A Better Affirmative Action Analogy

I used to believe in meritocracy. As an Asian American, I was against affirmative action, at least race-based affirmative action. Class-based was okay. When confronted with analogies about our meritocratic race to the top, I was unmoved by descriptions of starving African Americans that had been chained up until right before the race. After all, it's been 150 years since slavery ended, though its effects are still felt today.

Therefore, I would like to present a better Affirmative Action Analogy.

One candidate (white) goes to participate in a foot race. His parents are not only supportive, but have made it clear, explicitly or implicitly, that he is expected to finish the race, if not place in the top 10. Why not? Everyone in his family has. All of his friends expect to. They have trained together every day since the 6th grade. His parents have paid private coaches to teach him and bought him expensive training sneakers and the best track shoes. The morning of the race, he is fed a power breakfast and driven to the starting line in an air-conditioned car. There is a celebratory lunch planned for after the race.

One candidate (black) goes to participate in a foot race. One of his parents, and some of his friends and family members are supportive. The other parent accuses him of trying to be better than his ancestors. Some of his friends make fun of him for participating. Others tell him there's no point. Studies show that he is unlikely to do as well as his white peers. Of those who are supportive, few have ever run before, and don't know how to support him. He has been training on his own. The morning of the race, he walks to the starting line because everyone is too busy or unsupportive to drive him there.

Does that mean that he should get some seconds shaved off of his score? I don't know. But I do think he should be under consideration for some coaching before the final race.

Don't Be This Guy Who Travels

There's this post that's going around, called "Date a Guy Who Travels." It contains some good values. Experiences are more valuable than things, but that's the rule for Millennials, not the exception. The curiosity for the world and knowledge of the poverty people have to go through all over the world are good qualities as well. Being flexible and adventurous, looking for possibilities and leaving the comfort zone are all qualities to be admired. There are some beautiful sentiments and beautiful pieces of writing in the post.

And yet it rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it because, as an ex-pat and sometime-traveler, I have known many travelers who embody many of the actions described in the post, if few of the ideals.

I have known guys who scoff at resorts when they have never been to a resort.

I have never known a guy who scoffs at vacations. Who does that?

I have known guys who dismiss travel guides because they, "probably know the guy who wrote them."

I have known guys who fail to realize that using a "travel guide" as a "reference" is redundant.

I have known many guys whose number of Facebook friends is negatively correlated with their number real friends.

I have known guys who have lived in Southeast Asia for years, but have never traveled in Malaysia. This has as much to do with the anti-drinking laws and Islamaphobia as it does with the relative expense.

I have known guys who are always announcing new things they've discovered in loud and enthusiastic tones, only to clam up if you'd already heard of them already or want specifics (in other words, have an actual conversation--which is why no one ever listens to their stories anymore).

I have known many guys who are too busy documenting an event for Facebook to actually experience it.

I have known guys who lived out of a backpack. I have known guys who claim to be backpacking when the only time they carry the backpack is to the taxi taking him away from the airport (on the way to the taxi to the airport, the hotel porter handles it).

I have known guys who pontificate about human rights and the squalor of developing countries, but are blind to the inequality and poverty on their own doorstep.

I have known ethnocentric guys who claim they're not because they've, "been to 43 countries."

I've known guys who have hiked up the tallest mountain in Taiwan, but were unaware that there are Chinese supermarkets in the U.S.

I have known guys who love being at home because their mom unpack their bags and do their laundry for them, but when they feel cramped, they leave again.

I have known many guys who marry a local girl they met on their travels, even though her English is poor and he never learns her native tongue. Conversely, I have known guys who only want to hook up with white girls when they travel.

I encountered multiple publications who know that artisanal, local handicrafts are the new status symbol. The new height of cool.

I have known guys who confuse instant-gratification with a happy life. Maybe it is, but they have never considered the meaningfulness of their lives.

