A letter from January 30th, 2017

Dear FutureMe, You received a letter on January 23, 2017 from January 24, 2013. It's actually sort of fun to read something from the past so now you're going to write another one ೭੧(❛▿❛✿)੭೨ The Lunar New Year just passed, and this year Cathy got you tickets to Stanford's Chinese New Year Gala. The skits and comedies were hilarious and it was definitely worth it!! Fonda almost didn't go, but she did end up going. I was a bit worried she would mind the Berkeley rivalry bits, but I also saw her laughing so hey it's probably ok. I wonder if you'll still be in California by the time you're reading this? You're really into this MMORPG called 剑三, and you're also really interested in Professor Susan Miler's seminar on Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism. You're also thinking about pairing that with Children's Lit (ENL 180) in your research paper. Not sure where that's going to go yet, though. This has been a really bad year in politics and general social amiability. The Trump administration has taken power. An executive order banning immigration from seven countries went into effect this weekend. Vandalism is appearing on our bathroom walls. Hate crimes at the mosque. I'm not sure the problem of speaking up is as serious as the question: how do we get through to the other side in a world full of alternative facts and alternative realities? How do we get heard? Wow, this is depressing. In slightly happier news, it was nice hearing back from everyone at Beida again this year on WeChat over the New Year. I do miss them a lot. Leo commented that "you sound much more at home at beida", which I think might actually be true, although I probably wouldn't choose to go again now that I'm home at Davis. The air pollution alone. (」゜ロ゜)」 I think this is all for now. Back to studying for midterms.