你好吗 / Nǐ hǎo ma? That's how are you? in Mandarin. I know many of us have been learning Mandarin via TikTok for the past year, thanks to this diva, Marcelo Wang. Important phrases like, “Don't fuck with me, bitch!” (Bíe ré wǒ, lǎo dēng) and “Girl, you look so stunning!” (Jiě, nǐ tài jīng yàn la) now in our repertoire. Let's hope Marcelo hasn't led us astray here. 😂 Marcelo has even taught Rihanna some phrases at a Fenty Beauty event. 💅🏾
And now we can take our skills over to our new favorite app, Xiaohongshu/RedNote. We've all downloaded in protest of the TikTok ban, yes? Personally, I love how this has spectacularly backfired on the American government and its rampant sinophobia—US citizens are now freely giving their data to a Chinese company. (RedNote's name is a nod to Little Red Book the English nickname for the 1964 compilation Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung.)
Americans downloaded the app in droves, jumping the app to #1 in the App Store. The quickest liberal to commie pipeline I've seen to date. 🫡
In all seriousness, I do hope we see beautiful cultural exchanges from folks using the app. I personally love the exchanges I've had over the years on WeChat with our Chinese suppliers. There's so much learning and unlearning to be done for us all as Americans.
We also need to stop electing dinosaurs into Congress who know nothing about algorithms and who continue to conflate dangerous views of national security as if they all haven't been bought off by foreign nations themselves. It's a well known fact that TikTok has changed the way Americans, especially the youth, view Israel and its occupation of Palestine, which inevitably affected the outcome of the election.
Considering the state of the economy, unemployment rates, and how our government barely provides any reprieve, the economic impact of the ban is not be taken lightly. TikTok shared the following stats with Rolling Stone:
Small businesses on TikTok would lose more than $1 billion in revenue
Creators would suffer almost $300 million in lost earnings in just one month unless the TikTok Ban is halted
In 2023 alone, the advertising, marketing, and organic reach on TikTok contributed $24.2 billion
TikTok’s own operations contributed an additional $8.5 billion to the U.S. GDP ‼️
Just a reminder that only fascist countries ban books and apps..
It's been some time since we had a pop-up, so please join us IRL as we celebrate style and community with our friends at Áwet New York!
Date: Saturday, January 25, 2025
Time: 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Location: Áwet New York | 57 Bond Street, New York, NY
A little bit about our friends at Áwet New York:
Founded by Áwet Woldegebriel, a refugee from Eritrea; the brand places community and craftsmanship at the heart of its ethos. Áwet New York has launched various initiatives elevating BIPOC brands, partnered with organizations to support refugees, and more. From a design perspective, the brand creates livewear pieces. Their men’s + women’s collections feature carefully crafted, thoughtfully sourced, luxury essentials that combine style and comfort.
Stop by, shop the collections, and celebrate the New Year with us!
a collection of random, contemporaneous thoughts. no photos. just vibes.
I'm not gonna lie, I feel ultra productive with my new hobonichi planner. Those back to school vibes when my parents used to take us to Staples to stock up on supplies and now I've developed a bad collecting stationary habit—hoarding paper because it's too pretty to use. 😌
I picked up some Equal Exchange coffee beans from a grocery store upstate and it's now my favorite. Sadly not available on their site but they were beans from Sumatra. Fair trade and co-op owned!
I watched a few clips of the confirmation hearing on C-SPAN and Sen. Tim Kaine's questioning had me thinking I was watching Maury. All the questioning on infidelity and baby mamas. He got dragged for filth by nearly everyone. 😂
This article includes a nice background on how Black folks from the south headed west during the Great Migration and settled in Altadena. In the 1970s, a multiracial coalition called the Altadena Neighbors was formed to encourage peaceful integration of the neighborhood.
I learned of Gotts Street Park when I saw they had a track (Both Sides of the Moon) with Celeste, an artist I previously shared here. I was listening to their album and this track just stood out—Olive Jones' soulful vocals for the win.
Some other lovely tracks by Olive Jones, a London-based singer, songwriter, and guitarist:
