2021: Some gems in a FUCKING SHIT FEST.
It’s that annual year-end post where I do that circle jerk of one, and sum up the wins of the year. Like 2020, 2021 marked tragic loss for the world, humanity, the environment, democracy… et al. We emerged from the virus, only to find ourselves right back in it thanks to these goddamn covid variants (and vaccine hesitancy). But I will say I felt closer to my purpose for the world and incredibly proud of these moments of resistance that were carved.
Here are the highlights:
I continued to Overlord the Auntie Sewing Squad and after 504 days, we finally retired.
Or shall we say “retired”? On August 15, we officially sewed our last masks as Aunties. In the end we were over 800 Aunties across 33 states. We sewed 350k masks, sent 8 relief vehicles to the Navajo Nation (plus smaller car relays!). We’re still rerouting medical and hygiene supplies to our partner communities. We are still sending support. The system is truly broken. We didn’t fix it, we put a bandaid on it.
2. I got vaccinated— THREE TIMES.
And I didn’t turn into a magnet or tracking device— and my balls did not shrink! I credit the booster to keeping me healthy through two months in New York City!
3. I got elected… and re-elected!
Two years ago, I ran to be an ADEM delegate (Assembly District delegate of the CA Dem Party) with an amazing slate of progressives. It was a complicated and inaccessible election that required us dragging all our friends to a housing project on a Saturday afternoon to vote. We all lost.
This year in the pandemic, the election switched to mail-in ballots. I ran with another progressive ballot and we all won. And specifically, I won BG TIME as I was elected “Executive Board” because I checked a box off saying I was willing to be that if I got the most votes… which I somehow did!
I was also re-elected to my local office as Sub-District 5 representative of the Wilshire Center Koreatown Neighborhood Council with 19 votes total (18 if you don’t count the vote I cast for myself). I ran unopposed— it was a tough election!
4. I wrote some things.
Aside from my off-Broadway show, I managed to free up enough brain cells to write this essay for MacDowell.
5. I did a lot of shows from Zoom. A LOT.
I specifically said in March 2020 that doing online shows was a terrible idea, only to fully throw myself into it.
At the top of the year, I did some final home performances of “Kristina Wong for Public Office”. And in May 2021, did my last home ZOOM performance of “Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord.” I also hosted a bunch of stuff and gave keynote performances and speeches. I made love to audiences on Zoom and assumed… they were making love back?
6. I got some incredible press.
Two articles in the New York Times! The LA Times! KCRW! Interviews on half a dozen podcasts, including the Nation. You can check it all out here…
7. I was in a Netflix movie!
My voice was, at least, in Wish Dragon on Netflix. I actually recorded this way back in 2018 when they were still sketching the animations. But it was cool to see what were then pencil drawings fully colored in.
8. I was on NBC’s “A Little Late with Lilly Singh”!
March was shitty for Asian Americans. A spike in hate crimes and the tragic spa shootings in Atlanta. Thank you Lilly Singh for lending your platform so I could sound off.
9. I adopted the world’s cutest cat!
When I wasn’t running a SHADOW FEMA powered by Aunties, I was looking at small to medium size dogs to adopt, but the pandemic left the shelters bare of nothing but old gigantic pit bulls (not that they aren’t adorable, I just don’t have room for big dogs). Then I stumbled upon Happy (then named “Jack”) on the Luxe Paws FB page. He was a chonky street cat that everyone on NextDoor was rooting for. The folks at Luxe Paws trapped and neutered him. They usually release fixed cats back into the streets, but Happy was so sweet, they made him available for adoption. Happy is the first cat I’ve owned in about five years. He’s FIV+, has herpes which makes his eyes crust up, and has a chronic masturbation problem. I love him!
10. I directed a show with API Rise for the East West Players virtual season.
What was supposed to be a niche City of Los Angeles Artist-in-Residence project that would have been rehearsed and performed in the back room of a church, ended up on the EWP virtual season with a NATIONAL CAST! I’m so proud to have worked with API RISE and a cast of REAL LIFE AMAZING PEOPLE who have been impacted by the criminal justice system. It may have been the first original piece performed by and and about the lives of formerly incarcerated APIs.
11. I (and Auntie Sewing Squad) got hella awards and recognitions.
AAAS recognized AAS! Association of Asian American Studies gave Auntie Sewing Squad an award. I also got recognitions from the KW Lee Center for Leadership and the 18th Street Arts Center. I may have gotten more recognitions and forgot. It’s been a long weird year.
12. I wrote an introduction in our now published Auntie Sewing Squad book!
The Auntie Sewing Squad was blessed to have so many incredible academics, historians and writers who contributed to this anthology.
13. I premiered a new show off-Broadway! It was a hit!
This is the biggest WIN of the year! And now that theater is shutting down (AGAIN), I feel so fortunate that this show squeezed in under the wire. But also, I feel so grateful that New York Theater Workshop took a chance on premiering a show that didn’t have a complete script.
I got to live in New York City for two months. I experienced the intensity which is an AEA contract and rehearsal schedule. I got to welcome back audiences and process the pandemic with them in this show.
14. I signed with a new manager!
In a big move for the future, I signed with Sweet 180 based in NYC. I already went on a bunch of auditions while in New York City. My manager Lillian is a pistol who GETS WHAT I DO! I can’t wait to see what we do together.
15. I started renovations on my home.
I’ve owned my home since 2010 and have had “temporary” post-college furniture this whole time. My friend Anna stayed with me in July and helped me pull the trigger on decisions I couldn’t. The renovation was stopped for a couple months while I was gone and supposedly waiting for a permit to come in from the city. Pray that my unvaccinated contractor (I sadly found out mid-renovation that he refuses to get the poke) doesn’t become a vector.
16. I became a “Food Bank and Food Stamp Influencer.” I raised enough money for World Harvest Food Bank to get two industrial fridges!
Being a tongue in cheek “Food Bank Influencer” led to the Department of Social Services asking me if I’d be a “Food Stamps Influencer” for them too. While I don’t get CalFresh benefits, a lot of my friends do. And that all led to this profile about me being a “Food Bank Influencer” in LAist! Thanks to all my friends who kicked in a bit for my birthday fundraiser. We raised almost $5000 which World Harvest Food Bank used to buy two fridges!
17. I lived on less than $600/ year in groceries! And now… it’s going to be the seeds of my next work.
I learned to cook and be more resourceful about food. My relationship with food and my interest in food insecurity is forever changed by Glen Curado and World Harvest Food Bank who fed me and our communities. I will be announcing a three year project soon where I’m working on something that has to do about this. Stay tuned.
18. I got to witness how this small seed of mania I had in March 2020 became a community!
The Los Angeles Aunties at our official retirement party on September 25, 2021.
In what has been a really lonely time, I’ve never felt closer to total strangers. Auntie Sewing Squad wasn’t “a bunch of hobbyist volunteers who sewed masks”— we were a family of would-be strangers who brought the best of ourselves forward in this shitty shitty pandemic.
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That’s about what I can remember from this year. I just want us to survive and emerge and be better after this moment in history.