I have known guys who live to build a persona for themselves through Facebook and twitter and their desktop photos

Traveling is great. Even though we live in a world where we can view satellite maps, documentaries, and other people's Facebook pictures that document life from all over the world, the world itself is still a book, and people who don't travel only read one page. It is a privilege now, as it was when St. Augustine first penned those words, but nothing replaces experiencing things first-hand. So travel, and enjoy talking and interacting with those who travel. But remember not all those who wander have lost their prejudices and pretensions.

Questing and Traveling

Quest (n.): a search or pursuit made in order to find or obtain something: a quest for uranium mines; a quest for knowledge (dictionary.com)

A quest is traditionally a journey, for one seldom gets what one wants by standing still, but nowadays quests take place in one place (usually New York City), whether for a job, for a partner, or for a good public school. The hero doesn't stand still; she (or he) runs around, often in circles. It's a rat race.

Maybe that is unfair. Stories don't only take place in the City Where Nothing Is Ever Good Enough The City that Never Sleeps. Stories can take place wholly in a small town, where the moving is of the souls, usually towards each other, whether in new love or healing old hurt.

Traditional quests though, are about moving and searching and encountering things stranger and greater than seen at home. What is the purpose of questing? What are we searching for when we travel? To see from different perspectives? Perhaps to find a different place, because one never belonged anyway. Either way, you always come back changed.

I am starting to like the quotes on Mindbloom, or at least my collection of them. Among quotes devoted to treating your body like a temple, eating well to live well, and treating the earth respectfully are quotes related to the usefulness of art, imagination, and books. I need more quotes about books. Books are a wonderful way to travel, not only through places and on quests, but through other people's eyes.

A sociology professor at my university once quoted a man who said, "I don't read books. I live them." I don't see why one can't do both. So that is what I am trying to do. I want to live a life worth writing about. I hope it won't be a tragedy, or even a drama. But I do hope it might be a travelogue. My AP Literature teacher confused the hell out of me by asking us (while we were studying Heart of Darkness) what the point of a travelogue was (and then never telling us). I have thought long and hard about what the point is. I still don't have the answer.

Instead, I'll just share a few of my favorite quotes about traveling.

For Perspective and Education
“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine
"One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things." – Henry Miller
"Travel far enough, you meet yourself." – David Mitchell

For it's own Sake 
“It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end.” – Ursula K. Leguin
“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
"To travel is to live." – Hans Christian Anderson

Miscellaneous: For Adventure, Renewal, and to Seek
"All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware." – Anon
“You lose sight of things… and when you travel, everything balances out.” – Daranna Gidel
“We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.” – Anais Nin
 

Minimalism

One of the main tenets of Buddhism is to rid oneself of desire. Technically, one is supposed to even rid oneself of the desire for individuality, and therefore merge with the world. To be honest, the most vigorous courses I've taken in Buddhism are reading Siddhartha and conversations with my boyfriend, but from the passage from Siddhartha when the main character finally reaches enlightenment, the idea is that you can accept everything because there is no barrier between you and the universe, past, present, future.

The rest of us aren't so lucky. I'm staunchly anti-Buddhist in some ways. Maybe it's because I've soaked up some of the guanxi ideology from my parents, but I do believe there are real separations between groups of people. If you treat everyone the same, there is nothing to mark the difference between your family/friends/network and everyone else. Of course I believe in equality, and I endeavor to treat everyone with the same basic courtesy, but there are people out there that I will deliberately give less of myself to and those who I will give more.

That was all digression. I'll edit it later. What I really want to talk about is the difference (and hopefully find the happy medium between) minimalism and maximization. I like the aesthetics of minimalism, and even parts of the philosophy. However, I can't quite let go of certain things. I am a natural hoarder and collector. In that way I am a maximizer (who, by the way, should probably give up on happiness as well as enlightenment).

Minimalism

Riji Diji

Minimalism strives to find the essence by eliminating the non-essential. Imagine black brushstrokes evoking a winter night. Or the stork--very Gestalt. I like this concept in architecture and interior design, and even clothing. Unfortunately, it can get pretty annoying in modern art.

Kazimir Malevich's Black Square. I'm not impressed.

