#1 Rhys Runner
01 January 2022 // San Diego, California
Here’s one way to start the year… with a COVID exposure notice from Rhys’ preschool. And a sniffly nose.
So far nothing beyond mild symptoms and everyone who can get vaccinations has the max amount possible, so I’m not especially worried- which feels kind of funny given how cautious we’ve been for two years. But we have good reason to be more reassured.
So this New Year starts with a quarantine that takes us into mid January and 18 straight days of taking care of three babies at home.
It’s funny cause I still feel pretty good about this year. Some new adventures seem likely. And of course, being a family of five. And I’m hoping it’s the case where we look back like, wow, it ended on a way different note from where it started.
Cause this is our starting note.
#2 Clean Corner
02 January 2022 // San Diego, California
A handful of random thoughts that came to mind when curating my list of 2021 favorites.
▶️ Derek Delgaudio’s heart-filled, philosophical magic show about identity was so wonderful. It came out so early in the year that I almost forgot to include it among 2021 things. About time to give it another view.
▶️ Included Minari on the movies list even though I think it would technically be a (2020) on the papers. This thing of releasing movies that might be the best of the year at the very end where nobody has a chance to see them except pro reviewers is a bit elitist, so now, if people can’t find your movie easily until 2022, you’re a 2022 film in my book.
▶️ Throughline got really good again this year. Loved that podcast a lot when it launched in 2015, but circa 2017, it started focusing on high level political themes that were already dominating airwaves. Love the return to their roots. Black History specials on Marcus Garvey, Octavia Butler, and Banyard Rustin nailed it. Filipino nurses. Tenochitlan. The history of Afghanistan.
▶️ Pretend I didn’t forget Jelani Aryeh’s album on that list. After picking two of his songs I thought he was already there.
▶️ I only highlight shows once and Ted Lasso was already a favorite from last year, but if they keep making episodes like the Rick Astley funeral one, episodes just might have to become a category.
#3 Goodnight Moon
03 January 2022 // San Diego, California
Y’all don’t have to quote tweet problematic politicians, shock jocks, etc. to argue a better point.
The amount of people who believe an idea is proportionate to the amount of times it’s repeated.
#4 Sweet J Sweet
04 January 2022 // San Diego, California
Betty White’s getting much deserved love and I gotta note, it really is nice to watch somebody who knows how to simply enjoy being who they are.
Self awareness, good humor, but a sense to do what’s right. Put it together and it’s a pretty fantastic life.
#5 Tummy Time
05 January 2022 // San Diego, California
It’s not getting enough buzz, so lemme do my part to talk about how good Swan Song is.
If you are roughly my age and have similar tastes, Eternal Sunshine likely rocked your world for good in the early 00s.
This hits those same heart muscles.
An even better comp in terms of emotions and plot is Never Let Me Go, which also happens to be one of my favorite novels ever.
#6 Quarantine Week
06 January 2022 // San Diego, California
Tribalism is a ridiculously powerful force.
Working in marketing shows you that people make decisions based on identity.
The need to belong blows our other reasoning skills and motivation out of the water.
The past two years have been such a live demo.
It doesn’t happen with everybody.
It doesn’t happen easily.
But it happens.
Sometimes watering the seeds of a different story actually goes somewhere.
Folks with an extremely tribal view of the world have come to anticipate caricatures out of people from outside their group. Always happy to subvert those expectations.
#7 Jump Shot
07 January 2022 // San Diego, California
New year, new babies… time to update the family theme song. I always thought Family Matters went the hardest with their opener.
This was actually the result of not having a whole lot to film during a two week quarantine. Speaking of openers, on New Years Day we learned Rhys (and thus all of us) were ‘rona exposed last week. We still don’t have test results, and it’s tough to separate a symptom from newborn-induced sleep deprivation, but since Omarion gets around as easy as Beignet’s hair… I’m assuming it’s here. Mildly. Thanks for the shots.
