Sundaze 189

Talk about an eleventh hour blog post… It’s midnight as I pen this week’s update and I’m incredibly distracted by hunting for balloons in ACNH. You see, I’m hoping to find more seasonal DIY recipe cards and it’s truly the glimmer of hope that keeps me going. And I suppose, in many ways, that’s a pretty succinct metaphor for how things are going right now. I’m holding on to fragments of hope; hope that I can find some clarity in what I want to do, hope that the important anti-racism conversations I’ve been involved in this week might just help, and hope that this awful pandemic might take a turn for the better soon.

Hope is a funny little thing, isn’t it? But, hey, if we were rewarded with elation after hoping for a Biden/Harris win, then we’ve everything to play for. Everything.

(I just shot down an autumn DIY card!)

Lessons in accountability and growth

Bizarrely, five months after I first wrote about a conversation I’d had about anti-Chinese sentiment and racism, this week we landed back in the same spot. If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, then you’ll already know of the situation, so I’ll keep things brief. This week, The Leopard UK launched, a project from Hannah Gale, who returned after ‘leaving the Internet’ from a backlash over her use of a racial slur. Knowing the damaging, derogatory words used and the way the situation was handled, I braced myself for the worst and, of course, was met with it too. Honestly? It’s been a weird week. What struck me the most in this situation 2.0 (seriously, twice in the same year) was that there didn’t appear to have been any meaningful growth or change. The problem was swept under the rug, then comments were limited when readers discovered the platform, and – most troubling – words like ‘racism’, ‘Chinese’ and ‘BLM’ were blocked.

Moreover, some awful comments from people were left up. Some justifying the slur, others refusing to see what was so bad. Some that labelled anti-racist allies as trolls. I don’t think calling for action and for people to use influence for good is trolling at all. One of the things I’ve learned this year, a time of monumental change in the Black Lives Matter movement, is that real change and growth comes from holding ourselves accountable, being vocal in our support and amplifying the voices of those that need it the most. I felt incredibly let down by the owners’ choices not to respond to these comments and tell them what they’d supposedly learned. I felt let down by people I thought were allies who supported them.

None of us are perfect, but we all have the opportunity to try again and do better. Just some food for thought.

The Christmas shopping struggle is real

In between important conversations, I finally got round to starting my festive shopping this week. And is it just me, or does it feel particularly hard this year?! Around two years ago I committed to buying things (whether gifts or items for myself) in person wherever I could. COVID-19 and lockdown has completely thrown that out of the window. I’m really missing little lunchtime jaunts, where I’d spot something oh-so-perfect for so-and-so en route to grabbing coffee, or stumbling across dream gifts completely by chance. Perusing websites with terrible navigation bars and targeted merchandising? Not quite the holiday magic I hoped for! Nevertheless, I’m making slow but steady progress with my Christmas gift shopping. How about you?

Christmas at the Chai’s

Well, I suppose now is as good a time as any to let you know that we put our Christmas decorations up yesterday. We’re normally a strictly 1st December family, when it comes to bringing the tree out from hibernation, but seeing as we’re desperately bored in lockdown, we popped on a Christmas playlist and set to work festooning the house in baubles and garlands aplenty. It’s been a total tonic, lemme tell you that!

Links I’ve Loved

Fellow British-Chinese Anthony Cheng has penned a brilliant article on Medium about the underrepresentation and mis-representation of our community.
Autumn is in full swing on Animal Crossing: New Horizons; tour Megan’s gorgeous island on her blog now!
We rustled up this Creamy Vegan Pasta Bake with Brussels Sprouts for dinner again – so delicious.
This Houseplants Advent Calendar DIY on A Beautiful Mess looks like so much fun! The perfect grown-up festive countdown.
And, our candles are now restocked over on & Chai.