This is a story on my time playing on Charles Windsor’s Windsor East Bay Chess Academy (WEBCA), the only competitive Black-founded chess club in Oakland at the time, and the lessons he taught me about what it takes to compete in spaces where not many people look like me or shared my background.
How do you do justice to a moment in your life when you found your Ikigai: when what you were talented at and what you could be paid to do collided with what you deeply love, and what the world truly needs?
I sometimes reflect on the consequences of growing up broke, the decisions that kids have to make to secure a future for their families, and the dreams and art they give up in doing so. I have met these kids and I know them because they are me in tech, film, or politics.
I initially approached this film with intense trepidation, bracing myself for potential jokes that would come at the expense of ridiculing Asian culture as opposed to celebrating it. I cannot count how many situations I have been in where I would cringe at various Asian American artists or performances depicting Asian Americans.
There is a day in the Munchery office that I will always hold dear in my heart: it was the moment when Conrad Chu, one of our cofounders, invited his parents to tour our office here in SF. I suddenly heard an exchange of Cantonese flying around as his parents marveled at the office shindigs and the efforts of what their son built.
Last night was one of those moments where I was reminded of how baseball was more than just a game, but a reality for the half million or so people who call this city home.
I cannot believe it has been three months since I walked from Berkeley and walked into my first job in the Silicon Valley. The beginning of this September marks the ninety days that I have been at my first new job as a software engineer for Constant Contact. Below is an account of what it was like for me to start my new job, the things I learned along the way, and the things that get me up every morning ready for work.
In this essay, we will be discussing the semantic changes found in the word tripping by comparing the changes in its meaning over time. In particular, we will chronicle the evolution of this word by exploring the historical usage of tripping [trɪpɪŋ] and its root morpheme trip (v.) as far back as the 1300s, its references to drug culture in the 1960s, and its modern usage in American hip-hop culture from the 1980s until now. Throughout the essay, we will analyze the word’s lexical and semantic change in context of the given time periods.
I am so proud of my city of Oakland. I felt this incredible energy yesterday at the OccupyOakland general strike that is unparalleled, unrivaled by any other mass of people I have ever seen. An overwhelming majority of the people were kind, were peaceful, and were hopeful. Above all, however, they were empowered — empowered with the idea that they could actually do something to change the course of this country around. My own hope is that this energy I felt last night is sustained into a movement that will bring change to our world for generations to come.
I still miss Steve Jobs.
It has been a month now since he passed away, but I still feel this huge hole, this dark void, in my life. Even though I never actually ever met Steve before, I have always wanted to shake his hand, give him one of those high fives from the side, pull in, pat on the backs, and tell him what an influence he has been to my life.