The harder blow was losing daycare and grandparent support for two weeks. I’d already been feeling the challenge of the three-under-three thing, which is why daycare was too tempting to pass up, even when I had a strong feeling that last week might’ve been a good one to sit out.
We’re now halfway through the two weeks and I’m pleasantly surprised with how we’ve made it work. I’ve gotten good moments with each of the kids, and in some ways I’m more at ease with three super-littles at home than I was before.
In spite of this, I still feel really good about this year in a way that kinda breaks logic.
#8 Gumtree Grooves
08 January 2022 // San Diego, California
2022 goals all set up.
START
Practicing improv again
Taking Rhys out on special weekly outings
Becoming a regular at a local venue
STOP
Getting fast food too often (1x month; 2 if traveling)
Eating meat on Wednesday
Using Amazon too much (3x limit per month)
VISIT
Alaska
A surprise location with Daniel
Somewhere abroad with the family
LEARN
Writing skills from three Skillshare courses
How to prepare a will
Improving camera presence w/ impromptu recordings 4x a week
MAKE
50 digital drawings
A Filipinos-in-Space art show
A sustainability TikTok channel
READ
3 bell hooks books
3 Jesmyn Ward books
A fantasy series written from a non Western POV
WATCH
The World Cup
6 Studio Ghibli movies
Movies/Shows from 9 different countries
TRY
Climbing 3 Mountains
Getting a Filipino tattoo
Spearfishing
#9 Bubs’ Life Now
09 January 2022 // San Diego, California
I’ve been drawing up a storm lately and loving it. And here’s a new piece I’ve kicked up inspired by my love of baseball and taking things internationally…
Sadaharu Oh.
I remember being really impressed as a kid when I found out there was someone who hit more home runs than Hank Aaron. A lot more. That piqued my interest in Japanese baseball which would only be validated a few years later when Ichiro came to the big leagues.
Not only was Sadaharu legend, but he took a distinctly East Asian approach to the game. His mental game was all about zen. He applied aikido to his swing- the art of redirecting momentum to deal with the pitches thrown to him. He ended up forming a lifelong friendship with Hank Aaron after the two of them met the demand to face each other in a home run derby.
There’s more to baseball than the MLB. One of the most fun sporting events I’ve ever been to was a Korean (KBO) baseball game… with cheerleaders, fast paced play, and parodies of pop songs for every player.
I think a gold tier bucket listy thing for me would be seeing a live game in every country that has a robust baseball league- Mexico, Japan, Korea, and the Dominican, followed by Cuba, Venezuela, Taiwan, and maybe even Australia and the Netherlands.
#10 Tree Recycling
10 January 2022 // San Diego, California
One of my goals last year (and again this year) was to donate over 1,000 trees to be planted.
My tips?
Tree planting can double as community development
Make sure locals are leading efforts
Make sure the org prioritizes whole ecosystem health over sexy numbers
#11 The Banyonplex
11 January 2022 // San Diego, California
I’ve got to be honest about it: that was a pretty crappy start to the year.
Expectations were set low. I thought this year could be fun, but I knew that the hello-two-newborns thing would make for a more subdued, less restful January. So I went in with more measured anticipation.
New Year’s Day, Rhys gets daycare exposure to the ‘cron. He and I get sniffly and I figure we have it. But as it turns out, we keep testing negative so he must’ve brought home some other rhinovirus instead. Why be mainstream when there are more indie viruses out there?
Either way, it was still a miserable cold. Made worse by the fact that we got a week and a half with no daycare or grandparent help. Just trying to recover while juggling the three niños.
In spite of all that, I’m still really excited about the year ahead.
There’s this huge anti-goals, anti-resolution sentiment going around, and I totally get it. Resolutions have been sold to us as effort-based promises to better things by bettering ourselves. It’s so intertwined with hustle culture and I fully support everyone who decides they aren’t playing that game anymore.
But also, it’s clear that these are the sentiments of a traumatized world.
When people experience traumas, especially childhood traumas, one of the first things to go is one’s creativity and ability to dream. Kids are natural at dreaming up different worlds and futures. Unless trauma and instability get introduced.
