You Don’t Have to Explain Why You’re Different
I used to call it social awareness. Often it was fear: the habit of making myself easier to explain.
Aiko Tanaka.
Some weeks an essay, some weeks a field report, some weeks a list nobody asked for. Aiko writes whatever refuses to leave her alone.
We have to keep going
Between the start and the finish sits the long middle, and the only way across it is one more step, taken on purpose.
I Miss My Mom
It has been years since my mother died. I still have days when the first person I want to tell is her.
What kind of country are we living in?
Sometimes I look at Indonesia and genuinely wonder: what kind of country are we living in? Between hope and exhaustion, the same patterns keep repeating.
Why do I have to care about people's opinions?
You are allowed to care a little, and about very few people. Here is the difference between caring and performing.