Issue 9: When the World Feels Extra Heavy 🌎
If you're having a breakdown this week, you're not alone
Hafa Adai Friends,
It’s Thursday here in Hawai’i, and I can say that I had about three meltdowns this week. There’s heaviness in the air, and I’m feeling it more after the recent tragedies of Christina Yuna Lee and Michelle Alyssa Go. My heart also hurts knowing that more land is being taken away by the locals in Guam in order to develop another hotel when there are countless neglected structures, abandoned apartments, and half-built shopping centers. February is Black History month, and to think that half a century ago, Dr. King was assassinated, yet the Black Community is still fighting relentlessly for racial justice.
I stayed in bed all week, boggled by my innermost thoughts, and couldn’t grasp how frightening the world had become. If anything, how heavy the world has become these last couple of years 🌎
Everyone’s coping mechanisms are different. Everyone heals and contributes in their own way. There are no shortages in ways to do more. These topics and discussions come up daily whether between two friends grabbing a drink at a bar, after gym sessions or in support groups. My hope for Wanderlee has always been to deliver my readers with some magic, especially in the heaviest of moments. I’ve always seen the magic in stories (possibly because I’m a writer by trade), but podcasts have been my go-to’s lately.
Everything from history, culture, to free-flowing convos 🎧
Louder than Riot by NPR on the interconnected rise of hip-hop and mass incarceration impacting Black America.
Hawaiian at Home by Emily States on learning and teaching Hawaiian to their little ones.
All My Relations by Matika Wilbur, Desi Small-Rodriguez & Adrienne Keene on topics facing Native American peoples today.
Master Random by podcast veteran Boo Ada, on long-form convos with the people of Guåhan, from the Governor of Guam to craft beer brewmasters.
Dear Asian Girl by Dear Asian Youth on uplifting messages for Asian girls everywhere.
Ending it with this
Be well and good, my friends ✨
Akina