may 2024 special election

I’m dragging my finger through the film of pollen coating my car, and the clean little squeak left behind grosses me out. Why did I think I could be responsible for this pollen now? I flick the grit of the stuff into the street, then wipe what remains against my pants. It’s Spring. 

It’s Spring? 

Winter could not have been longer. 

I passed a lot of time this winter remembering conversations from a day or a month earlier. I would purse my lips like a duck to touch the tip of my nose — confirming: yes, it’s cold — and remember what you (the royal You) said to me.

My friend came to town, and in my memory, we had this conversation at a late lunch after a brief soak. With their usual mordant lilt, they said, “You can always tell who’s new to their little countermovement” (a beat for dramatic effect) “by the creases still in their flags.” 

Still moving slowly from soaking in the hot water, I remember my mouth falling open and a laugh starting at the top of my head. “Oh, my god,” I may have said, just meaning, you’re right; go on.  

They did. “There’s no historical investment in the movement. They ordered a flag of Israel from an Amazon sweatshop seller yesterday and unfolded it on the way to harass the protest for Palestine.” 

I can picture my friend taking the time to wash, iron, and hang their canvas Palestinian flag. I see them perched unsteadily on a stool to string it up on their balcony, where it flaps even now for their pacing phone calls and morning coffees. No creases. Longevity. Devotion to principles over time. This is not a subtweet to the folks bringing their new, just-unfolded Palestinian flags down to the protest. 

I’m thinking of the insidious devotion to the status quo, and to American military supremacy in the Middle East, that has caused even the most fundamentalist Christian anti-semites to suddenly go all in for Israel’s right to defend itself. These actual, lifelong anti-semites who suddenly act like the college kids protesting for Palestine are antisemitic. These clowns calling anti-Zionism antisemitism in our federal government buildings, wasting our taxpayer dollars. These clowns calling for the deportation of international college students who protest in support of Palestine. The way the Democrats are slowly turning the ship now that they have seen how unpopular Genocide Joe has become. The mainstream liberals writing their Time Magazine thinkpieces co-opting the things radical organizers were saying from Day One: that conflating Zionism with Judaism is in fact antisemitic and puts Jews at risk. 

In our little Special Election here in Portland, I hold the incalculably more than 40,000 murdered Palestinians in my heart. I hold the millions displaced. I honor the cynicism and rage felt by you, by us. Everything implies everything else. Voter turnout is at a record low in Multnomah County, and I know that for some of us, it’s because we’re fucking pissed, fucking done, fucking disappointed. 

Like you, I am exhausted in a way that sleep cannot touch due to this evil economy’s glut for war, surveillance, violence, and control, and the way we all feel it in the fabric of this public education system, this healthcare system, this housing crisis, this militarized police state, this persistent, long-game economical torture device in which we are held by our ankles upside down in overworkedness and underpaidness. The wear and tear is in our friendships, our relationships, in how much time and capacity and patience we have for each other. In every heartbreak, I turn to face the camera, breaking the 4th wall: I do not exonerate the economy for what it has done to fracture human relationships. Some of us feel the wear and tear of exploitation so much worse than others. Wherever you land, I love ya and I wish it wasn’t this way. People in power have made choices — a lot of choices over a lot of time, obscured by a lot of fear tactics and propaganda and corruption — to make the world this cruel. 

The point is not to give up and say it’s too late to take back a slower, more compassionate world. It’s too late for a lot of things. A lot of tipping points have come and gone. But we’re still here, and we owe it to each other to stay in the fight. We owe it to our ancestors who were up against the same or worse, we owe it to the generations to come who are inheriting this mess and courageously taking up the mantle. We owe it to our friends and family, here now. Don’t you want a better world for your best friends? Don’t they want a better world for you too? Each one of us must stay in the fight. 

June Jordan’s poem “Calling All Silent Minorities” comes across my desk every few months, and it came to me this weekend again. She writes: 

HEY

C’MON
COME OUT

WHEREVER YOU ARE

WE NEED TO HAVE THIS MEETING
AT THIS TREE

AIN’ EVEN BEEN
PLANTED
YET

There is still so much work to do. Feeling nihilistic, hopeless, and carried out to sea is a normal reaction to the world we are living in. But aren’t we still chipping away toward something? 

That’s why we’re still voting with our heels dragging and our eyes rolling. God, ew. As always, we yield not one more inch to the machine. We don’t just throw in the towel and let these motherfuckers run truly amok. They run amok enough even with us mad and strategic. 

Even if Tr*mp wins in November, do we roll over and die? Or do we keep fucking organizing? Is there some long-game political strategy in spanking Biden and the Democratic establishment and letting them eat their just desserts by losing power? Will that be a big enough message that we need to move the Dem party further left? I don’t know. I do not relish the gleeful fascism that the return of Tr*mp would herald. The real horrible harms, transphobia, warmongering, sexism. Horrid. But it’s pretty fucking fascistic now. Instead of being bogged down in What It All Means and What Is the Point, what if we don’t give up and just keep organizing? When Tr*mp won in 2016, I saw a lot of white liberal feminist types give up, tap out, stop engaging because they were soooOOOoo hurt and hopeless. Meanwhile, I saw brilliant Black, Brown, indigenous, queer, trans, poor, immigrant organizers keep fucking organizing. No matter what, don’t we keep moving closer to our own integrity and ideologies for a better world, and enact those values all the time, no matter who’s in power? A cheesy little tweet from 2020 has been making its rounds again — the parable of the choir. “A choir can sing a beautiful note impossibly long because singers can individually drop out to breathe as necessary and the note goes on. [Activism] should be like that.” 

Voting, I will say, is the bare minimum for engagement. Hotties join an organization, support mutual aid, get to know their neighbors and coworkers and community. They interpersonally take ownership of harm done and apologize to real people in realtime when they can. Hotties change their mind with flexibility and gratitude when new information comes to light. When it’s safe to do so, they have real discourse with people who are ideologically still acting from a place of scarcity, control, or fear. They take the time to give a wad of cash and share a kind word with a panhandler in front of their grouchy stepmom who talks shit about homeless people, not for the performance of it, but to really, actually model other ways of being.

Share what you have, lift others up, and when you need help, allow yourself to ask and be lifted too. Don’t disappear and don’t give up. Don’t act like others deserve care and you do not. That’s not true, babe. We need you strong and supported too. Stay in the fight. 