Dreaming is healing and reclaiming.
I’ve always been a New Years guy. I love having a blank slate to project dreams on. I love wondering about the next chapter’s adventures. And I love what the word resolution really means. Not some behavioral change, but literal resolve. The determination to stick with your North Star.
This year I want to breathe easily out of both nostrils. I want to become a regular at my favorite coffee shop. I want to get one kid potty trained. I want to do deep dives into the works of bell hooks, Jesmyn Ward, and Hayao Miyazaki. I want to travel. Slowly. I want to spend a good chunk of time in Europe and Africa. I want the year to pass slowly and I want it to be the kind of year where passing slowly is a good thing.
#12 Navigating the Forest
12 January 2022 // Escondido, California
Anger doesn’t show strength. But it isn’t a weakness either.
I see anger differently. It’s an emotion that isn’t supposed to be impressive/unimpressive. It signals to us our sense of right has been violated.
Lashing out at others or throwing a tantrum is often a mistake, at least usually. But the emotion beneath is just a human experience
#13 Rhys at Hoyt
13 January 2022 // San Diego, California
A while back I decided I would keep tabs on my most memorable meals over the course of a year. What makes a meal memorable is widely subjective and inconsistent… and that’s the great part.
Sometimes a meal is memorable because the food is incredible, like the hamachi I had in Phoenix. Sometimes, it’s that, plus the restaurant brings the meal to life. I still think back to the Napoleon House in New Orleans as one of those places with the perfect vibe. But other times, an amazing meal can come out of somewhere unexpected- like a drive-thru burger stand in Forks, WA.
Sometimes I love the creativity and cleverness of the eating experience itself, then again, it’s sometimes not even about the food really. A night featuring a ridiculous conversation with some friends you can totally lose yourself with also qualifies.
For me, there’s nothing quite like the stuff I get served by local communities and families while traveling. It’s impossible to not receive that much generosity and hospitality without being changed in some way. A whole community had the feast they’ve been waiting two years to throw on the day I came to visit?? That doesn’t seem right. And deep down, it’s easy to think that the sacrifices you know about will lead you to exaggerate the quality of the food a little, except then you try it and it really is objectively one of the tastiest things you’ve tried. And you know that everything from the food itself to the moment that surrounds you as you eat it can’t really be recreated.
#14 Manzanita Counter
14 January 2022 // San Diego, California
I’ve been posting a lot of my favorite things I’ve been watching lately, and so it’s likely you’ve seen me name drop Maya and the Three. But I’ve been holding back on getting too into it.
Until now.
If you’re at all interested in the precolonial Americas, especially the legends and beliefs of Aztec and Mayan civilizations, you’ll love the playful way they’re deployed in this adventure.
If you’re an animation fan, I’ve got to highlight the bold, Mayan-codex-meets-comic-book visuals all throughout. Into The Spiderverse is a fair comparison.
If you want a representation win, I’ve got to note how pleased I was to see the Afro-Latino/Caribbean world incorporated… and through one of my favorite characters.
I’ve got to highlight the fact that I love the way this story explored the big theme of death and adventure- not as something stigmatized, but as something that gives the story it’s meaning. A more Mexican perspective I’ve grown to appreciate.
Here’s my deep dive into some of the Mesoamerican roots of Maya and the Three- I loved doing these videos for Raya, and now Maya. Hopefully we keep getting more stories richly immersed in real world cultures.
#15 Super Rainbow
15 January 2022 // San Diego, California
I just jumped on the My Three Lives thing happening on TikTok. My three lives? The best categories I can think of are my life as a traveler, as a climate storyteller, and as a dad of three.
TBH this felt like a brag reel to make but the My Three Lives trend is a good way to give a quick preview about what to expect from me online (plus some digital drawings and very Asian things)… and I’ve never been good at explaining that succinctly.
#16 Night Roads
16 January 2022 // San Diego, California
Anyone else have their year start off pretty crappily but believe deep down that it’s still gonna be a good year by the end? Here’s to that stubborn optimism.
