The Good Fight- Where does Democracy Go

When I started the first episode of the Good Fight that my colleagues introduced me to, I could not stop. I binged watched all six seasons, however, the original excitement and dopamine I derived from earlier seasons gradually become agony, chaos, and even depression. When I finished the last episode of season six, I’ve only left with one sentence: the Democrats are fucked. And no one is there to tell you where democracy goes.

Convenience store

Convenience stores are essentially Asian in my opinion. There are only 40 7-Eleven in Manhattan, yet there are over 1,000 7-Eleven in Taipei, literally, you can find one at every corner of the street. There’s not really 7-Eleven’s equivalent in Europe, the closest is Carrefour city or Franprix. But whether 7-Eleven in Times Square or Franprix in Saint Sulpice wouldn’t give me the same welcome feeling in any local stores from Asia. 

The night when the lockdown lifted

I always cry for silly things. 

A protester’s photo in Hong Kong, I thought of how they risk their life and future for democracy, only for the little chance they had, then I couldn’t help crying, like Prometheus’s fire, these people light up the dark, where millions of mainlanders long gave up fighting. 

Bandit Mentality

This brutal lockdown was purely political, and whatever was left of liberalists in China are lost badly. 

Symposium- What is love

What is love and why do we need to be loved? That was a question posed on a French magazine called Philosophie. I happened to crossed it one summer at a Parisian public library, and it immediately caught my attention. Inside the magazine, there was an extract of Plato’s Symposium (le Banquet). The essay was long and I didn’t remember it well (could be my imperfect French didn’t allow the ideas to sink in), but I particularly remembered Symposium, because it was suggesting how heterosexual couple was a trouble yet only homosexual liaison can get things done. I was really amused by the idea, but the ancient text  frightens me and it was only 2 years later, I finally bought my own copy of Symposium.  

Boredom

Why some patriots get on my nerves

第一次对“爱国”这个词产生厌恶是那时在美国念书的时候。当时我们在宾夕法尼亚的小乡村里，国际学生中除了我只有另外一个中国男生。因为我之前在台湾念书，加上口语很好，他一直变着法对我冷嘲热讽。有一次我拒绝说Mao is our great leader，被他开始各种言语辱骂，威胁，叛徒卖国贼之类轻的，妓女不要脸，出门被车撞等等都迎面而来。那是我第一次看到有人因为“爱国”，瞬间变成了情绪激动，张牙舞爪，欺凌迫害别人的恶徒。甚至他去鼓动其他的国际学生，美国人来孤立我，虽然最终被孤立的人是他，但当时的景象着实让我感受到了人身威胁，一度被那种精神压力吓哭。以至于在我未来很长一段的留学生涯中，害怕接近中国人。当时一路陪着我的是日本的朋友，跑出去跟那个中国男生当面叫板的是法国的姐姐，以及后来在寒假无处可去收留我的是墨西哥的朋友们。也许从那个时候开始，”国家“的概念，对我来说就开始变得模糊。

How does the Foreign Experience Apply to the Chinese Market?

A short answer: no, it does not apply economically. 

Not A Loser

1

Laurence woke up soaked in sweat. His phone was still ringing with alarm tones, his current practice “Lascia ch’io pianga,” a basic for soprano, but he could never reach the part “e che sospiri.” As he was trying to put DiDonato into silence, the fluorescent light from his phone made him sweat again. He had to leave it. 2 minutes later, his roommate was yelling at the bathroom door, “Laurence! Damn it, for God’s sake, turn off your alarm!” “Go ahead.” Jason was furious, running into the room to put it off, “every fucking morning with those howls and cries!” Still cursing. 

“Hu…” Laurence was released. 

Undecided

My biggest problem in life is that I’m always undecided. If you look at my resume, you’d have a sense. Of course, on interviews, I’d like to say that it’s multi-cultural education and background. I’ve studied in the United States, Taiwan, Japan, and France, yet still, I don’t know where to continue my life. I’ve tried to be a journalist. I’ve loved writing and reading since forever. But I normally read 3 or 4 books at the same time. Currently, I have a paper version of The Schopenhauer Cure, I got a kindle version of a How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, and iBook version of Wabi-Sabi Welcome, which is about interior design philosophy. I’ve been writing on and off these years, of essays, short stories.