Hosting my first support group for queer Asians

How my first support group went, most useful books of 2019, Instagram face, and the state of podcasting

Dec 15, 2019

Hi friend!

This week, I hosted the very first session of Yellow Glitter Sparkles, a support group for queer Asians. As part of the work that I do, including my Yellow Glitter gaysian mindfulness podcast, I also wanted to create a safe space for gaysians to come together, share stories, and heal together. And after being in the space of mindfulness for quite some time, I’ve never seen any group like this before.

Without divulging too much, because one of our core principles is privacy, I will say that the event far exceeded my expectations. The discussions moved me and spoke to me in ways that I have never had any support group do before, and I walked away from the session having learned new lessons, even as the leader.

Two hours was not nearly enough to get to some of the topics that came up during the discussions, and so I put in a request to book spaces for the first half of 2020 to continue the discussion every single month. Stay tuned for more Yellow Glitter Sparkles.

It brings me so much joy to be able to create content and spaces for queer Asians. If it can impact another queer Asian’s life, then all of this effort would have been so worth it. For myself at least, this is everything I wish I had growing up, especially as I struggled to navigate the intersection of my queer, Asian, and American identities.

2019 has been quite a transformational journey, and 2020 will be an even bigger adventure. Queer Asian perspectives matter and I’m beyond ecstatic that we can create content and spaces to celebrate these intersections.

Most useful books of 2019

One of my favorite newsletter writers published the most useful books of 2019.

Social media face

A recent New Yorker article describes the age of “Instagram Face”.

Social media hasn't just taken over our attention, it has taken over our faces. People are striving for unrealistic expectations of the best features of every ethnicity. When it can't be done naturally, modern medicine intervenes.

“We’re talking an overly tan skin tone, a South Asian influence with the brows and eye shape, an African-American influence with the lips, a Caucasian influence with the nose, a cheek structure that is predominantly Native American and Middle Eastern...
The face is distinctly white but ambiguously ethnic—it suggests a National Geographic composite illustrating what Americans will look like in 2050, if every American of the future were to be a direct descendant of Kim Kardashian West, Bella Hadid, Emily Ratajkowski, and Kendall Jenner (who looks exactly like Emily Ratajkowski). 'It's like a sexy . . . baby . . . tiger,' Cara Craig, a high-end New York colorist, observed to me recently. The celebrity makeup artist Colby Smith told me, 'It's Instagram Face, duh. It's like an unrealistic sculpture. Volume on volume. A face that looks like it's made out of clay."

This is somewhat aligned with National Geographic's prediction of what we will look like in 2050.