✿

As usual, I stick to Portland, and there are some races I skip because candidates are running unopposed, or because I have nothing salient to add. If I have tipped one way or another even for subtle reasons, I try to flag those for your consideration, but I hope you feel that I’m not trying to convince you of one thing over another. This is also why y’all never try to debate me in the DMs. Thank you so fucking much for that and don’t fucking start now. As always, I am not an expert or trying to convince you of anything. I just want you to know what I know, to have the opportunity to consider what I’ve considered. I hope you use this guide as one of many resources to make up your own mind. I also know that we’re so tired, and cross-referencing sources about electoral politics may not be how you choose to spend your time. I am here for at least this small offering. 

As Socrates once famously said, I am just a dumb bitch who knows nothing. I don’t work in politics. I am very limited. My positionality is what it is: I am a queer, light-skinned, mixed Korean/white public educator and mental health worker. I grew up working class with my single immigrant mama and sibs. In my adulthood, I’ve had the privilege, luck, and access to go to grad school, work a middle-class job, and live in stable housing. Like many of you, I work extra gigs to keep afloat. I almost hyperventilate in the supermarket confronted by a five-pound bag of Nishiki rice which costs $18, double what I used to pay for it. 

When I consider candidates and ballot measures, I’m trying to glean what might protect certain most vulnerable populations the most. I have tried to balance the confluence of renters’ rights and livability (especially over property owners’ taxes), the needs of our homeless neighbors, our students, our QTBIPOC community, our elders, our plants and animals and land. I value dignity, choice, care, and alleviating suffering above…what…the invisibilization of suffering under the guise of “cleaning up our neighborhoods” or whatever NIMBY-ass nonsense? 

✿

Housekeeping ~ ꕤ*.ﾟ

• Election Day is Tuesday, May 21st.  Find your nearest ballot drop-box here. Your ballot just needs to be POSTMARKED by 8pm Election Day, so you could conceivably drop your ballot into your own mailbox or a USPS Blue Box all the way until the last pickup of the day. You don’t need a stamp. All public libraries are also ballot drop sites, and this is my favorite civic field trip of the year. I love to see The Public shuffling to the library to drop off ballots. 

• You may have already perused your sacred text, the state’s Voters’ Pamphlet. I always read it cover-to-cover, often because what candidates say about themselves makes me LAUGH if they are unhinged (I opened to a random page and saw one candidate chastising current elected officials for their “quixotic pursuits” lmfaooooooOOOOOO PRETENTIONISTA NICE VOCAB WORD!!!! I think we should all be entitled to some quixotic pursuits tbh, pragmatism is so over), but importantly because this is an efficient place to track major endorsements. I give A LOT of weight to labor union endorsements. Follow that link for a few versions, including the original PDF, an audio version, a large print version, and translations into Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, Russian, and Chinese. 

• If you need a replacement ballot, don’t worry, go here. VERY easy to order ahead and pick up at will call, even all the way up to Election Day. To track your ballot, go here. 

• I consulted gossip, shit talk, and vibes. These are sacred forms of queer femme knowledge and I am not a journalist. I often learn new information and edit. I do not simp for any of these candidates or ballot measures. They are up for critique and revision of opinion at all times by virtue of seeking power.

• I looked at endorsements and writeups from Ballotpedia, OPB, the Merc, the League of Women Voters, Willamette Week, APANO (available in eight languages), NW Labor Press’ guide to union endorsements, Portland for All, this handy guide to see where Congressional candidates fall on Palestine, Street Roots, Bernie PDX, and more. Basic Rights Oregon’s endorsements feature rainbow emojis for queer candidates, a cute touch.
  Many of these resources include recommendations for statewide or region-wide races outside of Portland. 

• If you need your ballot picked up or have some other ballot emergency, DM me and I will try to pick it up or send one of my hot friends to you. I am deadass. I’ve done it before and I’d be happy to do it again. Your vote is very important even if shit has hit the fan for you and you can’t troubleshoot it on your own.

• I would like to state for the record that although I took a principled stand against yearning this winter (directness only, I declared, to mixed results), yearning is so back. I made this playlist last year and have been listening to it constantly this week. To drive over the Fremont Bridge at sunset with this playing, Willamette River shimmering like mercury in the low light? HEAVEN ON EARTH. It starts p horny and gets progressively more wistful. Remind you of anyone????? I like to imagine a world in which Soft Stud gets a sequel track revealing that the object of affection is in a healthy open relationship and that KP gets to kiss them in the end. 

• Love you, mean it. Take good care. Have a sip of water and thanks for voting, bitch. 

✿

Candidates 

Multnomah County Commissioner, District 1: Meghan Moyer

The Multnomah County Board of County Commissioners has vast influence on how money flows to the people in Portland — they’re sitting on funds that impact homelessness, Preschool for All, public health, waste management, transportation infrastructure, land use, parks…they are big, big players. Sharon Meieran’s second term has ended, and Meghan Moyer (gay, btw) is vying for her spot. She snags my support because she’s been doing the damn thing for ages. She’s dabbled in almost everything: building houses as a contractor, policy strategist for teacher’s unions and homecare workers unions, policy director for Disability Rights Oregon, board of directors for Basic Rights Oregon, and actually way more, too.  

She successfully bargained for homecare workers represented by SEIU get health insurance — that’s 30,000 homecare workers with health insurance, bitch!! When you follow her career, you see tangible victories like this all over the place. I would like a dyke who knows how much lumber costs to be negotiating contracts for affordable housing in our county, which has blown embarrassingly large sums on dreadfully ugly, expensive, small, and slow affordable housing units. I am told by a queer friend that she is also pleasant to work with, which we GRAVELY underestimate in politics, actually. Coalition-building and trust make the entire process of change more efficient because you can get shit done instead of wringing your hands over how to strategically write the perfect, unimpeachable email. I would much prefer Meghan Moyer on the Commission, whom I hope will end up being a person who builds relationships wherein her staff can casually knock on her door to work together.

Running against her is Vadim Mozyrsky, who raises red flags because he cites 911 response times as a priority (to me, this is code for moving more money to cops), and is endorsed by Rene Gonzalez, Mingus Mapps, and Dan Ryan, all of whom have gravely disappointed me. 

Multnomah County Commissioner, District 2: Shannon Singleton

This is a crowded-ass race with a varied cast of characters. Immediately blow off disgraced, egomaniacal former mayor Sam Adams who is simply addicted to homelessness sweeps, and Jessie Burke who is endorsed by Portland Police. Nick Hara and Carlos Jermaine Richards have a lot of the right priorities, but just don’t have Shannon’s breadth of experience which will allow her to hit the ground running. Singleton has been deep in the implementation and policy work around Multnomah County housing for many years now. She’s worked on the county’s Joint Office of Homeless Services, messed around on the state level working on Racial Justice and Equity policy (Singleton is Black), and I always appreciate when a social worker uses their person-centered training on macro-level change. Endorsed by everyone we want to see: SEIU Oregon, APANO, Working Families, East County Rising, Color PAC, Basic Rights PAC, Portland Association of Teachers, and so on. 

Multnomah County Commissioner, District 3: TJ Noddings 

Readers may remember that I’ve endorsed Julia Brim-Edwards in the past — always with caveats, and always skeptical of her brand of Nike girlboss feminism. I have also endorsed her competitors who were viable alternatives. Brim-Edwards brings a lot of policy experience to the table, and when I asked my Portland teacher friends about her, some said that she earned their respect by meaningfully picking apart the PPS Foundation Structure, which previously allowed families at particular schools to fundraise enough money to hire extra positions at that school. This essentially means that certain schools with more resourced parents were able to buy smaller class sizes, just at their schools. Brim-Edwards helped ensure that if funds are raised in excess of $20,000, they have to go to the whole district to be shared among schools. (More on that here.) Voters who want Brim-Edwards, who is already deep in her work at Multco, to keep up at a quick clip could easily vote for her instead. Coin-toss.

But I can’t get over how gravely she has misstepped in her tenure on the school board. Despite widespread student protests and staff disagreement, she supported and organized for bringing armed SROs back into Portland schools. She also just voted to bring back JROTC to Portland schools. YOU TRULY HATE TO SEE IT. And REALLY, what is her pragmatic effectiveness on Foundation reform worth when she became infamous to Portland union teachers during the strike for talking a big talk about reconciliation then going back on her word over and over again? One of my trusted educator friends groaned, “Oh, JBE? She’s the worst. I hated walking into the negotiations room and seeing her there.” When educators have a full-body dread response upon seeing a particular Board member just sitting in the room…this is not a good sign. If JBE somehow reads this…I invite you to look inward, girl, without getting defensive. Brim-Edwards has another year as PPS School Board member and it is truly not ever too late to earn back some good graces with student protestors and listen more cooperatively to union teaching staff.

I am a public education stan, so I do look closely at School Board decision-making as a mirror to reveal values. These choices reflect her capacity as a Commissioner to move with integrity toward defunding police and funding social services instead. She reveals a fundamental faith in and willingness to partner with systems of dominance and control over the voices she represents, and in her platform, she states that she wants more first responder staffing. (In order to get the first responder staffing we want, I believe we have to keep bullying Rene Gonzalez over at Portland City Council to bring back and expand the full force of Portland Street Response.) Brim-Edwards has been effective at improving many aspects of Multnomah County, but I believe ideologically will only get us to a certain point. 

In this race, we are presented with an alternative: newcomer TJ Noddings. It almost made me laugh out loud to read his Voters’ Pamphlet blurb, which daringly reads: “Our current commissioner running for re-election, who owns 2 investment properties in Portland and is an honoree of a real estate big interest group, has not and will not serve us.” This is an ideological brightline for me: I think he’s right that Brim-Edwards is not going to take us far enough toward giving renters and homeless folks the full brunt of unencumbered support that someone who more fundamentally believes in dignity and choice for those two populations would. In a lot of ways, local governments who DON’T TRUST HOMELESS PEOPLE TO MANAGE THEIR OWN MONEY make the process unnecessarily complicated: the money is gatekept, short-term, temporary. It’s motel rooms for a few weeks in the freezing months AT BEST, then case management that goes through the shelter process. Even this is a lot better than it used to be. 

Noddings, who is a Housing Navigator at the Cascade AIDS Project, has, I am sure, sat with limited assistance funds, referring clients to 211 knowing that 211 doesn’t have enough money, and has come to run for this office with simplicity in his platform: what about more housing vouchers? What about more robust legal representation for all tenants facing eviction? 

Noddings would have a lot to learn as a somewhat recent transplant to our city with a relatively short career in homelessness and housing, and no real experience at all in government. One even wonders what he’s doing in this race at all. My long-shot vote is one of good faith that he’s learned a great deal from the community, including his clients, and willing to learn more. In the absence of other candidates with more experience and more identities in common with those most marginalized by systems of oppression, I at least want to send a very clear message to the Brim-Edwards camp in the form of lost votes that they can and should be focusing way more on housing vouchers and renters protections, period, and that her support of armed SROs and JROTC in schools has me ACTIVELY LOOKING for alternatives. There will be a demonstration on the evening May 18th at Colonel Summers park protesting JROTC in PPS.

I am voting for the candidate who has more urgency around housing vouchers. It’s kind of as simple as that. The message I want to send to anyone attempting to ascend to this office, in any district, is that we can keep trying to stop the bleeding of unaffordable housing through indirect, reactionary means, or we can focus on making more housing vouchers available. According to even mainstream-ass Business Insider, “Tenants now need to earn 36% more than they did in 2019 to afford a typical rent.” What the fuck are we doing?

My family’s life was totally changed when my mom received a Section 8 housing voucher. Too disabled, ill, and elderly to work, she had been on the waitlist for years, and probably would have remained on the waitlist if there wasn’t a blush of funding that came in 2020, when she was selected in some esoteric lottery process. Before 2020, my siblings and I were going into psychotic amounts of debt, arguing, having panic attacks, and generally going insane trying to pay for our own rents and hers. I’d just sit in my car after working my second job or third job and cry, oh, weekly. I became a difficult friend to have because every catch-up session ended up with me breathlessly monologuing about how hopeless I felt about the crisis du jour. The amount of instability and trauma we experienced month-to-month probably shaved years off our lives. 

And yet, we ended up being so incredibly lucky. We managed to stay afloat with only short stints of living in a motel or Craigslist halfway house in Springfield between evictions, sometimes with me begging for support from friends. When the golden ticket came for her, we moved her into a much safer, cleaner, quieter little apartment in Southeast Portland. I went from fighting with my mom about almost everything to building a peaceful, supportive relationship with her. We now have the most special relationship I could ever have hoped for — a kind of relationship I never thought we’d get to have. Our ENTIRE lives changed with my mom’s housing voucher. Two generations of Yangs healed by one housing voucher. THREE if you count my son aka my dog Muji, whose charmed existence I could not pay for if I was still bleeding out each month trying to cover my mom’s rent. 

Noddings says, “I’d direct a larger portion of [Metro’s Supportive Housing Services] funds away from standing up temporary shelter beds and towards funding more Regional Long-term Rent Assistance (RLRA) vouchers, which directly pay rent for homeless residents. This moves folks directly into permanent housing, and makes use of our existing housing vacancies (6.2% of rental units sit vacant).” THAT’S THE KIND OF DISCOURSE I WANT TO SEE, BITCH!!!!!!!!!!

Multnomah County Commissioner, District 4: Vince Jones-Dixon 

Love that Timothy O. Youker, who is also running for this slot, keeps trying to rebrand himself as “T.O.Y” — what the heck? He lists it on his pamphlet blurb twice, always as a parenthetical after his full name. He is truly trying to make fetch happen. He gives eccentric vibes and I do love that he says he’d support a gun buyback and destroy program. Brian Knotts is the dude who is so against “quixotic pursuits” (yawn) and gives major Republican conspiracy theorist hard-on-crime vibes. 

Vince Jones-Dixon has local government experience out in Gresham, has served on the Metro Policy Advisory Committee, and is endorsed by everybody as the real contender in this race. He is a Black man from East County endorsed by SEIU, AFSCME, League of Conservation Voters, APANO, Working Families, East County Rising, etc. 

US Representative, 1st District: Suzanne Bonamici 

Bonamici is a reliable Dem. She sat on calling for a Ceasefire for a hot second, but recently signed a letter to Biden, so to me…she’s safe for now. I’m so fucking unimpressed with our federal government right now that it’s hard for me to write anything else. Bonamici has been effective at protecting contraception and abortion care, social security, and so on…it’s important we send her to the primary to win against a Republican because November is going to be a huge conservative red wave shitshow. I appreciated this interview she gave to Street Roots, where she specifically shouted out Portland Street Response and KAHOOTS down in Eugene. I feel like a wilting sunflower writing this. Single-issue sunflowers, rise up! All I care about is liberation for Palestine. She called for a Ceasefire finally so she’ll get my vote. I want to send the message that we’ll re-elect candidates who do this. 

Please note that she recently voted FOR the recently passed disaster military aid package, saying that she did so because it also included humanitarian aid (that is being blocked and destroyed by Israel, LOL). The Merc summarized this well. I hope the Bonamici camp will swing much further to the left on this. It’s a very fucking bad look.  

Engineer Jamil O Ahmad is running against her — he’s a total newcomer and I do not believe that he could win in the General Election against a Republican, but I appreciate that he’s so critical of the US Military support of Israel. His angle, stated kind of in the tone of a guy being like, “well, actually…” is that the US Constitution requires a separation of church and state, therefore we shouldn’t send money to a religious state. Too bad America loves being unconstitutional. But love what he’s adding to the discourse LOL. 

US Representative, 3rd District: Susheela Jayapal 

To me, this is maybe the most important vote to cast in the special election, and probably the hill to die on if you’re thinking of burning some political capital with your friends, coworkers, and family — this and writing in Uncommitted for President. Light up the group chats. Jayapal has been anointed by media attention and endorsements to actually win in November, and has been much more clear and specific in her calls for a Ceasefire than experienced lawmaker Maxine Dexter, who is the next most likely to win. 

Edit 5/15/24: All of the reporting I’d read leading up to the release of this voter guide portrayed Maxine Dexter as, “well, shucks, what can I do?” about AIPAC pouring money into attack ads against Susheela. I have learned a little more: Dexter did tweet on 5/3/24 that she was “disappointed” to see that dark money was disparaging her opponent. There have been many calls for Dexter to go way further than this and demand that those ads be taken down. I agree that she should have done this, though I wonder how much power she actually has to do so. It would ALSO have been nice if instead of vaguely condemning “dark money,” Dexter would be more specific to condemn ~AIPAC’s~ attempt to influence the election. I did previously call her AIPAC Barbie, and though this slaps as an insult, I did take it out. HOWEVER. My sense is that expressly condemning AIPAC would be a bridge too far for her as she attempts to teeter between progressive enough for the lefties and moderate enough for your run-of-the-mill Democrat Zionist. In her rather bland and scattered calls for a Ceasefire, she seems to always make sure she’s condemning Hamas in the same breath. And in the year of our lord 2024 with over 40,000 dead Palestinians at last month’s count before all infrastructure to count the dead was obliterated…this is just not enough. It is disappointing and lackluster at best, and both-sidesy, ambitious political cowardice at worst.

Jayapal has been so much more ideologically clear on where blame lies and the extent to which she would support tangible steps toward a Ceasefire, halting weapons sales, and pushing humanitarian aid, so she still has my vote.

Longtime Dem Earl Blumenauer is retiring, which he announced early into the Pro-Palestine movement in the Fall, when he was sitting on his hands instead of calling for a Ceasefire. Since announcing he won’t be running for re-election, he has started dipping his toe into representing his consitutents and has signed onto the more recent calls for a Ceasefire. Thank god. This is a much better legacy for him to leave. We may walk across the Blumenauer walking bridge in peace.

This guide to the District 3 race is one to read. It’s striking to see Susheela answer all questions about Palestine with clarity and thoughtfulness, especially next to other candidates who just didn’t respond to the survey. She says, for instance, that she supports halting military aid, and that she unilaterally supports the right of Americans to participate in the BDS movement. 

Jayapal served Multnomah County as a Commissioner, where she was not perfect. Though she consistently demonstrates solid political values, a willingness to listen attentively, and thoughtfulness and consideration on complex topics, she does not have a great track record of actually writing and enacting legislation. If elected, I would hope that she and her staff hit the ground running and learn to operationalize change efficiently and prolifically, frankly. It is one thing to listen attentively, but the true task we entrust to public servants is that they take what they’ve heard and honor the consituents by doing something about it.

Jayapal continues to name affordable long-term housing as the path toward reducing homelessness, and securing federal funds as a major pathway toward doing so. She is endorsed by workers’ unions and broadly supports the right of workers to form new unions. 

For more information about the Maxine Dexter/AIPAC/dark money debacle, read this article about how much AIPAC is throwing cash at Maxine Dexter, all under the guise of “science” or something. They’re able to get away with this by running unaffiliated attack ads against Jayapal. Through these little loopholes, the attack ads that directly or indirectly (depending on how you look at Dexter’s responsibilities here) benefit Dexter have accrued $3 fucking million since Jayapal made headlines supporting a Ceasefire back in November, with about $1 million pretty easily traceable to a single Los Angeles-based AIPAC donor who asked to remain anonymous. Gal Gadot, that you, girl??? It’s flop behavior. Enough!!!!!! 

US Representative, 5th District: Janelle S Bynum 

Never forget when dyke cowgirl Jamie McLeod Skinner said “You have very soft hands” to Kurt Schrader in 2022! I was devastated when McLeod Skinner lost to Republican Lori Chavez Deremer in my very own SE Portland district last year. It has been very disheartening to call her offices calling for a Ceasfire knowing that her Republican, AIPAC-bought ass simply doesn’t give a fuck. All I’ve really been able to say is that I would do everything in my power to unseat her, which is exactly what I intend to do. 😇 I would relish the opportunity to vote her out now. I believe Janelle Bynum can beat her in November.

McLeod Skinner is very competent and effective, but has burned some bridges and made herself the worst thing a queer woman politican can be: unlikable. The ol’ Ellen Degeneres effect. I think this is pretty unfair and it’s hard to know what actually went down. But alas. She did lose to Lori Chavez Deremer once before. 

Bynum, on the other hand, has held various other public offices, like State Rep, and her most insightful critics say that she just isn’t very effective at getting stuff done. I have to wonder how much of this is anti-Blackness, though I always think our elected officials could be workin’ harder for us. At this point, we can see that the establishment Democrats have anointed Bynum: she has the endorsements of Governor Tina Kotek, former Governor Barbara Robers, Earl Blumenauer, Suzanne Bonamici, and even the Young Democrats of Oregon (who are these nerds, by the way?). I like to see PCUN’s endorsement too. I see the way the coalition is forming behind her, and I am crossing my fingers that we can elevate her to Washington in November.  

Secretary of State: Coin-toss — James Manning Jr. and Tobias Read

As usual, OPB’s reporting is incredibly insightful. I highly recommend reading this article. 

On the one hand, we have Tobias Read, who has served two terms as State Treasurer, and who was responsible for putting us on a course for carbon-neutral investments by 2050. Love to see this. Read has been a balanced, thoughtful leader who plays well with others. 

Black State Senator James Manning Jr., out of Eugene, is also thoughtful and balanced. While I would call Tobias Read the more experienced policymaker with a larger track record of results, I do really like that Manning has stated that if he were elected to the state’s land board, he would never sell state lands. OPB cleverly brings this up in contrast to Tobias Read, saying: 

“As state treasurer, Read served on the state land use board and in early 2017 he voted to sell the Elliott State Forest. It was a move that he said at the time had to do with the state’s fiduciary responsibilities. It led to conservation groups and public lands advocates protesting outside his office and urging him to rethink his position. Read ultimately did vote to keep the Southwest Oregon forest in the public’s domain.”  

Manning comes from a military background, which always gives me pause. It’s one thing to have gone through the military, which tons of folks (especially Black and Brown folks) access as a means to access higher education and stable income, but it’s another thing to keep proudly stating that as a part of your experience. I stay skeptical of the military industrial complex and so should you.   

I think Read is going to win. He has run for other offices (like governor against Tina Kotek) and has name recognition in his niche way. 

I will probably vote for Manning. I do think Read would be able to hit the ground running a little faster because of his experience managing these huge, statewide tunnels. He has already touched the Secretary of State office in a much closer way than Manning. But I would like to use my vote to give legitimacy to Manning, who is beloved by workers for his championing of worker benefits agreements and building trades unions. 

State Treasurer: UGH
Previous more solid endorsement was Elizabeth Steiner 

EDIT: 5/20/24
I’m leaving in my writing form before, because the analysis is still relevant. But please read this first.

It just came to my attention that, in her capacity as State Senator, Elizabeth Steiner attended a rally to “Fight Terrorism, Free the Hostages” on October 22nd, 2023. This information was not easy to find — nowhere in the endorsements, voting records, campaign materials, or news articles that I consulted did I see anything about this. But she did allow her name to be associated with this event. This is a huge red flag and gives me enormous pause. I can’t find anything else about how she feels NOW about a Ceasefire or where she stands on Palestine (especially now that Hamas has repeatedly tried to return hostages for various Ceasefire deals, only to be rejected by the Israeli government, who seem to not give one fuck about the hostages and in fact keep killing them). I have messaged her campaign a few different ways, and I’ve also done the same for Jeff Gudman’s camp.

Now, I hold space for the fact that many folks knee-jerked as pro-Israel back in October — even among my own acquaintances, people whose beliefs I often align with. For those of us who knew about the apartheid conditions dating far before October 7th, this was frustrating and heartbreaking. But as time went on and Israel became more and more depraved (and especially as the call for Ceasefire has become more of a voting issue), people and politicians have changed their tunes. I basically welcome everyone who has changed their minds, no matter when it happened. Now, am I gonna date you if you were at a rally for Israel on October 22nd, even if you’ve changed your mind? Not fucking likely. Our values and sense of history are likely not compatible. But I’m not dating these Treasurer candidates. THANK GOD FOR THAT!!!!! I’m trying to glean who is going to invest more ethically, even SLIGHTLY more ethically. The fucking trouble here is that I am just HOPING that Steiner has changed her tune to be more in alignment with the polls that show support for a Ceasefire from over 70% of Democrats, just based on some of her more progressive endorsements.

Really, in this case, the thing that Gudman has going for him is that not a whisper of his opinion on Palestine has become public. I have dug. I have been in the Facebook comments. He is running on a fairly progressive Treasurer campaign, and again, I do welcome that he “left the Republican party,” but a cynical part of me wonders how much this was a political decision to make him more palatable and electable to higher offices in our Blue state.

Where either candidate stands on the matter is important because the Treasurer has a great deal of say in Oregon’s investment portfolio. Under Tobias Read, we have made a statewide commitment toward ALL carbon neutral investments by 2050. Where a candidate falls on military legitimacy and intervention (especially weapons manufacturing, sales, surveillance technology, and so on) is critically important.

Steiner, as the more obviously progressive candidate with way more endorsements and alliances with more progressive organizations, strikes me as having the potential to be more ~pushable~. No matter who wins the Democratic Primary, I am committing to being a thorn in their side. I hope to use whatever means at my disposal to pressure and PUSH the candidate to more explicitly commit to carbon neutral investments and DIVESTING from stocks that benefit the war machine and genocide. Pushing the Democratic candidate for Treasurer toward EXPLICITLY naming that they support a Ceasefire and divesting from the military industrial complex, even incrementally — what the fuck could be more important than this?

