Issue No. 76 | Feb 23, 2024 Bruce Lee writing in his journal (Image source) “Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is essentially your own,” the San Francisco-born, Cantonese-speaking martial art icon Bruce Lee once famously said. In many ways, "Little Dragon" Lee—his screen name more commonly known in the Chinese-speaking world—had defied expectations by following his advice. After discovering a love for martial arts at a young age—initially because he hated being...
7 months ago • 5 min read
Issue No. 75 | Feb 16, 2024 Earlier this week, I chatted with a friend on the phone for an hour. We’ve known each other since fifth grade but didn’t become close until high school. Many of our formative, adolescent days were spent on light-hearted antics—playing video games under the desk in class, pulling pranks on the unsuspecting physics teacher, and shaking Mentos candies in giant Coke bottles and watching them explode. At least twice a week, we would walk towards one of the two all-girls...
7 months ago • 3 min read
Issue No. 74 | Feb 9, 2024 After dinner last week, a few friends and I walked around Lake Merritt in Oakland to find a place to hang out. Within a block was an unassuming establishment with no signs on the outside. We descended a few steps and realized it was a bar filled with books on floor-to-ceiling shelves. The chronologically arranged collections included all genres. Even though Clio's Bookstore and Bar had only opened for less than a month—the menu said "welcome to our 9th evening"—it...
8 months ago • 5 min read
Issue No. 73 | Feb 2, 2024 (Note: I’m experimenting with connecting a few stories around a single theme for the weekly letter.) Inuksuk (Image Source) The Inuit people in the Arctic region of North America have a tradition of piling stones to form a landmark called an Inuksuk. These markers indicate significant travel routes, fishing places, and camps. Today, the territory of Nunavut in northern Canada still uses an image of Inuksuk as the centerpiece of its flag. In the Inuit language,...
8 months ago • 4 min read
Issue No. 66 | Dec 1, 2023 Yesterday, I got a car wash and met the business owner, Oscar, for the second time. I asked how his Thanksgiving went. He said it was fun, but dieting was challenging during the holiday season. He had been working on becoming healthier. He proudly said he had lost 40 pounds over the last six months—a substantial amount for a guy at 5'6"—through exercise and limiting himself to one serving. "No seconds!" he said. He turned around and asked how my break was, and I...
10 months ago • 2 min read
Issue No. 65 | Nov 24, 2023 Most photo apps on our devices today have built-in facial recognition. It even allows you to search for photos with specific people in them. This feature has been around for a few years, but I haven't used it much until yesterday. When I discovered this function, I played with various combinations of myself and the people important to me. The photos on my phone date back to 2013, so these searches returned thousands of frames. Suddenly, I was watching a movie in...
10 months ago • 1 min read
Issue No. 64 | Nov 17, 2023 A few years ago, I visited a smog check station near my house. The owner, Jose, took twenty minutes and said the car had passed the test. When I paid and thought that was the end of a routine exchange, Jose started scribbling on the back of the receipt. He said I should watch out for a few things in the coming months: I'd soon need new tires. The back brakes had about 10% left, so if I started to hear serious screeching, it would be time to replace them. He handed...
10 months ago • 2 min read
Issue No. 63 | Nov 10, 2023 Hi friends, I finished the book Night by Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel this week. The memoir was a poignant account of his experience during the Nazi occupation in the 1940s. Like most Holocaust survivors, Wiesel faced extreme hunger, sickness, and cruelty. He saw his dad beaten and starved to death. The most profound impression I had from the book was the first night when Wiesel arrived at the Auschwitz concentration camp. He was shocked by how many men, women, and...
11 months ago • 3 min read
Issue No. 62 | Nov 3, 2023 Hi friends, The other day, I was driving in Pacific Heights in San Francisco. My partner and I were on our way to pick up a to-go order at a restaurant. As I surveyed for parking, the car slowly rolled to an intersection. A black motorcycle abruptly emerged from the corner of the intersection. It was going fast and made a surprisingly wide turn. Out of instinct, I steered the car towards the sidewalk to avoid a collision. Thankfully, it was a near miss. But that...
11 months ago • 2 min read