About
i am a twenty-something, canadian-born chinese, queering, middle-class, cisgendered, female living on turtle island.
i am not an academic. but i am a university student. my feelings on taking six years to not even finish a four year degree are not positive. in fact i feel like a stupid, money wasting, idle failure most of the time. this blog will not be full of politics or theory, and it probably will not be original either. i just feel like i need to find my voice in this world where i am continually negotiating my identity. this is a collection of my thoughts, feelings, and experiences, in various capacities. i am open to critique and i welcome being called out on the problematic things i say. i want to decolonize my mind, learn and deconstruct my privileges.
my interests include: crafting (bookbinding, embroidery, knitting, sewing), design (apparel, industrial, package, & typographic), social-cultural anthropology (medical anthropology, urban anthropology), issues of neo-liberalism & globalization (in china and beyond), street art, food, colour, travel, and procrastination. I’ll probably be writing about this stuff more often than not, despite the previous paragraph.
jook sing (??) is a cantonese term which literally means “hollow bamboo”, but is used to describe a person of chinese descent who has grown up in a western environment. chinese on the outside, but hollow on the inside. it was used as a derogatory to describe someone who isn’t quite western, but isn’t quite chinese either. i’m reclaiming that shit as my own because it’s who i am and i do not know any other way. i will never be western and i will never be chinese.
i have some issue with the usage of “girl” when referring to a woman, but i like the way “jook sing girl” rolls off my tongue.
welcome to the human race!
may i timidly suggest you appreciate your good fortune that you can take longer than most to complete yr studies!
rather than feel bad about it celebrate it and enjoy every moment!
trust that this time is necessary for you to become an ever more magnificent human being!
you are sooo fortunate to have a perspective from 2 very different cultures – you are in a really really unique space – which i guess at times must be lonely if you do not have others who are in the same situation as you to share your experiences – it has been so important for me to have some friends who feel and think in a similar way to to me as i need to know that what i think and feel is actually going on and is valid!
Your unique perspective on the world around you, I know, is vital to seeing the world in a broader deeper way than those of us who haven’t had the good fortune of having a dual cultural back ground.
i believe that one of the problems in us not getting along, is all the divisions of countries and cultures – mine’s better than yours – again – us and the other
if you don’t beleive in the same things as me i’ll kill you! etc etc
religion – a prime example
i’m 1/2 english scotish/french by birth and education in an english school but lived in italy from the age of 2 months – i wave my hands about when i talk – this drives many english people to distraction!
fortunately i went to a school where most of us were not living in england nor were english so it was very normal for me to be with non english people as they were my school mates when i think of them now i still hold immense feeling of love for them evn though we haven’t seen each other in years and years.
Thanks to them i think i’m accepting of people from all over the world
geepers i don’t half go on!
here’s what i think!
you have a special ‘purpose’ to help heal the often ever so fragmented world we live in – us/me and the other
you are a 22nd centuary citizen!
i hope you find something meaningful that you love – to put your energy into – and buckle down and complete yr studies SAP – so you can step out into the big world and start on your magnificent journey of helping to make this planet a peaceful one!
all the very best to you
Salutation To The Dawn.
Look to this day
For it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course
Lie all the verities and realities
Of your existence
The bliss of growth
The glory of action
The splendour of beauty
For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision
But today, well lived, makes every yesterday
A dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore to this day
Such is the salutation to the dawn.
Kālidāsa [600 - 1200 AD ]
The place where you are now is vital. Never avoid what you must face. Challenge your circumstances and steadily persevere. The path toward victory opens from where you stand.
Daisaku Ikeda