Everyone Needs Pink Pants

On my way home from the Bay Area this weekend, I stopped by a little river town by the name of Locke on Highway 160 just for the hell of it. Locke is especially a little gem to me because it was built exclusively for the Chinese, by the Chinese. The original buildings from the early 1900's still stand today, including a gambling hall, boarding house, and medicinal shop. Ironically, most of its present day residents are predominately white and only a few Chinese people still reside there, but it's still one of my favorite spots (and Toni's!) in the Sacramento County.

While there, I noticed a flyer for an Asian Pacific Spring Festival happening this upcoming weekend and it brought forward some thoughts about community involvement. In my area, we have South Sac aka Little Vietnam/Little Saigon - a Viet/Chinese community filled with boba houses, banh mi shops, and more pho restaurants than you could ever imagine. My dad and I always talk about the resources Asian immigrants now have access to in Sacramento compared to those who immigrated before the 2000's. Job placement programs, free English workshops, low income legal and financial help, etc. These programs are especially dear to me as an first gen immigrant and I feel really proud to live near such a culturally rich area with such an abundance of resources.

When it comes to my own community involvement, I feel hindered because I don't read or write Vietnamese fluently, despite it being my first language. I have this irrational thought in my head that involves Viet activists judging me for somehow not being in tune enough with Viet culture and language. Completely irrational - I know, but this comes from years of backhanded compliments from white people regarding my "whitewashed" characteristics (another post for another time). If you're involved in your community, tell me about how you got started and your current projects!

top: forever 21 // bottoms: joe fresh // sandals: contributor by rachel comey  for UO // bag: vintage coach 

I've been loving the idea of loose pants for the upcoming summer months and have been looking for a black pair similar to Val's in this post, but came across this coral pink pair instead. They're definitely one of the most ridiculous items in my closet, which probably says a lot about my wardrobe (I am not a risk taker), but they are amazing and I now need/want a black pair more than ever. I wish the color of these pants translated better over the computer screen, but it was reeeeally bright out and my phone was just Not Having It when it came to photos. 

And to wrap up this post, here are some links and material goods I'm loving this week:

1) Short little article on David Tran, founder of the beloved Srirarcha hot sauce. So proud!!!
2) One of my favorite fashion bloggers, Faintly Masculine, looking flawless as usual in a leather jacket and stripes.
3) Angela Davis and Assata Shakur's (first woman on FBI's Most Wanted List) lawyers' commentary about the events surrounding this exiled activist and the sudden declaration of her as a "terrorist".
4) Journalist Kathryn Joyce dwells deeper on the trend of contagious adoption culture in the Christian Right community. This seems relevant in the blogging world, where every other blog seems to consist of young 20 something year old White Christians and their picturesque adopted children/lives.
5) Really loving these floral shorts here (only $18 bucks!) and here.