This OPB article was very helpful. They highlight, importantly, that the winner of this race will go on to shake it out with Oregon Sen. Brian Boquist, a Republican from Dallas, who is one of 10 Republican state senators forbidden from seeking reelection this year because of their bitch-ass hissy fit 2023 walkout. It’s quite important that Steiner wins the primary, and gains the proper momentum to wipe the floor with Boquist in November.

Steiner’s opponent Jeff Gudman ran for Lake Oswego City Council as a Republican (he’s won and lost a few times apiece), and is now running as a Democrat for State Treasurer, which sends a shiver down my spine. 

Steiner is so overwhelmingly more experienced, effective, and ideologically sound. She’s been a state senator since 2011, is a physician who also teaches at OHSU, and serves on the budget-writing Ways and Means Committee on the very nitty-gritty parts of policy implementation in the state. As Treasurer, we want her more progressive views on protecting PERS, our public employee retirement pension, and a commitment to divest in fossil fuels and take our state’s investments to carbon neutrality by 2050 (which was hatched by current Treasurer Tobias Read). 

Attorney General: Shaina Maxes Pomerantz 

In their own words, “The attorney general appears in and represents the state in all court actions and legal proceedings in which the state of Oregon is a party or has an interest. This includes proceedings involving elected and appointed state officials, state agencies, boards and commissions.” The AG also writes the ballot measure titles for us to vote upon, oversees the Crime Victims’ Compensation Program, presides over child support obligations, and investigates public corruption. 

So who would we like in that role? Shaina Pomerantz is the underdog here — she’s a civil rights investigator who runs a racial justice nonprofit. She’s been part of Portland’s Independent Police Review Citizen Review Committee. Honestly, I would like to see what would happen with someone with her values and experience in the AG office. 

She’s running against Dan Rayfield, who has a lot more experience, especially in public affairs investigation and consumer protection cases. He’s also technically an attorney (which the AG doesn’t technically need to be in our state LOL), and he has scored many endorsements from the biggies especially for promising to protect abortion and reproductive rights and cracking down on corporations who are flagrant polluters. If he lives up to his promises, I think he’d be a commendable Attorney General. 

But wouldn’t it be cool to see Pomerantz in that spot? 

Oregon State Representative, 33rd District: Shannon Jones Isadore 

Put a therapist in the Oregon Capitol building! Why not!!! 

I expect this race to be a close split between the three candidates running. And in fact, Shannon Jones Isadore has been outfundraised quite a bit by competitors Duty and Grabiel.

Surgeon Brian Duty has snagged many compelling endorsements in this race, including SEIU Oregon, UFCW Local 555, Oregon League of Conservation Voters, and so on. I find the medical puns in his voter pamphlet writeup intolerable. Front and center, he says, “FINDING A CURE REQUIRES THE RIGHT DIAGNOSIS.” My guy. Please.  

Pete M Grabiel (why does my simple brain always read his name as “Peter Gabriel,” a reference that I, a millennial, do not even fully grasp. Like, who is Peter Gabriel?), a Latinx environmental lawyer, is also running for this seat, and seems a good choice ideologically as well: he states a commitment to “fully funding schools” (whatever this means), protecting abortion access, expanding healthcare, and protecting LGBTQ+ rights, but I did have a jump scare when I read that he wants to ban public drug use on our streets. This district represents NW and downtown, which has drawn the ire and criticism of so many folks who have contempt for drug users and homeless folks, often conflating the two interchangeably even when we know the Venn diagram isn’t a perfect circle. “Bans” are a code word for punishment. Bans imply fines or arrests. I don’t want to see more of either. I don’t want folks to be using intravenous drugs on our streets either, but I don’t fuck with criminalization. 

Shannon Jones Isadore is a candidate about whom we can actually be excited. She’s a therapist and the CEO and founder of Oregon Change Clinic, an intensive outpatient mental health center for BIPOC folks grappling with substance use recovery and mental health disorders. She was interviewed about the fearful backtracking of Measure 110, the Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act, a ballot measure that passed in 2021 to reclassify possession and penalties for certain drugs, aimed at moving the needle from criminalization to treatment and recovery. It was not a perfect ballot measure and certainly needed some time and additional partnerships in funding and legislation to actually ensure that treatment could happen more broadly. But in February, Republicans led the vote to repeal Measure 110, recriminalize hard drugs, and give cops more ability to penalize drug users. This is short-sighted and certainly will not help the problem of drug use and addiction. 

Isadore astutely pointed out that arrest records just compound issues for drug users long term. She testified against the repeal, saying, “Arrest records — it impacts people looking for employment, it impacts their housing, it perpetuates a cycle of poverty. A better solution is to dramatically increase our street services and outreach where there can be adequate care available for everyone.” 

We have SO FEW mental health experts who are able to influence policy around homelessness. Isadore runs a substance use recovery clinic. She’s a therapist. She is coming with SUCH a different perspective about outreach and long-term recovery. 

Update: Peter Gabriel is the frontman of British rock group Genesis. I don’t know a single song by them. Ok! Bye! 

Oregon State Representative, 46th District: Willy Chotzen 

Chotzen is a relative newcomer running against Mary Lou Hennrich, a big player in founding Oregon’s CareOregon. She is also progressive and experienced. 

I really look to the endorsements on this one. Chotzen has gained the trust of the Oregon Education Association PAC, Portland Association of Teachers, PCUN (Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste — they are doing very dope work as Oregon’s farmworker union supporting Laxinx folks), APANO Action Fund, Sunrise PDX, labor unions like AFL-CIO and AFSCME, and local faves such as Metro Councilor Duncan Hwang, Oregon Reps. Khanh Pham, Hoa Nguyen, and Mark Gamba.  

I also look to the grassroots organizing that Willy Chotzen is doing. A candidate who inspires folks to canvass, call, leave campaign materials door-to-door is a green flag to me, as a person who has been known to canvass. I see the leaflets left on my door, or my mom’s door, and it does place a dime on the scale of my little organizer heart. He’s one of only four more lefty candidates who snagged endorsements from Bernie PDX, and they summarize: “Willy supports bringing down housing costs by removing the ban on local rent control and instituting a vacancy tax. He believes the state must invest heavily in education, including smaller class sizes for students and better wages for teachers.” Oregon’s ban on rent control is so old, so fucked, and has got to go. Love that Chotzen names this specifically. 

State Representative, 48th District: Hoa H Nguyen 

Re-elect Hoa Nguyen!!!! She rules. She has served East County well, and is currently making progress on the House Education Committee for K-12​, House Early Childhood and Human Services​, and the ​JointWays and Means Subcommittee on Education. Keep her in place to keep doing her thing. As the most endorsed, most experienced incumbent, I hope and believe that she’ll coast her way back to her seat, though we should be prepared to spread the word more aggressively in the November election. 

Endorsed by big Dems like Jeff Merkley, Ron Wyden, and also Oregon Educators, Oregon Nurses Association, Planned Parenthood PAC, APANO, the Working Families Party, East County Rising, Oregon Conservation Voters, and so on!  

District Attorney, Multnomah County: Mike Schmidt BUT I AM WAITING ON HIS ASS TO DROP THE CHARGES AGAINST THE PSU STUDENT ENCAMPMENT PROTESTORS. Call and email his office to ask that they do not press charges against the students arrested this May. 503-988-3162 beep beep

OPB reported that the DA’s office is reviewing evidence and intends to press charges “where appropriate.” I couldn’t find an update and my guess is that reviewing this evidence — a spray bottle full of ink meant to be sprayed on cops’ helmet goggles, for instance — will take time. They’re piecing together video evidence, including cross-referencing social media posts and video footage. (Great reminder to use caution and scrub faces when posting protest footage.) I look to so-called more progressive Mike Schmidt to toss out the charges as we have seen done in other municipalities. I think there’s a good chance he will for most of the protestors as he did for the 2020 protests, though perhaps he is hemming and hawing on charges for folks who destroyed property or whatever. Drop them, Mike. Property isn’t as important as the cause, and destroying property is a valid form of protest, babe! The cops are beating and tear-gassing eighteen-year-olds! Focus!!!  

Nathan Vasquez is running against him, and ALL YOU FUCKIN’ NEED TO KNOW is that he’s a law and order little bootlicker who is endorsed by my sworn enemy (two-bit NIMBY real estate puppet city councilor Rene Flop Gonzalez) and the Portland Police Association. I don’t want a DA with a tough-on-crime mentality, and neither should you. We need to veer so fucking far away from discipline-and-punish frameworks. I’ve seen a few of Vasquez’ targeted ads, and they try to flash seemingly-progressive talking points, like the fact that he’s prosecuted a few Proud Boys in his day, or interviewing an aggrieved Black mother who attested that he helped prosecute the person who killed her son in a bout of Portland’s worsening gun violence. I am GLAD that he prosecuted these Proud Boys, and GLAD that this mother feels that some justice was done for the tragic loss of her son. But we can’t lose focus. Vasquez has aligned himself with law enforcement, and the Portland Police Bureau is a national laughingstock for its wanton corruption, humiliating incompetence, and repulsive police brutality. He took white supremacist Timber Unity money. He’s the NRA’s preferred candidate. This sweater-vest man told the Willamette Week that he thinks Benicio del Toro would play him in a film adaptation of his life. Sorry, but, as if! 

Mike Schmidt has earned endorsements from a lot of the more lefty sources, largely because he has shifted away from prosecuting “smaller crimes,” which is a really good thing. Under his leadership, undocumented people driving without a driver’s license can’t be deported just for that. Schmidt is by far the more progressive candidate. I think that he for real, in his heart, wishes to incarcerate fewer people than Nathan Vasquez. But for those who are fearful of gun violence, he’s still using resources to try to shore up the violent crime that has indeed been terrorizing Portland families.

Edit: 5/19/24
Importantly, the DA has the power to review cases of folks who are already sentenced and serving time — the DA can toss out cases (like Mike Schmidt has done many times after ruling that some folks did not have access to adequate public defense representation and were therefore denied a fair trial), weigh in on parole, whether folks can have time taken off of their sentences, and which convictions get reexamined, retried, or overturned. Mike Schmidt has been so much more amenable to reopening unjust cases than any of his predecessors or other neighboring DAs. For instance, in Multnomah County, we have many teens who were sentenced to life in prison without parole, which is actually unconstitutional because they were minors at the time of committing the crime. Schmidt’s office has reopened many of such cases, completely changing the lives of these unconstitutionally held prisoners and their families. Vasquez would let them rot. His campaign has smeared Schmidt for “releasing too many people,” and he is running on a tough-on-crime, no-second-chances type platform. Though the DA’s office is problematic by nature, it is disingenuous and naive to believe that our most vulnerable (folks already incarcerated, homeless people facing arrests and charges just for camping, folks who are deeply entangled with drugs) will not be able to tell the difference between a Mike Schmidt DA’s office and a Nathan Vasquez DA’s office. Life would be much worse for our most vulnerable populations under Vasquez.

Schmidt is endorsed by Bernie PDX, Basic Rights Oregon, APANO. I think this is quite an important race too, especially as some fear-fomenting Portlanders are aghast at crime — Vasquez is trying to paint Schmidt as soft on crime, and I predict a lot of knee-jerk reactions from that alone. This endorsement from the Mercury does a very patient, moderate job of explaining that point away, and would be a good one to share with people in your community who may need a push. 

Democratic Nominee for President: Uncommitted 

Don’t give them any reason at all not to count this vote. Double-check your spelling. Use a black or blue pen. Very easy to follow and share content from the Uncommitted OR Instagram page. Do drop a follow because it gives the whole movement credibility. And do share content with abandon! The infographics are bangers. They have a keen sense of the little facts that voters want to see. Convince your friends and relatives! Talk about it to your Tinder matches! 

I know none of y’allllllllllllllllllllllllll feel this way, but I see a lot of tortured libs in the comments of the national big slay Uncommitted movement saying, “Thanks for giving your vote to Tr*mp.” This is embarrassing because you can really see the weak ankles on some of these so-called progressives. Have they never negotiated anything in their lives? 

This is a PRIMARY ELECTION. We are shaping the godforsaken platform we’re going to be stuck with. The Uncommitted movement is pushing Biden further left, period. Why on earth would we back off now that his too-little-too-late-ass has started to cave? This dude has begun admitting that war crimes have occurred and slowing weapons distribution, which would add more pressure for a more permanent halt of weapons sales. Even after discussing a “pause,” on May 14th, Biden still advanced a $1 billion weapons deal to Israel. This is the lesser of two evils?

We’ve dampened our own movements time and time again by planning ahead for the concessions we assume we’ll need to make. We yield ground anxiously, fearfully, before we have to. We make ourselves more moderate and more palatable. For what? Keep the pressure high. Negotiate until we’re toe-to-toe. 