#17 High Swing
17 January 2022 // San Diego, California
Happy MLK Day… kind of.
In case you missed it, Martin Luther King’s family has asked for no celebrations of MLK Day until action has been taken to protect voting rights.
As of now, none has been taken.
Does it feel weird, and maybe even jarring to be told not to celebrate someone for whom our society has developed a deep respect and reverence?
Well, true disrespect and irreverence comes in the form of erasing some of the hard earned liberties he and others gave their lives fighting for. Especially voting rights. Over the past decade- and in particular the past few months- a number of laws have been passed, mostly at the state level, stripping voting access and strength away from communities of color.
Gerrymandering, closing polling sites in Black & Brown neighborhoods, dividing a district to fracture the power of a community, and outlawing practices that are hallmarks of voter efforts in communities of color are all voter suppression.
Win by making an impact. Not by curating your poll numbers.
Personally, I don’t have a whole lot of confidence on the immediate horizon. But I’m thankful for Bernice King lending some of her own:
“There is hope. We have yet to engage as fully as we can. And there are people remaining to be won over to the cause.
I know it looks bleak, but lift your heads, spread ways to help, and keep the faith.”
#18 Best Books of 2021
18 January 2022 // San Diego, California
Loved the books I read last year. Especially all the good climate and nature books.
Probably aiming to scale this a back this year… and not just cause of the kids. I’m always torn between wanting to read a bit slower to take it all in and feeling restless with how many good books are out there and the pace I would actually need to read to get through them all in my life.
But also, yeah, the kids.
Last year’s batch, though, that was a good mix!
#19 Climate and Stories
19 January 2022 // San Diego, California
So, decades ago, people discovered a bunch of ancient papers in the city of Novgorod, Russia. They included shopping lists, business records, prayers, spells, school exercises from 700-800 years ago. And a collection of drawings by a boy named Onfim.
Most of his drawings were on the back of his schoolwork. Like one that starts with the alphabet and ends with a picture of him on horseback, impaling an enemy with a spear. One starts off with the alphabet but ends with a note that says, I am a wild beast. And a drawing of said wild beast. In one he copies scripture… then draws people with pitchfork hands.
I think I’m loving this discovery because it reminds me that kids’ imaginations are somewhat universal. And it makes me think that our scrap paper today, may be somebody’s interesting artifact tomorrow.
#20 Juniper Outside
20 January 2022 // San Diego, California
These days, Bluey is big in our house.
If you’re a bit more distant from the world of cartoon dogs, Bluey is a series of eight-minute episodes featuring a family of heeler dogs. The show is made in Australia, all written by one guy, apparently. Two seasons have made their way to the U.S. via Disney+, and we’re eagerly awaiting the third.
A few things about Bluey stand out. First, the way the show depicts the way the two sisters play together with make-believe is spot-on. Second, the parents are somehow both realistic and aspirational. Mom and dad are relatable and slip in side commentary clearly meant for viewing parents. At the same time, they are both great parents who own their errors and play with their kids constructively. My theory is that Bluey’s dad was created to give Australian dad’s a role model of sorts without realizing it, as they watch along with their kids.
While the show is generally pretty lighthearted, there is about one in every five episodes that has the potential to make you cry.
The most recent example was when Bluey and her younger sister Bingo pretend to be different animals living in the packaging of some furniture their parents are building. As they go from being fish to lizards to primates, Bingo also goes from being a baby to a toddler to a teenager to growing up and going to space.
To spoil the ending, an empty-nester Bluey wonders what happens next, when mom and dad invite her to sit where they’ve been watching the kids play. “This is Heaven,” says dad, which can be taken so many ways.
This is really good?
Your kids grow up and then you die and you watch them from above smiling?
This is what God’s P.O.V. is like watching humanity evolve and do its thing?
All of the above?
#21 Twin Cart
21 January 2022 // San Diego, California
Nuanced topic time. HUMILITY.
