I have been reading and reflecting on the criticism that Lin-Manual Miranda received on the release of In The Heights. In my research, I went down a rabbit hole and came across something very interesting: a critique of Hamilton (the musical) by the playwright Ismael Reed in a play called “The Haunting of Lin-Manual Miranda”. This play criticizes, what Ismael considers, Miranda’s smoothing over of Alexander’s Hamilton slave-owning ties and not even addressing his contributions to the genocide of Native Americans. I learned that this interesting play was partially funded by Toni Morrison, a very intriguing factor, so I dug deeper.

I’m fascinated by immigration stories. As a first-generation immigrant myself, I’ve found that regardless of where people immigrate from when they immigrate with the goal and in hopes of a better life, many of those stories are similar. They seem to blend and create ‘the immigration story’.

I have been watching the docuseries: The Me You Can’t See. At first I thought I could binge watch this show but the series surprised me. I’m not new to topics around mental health, particularly anxiety and depression, both professionally and personally. I have had my share of therapy and know very well of the incredible amount of work it takes to go somewhere to be able to look at yourself, your thoughts, your pattern of behaviours in order to understand and perhaps shift them.

I watched the TV event of the year: Oprah’s sit down with Meghan and Harry and I have been thinking about allyship of Prince Harry. Or rather allyship in general. He said during the interview that although he had been doing the work before meeting Meghan and reading and educating himself, he grew up in an environment that active anti-racist thoughts and behaviours were absent.

I have a tasbeeh at home that I use for meditation. Tasbeeh is a Muslim prayer bead and this one was a gift to my dad from one of his friends who brought it from Mecca. I saw it one day at his place and asked if I could have it and he gave it to me. I am not religious but I am spiritual and my tasbeeh has been helping me to focus on my breath.

I love following the royal sagas of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. I am a little embarrassed at admitting that. I was raised to be more serious, analytical, and scientific, hence my PhD. Anything related to gossip in pop-culture, in fact pop-culture itself, was considered not an effective use of time.