I asked ChatGPT to identify some affordable, safe places for Asian Americans and to my surprise, Pittsburgh was one of the results. Another was Beaverton, Oregon. If you’ve been to either place in the past few years, or have reliable intel on them, do pass it along. What was the vibe? Is the area clean? Did you feel safe? Were people standoffish or relaxed?

I found an article talking about the increase in anti-Asian hate crimes and bias incidents in Pittsburgh, and there was a significant increase in Oregon state. I haven’t found anything specific to Beaverton yet, where there is a Korean community. So it’s not like either place is free of this sort of criminality. To be candid, one impression I have of Oregon is it’s a hotbed of white nationalism.

Here in the Big Apple, our next mayor might be a 33- or 34-year old Democratic Socialist. He happens to be Muslim too, and a naturalized citizen. It’s actually my district that voted him in as a state Assemblymember in the first place.

I had no say in the primary results as we have closed primaries here and I’m a registered Independent. At least we have ranked choice voting though, which I support implementing at all levels in the country.

Since November I’ve distanced myself from the news, particularly political news, so the mayoral primary result was news to me. There was a time when I would have felt interested or curious, but now I feel nothing.