One example of this in practice would be 100 things. By culling your personal items down to 100 things, you are forced to evaluate the value of that old baseball mitt, or the ticket stub from a dance performance, or whether you really need 20 different scarves. It's like an extended version of the game we play when we ask what 3 things we would save from a fire. What is most important to you?

The difficult thing about this is that you have to then live off of those 100 things. Can you get by with 3 pairs of pants? Maybe you shouldn't have thrown that toothbrush away. I find it pretty easy to do without most stuff (besides my laptop), but there are other things that I love. I love books--being able to feel their grainy paper, hear their soft shuffling, smell their pages and glue. It's difficult for me, psychologically, to be without a collection of books. Even though I hardly ever read them, I like having them there, like old friends--every one of capable of giving hours of enjoyment. Since hooking up with my boyfriend, I also have access to many books I haven't read--potential friends that can open up the world for me.

by Brian Dettmer

Of course, I hardly read from books anymore. I read articles from the internet. Of course, because the backlight on computers is bad for our circadian rhythms, I tried to always have a paper book to refer to, but then my boyfriend bought me a Kindle. I am well aware that there are other digital reading platforms available, but the Kindle gives me instant access to Amazon, which, whether you like it or not, is providing a valuable role as maximizer of book resources, and is not backlit. I have bought many more books since receiving this Kindle than I otherwise would have, partially because it's easier, and also because I delude myself into thinking it's a good deal because it's $3 less than the paper copy.

It's also great to be able to have access to all of my books in one handy form. I'm even thinking of downloading old childhood favorites that I don't have access to anymore because the books are overseas, out of my grasp (and eyes). In any case, the Kindle is a convenient way to reduce a library of books to an item of 1. In the meantime, books are reduced to their material forms and turned into specialty items, or art.

The other things it would be difficult for me to be without is cooking paraphernalia. This one is more difficult to erase. I suppose if I was minimalist about food, I would become a raw food vegan. Alternatively, I could do what rich people have been doing for centuries, and only eat the best food, adapted only slightly so as to enhance its natural flavor (think sushi). A lot of food which was originally low-class becomes high class. Think paella, hot pot, meatloaf, cupcakes. There are several reasons for this.

For one thing, it's more local and cultural. Rich people could always afford to imitate each other in a avant-global sort of way. Poor people are forced to eat what's available, and then they make it awesome.

It's fun to improve things that are so obviously bad. You eat at a restaurant, where you expect quality as well as convenience, and the food's so-so. You think, "I could have done better." But, how many ways can you make a creme brulee? It's already perfect, so you don't mess with it. You can spice it up with ginger or use a different kind of sugar, but it's already pretty good. What about jello? How can you make jello fancy? Add fruit? Alcohol? Pop rocks? Blend colors? Mold it into a skyline? Taiwan's national dish is beef noodle soup (niu rou mian 牛肉面). It's not high class, at least not originally. Okay, sure, people didn't go around killing cows just because they wanted to eat them, but the beef in niu rou mian is the toughest part of the cow, braised to salty, oily perfection.

But niu rou mian isn't just beef. It's beef and noodles and soup, plus some green things. That's the other thing about poor people food--there's so much variety and versatility in it. Poor people didn't have a lot, so they threw odds and ends and anything they had into the pot. It's leftover cooking: fried rice and soup.

So I don't want to go high-class essentialist minimalist on food. I want to cook it in different ways. Yes, I want to cook. I think one of the reasons cooking is trending right now is, besides the economy, people are looking for experiences instead of just the product. They're also becoming more engaged with the material world as digital world soaks up so many of the activities that used to take place in the physical world: viewing, reading, listening to music, dating, complaining about dating. Food can't be put online or in an ipod though. Even food porn is only an imitation. It reminds us of our material existence.

So what would I get rid of if I wanted to minimize my material possessions, if not existence? I don't have much guilt about food products themselves, because they'll all eventually be used anyway. But what would I need to cook? The year in college when I lived alone, I was a pretty minimalist cook and eater. I only had a handful of dishes, a pan, a ricecooker, and a pot (although it was an awesome double-boiler). I was also just learning how to cook. I was still able to make fried rice, fried eggs, pasta, mashed potatoes, and, through some ingenuity, steamed fish. I wasted a lot of time making ginger lemonade (successful) and french fries (not). I also had an oven, so I could bake chicken and other goodies.

