There’s so much I want to express, but attempting to capture everything at once seems overwhelming, in both written and verbal communication. So the outcome tends to be binary – either I don’t start/say anything or end up ‘dumping’ in the form of freewriting or even worse, “word vomitting.”

I used to be so scared of writing and being public about my thoughts – and associate thoughts with my name, but since no one knows about this blog, it’s been refreshing to just write and hit the ‘publish’ button.

A few recent thoughts of stuff I want to write out:

• Recent trip to MoMA – and cognitive dissonance after finding out details of recent construction (costs, merger/destruction of American Folk Museum)
• RAS
• All kinds of stuff on dating
• The kind of world I *do* want to live in
• What I never said/wrote about AAPI violence – and the ways DJT used social media platforms to normalize the systemic dehumanization of and violence towards Asian Americans
• Embracing being Korean / on identity / that I can’t outrun racism with accomplishments
• The stuff we’ve been talking about on our podcast (about not being the perfect Asian daughter – beauty standards, family expectations, career development tips, saying ‘no’, etc.)
• On whistleblowers
• Impatience for ‘social change’
• What’s broken with philanthropy, big tech, regulation – and why it matters
• The open letter on ‘pausing development on AI’ and the business interests behind the plea (disguised as wanting to mitigate social harm)
• The amazing run that the Sacramento Kings had – and why I’m inspired and rooting for them. And on a separate note KD and his comments on ‘legacy’

Recent realizations

• Erasure of people of color in tech is real. While the ‘news’ moment has passed, I was part of the history of the 2020 election cycle, Jan 6th, and more while at Twitter. No one is going to tell my story for me. I used to think it wasn’t important and it was easy to diminish my experience – and was concerned that cost of telling it would be too great. But I am seeing an opening, a pathway, something new that’s possible, and a desire to tell my story and create initiatives!!!!
• It’s also been hard to be a bystander, in the bleachers, watching others take credit for work that wasn’t theirs or make uninformed recommendations that are rooted in their imagination rather than experience.
• While ‘tech ethics’ was satire on episodes of HBO’s Silicon Valley tv show, “tech reform” / “tech policy” has become an extremely crowded space. I’m not sure if the activity is driven by demand or supply, but one thing is true – there’s a lot of noise.
• I’m personally ready. I’m mentally, physically, emotionally getting into ‘fighting shape.’ I was able to take off – and I’m so grateful for having that privilege (and trusting my instinct to run down my personal savings to do so). I’ve also had some distance from the trauma of being responsible or involved in high profile content moderation decisions that were not only personally distressing, but also globally impactful.

Maybe I can start out with a paragraph a day, even if it’s a halfbaked thought, maybe 10-30 minutes a day. 🙂

Food for thought – Is there anything YOU wish you could do everyday? Anything you want to write about? Want to express?