Circle Time // 6.25.26

Korean-American joy, election night progressive sweep, some flavorful recipes for the week, and the return of the Westerosi Dragons.

Circle Time is our weekly huddle / digest every Thursdays, in which I share the things bringing me joy, current events to stay informed, recommendations, and thought starters!

Kicking this week’s issue off with a dopamine dump comprised of: a smooshy potato dumpling, our first bloom from our limelight hydrangea tree, and the first of the scabiosas I’m growing (this one is the “snowmaiden” variety)!

Doing my best to submerge myself in all the lightness and tactile activities to keep myself from doomscrolling and spiraling. I’ve got that revolving door of adulting happening at present, with some caretaking responsibilities and personal demands leaving me little room for any crashouts, so I’m practicing some self-discipline in not pushing it on all cylinders right now, despite feeling my to-do list ever-mounting. Age really hasn’t made setting these boundaries any easier, but I have become better at it, if that makes sense.

Let’s dive in!

• I limit the optional industry events these days because of my health, but I’m so glad I went to celebrate Min Jin Lee for her upcoming release of American Hagwon, her first book she’s published since Pachinko. We first connected over Instagram, and I so appreciate how vocal she is about art being inextricable from politics and how it’s such an important vehicle for change. She’s also one of the warmest people I’ve met and it was clear from the room how cherished she is in her community of writers and Korean-Americans. I can’t wait to read this book!

  • 2 things that made this event extra joyful for me: 1) the Korean-American excellence in this room, from creatives to chefs, it filled me with a lot of pride! And 2) this venue was mostly an open balcony with the doors wide open to the adjoining room indoors, so it was such a DELIGHT for me to actually be able to eat and take breaks from being masked. Wish more events would be made accessible like this!

Election Night updates!

• ‘Twas a resounding victory on Tuesday in NYC for Mayor Mamdani, as his three endorsed progressive candidates swept their primaries:

  • Brad Lander swept incumbent AIPAC- supported Dan Goldman in district 10

  • Darializa Avila Chevalier ousted Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a primary filled with friction within the Dem groups.

  • Claire Valdez is our candidate for district 7.

• Micah Lasher won the heavily-crowded race in NY-12, in a win for big tech/AI. $18 million from AI industry-linked super PACs was spent on this race, mostly to push against Lasher’s main opponent, Alex Bores.

In other news

• Congress passed the largest housing affordability bill in decades, a bipartisan and easily passed bill bill, passing 358-32 in the House and an easy approval by the Senate 85-5. This bill would ban the hungry hippo of private equity from gobbling up single-family homes for rental income, streamline regulations for homebuilders

  • BUT: Good old Butternut Bonespurs cancelled his signing off on the bill, saying he’d only sign off if Congress passes the no-go SAVE Act (aka a voter suppression bill). Kind of unclear at the moment of how this will go if he’ll TACO, as technically Congress can override his veto on this anyway.

• The Senate blocked Trump from resuming war with Iran after a bipartisan war powers resolution in a 50-48 vote

• It was 4 years post-Roe being overturned this week, and in one of many stories like this, a 40-year old woman was turned away from three separate medical facilities to get care for her miscarriage in Texas and nearly died.

  • For more repro rights / abortion news, I highly recommend following Abortion, Every Day - this roundup of events since the 4 years mark of Roe is so necessary for everyone to read.

• Keir Starmer is now the sixth Prime Minister of the U.K. over the past decade to resign. The aggressive swing towards the alt-right in the U.K., Germany, and France is a worrying reflection of what we are contending with here.

• Intelligence agencies have warned that advanced AI models could outpace existing cybersecurity defenses within months, spanning the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

• And ICYMI, y’all should join this movement for fighting for equitable healthcare— was thrilled to partner with this organization to share my story: