What a month. They’re handing out vaccines like candy. Zach Snyder reinvented cinema. A boat got stuck. Growing anti-Asian hate finally boiled over and resulted in the murder of six Asian women. And that wasn’t the only mass shooting. Look at us “getting back to normal.”

I’m numb to news of shootings. But the religiously and racially motivated Atlanta spa shooting hit hard. Learning the killer was an active member of a Southern Baptist church and considered his salvation more important than the lives of these women. Seeing social media posts from Asian American friends and strangers expressing grief for the lost, anger that their warnings had been ignored, and frustration for the silence of their white “allies.” Saying it’s been troubling is an understatement.

Ally. That term seems so anemic nowadays. What does it cost to claim to be an ally? Merely to not be against someone or something? I’m reminded of a lesson my mother tried to teach me, “Be an advocate.” This word implies action to me. To advocate you must speak, you must act.

How might I be an advocate today.

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This month’s playlist:

The Pathless

After back-to-back emotionally taxing games, The Pathless was a much-needed reprieve. This game feels like a combination of Zelda and Shadow of the Colossus. Gameplay revolves around exploration, traversal, and puzzles with combat relegated strictly to boss fights. It’s a wonderful balance. I loved the serenity of loping across a grassy plane, climbing the nearest mountain, then gliding back down to the valley exploring ruins and learning this world’s history along the way. Everywhere you go there’s something to see and likely a puzzle to solve. Just lovely all around.

Minari

Early in the film, the son asks the father about the smoke being vented from the chicken plant where his dad works. The father explains that the male chicks are burned because they’re useless. Then tells his son that it’s a man’s job to work hard so he’s not useless.

I’ve never heard a man’s fears better expressed.

This is just one moment in one relationship depicted in Minari. All the others (husband and wife, brother and sister, grandchildren and grandmother) are portrayed with equal depth and realism. I laughed and cried and prayed that this dear family would find peace and prosper.

Mobile Suit Gundam

I finally started watching the series that defined the mech genre. And while the aesthetic is now considered 80’s camp, the subject matter is unequivocally bleak. I was not prepared for a tale about child soldiers whose mental health wears away as they kill the “enemy” on the battlefield and are left to reconcile with their actions on their own. The protagonist’s reunion with his mother is one of the most tragic and complex scenes I’ve witnessed all year.

Nowadays, Gundam’s influence is everywhere. From characters to story, to themes. But few reach the depth I’m am currently witnessing in this seri

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This month I also wrote some fiction vignettes about a bunch of goats and a forest.