Exhaling Life

This November, millions of Americans will be voting for the next President of the United States. It is no secret that I am neither on Team Biden nor Trump. If you follow my blog and IG stories, you already know that my perspectives align not with a single political party; however, I fluidly align based on what I believe is fair, lawful, and mindful of civility and humanity on topics and issues. I tend to lean towards the traditional Republicans when it comes to fiscal responsibilities of our government while leaning towards the traditional Democrats when it comes to social issues. One thing I will not shed in my perspective on governing and political philosophies is that law and order are required for civility. Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash Just to make it clear, I don't identify today's Republicans and Democrats to be traditional. Both parties are polarized and damaging to this nation.  When Targets and Vons stores of our society have to lock up razors, detergents, sh

I was coming out of a lovely restaurant in Downtown L.A., Le Petit Paris. My Uber ride was waiting for me across the street... Annoyed that he had parked on the wrong side of a one-way street. And then, there was a homeless man shouting at the car. The driver didn't budge, the car remained in its spot. Did the driver not realize that I would have to be right next to the screaming and clearly emotionally unstable person to get in the car?  As soon as I closed the door, the driver apologized. He wasn't sure if he should even be driving. Right after he had finished his last ride in Old Town Pasadena, a homeless person threw an object at the car and damaged it. He was upset and emotionally shaken. A couple of weeks before, someone threw a brick or something like that at his parked car and broke a window. For a person who drives full-time for ride-share, you can imagine the financial hardship they face when their cars get damaged.  Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash As an Angeleno,

It was the highest-grossing film in 2023. The movie, Barbie, grossed $1.44 Billion and is the 14th highest-grossing film of all time. And, I had skipped it. I had zero interest in seeing the movie and that is tremendous since I collected Barbie dolls in my twenties. I am the generation that played with Barbie dolls and thought our bodies, boyfriends and homes should be like the doll, Ken and its dream house.  Photo by Rubén Bagüés on Unsplash I am not referring to Barbie as she. I outgrew it. Barbie is a doll and thus its dream house, and not her dream house. I read great things about the movie and moments of lessons in the fantasy comedy plot. To this day, even amid allegations of snub and even sexism by the Academy that Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig were not nominated for the Oscar, I still don't have an interest in seeing the movie. Typically, I would wonder what it is all about and watch the movie. Not with Barbie. A movie and its artistic value, are subjective. Nominations a

I love that word... et. It means and in French. I'm using it to title this essay, to dress up a dreadful topic. If you follow me on Instagram and are one of my regular viewers of the Stories, then you may have noticed that I stopped reading news for a while. It took me some time to return to my morning routine after headlines of former President Trump and former President Gay had quieted down. Yes, the former President Trump is still making the headlines... I vomited a little in my mouth after he won the Iowa primary. The man has been charged with 91 felonies in four criminal cases. Enough said! Photo by ÉMILE SÉGUIN ✳️✳️✳️ on Unsplash It was simply too much... Two of them at once. Of course, being accused of plagiarism in Academia is serious, especially when you are the president of Harvard University, but Claudine Gay's plagiarism is pale compared to what Donald Trump is accused of.  I won't leave out that former President Gay was also accused of antisemitism remarks du

On February 24, 2022, the world rose in uproar when Russia invaded Ukraine. The international community came together to provide support and aid... Efforts to raise funds and supplies for Ukraine on Social Media were prominent for weeks and months. While such efforts seem to have faded with time, the war hasn't. By early this year, the war displaced about 16 million Ukrainians, 8 million internally and 8 million having fled the country. Photo by Bekky Bekks on Unsplash United Nations reports that about 10,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed from the day Russia invaded the country to September 2023. And that number is growing every day. My intention was not to write about Ukraine, but the question that has occupied me since Israel began what seems to be merciless attacks on Gaza. Is there such a thing as humanity in war?  As days became weeks, months and now over a year, the world somehow lost interest in Ukraine and its suffering... Humanity seems to have a short attention sp

1998! It was many lifetimes ago when Sex and the City entered my life. I've learned, changed, discovered, evolved, and hit the reset button many times since Sex and the City debuted on HBO back in 1998. The person I was then wouldn't recognize today's me, but Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte have remained with me through its six seasons, two movies and... And Just Like That.  Sex and the City fabulously flourished for a quarter of a century as Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte learned, changed, discovered and evolved as all of us did. We empathized with their heartbreaks and celebrated their wins. We saw ourselves in all four women. I saw myself in each of them, at times uncomfortable with the reflection. I haven't always agreed with the stories they told... I couldn't understand how Carrie, who had romanticized Paris, didn't go to Paris until Aleksandr invited her. She was in Paris, but she settled herself to be lonely and bored. I always wondered

As former President Donald Trump was charged with his fourth criminal case over a four-and-a-half-month span, I thought of 74 million Americans who voted for him in the 2020 Presidential Election. Despite facing a total of 91 felony charges, his supporters haven't been hindered. The first debate among Republican candidates sans former President Trump demonstrated his stronghold. Folks in the audience booed at any direct or implied anti-Trump.  Photo by Jose M on Unsplash The constitutional qualifications for being a U.S. president are being a natural-born U.S. citizen, a resident for at least 14 years and at least 35 in age. A criminal conviction does not affect eligibility although the person can be disqualified by conviction in a Senate impeachment trial. So, we know that the former president will continue to campaign for the next presidential election. The prospect of having the former president becoming the 47th President of the United States while in prison is frightening as