Then I moved into an apartment with a well-stocked kitchen. Suddenly I had access to a meat tenderizer. Hello Chicken Parmesan. There were a variety of whisks and measuring cups and sharp knives. Hello omelettes. There were a plethora of baking supplies: a flour sifter, a rolling pin, baking tins and muffin pans, and a lot of baking chocolate. I learned to cook a lot more things.

But when I moved to Taiwan, I experienced a sudden deprivation. Apartments with kitchens are expensive in Taiwan. Most single people eat out because it's so cheap. At first my roommate and I were in a one-room apartment. We moved the TV so we would have more counter space for our hot plate and microwave and struggled to make decent meals. We fell out of the habit of cooking even after we had moved to a 3-bedroom apartment complete with a kitchen and another roommate. Then I got a boyfriend, who happened to live close by, and who happened to have lived in Taiwan for 9 years, and who happened to be on the receiving end of stuff, including kitchen stuff, from friends and acquaintances who moved away from Taiwan for the past 9 years.

Now I have access to various measuring cups, measuring spoons, pots I don't even know the names for (frying pan, sauce pan, skillet, stew pot, wok) and again, a variety of knives, though in need of sharpening (paring knife, boning knife, santoku knife, bread knife, steak knife, butter knife, cleaver). Also badly needed were an oven (something most Taiwanese kitchens lack as well), a blender (for smoothies and lemon curd pies) and a bamboo steamer, which I have wanted since the first time I tried to emulate the steamed fish from Chinese restaurants. There are also miscellaneous baking implements. I have a rolling pin again. I even have those little brushes which are actually useful, I have learned from experience, if you want to brush your scones or pie crust with a sugar glaze or egg wash. I still want a mesh bag for simmering whole spices.

I don't use all of these things all of the time. If I really had to choose, I wouldn't need an oven, despite my love of baking and baked goods, because steaming is a much quicker and more energy efficient way of cooking most food. Therefore I wouldn't need any of the baking implements either. I don't need a bread knife, though it's very good for cutting through pseudo French bread. I don't need a whisk, because chopsticks or even a fork is just as good. I can use a wire colander as a messy flour sifter (except I can't bake anyway if I don't have an oven).

But my life would be sad. Cooking, like reading, is one of my hobbies, and though I hate to surrender it to materialism, it is an inherently material endeavor, and you need material for it. It is also an experiencial endeavor, and as you advance, you want to cook different things that require different materials. Karate is also a material endeavor, and you don't really need anything for it except for space, but I can't steam fish with my body. Or if I did, it would be fatal for myself, I imagine. So I want stuff for cooking. I draw the line at waffle irons. Those are for special occasions when we visit restaurants and friends who are bigger foodies than us.

What about clothes. In case you haven't noticed, I am a girl. If you haven't noticed, then androgyny is spreading! But still lagging as far as male/female fashions. Male fashion is like handbags, so subtle I can't tell the difference. Female fashion, however, is a thriving community driven by both supply and demand, and filled with creative innovations. I like clothes. I actually don't have that many of them, because I like to look more than I like to buy (especially with those price tags). Sometimes I try and throw out my clothes which are old or ill-fitting or ugly, but I always end up rescuing them because I'm too lazy to do laundry and I need a variety of long-sleeved shirts to avoid being repetitive. I have to admit though, I have a lot of earrings and a lot of scarves and more dresses than occasions to wear them. I have a lot of fun sundresses now due to shopping in Thailand, and I have a couple of evening dresses of varying formality. I recently bought a hot cocktail dress. I still want a casual dress that I can throw on and not have to worry about being too fancy or provocative. I'm not sure if this is a solution or not, but I'm thinking of getting an infinity dress. The problem with getting an infinity dress though, is then I'll want another style infinity dress, or another length, or another color, or a two-tone one. Still, an infinity dress gets around the variety problem, if not the laundry or yearning problem.

18 dresses in one, even if I don't like some of the styles.