These days, every article on Covid 19 cannot help but include a commentary on how we are adapting to change. Change is hard for everyone; some cannot help but be depressed, others choose to lean into their grief as a form of self-care, and others choose to see the bright side. Like most people, I experience the troughs and peaks of this period in a single day. I wake up depressed, but by mid-day I am thankful for what I have. By night time, I am in despair about anything from my living situation, to productivity, to Trump's immigration ban, to my inability to commit to an exercise schedule. Even though we know harmful thoughts are self-inflicted, we continue to be so hard on ourselves.
Like most people, I have reflected on what has changed, what will change, and what remains constant. Like most people, I find it overwhelming. And, like most people, I need to share my thoughts because writing them down and publishing is today's version of catharsis.
At the macro level, the food economy will look increasingly domestic. For sustenance reasons, what can't be grown within a country will find a way. Be it through labs, industrial greenhouses, hydroponics, or newly established supply chains within the region. In Singapore, this might look like an increasing reliance on local startups to scale hydroponic systems built atop housing blocks and public garages. Italian restaurants may need to work with local labs to grow sweet and succulent tomatoes instead of flying in datterino's from the south of Italy. Cocktail bars may look to their surroundings for inspiration, like using pandan or belimbing as star ingredients, instead of replicating 'classics' born from an occidental past. I will likely mourn the lack of cosmopolitanism because of closed borders, but I will also celebrate the ingenuity forced by a limitation on circumstances. The future of cuisines and restaurants will be intriguing spaces to watch.
Xenophobia will loom larger. When Trump was first elected to office in 2017, I remember going to a bar on the Upper East Side and being verbally accosted by a drunk elderly woman: "go back to your own country!" How original. The cowardly bartender, who I am confident overheard her shouting, did not throw her out. I guess he didn't throw me out either. But this virulent behavior has since been given the space to fester. When we close off our national borders, we close off our minds, too. People remain comfortable with what they know. They shun difference and grow intolerance to unknowns. This nation-centric attitude will be the next humanitarian crisis. Potentially, the makings of the third world war. Already, we see cases of violence against ethnically Chinese students in international cities like London and Melbourne. Because of skyrocketing unemployment rates, angry rhetoric, goaded on by POTUS, suggests immigrants are taking the precious jobs of skilled Americans. Immigrants, like myself, can no longer work and live safely in the US. The silver lining to this? Perhaps, the evolution of jobs to suit local skillsets. Perhaps, a GDP adjustment to what can be realistically earned at home. Perhaps, then, stable currency, reasonable tuition fees and attainable home valuations. But when we put our tribes before common ground, history has shown the implications promise to be stunningly disastrous.
Closer to the heart, friendships will take a hit. Living digitally means that in-person friendships will need to convert to long-distance formats. If a friend cannot put in the time and communication needed for the friendship to survive, it won't. The reality is, some people cannot look past their own noses to be a friend. Narcissism and selfishness, once passable in-person, is no longer acceptable when distractions, tone and touch are missing. You'll quickly weed those friendships out. Friend or family dynamics once ignored are now impossibly obvious when taken online. These realizations may hurt you, but they also develop in you a reassuring sense of where to put your effort. Happily, there are several friends that will prove themselves to be lifelong companions. These friends, you can be sure, are invested in caring for you and loving you through the ages.
Food; globalism; family and friends. These have been on my mind lately, as they often are, even before Covid 19. What remains the same appears to be my obsession with contenting myself through my stomach, place and relationships. What I grieve the most is also what makes me the happiest. So while Covid 19 has taken away my lifestyle, changed where I live and work, and forcibly streamlined my friends, it's also made apparent what I innately value and what I consider worth fighting for. Clarity. Now that is a happy thought.
Like most people, I have reflected on what has changed, what will change, and what remains constant. Like most people, I find it overwhelming. And, like most people, I need to share my thoughts because writing them down and publishing is today's version of catharsis.
At the macro level, the food economy will look increasingly domestic. For sustenance reasons, what can't be grown within a country will find a way. Be it through labs, industrial greenhouses, hydroponics, or newly established supply chains within the region. In Singapore, this might look like an increasing reliance on local startups to scale hydroponic systems built atop housing blocks and public garages. Italian restaurants may need to work with local labs to grow sweet and succulent tomatoes instead of flying in datterino's from the south of Italy. Cocktail bars may look to their surroundings for inspiration, like using pandan or belimbing as star ingredients, instead of replicating 'classics' born from an occidental past. I will likely mourn the lack of cosmopolitanism because of closed borders, but I will also celebrate the ingenuity forced by a limitation on circumstances. The future of cuisines and restaurants will be intriguing spaces to watch.
Xenophobia will loom larger. When Trump was first elected to office in 2017, I remember going to a bar on the Upper East Side and being verbally accosted by a drunk elderly woman: "go back to your own country!" How original. The cowardly bartender, who I am confident overheard her shouting, did not throw her out. I guess he didn't throw me out either. But this virulent behavior has since been given the space to fester. When we close off our national borders, we close off our minds, too. People remain comfortable with what they know. They shun difference and grow intolerance to unknowns. This nation-centric attitude will be the next humanitarian crisis. Potentially, the makings of the third world war. Already, we see cases of violence against ethnically Chinese students in international cities like London and Melbourne. Because of skyrocketing unemployment rates, angry rhetoric, goaded on by POTUS, suggests immigrants are taking the precious jobs of skilled Americans. Immigrants, like myself, can no longer work and live safely in the US. The silver lining to this? Perhaps, the evolution of jobs to suit local skillsets. Perhaps, a GDP adjustment to what can be realistically earned at home. Perhaps, then, stable currency, reasonable tuition fees and attainable home valuations. But when we put our tribes before common ground, history has shown the implications promise to be stunningly disastrous.
Closer to the heart, friendships will take a hit. Living digitally means that in-person friendships will need to convert to long-distance formats. If a friend cannot put in the time and communication needed for the friendship to survive, it won't. The reality is, some people cannot look past their own noses to be a friend. Narcissism and selfishness, once passable in-person, is no longer acceptable when distractions, tone and touch are missing. You'll quickly weed those friendships out. Friend or family dynamics once ignored are now impossibly obvious when taken online. These realizations may hurt you, but they also develop in you a reassuring sense of where to put your effort. Happily, there are several friends that will prove themselves to be lifelong companions. These friends, you can be sure, are invested in caring for you and loving you through the ages.
Food; globalism; family and friends. These have been on my mind lately, as they often are, even before Covid 19. What remains the same appears to be my obsession with contenting myself through my stomach, place and relationships. What I grieve the most is also what makes me the happiest. So while Covid 19 has taken away my lifestyle, changed where I live and work, and forcibly streamlined my friends, it's also made apparent what I innately value and what I consider worth fighting for. Clarity. Now that is a happy thought.