When does self-care become selfish? Some of us, more mature and in particular women at times, have struggled between the thin line of self-care and selfishness while some of us are convinced that our selfishness is self-care. In the past two years, I have become an ardent practitioner of self-care. By self-care, I mean putting my mental and physical health as a priority, not minding so much about how others may judge me, not getting anxious about something bad that hasn't happened, and doing my best for myself. Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash At times, I've wondered when self-care becomes selfish. Are my sacrifices and compromises always harmful to me? Should I sacrifice for the greater good? Will my sacrifice be meaningful or would it just demand more sacrifices from me? Is there such a thing as harmful self-care? As I navigated this concept of self-help for mental wellness, I realized that healthy self-care is balancing our inward and outward care. What is inward and outward

SB1338 has been on my mind since California Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled this policy, known as the Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Court back in March 2022.  Cutting through verbiage on both ends, supporters and those against the CARE Court, it is a court-ordered medical treatment and care for up to 24 months when a mainly unhoused individual with a psychotic disorder is found to be incapacitated to make medical decisions in their best interest. In the months that followed objections from organizations such as Human Rights Watch and ACLU, I was dumbfounded by their objections. Photo by Matt Collamer on Unsplash Their objections spoke of a lack of evidence in support of SB1338... The evidence that whatever social and aid services sans SB1338 aren't working is monumental within the first four steps into Downtown L.A. Skid Row, a fifty-block designated area since 1976 to contain the county's homeless population. Actually, they don't need to step into

Research and analysis to understand the role of race in Harvard's admissions decisions by Professor Peter Arcidiacono, a Duke University economist, was presented and used in the Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College. His analysis utilizing econometric and statistical methods concluded the applicant's race played a significant role in admissions decisions. According to Professor Arcidiacono, if an Asian-American applicant with certain characteristics such as scores, GPAs, and extracurricular activities would result in a 25% statistical likelihood of admission, the same applicant, if white, will have a 36% likelihood of admission. Latino applicants with the same factors will have a 77% predicted chance of admission. Black applicants with the same factors will have a 95% likelihood of admission based on the admission selection practiced by Harvard with Affirmative Action. Photo by That's Her Business on Unsplash He also projected that

It has been several days since I saw this irritating post on Instagram. "Weak people revenge. Strong people forgive. Intelligent people ignore." That post stirred anger in me. The part about weak people revenge didn't bother me. The part about intelligent people ignore did somewhat bother me. Is ignoring, blinded by rainbows and unicorns of today's false definition of positive culture , truly intelligent?  I thought hard about my irritation for strong people forgive, the expectation that we should forgive when certain things are simply unforgivable. I cannot forgive the person who sexually abused me when I was a child. Would the author of those words tell a woman who was raped that she isn't strong if she can't forgive? How about a parent whose child was killed?  Photo by Clemens van Lay on Unsplash It is easy to preach, isn't it? Be kind to those who wronged you. You should forgive because it is healthy for you. Be the bigger person. If I hadn't spen

Nearly 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in state legislatures so far this year according to the Associated Press with at least 17 states passing laws that restrict or ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors. With alarmingly increased cases of transgender identity and gender dysphoria among adolescents, gender-affirming care for minors has become a politically polarized topic rather than human rights. Intolerance is a word that has been buzzing in my mind ever since Mr. Donald Trump won the Presidential Election in 2016. It was a heart-breaking day for me as I witnessed Mr. Trump win 62,985,106 American votes and become the 45th President of this nation with 306 electoral votes. Nearly 46% of American voters cast their votes for a man who spits out words of hate towards minorities and protected class. Nearly seven years later, should we be surprised that LGBTQ+ communities are considered to be more of a threat to children and adolescents than gun violence? Photo by Al

It had been a hellish two months... I'm not quite ready to share, but I am very serene that it is now in the past. Returning home from one of my solo dinners with a book in ages to celebrate civility returning to my life, I was reminded of Mr. Jordan Neely's death as the Lyft car paused in traffic in front of 1313 W 8th Street. The building houses the ACLU. One of the NGOs I used to support. That past tense is a long story for another time.  Above the proud lettering of ACLU at the entrance lists things that we desperately need such as housing, healthcare, green space... More police just above the ACLU are crossed off. Another reason I will no longer support the ACLU. Even in the days of hell, Mr. Neely's death and Mr. Daniel Penny had caught my attention, one man's death in another man's hands.  You may not have heard of Mr. Jordan Neely. He died before reaching thirty-one years of age, while on New York's Top 50 List of Homeless People at Risk with an open arr

This past Friday, Walgreens announced that they will not distribute mifepristone, commonly referred to as abortion pills, in twenty states that had warned the company of legal consequences if it did so. Immediately followed the calls to boycott Walgreens, and I let out a sigh. If you have been following the Exhaling Life blog or my Instagram stories, then you already know that I stand very firmly on the rights to abortion as a human right for women. I wrote about it before Roe v Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court and showed support to gain it back with financial contributions to various non-governmental organizations. Calling for a boycott on Walgreens is one of the reasons why we, the women, have been losing the war on our rights to make reproductive decisions. Rather than battling the causations, we focus on the outcome. We get outraged by headlines rather than taking in a holistic view. Are we expecting Walgreens to risk being indicted under RICO, Racketeer Influenced and C