ooh, we’re cute and in ~*da timez*~

My partner and I were featured in “The Hunt,” which is an interactive House Hunters-style column in the New York Times. It’s pretty dope, though it’s a bit embarrassing to have to admit our finances, and more embarrassing that people are googling our names to view our LinkedIns to see what we do. Even though it’s right there in the column. Anyway, if you’re into real estate and also looking at my dogs, my pretty mug (and T’s) and want to see what my place looks like— though social media has plenty of this for you already— click the link to follow the article and let me know what you think.

safety in numbers

Given everything that’s happened, particularly to Asian women and elders, I feel like I need to provide these resources for those of you who are in New York City and feel unsafe to/from your commute— here are some wonderful resources you can utilise. One of these is *specific* to Asian women and elderly, the other provides escorts to/from public transport to your home, and some volunteers will even ride the subway with you.

SafeWalks NYC was born in Bushwick after multiple attacks on women were happening at a subway stop. The community rose up during Anti-Asian attacks (still happening, by the way) and has volunteer units spread all over. If you feel unsafe, you can have someone escort you to/from your home from the subway, and even commute home with you if you request it. Click the link to fill out a request form. They are also looking for volunteers, and have a GoFundMe where they are raising money to hire a team to build an app. It is highly recommended to support this.

Cafe Maddy Cab is a new initiative started by Cafe Maddy in order to help Asian women and elderly folx get reimbursed up to $40 for an Uber or Lyft ride. You can request reimbursement through a Google Form in the link in their bio and follow the instructions. Again, this is on the honours system, and you can donate by sending money to their Venmo account (@cafemaddycab) to cover someone’s rides.

If you are feeling unsafe elsewhere, I hope these can link you to potential community initiatives in your area. Let me know if you need any help finding anything and I’ll try to find some resources for you.

health is wealth or whatever they say

My list is going to be sparse because I’ve been pretty busy— I will say that what’s been the main focus of my time (besides work, the dogs and my relationship) is taking care of my health. Now that I have employer-provided health insurance, I have been taking the time to build my large and extensive health team, and that includes acupuncturists.

i like getting poked, okay.

My old acupuncturist, the dearly loved Meghan Sultana, used to work three blocks away. I’m saddened to have lost her as a therapeutic part of my health team when she moved to Santa Fe with her husband. (If you’re in New Mexico, please check her out when she opens her practice. Also check out her husband’s tattoo studio and collective!) She’s also an astrologer who helped me get more into the local community here, and has been a wonderful guide. This ultimately led me to acu-hopping (a sin! I know) until I found the most unlikely practitioner. Normally, due to my identities as a fat, queer Asian femme, I veer towards people who…. you know, understand those identities through lived experiences. I pick younger people, normally queer people of colour like myself, to guide me through. But when I was looking up providers near me, I found Michael Kabram.

I know— a cishet white dude? I literally never pick them as part of my healthcare team because they dominate literally every field their in due to all of the systemic -isms that exist in this world. But when I tell you this man helped me more in three weeks than others did (besides Meghan, I love her ok) in the time that I was hopping between providers? I am sold. He’s everything I like in my providers: straight forward, doesn’t coddle or baby me, treats me like a human being, empathetic and explains literally everything to me, listens to me and my symptoms, doesn’t push shit on me. Basically, does everything that most cishet white dudes that I’ve dealt with for the majority of my time don’t do. If you’re in the NYC area, Michael is dope. Please don’t steal my times though because I need that for my body. He recommended certain herbs and made me a concoction to take home so I didn’t have to deal with Kam Wo. (For the record, Kam Wo is dope though, and will probably be the major compounding Chinese medicine pharmacy that you’ll be working with if you live in NYC.) He practices Kampo Medicine and Japanese-style acupuncture. So the needles and herbs are gentle, which is perfect for my ~*CHAOTIC SPLEEN DEFICIENCY AND GI SYSTEM*~

For those who aren’t in the city— I searched on Yelp for mine, but you could also try NCCAOM’s directory (they license all acupuncturists within the US) or Acufinder, where you can search by modality.

but also maybe get yourself an astrologer

Here’s where I’d normally hype up my services, but my books are closed for now. And I promised they’d open this month but I need more time! In the meantime, I’d like to suggest the following people that I’m referring my clients out to:

Serena (@miniatureastrologer): Probably the person who has an approach most like myself, Serena also comes from a Hellenistic astrology background and has training in that, but also views consultations in a similar lens as I do. Also, she’s affordable as hell and her books are open for new clients, so jump on it!

Alyssia at Praxis Astrology: Alyssia specialises in locational astrology, but also does natal chart consultations. While I would highly recommend you go to them for their specialty— they do make amazing delineations and I can always hit them up on for practice. If you want a kind, empathetic but radical space to be held for you, Alyssia’s great!

I was supposed to send this out last week but I suck. So here we are. I am here now. HEAR ME ROAR.