This month I tried something new: each Thursday I'll visit a restaurant in Sunset Park, and I'll email friends details beforehand—they can show up if they want. This is to share my the experience with minimal emotional effort. Here's an ongoing thread on this #SunsetThursday /1
The motto: 好吃好喝,爱来不来. Feel free to sign up, run late, or ghost me altogether. I ain't putting in efforts to organize, and my friends don't need to spend energy to commit. The more ppl come, the more food we get to try. Yesterday was Malaysian joint Langkawi /2
We started with Roti & Satay Tofu /3
Hainanese Chicken, pork ribs, water spinach, seafood casserole. 海南雞,南乳排骨,馬拉盞通菜,砂鍋海鮮銀針粉 /4
This glorious Bak kut teh 肉骨茶 deserves its individual post /5
I failed at taking photos of drinks. But we ordered three different sodas with lychee, longan, and rambutan. Try your luck. /6
That was the second Sunset Thursday. For the debut gathering two weeks ago, we raided Fei Long's food court for roasted fish 烤魚, xiao long bao 小籠包, ci fan 粢飯 and braised pork chop 醬骨架. /7
There's more to come in the coming weeks. In the name of fried chicken wings 炸雞翼, support your local restaurants. /8
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One area that intl journalism fails as a whole: big intl news orgs have very little accountability, power or willingness to protect their journalists especially for those who are contracted, working with visas, or serving “staff” as local “news assistants” 1/
But local reporters, stringers, field producers are what holds intl reporting together. Many of them don’t even get bylines. All they get is some recommendation letters applying for grad schools (where many are already experienced enough to teach there) 2/
Even the best US J schools won’t teach intl journo students some most crucial skills: how to figure out the visa game, negotiate w/ Western editors who don’t know there sh*t, mentally prep in a place/industry who have no issue ditching u the minute they find it convenient 3/
One good thing this site actually facilitates: in the past 48 hrs, numerous mini-protests took place across various Chinese college campus against zero COVID policy. Many are censored but they ended up on Twitter, then ppl get to smuggle them back behind GFW, even just briefly
the irony of the time: such creative and daring protests take place within China, get censored, then end up a small fighting chance back in the country — with the help from a site that’s barely surviving
It’s increasingly impossible to describe the level of heartbreaking absurdity that Chinese people are experiencing, in every shape and form that varies from day to day and neighborhood to neighborhood…
…It lives in every snippet of ridiculous anecdote you’d come across everyday and drowns in the piles and piles and piles of them accruing by the second…
…It lives in WeChat murmurs, dinner talks, pop-up windows, direct or self-censorship efforts, but also dies as the absurd incidents overrides themselves with bigger, evolved, crazier versions…
Pundits can talk about Pelosi’s Taiwan visit for months but few would learn about the most talked topic in China weeks ago: sweeping cancellation of 18+ comic cons overnight due to an absurd anti-Japan conspiracy—yet it’s this kind of curated nationalism informs & feeds…
the central gov to make decisions. One can also observe how much the government enables such extremism. This is also a reminder that why a huge amount China analysis is laughably shallow. In the words of Ursula K. Le Guin…
…all the relentless guessing exhibits the perfect uselessness of knowing the answer to the wrong question.
Such an honor to be included in this #AAJA22 Voices Investigation on the lack of diversity in American mainstream journalism awards. And what a time to learn that Pulitzer — after over a century — has its FIRST Asian American voting member only in 2020. aajavoices.org/losangeles2022…
I stand by my quote. The whole award scene has spared a lot of empathy on things that white Americans care about. It awards parachute journalism, white saviors, simplified narratives, and glorified tragedies at the expense of local ppl/media workers.
It's still biting to remember that Pulitzer (or most major journalism awards) didn't even spare any recognition for Chinese journalists on the ground for the early COVID coverage when they fought against censorship AND the complete uncertainty of a deadly pandemic