Left: Gwen said she is “dad coded” in this photo of her reading Slingshot

Below: Me receiving quarantine goodies from Madeleine

Well, today is Christmas Eve. I was meant to be on a plane to Portland right now but instead I am “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York,” that is to say, I am alone in my apartment in Brooklyn because I have Covid.

I am very sad to not be seeing my family and my friends in Portland but I’m very grateful to have Madeleine be in New York because she dropped off lots of tea and soup and kleenex and homemade banana bread for me. My Christmas/belated hannukah wish is for everyone to have a sister like her. Additionally Sari shared access to the incredible movie “Eloise at Christmastime,” and I have plans to call family and friends -so I feel well taken care of. ❤

December went by very fast. I have been learning more about being a person and being a teacher. I’ve been trying to be more mindful in my relationships to others, and have learned a lot from the book “Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication” by Oren Jay Sofer. I think the title does not do the book service because it kind of makes it sound like its a book for quote-unquote “violent” people. But actually it’s useful to anyone, it’s just about how to use presence, intention, and focus to have meaningful conversations. As someone who often gets anxious when speaking, I felt like this book gave me a lot of tools, and it also made me realize how much better I could be at listening too. The best part of the book has been trying to put it into practice and seeing the doors that have opened up between me and others. I reconnected with an estranged friend and it went so much better than I could have imagined. And I also felt empowered to ask for some necessary things at work.

Gwen came and visited me for a few days last week! It was fun to hang out since we haven’t seen each other since graduation. We watched a couple movies, read a lot of zines, thrifted, and did lots of walking (her more than me). Sari also crashed here for a day so we essentially had a big sleepover, and I’m very excited for her and Charlie to be moving nearby soon.

Topic change, but realizing how biased the New York Times really is has been a big paradigm shift for me. Growing up that was always the newspaper that teachers cited as a good source, and it’s what my parents and grandparents read. But NYT has been doing extraordinarily biased coverage of Israel and Palestine, and is manufacturing consent for genocide. I think a lot about what I heard someone say at a protest, that “The New York Time’s passive voice is anything but”

So I’ve been trying to find other news and media sources that are honest and that resonate with me. “Slingshot,” is an independent newspaper from Berkeley that I really enjoyed reading. And I also keep up with Palestinian journalists on Instagram. I think that the Los Angeles Times calling for a ceasefire was important, but for the most part I have not seen mainstream media outlets give Palestine fair coverage. So let me know if you have any better news recommendations for these horrifying times.