad writes similarly about interracial relationships, "exhausting, race-conscious performance", and finding love and intimacy back in Pakistan.
🐣 More Modern Love, but this time the relationship between father, daughter, and McDonald’s chicken nuggets.
Small Feelings
Feeling thankful to the cafe I go to 3-4x a week (lol) to pick up coffee... it's the only place I go to basically outside of the house.
Also... I'm happy that it's snowing today in NJ ❄️ was NOT expecting it
ugh loVE snow
I just got home to GA this week, and it's actually been really nice being back with my parents + dog. There are definite shifts in our relationship (for the better), and I'm at a place in life where I'm actually pretty content. :) happy day :)
Events
Wed,Dec. 9, 7pm ET: browngirl mag is hosting an auction/performance in support of India Center's South Asian Arts Resiliency Fund
Thurs, Dec. 10, 6pm ET:IG live with Kavita Rai and Aditi Mayer - breaking down the agriculture bills and repercussions for formers in Punjab.
Fri, Dec. 10, 6pm ET: National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF) will be holding an AAPI rally for the Jan 5th Georgia Special Election. Link Here.
Dec. 15, 7pm ET: Apex for Youth is hosting a panel with some awesome authors: Rachel Khong (Goodbye Vitamin), Weike Wang (Chemistry), Xuan Juliana Wang (Home Remedies).
(The Islamic Arts Festival was this weekend - check out the FB live video that's still up!)