I’ve always found humility to be such a beautiful trait. It seems like I’m stating the obvious, but in reality, people are actually more comforted by projections of confidence and people who double down on what they’ve said and done. Those personas tend to attract the crowd.
I’ve never thought of humility as a strength of mine, though anybody who does think they’re good at it has to swallow a good deal of irony. I do know that I value humility enough to really enjoy the presence of truly humble leaders. The ones who prefer to lead by example, who can own an apology. I love working with them. Learning from them. In many ways trying to emulate them.
That’s taught me a couple big things.
💠There are a lot of things that masquerade as humility, a big one being self-deprecation. It can be easy to fake your way into being seen as humble by acting like your own worst critic, but that usually comes from the same wounded ego that births arrogance. It also comes from this weird zero-sum myth that in order to value others, we can’t also recognize our own value.
Sometimes, the people who’ve gotten used to the self-deprecating imitation of humility can be the hardest to work and live with. There’s a wounded ego and a fluency in manipulation.
💠 When Naomi Osaka wrote a reflection on her tennis career last year, she noted that she was often praised for being humble, when really people were seeing a lot of self doubt.
The rules are different for different people. Most of the people I thought of as my role models of humility were older white men. It’s easy for their silence to be seen as humility, while for women, POC, or other underestimated groups, silence may be mistaken as not having anything to contribute.
Sometimes being quiet and blending into the background can be more self serving than anything. Sometimes taking up space can open doors for others. The real question is: is this ultimately about you?
💮💮💮
I think I value humility more than I ever have, but I’ve come to appreciate that it takes way more forms than I initially realized.
#22 VIP Blend
22 January 2022 // San Diego, California
Station Eleven was so good in so many ways. Seems like ill timing for a pandemic story but it was actually perfect. Here’s what did it for me:
• Small acts of good still remaking the world even when it all seems out of control.
• Art and community help you begin again.
#23 Playing with Zara & Ollie
23 January 2022 // San Diego, California
Working in the nonprofit, help-people, protect-the-planet world, you discover a lot of cool organizations working parallel to yours. And you learn from each other and evolve in tandem, because, we’re all ultimately working towards the same big picture. Love. Justice. Sustainability.
About a month ago, some stuff came out about an org I really looked up to. Some not-good stuff, about a toxic workplace and harmful leadership. And part of what was so jarring was that the organization’s messaging was always so good, but what was going on behind the scenes was totally out of sync.
It was surprising, but at the same time, this keeps happening. I feel like a couple times each year I learn of a couple more respected organizations losing trust, and it’s the same thing over and over: toxic leadership/culture or abusive behavior from a founder. And this exists in a lot of other places than the nonprofit world. But why? Especially when the culpable parties are so good at saying the right thing, you’d think they’d know better?
I still find it puzzling, but I think the observation I keep coming back to is that ego tanks charity. Not just charity as in charity organization, but charity as in love.
Do a good thing long enough, and you might get noticed. You become the face of a movement. And if you’re not careful, it can be difficult to separate a threat to justice from a threat to your ego. That’s not good.
I don’t think having a public presence always needs to lead to this, but I don’t want to pretend I’m immune. I absolutely love what I get to do, and I think it matters. But the past couple years have to not let that be a stand in for my identity. Sometimes it’s harder to have that healthy boundary when you really do love what you do.
I’ve been working on those boundaries and funny enough I’ve been loving the work more as a result. I’ve tried to break the American habit of using my profession to introduce myself. I make sure I talk about a balance of things. I’ve tried making sure my pursuits of justice and sustainability aren’t limited to the working hours.
You matter. Your work matters. And they both matter too much to mistake one for the other.
#24 Kimchi Tofu Stew
24 January 2022 // San Diego, California
Honestly, baseball’s Hall of Fame system is kind of a joke. HR king, hit king, top five pitcher absent? Lincecum out that soon?
I think we should do a Michelin star thing instead:
4 stars - Aaron, Mays, Bonds
3 stars - Schmidt, Feller
2 stars - Jeter, Ozzie
1 stars - Lincecum, Raines
#25 Smiley Kai
25 January 2022 // San Diego, California
Over the past few months, I’ve gotten a lot of joy from seeing and being around people I know. I can remember virtually every interaction. I get a warmth from people’s presence.