If Biden loses? He and the government did it to themselves. This was the gamble his fucking administration took when they co-signed all this. The whole Democratic party has been so weak, so ineffective, so uninspiring — for YEARS. Don’t put this on the Uncommitted movement! 

FREE PALESTINE. Unequivocal support for the resistance, and put it all on the line to push Biden as far as we can push him. 

Don’t stop with your 5 Calls, don’t stop supporting families who are trying to get to safety, and don’t stop calling for liberation and right to return. 

✿

Ballot Measures

We’re zipping through, my babes 

Measure 26-245: Renew Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax for Street Repair, Maintenance, Safety: YES 

This ballot measure renewes a ten-cent-per-gallon tax already in place, so don’t freak out. We know that sales taxes disproportionately impact the poor, right? A $60 tank of gas has way more impact on a poor person than a rich person. And yes, gas is very expensive. But the psychotic lack of sidewalks east of 82nd also disproportionately impacts the poor. The hit-and-runs because of the dismal crosswalk infrastructure, the lack of bike lanes, the unpaved roads and potholes — these also all disproportionately impact the poor. As a public school counselor in East County, I have had more than one kid crying in my office because their parent was killed by a driver on our dimly-lit streets.

Those of us who drive are the ones who are damaging the roads, which need repair due to the way that All Things Eventually Fall Apart. Increased population density and vehicular traffic paired with climate change’s extreme weather events mean that our roads sure do look shittier than ever. If you hate the potholes, which are UNSAFE, and want pedestrians to be SAFE, and want more sidewalks for SAFETY, pls vote yes.  

Measure 26-244: Bonds to protect animal health; provide conservation, education; increase sustainability: YES 

Though the punctuation in the title of this ballot measure is very unintuitive, you gotta give it up for the Zoo and conservation efforts. Though zoos have had a checkered history, they have a valid part of conservation movements, providing education and inspiration to protect our world’s wildlife. This bond would improve the habitats for our endangered guys, including protecting animals and visitors from extreme heat. The bond would also allow for improved visitor accessibility measures, like graduated paths to more exhibits.

Humans are simple, and sometimes we need to see an animal’s beauty and be educated about them to really change our habits. Recently, while hiking in Forest Park with some friends, we saw this beautiful sleeping owl at the little Bird Alliance of Oregon enclosure. Her name is Julio, and she was found as a baby when the tree with her nest was cut down. Because she was raised by humans, she didn’t learn certain things about being an owl. We watched her look around and then snooze for several rich minutes.

GAH!!! i love her

The volunteers there singlehandedly de-influenced me away from rodent poison (because when the birds of prey eat the poisoned rats, they die too!!!!! Preserve the ecosystems!). That’s the power of Julio the great horned owl. 

Anyway. Zoo bond is a different line item. But yes to zoo!

Measure 26-246: Levy Renewal to Maintain Teachers and Classroom Support Staff: YES 

For absolute fuck’s sake. I could really stop here! 

The cuts following the strike (it feels retaliatory, by the way, hehe) have obliterated so many positions already. Things are so dire. I know so many talented educators who are considering leaving the field because of feeling crushed at the ends of hard, understaffed days. We need certified AND classified staff, for god’s sake!!!!! This levy renewal isn’t even enough to resolve the $30 million budget shortfall, but is an important step.  

For fun, you can read the Voters’ Pamphlet for a deliciously delusional argument in opposition furnished by some angry dude that begins: “Signs that Metro & Portland may have an addiction problem…an addiction to taxes,” and then goes to list the so-called “8 signs of addiction.” Fun to imagine him typing this really thinking he’s onto something.

Measure 26-243: Bonds to upgrade levees, floodwalls, water pumps, natural floodplain restoration: YES 

Y’all remember the ice storm, the flooded basements, the sewers overflowing? It’s all getting worse with climate change. If we pass this, funding is eligible to be matched by federal dollars. APANO’s pithy summary highlights the importance of repairing the outdated 100-year-old flood protection infrastructure near the Columbia River, especially in the face of climate change impacts.

We are paying for the world that the evil corporations created, never forget. Hehe. We have all these billionaires who evade taxes, so now the responsibility of fixing this infrastructure is being passed down to individuals. It sucks to suck, doesn’t it! Think about that the next time you imagine you have more in common with a billionaire than hard-out members of your own community. Eat the rich. :-)  

✿

You’ve done it. Thank you, as always, for reading. I love being in conversation with you, you sentimental little freaks. 

You always ask how you can thank me — reading and sharing and voting to better our community is so much of a gift in and of itself. 

Everything is so dire right now. If you got a little extra to share, I offer these links for Palestinian families again — this one is a list of several vetted fundraisers, and this one is specifically for the Ghabayen family: Mustafa, his wife, and their five children: Rafif (15), Buthaina (13), Mayar (10), Ahmad (8), and Mohammed (6). They are trying to make their way to Egypt and are only $10,000 away from their fundraising goal, although I am sure exceeding the goal would be incredibly helpful too. 

In my world, some of you know that my beloved, special, brilliant, hilarious, all-suffering Mama Yang has terminal esophageal cancer. She experienced some success with immunotherapy, but that has stopped working, and now we’re trying to focus on alleviating her pain and putting her in the way of beauty. We are desperately trying to take her back to South Korea for a homecoming trip, hopefully this summer, and we will need disability accessible lodging for her, tons of taxis because she cannot walk long distances (or really at all, these days), perhaps even a fancy plane ticket so she can lay down on the flight. I have some money set aside and I am willing to go into LOTS of credit card debt to make this trip happen, but a little love on venmo/cash app/paypal would go toward this trip. I’m @marissayangbertucci on all. 

We’re also trying to track down her older sister, Meeryoung Yang, whose phone number changed a few years ago and whom we cannot reach. My mother deeply wishes to connect again before she dies. She was born in Seoul and last we heard lived in Auckland, New Zealand, working as a high school English teacher. Maybe you’re a fantastic internet sleuth and can find her. I found her on Facebook and sent a message, but the profile doesn’t seem to be active. She looks so much like my mom, it’s insane. If you have connections in New Zealand, would you ask around? If you know of a private investigator who speaks Korean, or a private investigator who would be willing to use an interpreter, will you connect us?

Okay, that’s all. 

Wishing so much protection, care, peace, fun, sloppiness, silliness, and rest to you and your loved ones. 

xoxo, until next time,

bitchtucci