little lists

By Tamika Whitenack 

I have really been struggling to blog consistently this semester. I think it is because there is so much going on, and once I build up 2 weeks worth of content I get overwhelmed about how to write about it all so I just avoid writing, which exacerbates the problem because then I build up more content. Yikes. In an attempt to break this cycle, I’m going to just blog little lists and hopefully that will somehow piece together what’s going on.

Some consistent things in my life:

·      Running 6 days a week

·      Cooking a lot of vegetables

·      Asian American studies class

·      Reading a lot for my academic classes

·      Playing flute and piano when I have time

·      Babysitting and reading books during breakfast

·      Snack parties with my friends on Tuesdays

Some new-ish things:

·      It’s cold! So I’ve been wearing lots of scarves

·      Started using cupcake videos as bribery to get the girl I babysit to go to the bathroom. Our favorite category is “princess cupcake decorating.” To balance this frivolous screen time, we’ve also started engaging in conversations about my biology class, last week I was studying for my test on fungi and plant structures so we discussed different types of fungi and today we talked about chlorophyll and nuts/fruits as mechanisms of animal-assisted seed dispersal

·      Been using my bundt pan more! And have also started completely abandoning recipes and just baking by throwing stuff in the bowl. I've gotten especially adept at using sour cream to substitute for the eggs/butter/milk in a recipe. I’ve only had one mild disaster and that was less bc of the experimental part and more because I accidentally put the pan on an electric burner that was on and left it there, thinking it was cooling, which resulted in a very blackened bottom. Oops. This is why I advocate for gas stoves!

·      I’m officially accepted into my study abroad program! So I’ve been thinking about that a lot and definitely getting in the mindset of life outside of Vassar

Some accomplishments:

·      I finished my scarf!

·      I finally took some time to watercolor and made a little painting of our Shenandoah sunset

·      I’m trying to go to bed earlier and get up earlier. Sometimes this works and sometimes not so much

·      My suitemates made a list of 10 “just Tamika things” which I think is cute and I guess it’s an accomplishment that I’m so impressionable LOL

·      I’ve really peaked in terms of accumulating food for free

·      I wrote a letter to a friend from HS

·      We pitched a proposal for a Critical Ethnic Studies Conference at Vassar….hopefully we make progress on this with professors and others in the upcoming month!

Some things I’d like to work on:

·      I still don’t read for pleasure much, and I wish I did!

·      I need to get more comfortable with discomfort

·      I’d like to get off campus more!

·      I think I’m slacking a little on my environmental conscious practices

·      I would like to talk with family members and friends outside of vassar more

Things in my classes

·      Questioning policing, especially criminalization of prostitution and also hate crime legislation

·      Disability as a political model, and how it intersects with other systems of oppression

·      Being wary of inspiration porn

·      Learning all about the life cycle of Fungi! Basically theres a lot of spore production that occurs in specialized structures and most of them reproduce both asexually and sexually

·      Looking at transness and blackness as a politics of refusal and a possibility of fugitivity

·      Considering the implications/existence of US imperialism in efforts towards multiculturalism

cornbread in bad lighting

cheese biscuits

vegetables that were really spicy!

sweet potato bread and chocolate loaf

pumpkin pancakes

jam cake

cranberry cake

poor lighting and napa cabbage

lentils and tomato situation

ginger cake!

a rendition of shenandoah