There are a lot of reasonable explanations. The social isolation from a pandemic. The social isolation from having a pair of two-month-olds. But one I especially appreciate is one I barely understand.
There’s a lot of science behind the idea that people “rub off on you”
Really fascinating stuff happens when you know somebody. When you spend time with them. How their voice, their features, their mannerisms and habits imprint on your brain to the point where it’s almost like a copy of them is stored there. That’s why in someone’s absence you can conjure up things in their voice, you can know what that person would’ve said.
The idea that people can live on through our kindness, through our embodiment of their best traits… it’s more than just sentiment.
I know a lot of us are feeling somebody’s absence in our lives. I’ve been thinking of a friend I lost this week, but also of how much simple joy she found in being around others. Something I’ve felt a lot more myself in the past few months.
It reminds me of something Thich Naht Hahn said, in anticipation of his death.
“Tomorrow, I will continue to be. But you will have to be very attentive to see me. I will be a flower, or a leaf. I will be in these forms and I will say hello to you. If you are attentive enough, you will recognize me, and you may greet me. I will be very happy.”
#26 sTUFF ON MY dESK
26 January 2022 // San Diego, California
Remembering a great friend list a year ago today.
Simultaneously sad and thankful and feeling truly better for her traits that rubbed off.
“Sustained grief is particularly disturbing in a culture that offers a quick fix for any pain.”
–bell hooks
#27 dRAWING tABLET
27 January 2022 // San Diego, California
I love learning about obscure stuff in passing that ends up feeling sentimental for reasons I can’t explain. Today’s entry? A schoolboy’s drawings from the back of his homework from medieval Russia.
So, decades ago, people discovered a bunch of ancient papers in the city of Novgorod, Russia. They included shopping lists, business records, prayers, spells, school exercises from 700-800 years ago. And a collection of drawings by a boy named Onfim.
Most of his drawings were on the back of his schoolwork. Like one that starts with the alphabet and ends with a picture of him on horseback, impaling an enemy with a spear. He copies scripture… then draws people with pitchfork hands.
I think I’m loving this discovery because it reminds me that kids’ imaginations are somewhat universal. And it makes me think that our scrap paper today, may be somebody’s interesting artifact tomorrow.
#28 tAM vN
28 January 2022 // San Diego, California
A federal court just revoked some serious oil and gas leases.
It’s always weird when a win this big seems to come out of the blue but we’ll take it.
(Not really out of the blue, it’s thanks to a lot of hard work from those who pushed for it)
#29 dON lORENZO
29 January 2022 // San Diego, California
Bought some plane tickets yesterday for the first time in a while, and started planning another trip.
Both adventures are still a little ways out, but it felt so good to start getting them on the calendar again.
#30 VINH HUNG
30 January 2022 // San Diego, California
Two newborns and a two year old… this was the day I needed this tweet man.
When the tangled, boisterous, sounds of our children are gone temporarily, it’s often a relief. But I can already feel that when time removes them permanently, I will remember these days with fondness and will experience some corner of the fresh silence as a loss.
#31 bEDTIME procrastination
31 January 2022 // San Diego, California
Nonprofits are a whole world, and its wild to think I’ve spent the past ten years working in, with, and around nonprofits.
Its not at all a perfect sector. One perspective out there is that nonprofits exist because of various failures of society. And as we learn new things and the world changes rapidly, the nonprofit space can get very complicated very quickly.
These complexities can be frustrating when you just want to simply do something good, but I’ve learned that each one is a teacher and even a decade into this, I’ve got a lot to learn. At the end of the day, my experiences with nonprofits have helped remind me of all the good in the world, and have helped introduce me to some people I love and admire. But that isn’t always everyone’s experience.
I made this video for those who care about things and discover cool organizations and know they should do some homework before donating, but might not really know where to get started.