Mid-Week Procrastination

This hits differently now that I am employed again. Wednesday has more hope, structure, and less dread than it did while I was unemployed, but I’m writing this paragraph on Monday evening and when I woke up this morning I struggled hard. I was exhausted. I’m not sure if it’s moving, starting work, quarantine, or the very, very slight time difference (I’m in central time here, it’s only an hour difference), or probably some combination of all of those things.

So far this week has consisted of the thrilling Human Resources training videos that occur with every new job, and sneaking out of quarantine to do things like sort out my mail, so I can change my address, so I can get a police check, which my job requires me to do within a month of hire. Oh, and a really fun workshop on culture that felt a little bit like a third grade class because we drew pictures and presented them to the “class” about our culture. It was very wholesome.

I loved this post from Jennifer Lake sharing her favourite Asian influencers. What happened last week in Atlanta was so horrifying and the steady increase in anti-Asian attacks and racism across the world in the past year is disgusting.

This librarian is decorating the ceiling tiles in her library by painting book covers and documenting it on TikTok, it is so precious.

I love this post from Refinery29 about how the high fashion industry is finally embracing the resale industry. This is so overdue, I mean we all heard about how stores used to destroy items that didn’t sell so that they couldn’t be resold and how wasteful the fashion industry is. From how much water it takes to grow cotton, wool, silk, leather, etc. to washing the threads and fabric as it was made, the waste of the leftover bits of fabric, the poor wages of garment workers, it goes on and on. So if the industry can embrace the resale market as a way to extend the lives of their products and potentially decrease the trendiness of high fashion so that it has a higher value on the resale market. All of this meets the “Three R’s” of reduce and reuse, increasing the overall sustainability of the industry.

I love Carly’s gallery wall, I’ve noticed it in some of her Instagrams but she finally wrote a post on it on Monday and I’m definitely planning on purchasing the tennis print! I’m also currently working on my own gallery wall so it is perfect timing!

Gossip Girl on the WB was essential viewing for me in high school/into undergrad and my style was HEAVILY influenced by the show. Headbands, blazers, and miniskirts abound. I’m really excited for the reboot and love this article breaking down the current style in the show. Super different from the original show, much more hypebeast, but still going to be hugely influential I’m sure. I’m also super curious to see how they work in cell phones and social media to the Gossip Girl plot. All of that stuff was just getting started at the time, like Serena didn’t even have a smart phone, no one had Twitter and Facebook was still for college students at specific schools (although you know a real life Serena would have had someone get her on).

Canada is just as racist as the United States (and the United Kingdom for what it’s worth), this article from Elle Canada discusses ways Canadians can be better allies to Asian-Canadians.

And there isn’t a lot of news on this yet but Sunday/Monday the Ontario Provinical Police were expelled from Pikagikum First Nations over several allegations of sexual assault and other allegations. There isn’t a lot of information yet. But 6 members of the First Nations police service remain in the patrol. However the Indigenous Services Canada is not allowing the nurses deployed to the local nursing station to remain in the community overnight. With rising COVID cases and First Nations communities and peoples being more impacted by COVID this is extremely risky. The OPP’s SIU is investigating. Here’s the CBC article.

Also I made my first TikTok/Reel last night! Please take a look!