Books on Baseball

Decided to hit a lighter note with my reading over the past month and go with a trio of books revolving around baseball! And even though they were “lighter” in theory, the three I read still dove in deeper to focus on parts of the game that go unseen.

Stealing Home dives into the story of how Dodger Stadium displaced hundreds of LA’s Mexican American families living in what is now Chavez Ravine, and all the crossing paths and personalities that led to their displacement. This book was so well researched and personal, and very much an LA book.

Doc was all about one of my favorite players to watch, Roy Halladay- and the way I read it, it shared so much about the human behind the hero, what happens when we make it hard for our heroes to be fully human, and how much of the sport and what happens beyond it is a mental game.

The Wax Pack had a real fun premise- opening a random pack of baseball cards from 1986 then taking a cross country road trip to find all those players and see what they’re up to now. Beyond all the fun, it’s also a good look at having a dream after a dream, and navigating a restart in life.

Manos a la Tierra

Manos a la Tierra! I had to commemorate my time with this group with this.

“The soil has life,” Alier motioned. “Well, of course, we know about the microorganisms and things living in the soil, but it also has the components of our lives. This is how we eat. How we grow sustenance.”

Manos a la Tierra is a more experienced group that @plantwpurpose works with in the mountains of Nuxiño.

I spent a whole afternoon with Alier, Esperanza, and Sra. Perez watching them demonstrate their process of growing saplings in a nursery from a small seed bed, to planting trees across a whole hillside, to seeing the flourishing crop diversity that comes further down the line. This group was dedicated- they worked knowing that those lines drawn by Alier between the quality of their soil and the quality of their life was all too real.

I arrived in Oaxaca on a rainy night and it rained pretty much every day since. The region is hopefully coming off of a five year drought which only increases the urgency around this current planting season.

The way they still took the time to invite me into their process throughout all that was extremely generous. Their soil tells the story of their lives.

Thai Food Takeover

When I lived in Eugene, Oregon, there were a ton of Thai restaurants around. At least a couple dozen in a city that really wasn’t that big. Strangely, however, I don’t think I met a single Thai person. Not even in the restaurants.

Turns out, this trend is consistent in Santa Barbara, Arizona, Alaska, and all over the U.S.- not to mention several other countries. In most places you won’t have a hard time finding Thai food. But Thai people? That’s a different story.

What’s going on here? It turns out there’s a reason Thai food is so much more prevalent than the Thai population, and it’s fascinating. It’s all part of Thailand’s global strategy to assert itself in the world by means of noodles, fish sauce, and lemongrass.

Juneteenth

Juneteenth! Creating culture, in part, happens through what you celebrate.

#Juneteenth is a celebration. Not a finish line, but a celebration.

“The slow work of emancipation is a daily project.”
–Kimberly Drew

Apply The Pressure

Two years ago I joined a group of high school students during their Climate Strike and school walkout.

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It wasn’t the “main” one in town. Just the one closest to me. Still there were a lot of kids. And adults. I had the sense that this would be the start of something.

At the time, not everyone was convinced. There were adults along their route telling them they were being controlled by the media. There were supporters who had a hard time seeing it as another thing that would simply get lost in the stubborn persistence of the status quo.

Hearing one 16 year old after another, however, speak about what mattered to them confirmed my suspicion that this really was a turning point. At 16, I hardly ever thought about the environment, let alone how it was connected to refugees from the Pacific, marginalized urban communities, or disproportionate challenges faced by women and girls.

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Last week, we saw a string of headlines. On the same day, Stakeholders at Exxon and Chevron demanded a climate-responsive board and emissions cuts. The Netherlands tightened the deadline for Shell to cut emissions in half. And a week later the Keystone Pipeline was cancelled.

Half these headlines came from direct investors and the other half from popularly elected officials. I don’t think that those moves happen without the groundswell of pressure that had been building since 2019.

It’s easy to think of the status quo as stuck and to be frustrated when protests go seemingly nowhere. But pressure plus strategy can create change. Discouragement is common but don’t let it create another obstacle for yourself.

My Moss Obsession

The scene:
The lushest, greenest rainforest on Hoh tribal land on the far Western end of the Olympic National Park. Seemingly every tree wrapped up in the thickest coat of moss fur, with the biological excess dangled over each branch.

Spending a few days in a fifth wheel camper on the Olympic Peninsula was one of the most reenergizing and revitalizing weekends in the past year.

Of course a video was forthcoming! Hope that it gives a bit of a taste for the life-giving time spent here.

Eric Carle & Beverly Cleary

Stories are important no matter our age but...

...the first stories we encounter will shape us for good in ways we’ll never totally understand.

Two of my biggest values include the following:

Looking at the ordinary, the mundane, the small, and seeing an entire world of wonder and possibility.

Making room for the people who often don’t see themselves represented in certain spaces, inviting others to the table.

This year, we said goodbye to two remarkable children’s authors who embodied these two things well and did so for a long, long time. Beverly Cleary wrote books for the ones who didn’t fit in, the slightly different, the neurodiverse. Eric Carle- and I love the full quote in this drawing- wrote so that others could see the bigger world beyond the one most people take for granted.

The U.S. Childcare Crisis Explained

For most families in the U.S., childcare is unsustainable. As in... things can’t keep going on the way they’ve been going.

For over a year now, I’ve been working full time with one hand tied behind my back, juggling parenting and working in the same space, same hours. And I’m one of the lucky ones! I know so many people who’ve had it even harder.

The cost of a preschool is often greater than a college tuition- except parents of preschoolers often have lower income potentials and opportunities to save up compared to parents of college students... and it’s not like that’s a great scenario to aspire to anyways!

This latest video explores the childcare crisis in the United States, does the math to compare costs, and looks at what other countries have done to care for the kids.

Booknotes: AAPI Writers

I have been so spoiled by my reading list lately. I found each of these three books impossible to put down and I finished two of them over a total of four sittings... you know how unlikely that is with a one year old??

Michelle Zauner AKA indie artist Japanese Breakfast appeared in so many of my subscribed podcasts over the past month to talk about Crying in H Mart- it felt so good to hear somebody who shares the same odd sentimentality around Asian supermarkets that I do. Plus, a good chunk of this book takes place in Eugene around the time I lived there and I was thrilled to hear the owners of my usual grocery spot described in detail.

I also can’t say enough good things about Good Talk. When Mira Jacob’s son starts asking her questions about Michael Jackson’s skin and how his grandparents could support a leader who makes the world less safe for him... she does the best to engage these questions honestly and artistically. I’ve never had a book largely focused on race make me laugh so much while still being totally heartfelt.

Minor Feelings added in the emotional complexity of melancholic rage- best described in Korean as the feeing of Han. The essays in this book were not what I expected but were packed with stuff I needed to jot down!

Create the World Anew

One thing I love about being born in May... it’s also AAPI Heritage Month!

You hear all the time about how we’re not a monolith, and that’s true, but I also like to expand that thought beyond just playing defense. We’re a multiverse! There are so many threads and storylines that make up the AAPI culturescape. I made this drawing just to highlight three!

This week also happens to be Nurses Week. The least accurate thing about most medical TV dramas is that IRL, half that floor would be Filipina nurses. But why so many? The episode “Why Are We Here?” of the Code Switch podcast does a great job with that story.

All around Southern California, you’ll notice that 80-90% of donut shops are ran by Cambodian families. What’s up with that? It’s a story of migration, family and community support, and grit. I highly recommend the documentary The Donut King, rentable on Prime.

One other story of interest... Thai restaurants. Thai food is pretty well known around the US, even in places that don’t seem to have that many Thai people. This isn’t just an odd random happening, but part of a strategic move by Thailand to influence the world via food diplomacy. I’m working on a script for a video about that right now and even though it’s a bit further down the pipeline, I’m already excited about it. Stay tuned!

Happy #AAPIHeritageMonth–these are just three of the many, many stories of how our elders reshaped the world we live in. Got any favorite AAPI docs, podcast episodes, or other recs?

Eco-Friendly Investing (with Melinh)

Is eco-friendly investing even possible?

I’ve often talked about how our profit-driven culture is often at odds with the world I seek to cultivate. There’s a difference between maximizing things and optimizing them, seeking more versus seeking enough.

That said, the latter usually still calls for good habits like saving and investing your money. So how do you do those things while living in line with your values?

It’s easier to think about making sustainable decisions with the money you spend... but what about the money you don’t spend and save instead? After all, your bank doesn’t just let that money sit in an underground vault- it puts it to use to make even more money. Will it help launch a neighborhood business or will it fund a mega pipeline?

I’m not a finances guy, so I brought some of my sustainability and investing questions to my friend @moneyandmelinh - Melinh runs an awesome account that helps people understand the financial world better to help them live in sync with their values. She knows this looks a little different for everybody, which is why she’s worth following!

Google Maps to Greer

It looked good on Google Maps!

I made a new video where I:

🗺 Talk about using Google Maps to explore the world.

🏘 Share literally everything I know about an Arizona town with a population of 40 people.

🪱 Obsess over cryptobiotic soil and high deserts.

🌊 Ford a barely unfrozen river with a one year old strapped to my back.

Video has been my creative outlet lately and I have a lot of fun making these. Enjoy! And find me on YouTube for more.

Protect AAPI Lives

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Earth Day Reads

Tomorrow is Earth Day, thus I thought I’d share some of my favorite recent reads on forests, trees, and moss that I’ve loved.

These are all members of nature that are easy to take for granted because we see them all the time. But there is so much we don’t know about these pieces of plant life that even the smallest slice of recent research and ancient knowledge can be astonishing.

If you’re wanting to step up your sustainability game, wonder is a great place to start.

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The Hidden Life of Trees underscores some of the amazing ways trees behave in a community. Not only does this book underscore the importance of old growth forests, but it offers the reminder that we can learn so much from trees.

