Conversations around things like racial justice, reproductive rights, feminism, or fat phobia might be uncomfortable for you. Often we silence ourselves and opt out of these conversations because of a lot of different reasons. We might feel ignorant about the subject, or be wary of accidentally causing harm to someone. […]
Category: rick life
The Future is Trust
Most people don’t think about trust very often, unless they come across a breach of trust. Maybe it’s your boss not trusting you with autonomy and micromanaging, or clients not trusting you enough to commit to a purchase order. Perhaps what gets you thinking about trust is a stranger returning […]
A Valentine’s Day Hate Crime
Not sure if you’ve heard, but there’s an uptick in violence and harassment against Asian/Americans. It’s not surprising to me, given that my younger brother was assaulted walking home from school after 9/11 with shouts of “remember Pearl Harbor,” an entire generation of my family was shipped off to internment […]
Presence by Absence
Many times, we measure things by the known quantities that are present in our lives. There are 78 toy dinosaurs in a jar. My friend has two dogs. There is a squirrel in my backyard that keeps burying nuts in my garden regardless of my frustration. But sometimes the most […]
Partnerships
Human relationships are work. Even the best partnerships all require effort, whether that’s in life, friendship, love, or business. We’re conditioned to think that when we find the perfect partner or partners, everything will magically work out, but that’s isn’t really accurate. It is true that there will be people […]
Monster Mask
I created a melting skeleton face mask out of plaster bandages, latex, epoxy clay, and cotton, and painted it up. It’s custom-fit to my face, and it looks pretty horrifically amazing. It’s still uncomfortable to wear, at least in comparison to me not wearing any mask. Interesting how that’s exactly […]
Coincidental Parrot
The other day I was woken up by the shrill, banshee-like cry of a bird. It was so loud I thought it was hanging outside my bedroom window, but it turned out it was in our backyard on the other side of the house. The bird was screeching, and I […]
My Dog Oskar
A quick story about a boy and his dog. When I was younger, my family adopted a dog who had been abandoned in the Northern California floods in the late 90’s. Oskar loved people, but whenever he’d see my grandmother (who lived with us) he’d back into a defensive position […]
“Political” Posts on LinkedIn
You might not want to talk about things like racism, sexism, fatphobia, lookism, classism, homophobia, ableism, or transphobia on LinkedIn. You might say that LinkedIn is for networking, professionalism, and focusing on business opportunities. Why, in your mind, aren’t any of these things appropriate for networking, professionalism, and business opportunities? […]
Near Death Experiences
There have been two times in my life that I could have died, and a third that could have left me paralyzed from the neck down. Fortunately, I’m still here (no, this isn’t a ghost) and I’m very grateful to be able to have full functionality of my extremities. While […]