Some beauty of George Town. Penang in Malaysia. A UNESCO Heritage Site. It was my first time here and missing it already. Food here is so great! The people too!

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2025.

✨ 𝗔𝗺 𝗜 𝗚𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗢𝗹𝗱? ✨

People say I’ve changed. They say I’ve grown quiet, distant… not the person I used to be. But I don’t think it’s age that’s changing me.

I think it’s wisdom.

I no longer live to make others happy. Now, I try to be kind to myself.

I’ve let go of things that hurt me—memories, people, and places that made me feel small.

Not out of anger, but because I deserve peace.

I don’t chase loud nights anymore.

I spend my late hours learning, dreaming, creating.

I’ve traded makeup for honesty, and empty smiles for real joy.

I don’t need a glass of wine to feel alive—I find comfort in quiet sips of coffee.

I stopped pretending life is perfect, and started loving it just as it is.

It’s not age that slows me down.

It’s the wonder of seeing beauty in small things—a bird’s song, morning light, a kind word.

I wake up early now, not because I must, but because each day feels like a gift.

I stay silent more often, not because I have nothing to say, but because I now choose words that matter.

𝗡𝗼, 𝗜’𝗺 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗹𝗱.

𝗜’𝗺 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳.

𝗜’𝗺 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴.

𝗜’𝗺 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴.

𝗜’𝗺 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗜 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲—𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗲𝘁, 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝘁 𝗮 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲.

~Victor Hugo

From Harvard ethics professor Christopher Robichaud:

“Everyone in the days and weeks ahead will use this loss as an opportunity to seek validation for their own hobby horse complaint. Harris lost because she campaigned with Liz Cheney. Harris lost because she didn’t embrace Gaza. Harris lost because she didn’t choose Shapiro. Harris lost because she wasn’t progressive enough (possibly my favorite one).

Take a good hard look at the map, my friends. Trump has won the popular vote. Trump ran the table. Explaining that with your hobby horse issue isn’t going to cut it, tempting and consoling as it may be.

The problem isn’t the electoral college. The problem isn’t that we didn’t have a full primary. The problem isn’t Harris. The problem isn’t that Dems didn’t have the right message. The problem isn’t even inflation or the border.

The problem is so much worse than any of those things. Those are all technical problems, with straightforward expertise fixes. If only it were so! No, our problem is not technical. It’s very much adaptive. A party that embraced the Big Lie, supported an insurrection, and has been selling conspiracy-addled madness for years was widely and enthusiastically embraced. Voter turnout was profound! People didn’t sit this out.

Simply put, the problem–as some of you have rightly posted–is cultural. America, culturally, has completely abandoned a politics of decency and respect and has embraced instead a politics of resentment, revenge, false nostalgia, and bullying. And if you look at the demographics, you also won’t be able to comfort yourself that it’s just a white thing, or a working class thing, or an education thing. It’s multi-class, multi-gender, multi-educational and multi-racial. That’s what winning the popular vote means. That’s what running the table amounts to.

A culture that has descended to this level of debasement is not easily fixed. In fact it may not ever be fixed. The timeline for changing something like this is decades–at best–not two-to-four year election cycles. You can extend that in this case, because with the GOP likely controlling all branches of federal government and the courts, they will ensure that mechanisms are in place to keep them in power long after their popularity has waned. You can count on that.

The GOP evolved into a party of rage, lies, and revenge–and it correctly diagnosed that there was and is a large appetite for that. That’s what the country wants. At least, enough of the country wants it to ensure broad appeal and widespread electoral success. The old GOP will never return, and the Dems have nothing to say to American culture at the moment. Nothing. They’ve been speaking to a country that’s gone, like dust in the wind.

And that’s my final thought, which my posts last night alluded to. The America I knew and loved is gone. This new America–nah, I won’t even bother. I will say that cultural change is less likely to occur in politics, or in the academy. You’re not going to get people to see how vulgar they’ve become through a clever argument or a nice campaign speech, that’s for sure.

This would be time for the arts, broadly understood, to step in. The arts can change hearts and minds. Too bad the arts have been systematically dismantled in education in this country, and on the other end, the tech industry’s assault on the arts through AI is sure to hollow out any good-faith efforts that might emerge.

And for the rest of the world, America’s rightward lurch is, I’m afraid, bad news for you too. I know you know this. Because it’s not isolated, is it? It’s just at the moment the most prominent example of a burgeoning trend. And this will embolden others in other countries, to be sure. We need not speculate what happens when countries become mired in lies, embrace resentment, and savor bullying. We know exactly what happens. Bloody conflict and global destabilization.

The first quarter of the 21st century will therefore in hindsight be viewed as the seed-planting stage for the absolute shit show that’s about to unfold globally over the next two and a half decades. Count on it.

Adopt whatever coping and endurance strategies you have available. You’re going to need it.

I think that’s all I’ve left to say.”

Some shoots around Singapore. 2024 Trip.

Downtown Singapore. 2024 Trip.

Around Melaka, Malaysia. Beautiful place to explore!