blood bank / reading themes
I’ve been able to catch up with a few friends over the holidays and I got asked several times—what is your reading theme for this year? Although I’m generally aware of my reading themes, I’ve never mapped them out annually before, so here is a general list of the themes I tackled in 2018 (consciously), common themes that piqued my interest in 2019 (less consciously, I allowed myself to follow where my curiosities led last year), and what I plan on exploring in 2020.
reading themes 2018
Food politics
Meat industry
Soil health in agriculture
Fishing
reading themes 2019
China’s recent political history
Cultural Revolution
Tiananmen
modern culture in China
Censorship
Technological development)
Climate change
Psychology and denial
Feasible political responses
Potential outcomes (flooding, fires, natural disasters)
Migration and border security
Past “ends of the world”
Racial and economic inequality in the US
Short stories
Memoirs
Current political state of the US
reading themes 2020
Urbanism (Inequality, segregation, how to build better cities?)
Water (History of water rights, especially in the western US, how water is regulated, future of water in age of climate change)
Immigration stories (Asia, Latin America)
Maps and geographic history
Food (How to build more secure food networks?)
Surrealist fiction and short stories
other updates
Played a lot of intense Spike Ball with family over the holidays
Went snowboarding over Christmas and New Year and can occasionally toeside turn now. Going back up to Big Bear this weekend and excited to get more practice in
Went to Tahoe for the first time and it was beautiful. I took a lot of medium format shots on the Mamiya, and am excited to get those scans back sometime next week
Visited Sacramento for the first time. Was surprised by how un-Californian it felt, I think because I’ve never been to a city in California with a river running through it
Saw my first meteor shower (kind of??)! The Quadrantids happened while in Tahoe and saw a few of them! It was more anticlimactic than expected but the skies were beautiful
Can almost play Cherry Wine properly on the guitar
Read Chanel Miller’s Know My Name and was entirely wrecked by it
Bought some matcha and was gifted a matcha tea set over the holidays. Excited to make some oat milk matcha lattes
reflection questions
When was the last time you pushed yourself out of your comfort zone?
What are you seeking?