The woman I dedicate my work to
Happy Women's Day, a story of perseverance, understanding emojis, and taking care of your thoughts
Hi friend,
To commemorate Women’s Day, I wanted to share a personal story about what inspires the work that I do. The topic is a bit raw as I’m still processing it, but I’ve found writing to be an extremely therapeutic way of processing these difficult emotions.
A lot of the work that I do is centered around my relationship with my mother. Unfortunately, we do not share the same perspectives on being gay.
For the longest time, I was very depressed about not being accepted. I cursed my skin and my culture, thinking that perhaps these external forces were to blame, but after years of introspection, I realize that this intolerance is far beyond my mother and Asian culture. Putting the blame on either does not grant me the love and acceptance that I hunger for.
My mother had sacrificed her life to give me a fighting chance in this world. After my father had passed, she took on raising my sister and me (four and seven years old at the time) as a single, working mother. For that, I am eternally grateful.
Although we can co-exist with one another, I see her struggle to understand my lifestyle, which is unlike anything she had been educated or exposed to all her life.
It breaks my heart that we are on two separate planes.
Sometimes, my social media followers don’t understand why I hold space for opposing perspectives. Truth is, I yearn to create the bridge between intolerance and love… if not for the strangers online, at least for my mother one day.
We are all trying our best with the cards that we’ve been dealt. The way we see the world is not entirely our own, but also a culmination of life experiences that have been given to us – starting with where we are born and to whom.
Perhaps we are brought into this world to tackle these difficult problems, and to mend our divide with threads of compassion.
Although I’m not sure if you’ll see this or the work that I do, but I dedicate my work to our love and being there for each other, even though we may never truly understand one another.
Love you mom.
What I’m up to
For Clubhousers: Sunday, March 14 w/ Dalia Kinsey @ 1p ET- Living Queer & Melanated (add me @wakuu and I’ll ping you in)
For queer POC: Tuesday, March 9 - Digital accessibility masterclass
For queer Asians: Sunday, March 21 - Yellow Glitter Sparkes, Gaysian support group
For Asians: Sunday, March 28 - Asian American Healing Space
From $300 to NASA
The landing only marked the beginning of Perseverance's stop on Mars, but playing a leadership role in the historic mission to find life there was decades in the making for Trujillo. Her dreams of reaching space and wanting to understand the universe came as a young person in Cali, Colombia. Her parents were divorcing and as a 17-year-old, she decided to go to the United States, arriving with only $300 and not speaking any English. She worked housekeeping jobs to pay for her studies and later joined NASA in 2007.
Decoding hearts
A fascinating guide by Emojipedia on the use of the various heart emojis and what they might mean based on context and research.
Taking care
“Two things to remember in life. Take care of your thoughts when you are alone, and take care of your words when you are with people” -Unknown
As always, thanks for reading!
P.S. If you enjoyed this, share or sign up here: mindfulmoments.substack.com
Anything else? You can always hit "reply" to email me directly. 💌
Have a beautiful day!
Metta (loving-kindness),
Steven
Yellow Glitter Podcast | IG | YT | FB | TW | StevenWakabayashi.com