Between this and Northwestern, I’m so glad student journalism is getting a spotlight!

Saying this as an ethnically Chinese person who is not being racist… I had a eufy robovac and when I discovered it was Chinese-owned and had a video camera installed on it… I immediately got rid of that thing. I don’t trust any technology company owned by China to be able to see into my home.

As a Chinese person I actually think they’re more Korean-inspired, not Chinese. And the devs are Korean, so it doesn’t seem disrespectful.

Thank you so much. I feel your big hug and it’s appreciated. I do have a therapist I see for my depression and ptsd. I will definitely talk about this with her.

Your empathy stretches beyond even the topic at hand. You hit the nail on the head when you say that suffering added on to existing suffering makes everything more complicated.

If I were mentally healthy right now I think I would process my sexual identity more easily. But for 3 years I’ve been struggling with annihilating depression.

Writing this is also a helpful reminder that I’m not in the best spot to figure it all out right now, and that I don’t have to. I can sit with these somewhat complicated feelings for now and wait for when I’m healthier to open the box. At least I’ve acknowledged the box for now, instead of shoving it in the closet (har har).

Thank you again for your empathy and kindness. Really.

I love space but I know I’ll never be an astronaut and go there, yet that doesn’t make my desire to see the stars any less real and valid.

I actually love this and it legitimately makes me feel better lol

Honestly I played it for the first time last year and… It’s good but I don’t understand the hype? The story in 2022 didn’t blow my mind. Definitely fun and I still recommend though.

Exactly on the identity piece, although I do kind of feel like I missed out. I keep thinking about all the times I felt attraction and ran away from it 😅

But I’m with the love of my life too, so, I guess I just move on.

the attention visibly queer and visibly trans people get, at least in my experience, is negative - who gets up in the morning seeking that?

You articulated this particular piece so well for me. I think I’m also struggling because I don’t WANT to be queer. Between the mental health issues and the race and gender and and and I just… I didn’t want to be bi on top of that. This isn’t fun for me. I don’t want one more thing my family is going to invalidate and judge me for. I didn’t want to recognize my suffering on yet another thing.

But people (especially younger people) around me are getting more vocal and comfortable with their sexuality and I was watching Atypical where this teenager was discovering she was bi and I just hit this wall. I had to skip the scene because I couldn’t bear to hear her say, “I’m bi.” It just… Hurt. I both envied her and felt shame I wasn’t her. But it wasn’t the same 15 years ago when I grew up. (which just makes me feel stupid again. 15 years ago is bootycheeks compared to 50 years ago)

Thank you. It’s hard to say more right now because this is a lot to take in… But thank you.

I’ve talked about it a bit with my boyfriend. It’s just hard to talk about it. It’s kind of a new realization for me even though I’ve known it in the back of my mind all along.

And I just can’t help but feel stupid and small for it. Like, “What’s the point? You’re in a straight monogamous relationship. Why are you so attention seeking? Just move on with your life.”

I think I’m the one who needs to accept myself, not other people, reading that last paragraph back to myself lol. I think I’m scared to be bi in a straight monogamous relationship.

There’s one opinion that I’ve been afraid to say out loud forever because people are so passionate about it… Disco Elysium. I love rpgs and I love choice-based, narrative-driven games. But there were two main things which drove me crazy:

1. I really didn’t like the writing. Honestly it felt like some fresh English lit major suddenly discovered big words and angst and went crazy with it. It was really cringy to me.
2. I didn’t like the false paradigm of choices in terms of world views and beliefs, when the game very clearly sets them all up to suck. With a strong preference for communism. Like when you try to be measured and moderate the game actively negs you for being weak. Why give me the choice when you’re just going to punish me for it? And what if I have some anti-capitalist beliefs but don’t want to kill the landlords? It was just so extreme and off-putting.

Idk if I’m just dumb or something but I have tried to play terraria on 5+ separate occasions and the controls and UI just DON’T make sense to me. Like how to craft?! How to equip? How to do stuff? It was just so confusing. I tried on mobile and steam deck. I even looked up the controls online and mapped it out. It just never clicked for me. I felt like an 80 year old using a smartphone for the first time.

You articulated my issue with it perfectly. In theory it was this amazing open world with tons of player freedom, but the minute you engage with the actual story at all you have no choice in anything. There was one quest where I HAD to rescue Micah and kill a butt load of people which really annoyed me given I was going for a white hat run.