When my Aunt Mary brought over my grandma’s old digital camera last year for my niece and nephew to play with, I snatched it up QUICK. It took me over six months to finally get a converter so I could see these photos on a screen that’s larger than 2”x2” big, but looking through them now is bringing me so much joy I simply cannot let them just sit on my desktop.
There’s something so sweet and nostalgic about the blurriness and the bad lighting and the red eyes. This was our first holiday season without Na, but we celebrated at her house. Even though she’s not in the photos, she still somehow fills them up. My friends do too. I’m no photographer by any means, but capturing the people I love makes me very grateful for all the beautiful people and things that make up my life.
I am also very, very grateful that I don’t have to worry about their safety or well-being due to their perceived worthiness of such things by the government. The ICE raids in Los Angeles and across the country are a grave violation of our democracy and we need to support our undocumented and immigrant neighbors that are being targeted as a red herring for the forces hell bent on upholding capitalism and U.S. imperialism. People are being kidnapped in broad daylight without any due process—where is the liberty and justice in that? If you have ever felt scared or angry or upset about our political process, now is the time to put those feelings to use!!! And if you’re white and financially stable, you need to run some money. It’s as simple as that at this point. You can do so here, here, here, here, here. here…the options are horrifically limitless.
It’s not fair that I and everyone I know lives in the utmost comfort while there are millions living in terror. Is it naive to hope that one day people learn how to open their hearts, and we will all know peace? I have to believe it’s not.
Xmas 2024
San Diego 2025
Seattle + Bellingham, WA 2025
And if you made it all the way to the end, here’s a playlist I’ve long had in the works for all my fellow part-time doomsayers out there