i took time today to make a yummy breakfast.
^_________^

According to Slavery Footprint, a slave is:

“anyone who is forced to work without pay,

being economically exploited and is unable to walk away.”

Right now, there are ~27 million slaves globally (!!)

they are making your phone, gutting shrimp,

mining for mica for the glittery sparkles in make-up,

weaving rugs, growing cocoa beans, etc.

The website (Slavery Footprint) has a really well

designed interactive graphic to educate people about

the supply chain and serves as a good reminder

to become an even more critical consumer.

to avoid being hunted, wear orange.

this blog is 9 years old.

w0w. how time flies.

gardening gone wrong

(very wrong).

#mutantcorn

new discovery of the day:

kombucha is a good trap for fruit flies.

#capitalism

 "what happens with these beans?"

"we just grow them, but we don't know."

my sister shared this video with me

time to go to 
s l a t l a n d~

found some light while browsing during my
daily dose of almostlosinghopeinhumanity (aka the news)

a taekwondo school in a syrian refugee camp in jordan:

mops, it's yo birthday.
hope you enjoyed the meat

my beautiful pizza
i wish i could make a pizza
for every kid who wants a pizza.

sitting under a fiddleleaf fig tree

i made my mom a berry happy birthday cake~ 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! 生日快乐~

fern groto caves, swimming holes,
redwoods, + hazy sunsets. 

it was so nice to be back in santa cruz~*

until next time!

maryna and i went up to san francisco to visit

theresa in the city! we ate alot of pastries,

strolled a botanical garden and

played with jelly (her chihuahua mix)!

then we got some plants and baklava.

got to catch up with my anthro tutoring buddy jeff.

we got strawberry sorbet, sat in the red room

and talked about genocide & cactus festivals.

thanks for the little dried opium poppy flower;

i shall stick it in my aloe vera plant's pot.

watched 4 youtube documentaries on:

~slavery and voodoo in haiti, didgeridoos

alaskan grizzly bears,
& nefertiti: history and hair

while painting this:

oh snowman,

they have extra skins like you.

                      

f r e e

g a z a

~ ~ ~
"You who are so liberal, so humane,
who take the love of culture to the point of
affectation, you pretend to forget that you have
colonies where massacres are committed in your name."
Jean-Paul Sartre

a warm day hiking the canyons with maggie.

unfortunately, it ended when i got heat stroke.

thank you for taking me to get rehydrated after

i threw up all over black-eyed susans. (sorry flowers).

after attending a culinary workshop demystifying

"exotic" cuisines of the world and using

old world peruvian techniques to

grow and cook food sustainably,

 i felt inclined to..make pasta from scratch:

maggie, mops, cassidy and i went on an

avocado adventure today.

she read animal tracks in the dust and

i picked avocados from a un-surveillanced grove.

went exploring with mops today.

some type of giant black bird

(maybe a turkey vulture) soared in the sky.

and the world watches on
yet another apartheid.

for the sake of basic human rights and compassion;
world, come on.

hollyhocks are germinating!
(violas, dahlias and eggplants too!)

museum of anthropology at

university of british columbia.

had a super great exhibit about the diverse ways

indigenous youth navigate urban spaces and identity in

Canada, the US, New Zealand and Norway.

they also had hallways of drawers filled with
STUFF somehow acquired from all over.
thousands of mini egyptian figurines,
puppets from korea and masks from everywhere you can
imagine, all piled together without organization.

"museums are just institutionalized hoarders"
-my sister

vancouver, at low tide.
i sloshed around in the 
 sludge and tried to dig up clams.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

nibbled some ahi tuna poke,

waded in the pacific ocean,

and cruised down PCH in the

golden misty afternoon glow.

found a notebook of obscure drawings:

a very cool map of

aboriginal Australian languages

(250/700 of which are still used today)

dipped my toe in pool water

for the first time in months;

i became inexplicably happy

at the feeling of chlorinated water.

 ~ ~ ~

"What county in the world
best fits your personality?"

i got new zealand; good thing i studied abroad there!

"You are an adventurous individual who enjoys being

outdoors and spending time being active. You are a risk taker and

have no problem striking up a conversation with a total stranger.

When you travel you love to get to know the locals,

and their customs, and are always up for a challenge.

You thrive in a culture where others share your deep appreciation

for land, and believe life is best lived outdoors..

You thrive in a society with diversity and appreciate

a simpler way of living. You are keen on learning about cultures

and customs that are different than your own, and enjoy a deep conversation,

whether it be philosophical or spiritual."

is here!!!
(after one cray cray year of nonstop
writing, planning, drafting, collaborating,
analyzing, experimenting, trial + error,
community events and panel talks,
sleeping at 3am, lunch break chats, 12 hour days,
the entertainment of kindergartners' humor,
and a few great moments of teaching glory)

ok, back to weeding and pruning roses~

i was a banana slug and now i am a husky.

(but really i am a bananusky)

a product of kombucha in the forest
+ urban commutes in heavy traffic
(but with evergreens and rain showers)
and singing children who now know
how to sew and weave, to identity alliteration,
write petitions about problems in the world,
and 10 different types of fabric.

my mom, sister and i spent some time

at one of my favorite places

(black coffee co-op)

and then consumed alot of sugar.

after 18 years, i am finally finished with school

(as a student); now it's adventure-time!

hello spain, france, italy & greece~*~

a tropical fruit is growing in the greenhouse.

*made brunch
*returned my video recorder
*strolled washington park arboretum,
*admired plants, posted flyers,
*visited bruce lee's gravesite,
*sold 4 pieces of furniture. 
what a satisfying summer's day!

glaciers, rivers, bridges

waterfalls, trees, misty mountains

salmon migration

here's a sockeye in the ocean phase

swimming through the fish ladder.

then suddenly, a seal, sea otter, blue heron appeared

all at the same time next to the thousands of

baby salmon making their way upstream.

then my mom and i hiked around

discovery park for 4 hours

everyday for the past 9 months,

during our morning commute on i-5,

i saw an enormous beautiful snowy mountain

on the horizon of the highway.

everyday at the playground,

i pointed to mountain and said to my students:

look, it's Mount Rainier!

i finally went to it, and it really was a

a  s t u n n i n g   s n o w y

m a g i c a l

w i n t e r y

w o n d e r l a n d.

getting to the olympic peninsula involved:

ferrying across the puget sound,

driving through two islands,

crossing two bridges, and

going through forested hills bursting

with wild lupine and daisies.

we stumbled upon a clam & oyster paradise

(sequim bay) where literally every rock was covered

in creatures or had a fish, mini eel or starfish

burrowed underneath in the mud,

including a bright purple blobfish

that was speckled with gold dots near its face.

SUMMER:Day #1

one of my students called me this morning

(i gave them all my # so they can
let me know what they are up to!)

it made my day

^____^

the most magical graduation weekend!

this really is the evergreen state.

we had our kinder last-day-of-school celebration today.

cathy gave a speech in front of

all our students and their families

about me, my growth this year

and that i'm "going to shift the world"

then we both ended up getting teary eyed..

thank you so much :)

now i have a BA in Anthropology,

Minor in Education

and a Masters in Teaching!
+ a teaching credential

MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK

we celebrated my graduation by climbing

a snowy mountain and eating soup in a bread bowl.
it started snowing so much and
it felt like a winter wonderland (in summer).

GRADUATED! :)