Half-vaxxed + a list of sustainable queens
For my favorite people who are anti-vaccine, I'll need you to close your eyes right now. Then scroll down until it feels right.
So, I'm happy to announce that Pfizer dose one is coursing through my body as you read this.
I feel like I can see colors I've never seen before. When dogs bark I understand them. I can hear at decibels previously only accessible by our whale brethren. I'm stronger, too. The other day a baby was trapped under a car and I snatched that car from on top of the helpless infant and flung it far into the ocean. The Environmental Protection Agency has cited me for littering and tainting Guam's EEZ. I apologized but the EPA said, and I quote, "'Sorry' won't save the marine life you've murdered and it won't extract the oil leaking into the ocean from the discarded car."
Which is to say, I've been put on Greta Thunberg's "Un-sustainable Queens" list. This might have bothered me if I wasn't hopped up on feeling superior to all beings via Pfizer.
You can watch my vaccine journey on Instagram.
Jasmine's Sustainable Queens List
You know what they say, if you aren’t on Greta’s list, make your own. So here’s my list of Sustainable Queens, in honor of Earth Month.
Saving Sirena is literally cleaning up beach trash and sharing sustainable habits with wonderfully artful graphics.
The Micronesia Challenge is making sure we reach our goals, specifically to conserve 50% of marine resources and 30% of terrestrial resources by 2030.
Ruzelle Almonds is teaching us about re-usable cloth diapers and doing the heavy lifting by finding the best ones to choose from.
John Borja is aesthetically shaming us meat-eaters with his pescatarian plates.
The Famous Chloe Babauta is healing us and healing the planet using organic cotton, natural dyes and eco-friendly packaging for Maga'håga Rising products.
My parents. ❤️ They taught me to reuse Cool Whip containers and empty kimchi jars in place of Tupperware and to use rags1 to wipe down counters instead of paper towels. I kid you not, we almost never had paper towels growing up. (See: I grew up poor, my new memoir2) Plus, we never owned a dryer so we hung our laundered clothes on a line and to this day I judge people by how they hang their shirts because my mom had a specific3 way to hang them. My parents are not on Instagram so I can't embed anything here.
This is obviously not an exhaustive list.
A little bit more about this newsletter
I am overwhelmed by the support of my friends who are subscribed. I expected my siblings to subscribe because they are required by law to support me in whatever I do or else. Plus, I am almost sure my oldest brother signed up and will never open one of these newsletters so I really need all the support I can get.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I envision this to be a combination of essays and reporting and recommended reading lists. (I know the best practice is to niche down but my life path number 3 means I am paralyzed by indecision so I often have a fruit salad of content ideas in my brain and I can't just choose one.)
To keep this "on track" (whatever that means) I plan to center newsletters around themes every month. This month is Earth Month so content this month will be tied to sustainability.
I want our Monday emails to be more lighthearted and feature Micronesian creators (Micronesian Monday), our "Whats Happening" Wednesday emails to have a harder news element and our Friday emails to be laid-back. On Fridays I'll link to what I've been reading and watching that week. Then I'll send you on your way to enjoy your weekend.
Feedback is always welcome. So please, feed me back. Feedback me. Backfeed me.
Also, a special thank you to the Guam Army guardsmen and everyone at the UOG Fieldhouse working at the vaccine clinic. They were all impressively good-natured and upbeat even though I went at the end of the day of what must have been a long week of the most trying year in recent history.
A meme I promised you
If you are a WhatsApp user in Guam, you've probably been sent this clip of the Easter Bunny in Tumon. Swipe past my face to see it in all its glory. (I don’t know who recorded this clip, or who this bunny is, nor am I claiming this video is mine. This is not my video.)4
For context...I have no context which is why I love this.
I know I'm getting old because I made a tax meme. Send me your bunny memes so we can laugh together.
Happy Easter to everyone, but especially this slipper-clad bunny.
If you know someone who might appreciate this newsletter, share this with them.
Thank you for reading. Write to you again, soon.
Cheers,
Jasmine
We used old T-shirts and other clothes, cleaned and reused. I feel like we used the same kitchen towels for decades. I don’t think my parents bought kitchen towels for special occasions lmao that’s a waste. When I bought kitchen towels for Christmas as an adult in 2018 I felt reckless.
I’m not actually writing this memoir. I did actually grow up below the poverty line.
The right way.
This bunny video is NOT MY VIDEO.