Incognito Transit

Author’s note: Post published with Rona’s blessings. You can view the 2021 Husky 100 on their WordPress site: https://www.washington.edu/husky100/

What’s up everybody, it’s dǰ pišpiš. Sit down folks, because we’re going to have a tender moment. Right here, besides the fireplace drinking knock-off Coca-Cola and playing craps in the ways we know how. I told many stories about my youth, from getting ‘ava at a fool’s shop along the H-1 motorway in O’ahu, to busting my own **** during high school Spanish class in the boys bathroom. It’s times when we share in the humor, seriousness, and sometimes thought-provoking moments I appreciate the relationships and sense of community that come from our interactions. In this post, I want to tell a different story, one that showcases the spirit of family and resilience in a challenging educational environment.

Continue reading “Research Family colleague takes home Husky 100”

In his recent article on spring break and its relationship to ongoing colonial violence, Menchavez writes,

There’s something sinister about a white person who is unaware of their white supremacy and racism and instead is shrouded by the false guise of their “wokeness” – they simply can’t see the violence they perpetuate because they learned what “intersectionality” was in a lecture and reside in a “liberal” school like the UW.

I would like to add there’s something sinister about white ‘Redditors’ who storm Menchavez’s The Daily articles and post some terrifyingly racist comments under covert guises – without seeing the violence they perpetuate because they think racism is non-existent and that the world revolves around them.

Continue reading “Angry ‘Redditors’ gaslight opinion editor of colour on the UW Daily website: It makes me furious”

One year ago, the prospect of applying to postgraduate programs felt daunting to me. After what was one of the most unusual and challenging application seasons programmes and applicants alike have seen, I am excited to announce that I have received—and accepted—an offer of admission for the Anthropology PhD program at University of Minnesota, which begins in Autumn 2021.

Continue reading “Woo! Yeah baby! That’s what I’ve been waiting for.”

It’s been a while since I posted on Incognito Transit, and there’s a lot to update you folks on. Just prior to my postgraduate application interview at University of Minnesota, I posted a video detailing the ridiculousness of Microsoft’s new account creation anti-spam ‘game.’ The ‘game’ was so f***ing difficult, I wasted at least three hours trying to create a Skype account. To beat the ‘game,’ I had to look at a series of six different dice rolls and choose the set of dice that add up to 14. If I made an error throughout the series or wasted too much time on a single dice roll, I had to start over from the beginning. It was so frustrating, I ended up sending my video to all the tech magazines that I knew of. Then, I decided that leaving the raw video of my rampage on Facebook was going to eventually come back and bite me in the *****. I decided to take a break from Facebook so I can concentrate on what really mattered at the time: finishing my postgraduate application interview, and making sure kids at the high school I volunteer at don’t see the hell I rained down on Microsoft.

Continue reading “I performed spiritbending in one of my dreams”

What’s up everybody, it’s dǰ pišpiš. Since the emergence of coronavirus in Washington State, University of Washington had been scrambling to figure out how to best support students in what ended up being a prolonged transition through remote learning. These challenges will be no different as students and faculty continue this transition into 2021. But during the much-needed Winter Break, at a time when departments and units were gearing up for Winter Quarter 2021, Student Life is preparing to accept the next cohort of the Husky 100.

Continue reading “The Husky 100 is not dead”

What’s up everybody, it’s dǰ pišpiš. This is more of a story and less of a usual commentary post. I attended a small high school that shared a campus with two other small schools. The campus was a collection of smaller buildings, sort of what you would find at a college campus. My school had a couple of buildings, a lab, and a portable to itself. However, one of the buildings has the school’s only bathrooms, so we students frequently move between buildings during class just to use the facilities.

Continue reading “The day the boys bathroom stood still”

What’s up everyone. It’s dǰ pišpiš. COVID 19 upended the lives of virtually everyone in the globe. Despite this, there are some moments of 2020 that likely could have happened whether or not there is a pandemic. I term these durable moments. Today, I’m here to place these durable moments on a tier list. They range from personal triumphs to the successes of BIPOC communities. Without further ado, let’s do this ****.

Continue reading “20 Durable Moments of 2020 on a Tier List”

I’m a late Internet bloomer. My family’s first Internet-enabled device was a Nintendo DSi, which I used to browse the web despite the device’s measly 16 megabytes of RAM. I got my first computer during freshman year of high school, and my first smartphone when I was 16 years old. But there’s one obscure part of my technology experience that I never talk about. It’s my first semester in middle school, when I took a class called Business and Technology II. My counselor put me in the class either because I enrolled late and this was only elective with space left, or my mum secretly insisted that I be put in a computers class. I thought I can confidently scratch out the latter, so I was left with a class I didn’t want to take. And God **** it, Business and Technology II was the most important class I took during my entire academic career.

Continue reading “Business and Technology II saved my academic career”

xʷac(ə): to take something off to lighten a load; to carry a canoe; to carry
=gʷiɬ: canoe, waterway; curved side; narrow passageway

Pain of betrayal engulfs me
I stumble out of the hostel
Of men who don’t give a f***
At the bus shelter
Located on sxʷacəgʷiɬ
To lift a canoe
I wept a river

A 48 coach greets me thereafter
I boarded and held on
Over the hills through places in transition
Across the smooth concrete
I felt calm despite movement
Stability in place of insecurity
Of my place in this world
Buses have always been a home for me
To heal

ʔalʔal: home, house

Minutes from the herring house
A town neither white nor centered
Home to many Asian and Hispanic shops
Among them a homage to Superman
And a green bridge to Dubsea
Across from my old place of residence
A familiar musty smell surrounds
The rear of the low budget Super Saver
The epitome of change over time
Remains of the charred funeral home
Where my father once transitioned
While Evergreen remains evergreen
The line that made me moves on
Towards red and mustard
From t̕uʔəlaltxʷ to home