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That book was actually the inspiration to The Overstory- an expansive novel that follows at least twelve characters, often through multiple generations. The connectedness of trees is clearly the inspiration of showing how connected we are as people, and our connection to the Earth. And somehow Richard Powers manages to do this without feeling preachy at all.

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And then there’s moss. I’ve shared my appreciation for moss here before and Robin Wall Kimmerer (widely known for Braiding Sweetgrass) is behind so much of that appreciation. Her book on moss was the starting point to this recent obsession.

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Got any faves that would belong on a shelf next to these?

The Best Places I've Ever Been

Do you have a favorite place? Is there an obvious, hands-down answer to that or is it a difficult question for you?

It’s definitely the latter for me. But I loved being asked the question because it gets me talking about different places and the things I love about them.

I made this video as my attempt to pick a favorite place and I landed on eight... and I’m sure that list will only change and evolve over and over again.

Life Without Travel

It’s been two years since I last left the country. I never imagined I would stay put for this long.

I realize I’m extremely privileged in all sorts of ways to travel as much as I have. But I still miss it.

Travel fills my bucket. And it’s not just about the selfies at famous landmarks, the escape from my normal life, or getting to live in luxury for a bit on someone else’s. If I’m honest, those are the mindsets around travel that sometimes bug me. It’s always been less of an escape from MY life and more of a deeper engagement with LIFE.

While I’ve been deeply missing it and hope to hop on pretty much any plane once it feels reasonably responsible and ethical, I’ve managed to still find a few ways to keep appreciating, supporting, and learning from the world’s cultures at home. Here’s my latest video sharing a few ways I’ve done that.

Booknotes: Women's Empowerment

International Women’s Month wrapped up this week but the work and the learning never end.

Recently, I got to read my way through three memoirs with a strong throughline of women’s empowerment. Glennon Doyle’s Untamed, Chanel Miller’s Know My Name, and Tara Westover’s Educated all speak of such different life experiences but there are definitely common threads of overcoming trauma, finding one’s voice, and relearning how to live. And it doesn’t hurt that all three are fantastic writers.

📔 The story of Tara Westover growing up in a survivalist religious family with a strong paranoia against the government, public schools, and hospitals, Educated struck me as especially relevant right now. At a time where so many people are being lost to misinformation, it’s a reminder that people can leave, relearn, and find their own way, especially with patient teachers, helpers, and guides.

📕 Untamed was one essay after the next packed full of writing chops I’m frankly jealous of. While it covers an expansive set of things, one of my big takeaways was the value of raising kids in a way that honors their true selves.

📗 Know My Name felt so deeply personal-and it is that sort of book. It only adds to that effect that everything takes place in a younger person’s life in California and that Chanel Miller was a UCSB student around the same time I was. Her integration of the attack that happened to her added nuance to the way I think of victimhood and survivorship.

Searching for Kumandra

Decoding the Cultures of Raya and the Last Dragon

I remember being pretty pumped about this film when the trailer dropped. So many visual nods to traditional Filipino clothing, weaponry, and other items. But was she actually supposed to be Filipina? She also eats Thai looking food, brandishes an Indonesian sword, and is voiced by a Vietnamese American actress. It’s never clearly stated.

And this ambiguity raises more questions. Is this a positive thing that pushes a pan-Southeast Asian unity? Another lumping of cultures that doesn’t acknowledge their diversity?

The waters that flow through the region both connect and divide, and its national borders don’t tell the full story. I made a video to explore some of these themes.

Do check this out on YouTube for the full deep dive, where I’m less limited by IGTV length limits.

Leave Room for What You Love

Leaving room for what you love.

A few weeks ago we spent a few days in this cozy studio cabin at Lake Gregory and it was exactly what we needed at the time.

This video is a bit different than the kind I usually make, but I wanted to capture the feeling of early 2020, the heaviness of so much loss, the prospect of changing times, and the importance of making room for what matters. Plus I got a bunch of clips of Rhys and Beignet playing in the snow.

Booknotes: Black History Reads

Before Black History Month comes to a close, I’ve got to share my three most recent reads, all of which I’d recommend.

Caste

Isabel Wilkerson

Caste is getting all kinds of buzz, and deservedly so. Isabel Wilkerson looks at three applications of Caste: Nazi Germany, racial stratification in the US, and the assigned castes of India. One short lived and brutal, one ancient but persistent, and one I’m living in. This read was sobering but not fatalistic, and an important reminder of what can happen when we’re asleep to how inequities persist.

How to Fight Racism

Jemar Tisby

How to Fight Racism is full of good reminders and a helpful, accessible read for someone wanting to turn their concern into action. Jemar Tisby has helped me learn so much about the church’s complicity in slavery and segregation, and I think this book is an important follow up to some of his work to show how faith communities can break those cycles.

The Color of Law

Richard Rothstein

Then there’s The Color of Law. Housing segregation is the main vehicle for so many community level inequities- including educational disparities, overpolicing, public health, and environmental justice. It’s tough to keep track of all the acts, historical events, and court rulings that led to this. This book helpfully highlights a bunch of them. It’s important to talk about, so even though the history here is complex it’s worth the time it takes to try and understand.