19 things that happened in my 2019!

It’s that time of year where I do a circle jerk of one and count up all the things I’ve done this year so I feel like a somebody.

** No photos or videos this year because I can’t figure out how to embed either from the web in this new WordPress update. If you know how to do this, let me know.

1. I ran for office and lost.
   Before the start of the year, I filed to run to be an ADEM delegate for the CA Democratic Party in my Assembly District. Here’s a Spectrum 1 news video where I explain what that weird election was. It was an exhausting run for a position that didn’t even pay. Most of the work was trying to find qualified voters who could come out to the obscure polling location. I campaigned my ass off and ran with a slate. I wrote this essay about it for Grok Nation.
   

2. Then I ran for office and won.
   I then ran to be an elected representative of Koreatown Los Angeles. This time my strategy was to wave down as many votes as possible in the street on election day. Having a Korean-passing face helped a lot. With a fraction of the effort from the last election, I won and am now the Elected Representative of Subdistrict 5 Wilshire Center Koreatown Neighborhood Council. My term is two years.
   

3. I won the 2019 Center Theater Group Sherwood Award!
   I’ve applied for this coveted honor that celebrates an innovative theater maker in Los Angeles for the last ten years. I finally got it! It was hugely validating and a great boost for me in this new “Kristina Wong for Public Office” project. Here was my acceptance speech at the Ovation Awards.
   

4. We shot a second season of Radical Cram School!
   Trolls be damned! We shot another season of my comedic progressive web series for kids! We will have our premiere party in January. I can’t wait to roll it out on the web. Season 1 is still here.
   

5. We voted to abolished ICE (a largely SYMBOLIC vote because as it turns out neighborhood councils can’t dismantle federal agencies).
   Yes, as an elected representative (who is simultaneously a performance artist) I do go to monthly Neighborhood Council Meetings and do actual work which includes sitting on the Planning Housing Land Use and Transportation Committee. My fellow board member Angie Brown and I co-wrote a Community Impact Statement to support the Abolition of ICE. We gathered stakeholders to speak at the meeting and our board voted to support it.
   

6. Wrote and shot videos to support Garment Workers and #LivingWageNow.
   Director Jenessa Joffe and I were commissioned to write and create viral videos which will come out in the next few months to support garment worker rights worldwide. We wrote three episodes and shot them a couple weeks ago! Look for these to roll out in a few months!
   

7. I was honored by OCA-GLA with an “Image Award”!
   I finally got one of those plexiglass awards for my work in “Achievement in Arts and Advocacy!” Thanks OCA!
   

8. I was hired to write an immersive play!
   I switched gears in my head for a couple months as I wrote the script for “Mad Hatter’s Gin and Tea Party”– the most famous chapter from Alice in Wonderland as a live immersive cocktails experience. I also did some consulting on the project and helped create a structure where Los Angeles actors would get paid a living wage on the project. Most shows sold out even before we opened and show grossed over $400k in sales over the run!
   

9. I did a 12 week theater workshop and created a performance with Undocumented Immigrants.
   Thanks to an Artist-in-Residence grant from the DeparTment of Cultural Affairs Los Angeles, I did my second Artist-in-Residence project with the Dream Resource Center.
   

10. So many shows and tours!
    Austin, TX! Columbus, OH! Rutgers University in New Jersey! Skidmore College in NY!
    

11. I finally got an acting reel together and a new theatrical agent!
    My friend Wayne helped me edit together this acting reel and I signed with Beverly Hecht Agency!
    

12. Radical Cram School had screenings all over the country and WON AN AWARD!
    San Francisco! Austin! and NYC! We won the “Audience Award” at the Austin Asian American International Film Festival! And we were nominated for “Best Episodic Series” by the NY Asian American International Film Festival. We lost to a series about a dominatrix, so I’m not sure how else we could have beat them short of breaking the law.
    

13. I found two new communities I love.
    I started attending API Rise meetings. They are a support group for formerly incarcerated Asian Pacific Islanders . Now I want to help them produce a podcast. If anyone wants to help do this with me, PLEASE STEP UP.
    
    I also discovered a Food Bank supermarket called World Harvest Food Bank adjacent to my neighborhood which diverts a ton of fresh healthy food waste from the landfill and you can get a giant grocery cart of groceries for $40 (or 4 hours of volunteer work). I love innovative economic models like this and now I want all of LA to know it’s possible to have good food and not go broke! I will be only spending $50/month or less next year for groceries in the #50buckgrocerychallenge. You can follow my Instagram to see how that all goes…. Hopefully I won’t be dead by March.
    

14. I was on some fancy panels.
    I was on a panel called “Asian American Women who are Changing the Face of Media” that the UCLA Luskin Center and UCLA Asian American Studies put on. Here’s an article on it.
    

15. I wrote some essays.
    Here’s an essay I wrote about losing an election for Miyam Bialik’s Grok Nation.
    Here’s an essay I wrote for This Stage about why I ran for office.
    

16. Made it to one of those “Best of LA” issues that the LA Weekly puts out!
    I made it to the “Best of LA Arts” issue this year.
    

17. Went to Artist Campaign School!
    I made life long friends at this special intensive training that teaches artists how to run and win for local office. This was in Chicago!
    

18. Spent more time in LA this year and got way more into cooking!
    “Kristina Wong for Public Office” is a rare show that I’ve developed mostly in Los Angeles… that means I was on the road a lot less this year. Which means that it took months for me to ease into my kitchen and realize “I’ve been afraid of big commitment cooking.” In January I will be doing VEGANUARY where I do an all plant based diet. I am also now the owner of several Instant Pots and all sorts of weird cooking things that will make delicious meals!
    

19. Had major dental surgery… paid it off with POSHMARK.
    Yes, I’m still running a flea market out of my bedroom (ie I have a very active Poshmark hustle). Last year when I was getting heavily trolled, I worried that I actually might get chased into economic armagedon out of my already teetering art career. So I started to look at ways I could earn income in the event I got blacklisted off the planet. Resale was one thing that came up up as an option. But luckily, the trolls didn’t win but did pay off my wisdom teeth removal with the Poshmark funds.
    
    Now my resale obsession is slowly getting replaced by my interest in food and cooking. I’m ok with that. I need my space back! I sold close to 490 items this year and net almost $6000 in sales! And bonus, the trolls haven’t stopped my performance art career!