3. Comb Jellies

Credit:  Simply Whisked It’s no secret: we are what we eat, and in many ways, food is a reflection of the soul. And as I researched my future culinary contribution to the Gatsby party in December, it became apparent that the relish tray has evolved to represent the various complex reactions to the American Dream. Relish trays are pretty much what they sound like: an assortment of fresh and pickled vegetables and fruits, including stuffed black olives, celery, radishes, and candied apples. In the 1920s, they made frequent appearances at lavish parties due to their convenience, as people could just grab something, dip it in sauce, and eat it. The traditional American relish tray has remained a non-negligible part of American party culture since then, assuming the form of multiple new innovations, including charcuterie boards, sushi platters, and the viral “savory girl plate.” It represents a departure from traditional cooking, which requires an expert knowledge of various cooking tec...

Each day begins before the last one ends, as if exhaling wasn't a possible reality. Somewhere, a baker kneads fresh dough—dough that rises with the currently sleeping sun. Somewhere, police sirens paint the sparkling air with loud flashes of red and blue. Somewhere, an aspiring actor rehearses. her lines, engraving every syllable to her tongue. Everywhere, lives New York. Yellow cabs crowd the already overpopulated streets. Skyscrapers puncture the already torn sky. Heavy rain washes down on the already stained city. But petals bloom after rainstorms. Because beneath the blanket of chaos lies an ever awake New York. The surface below reveals a new world of mass intersection. Subways mirroring the laces of an apple pie. Rushing footsteps weaving in and out towards their destiny. Shoes brushing against each other creating an unplanned symphony. Within the blur, New York breathes. Stacked in tiny apartments, families wish goodnight. Two floors down, friends sit circle up, with no idea...

  I haven’t been inside a public library since I was maybe seven. It’s a weird fact that feels wrong to admit, especially when my friend group is essentially just if you took note of every single type of nerd in existence and shoved them together. As a result, we’re all creatives, readers, writers, and etc. Many of them are also introverts, and I often hear of them talking about meeting up at a local library after school.  I am someone that buys my books, and specifically physical copies. Aside from the emotional reasons, we can all agree that buying books in this day and age isn’t a good decision (half-price books is my holy shrine). But in a previous iteration of this post, when it was just me complaining about general American issues, my good friend (shoutout to Lemon!) said something about libraries that really struck me: “Had public libraries been made after the Cold War, we wouldn’t really like them here.” This was in a larger context in reference to how public transport...

 Jaycee Snelson Week 7: The Library      The fondest memory of elementary school was going to the Fremont Main Library with my Grandma. Every Wednesday, religiously, my Grandma would pick me up from school and drive me to the library. Once there, we would return the books from last week and spend what felt like hours roaming through the isles. Picking up lots of books for both me and my brother and having some one on one bonding time. However, as I got older I stopped going to the library. I had gotten busy with school work and didn’t feel safe there anymore. “Why?” You ask. Because the public library is overrun with homeless people.      The Homeless are stereotyped as crazy individuals who could be  dangerous. Although a majority do not fall into this category. The perception for them makes the public wary whenever they see someone on the street.        If you have ever gone past the library you can see the community of ...

  My mom grew up in Singapore, a city-country in Southeast Asia.  As I grew up, I learned a lot of habits from her. I developed her love for video games, her crafting skills, a little bit of her enthusiasm. However, I never quite understood her decisions when it came to her work. See, the way she taught me work ethics should be that you should put your all into every project. You should do your best on every assignment, and strive to excel. On the other hand, the media I grew up consuming taught me that putting all your effort into things for others endedbadly. The stories I consumed told of passionate artists who were taken advantage of, people who did their genuine best in their work and succeeded in making their own personal masterpieces, only for someone to swoop in and take their life’s work. Novels told of how it was easier to set expectations low then raise them slightly higher, rather than aim for the stars.  I tend to converse more with my mother nowadays, and th...

One thing about me is that I love a good, cringey, Hallmark Christmas movie. I'm aware that they are usually not the greatest pieces of film but you can catch me watching these movies year-round. What always surprises me is how similar these movies always are. A lot of them start off with one of the lead characters in a bustling city like New York City who has some desperate need to go to a more rural city in the countryside. They discover small town life and understand the importance of having people close to them. They are able to take a step back from solely thinking about wealth and success. There is a recurring theme of people “finding themselves” when they finally take a step back from the fast pace of big city life and are able to truly get in touch with themselves and the people around them. They learn about who they are and where they come from and they always end up happier after the life changing experience of visiting a small, rural town. These movies are built off idea...

Wearing branded merchandise of major companies who may produce our favorite consumer goods (like food or cosmetics, or fashion brands) has always been a sort of pet peeve of mine. It’s like walking around as a free billboard advertisement for a corporation who doesn’t care about you, yet you blindly support them anyway. Yes, I understand not all companies are bad (but a whopping majority do love to sacrifice care to appease shareholders), and that some people are just crazy about Dr. Pepper, but it still rubs me the wrong way.  However, there is one corporation in America that I do heavily support to the point of scouring thrifts for merch: Costco Wholesale!!  Everybody loves Costco. There cannot exist a single person who dislikes Costco for any reason. I mean, I love it enough to want their merch and I just denounced this whole thing of putting on clothes with a brand written all over. Their chain of retail stores spanning across America—and even internationally, in the larg...

Because I’ve been complaining about it to literally every single person I’ve come across, I’m going to complain about it in today's blog post, too. I ended up spraining my foot while sparring at taekwondo—classic rookie mistake. Shame on me. Throughout the next day, as I went back and forth between the doctor’s office and X-ray imaging centers and pharmacies, I felt rightful and justified in the incessant whining I tortured my parents’ ears with for hours. At one point, my father probably (and reasonably) got pissed off at me and my pitiful lack of ability to shut my mouth, and let me in on a little secret: “You know, the only reason why we’re going through appointments so fast is because you’re a minor. For me and your mom, when we have to do these things, we wait for weeks. That’s why America’s healthcare system is broken.” That shut me up, alright. Later, as I was waiting in the lobby of NorCal Imaging, I watched an employee approach an old woman—she was gripping onto the armcha...

Almost everyone knows about Hollywood. We’ve all heard about the place where movies are filmed and famous people stay. Many dream of someday going to Hollywood and striking it big—being asked to star in a movie and becoming famous. Everyone’s seen the movies that come out of these production studios, whether it be action, horror, or romance. But how do these seemingly harmless films affect people’s perception of the world? Most people have seen High School Musical before. They’ve seen thousands of shows tha revolve around ‘normal’ high school students in America. However, my experience with these films has taught me about how the warped perception of American schools and their intricacies originated with these films. For example, most of these films have a group of ‘popular kids’ who are known throughout the school. Personally, this has never been a thing in any of my schools—this is more of a small town school kind of thing. Only in smaller places, like midwestern towns would every ki...

  Jaycee Week #6: The American Education System      America is known as the land of opportunity and is considered the cutting edge of our world. However, when it comes to our education system, many Americans believe we are going in the wrong direction. An article, “About Half of Americans Say Public K-12 Education is Going in the Wrong Direction”, by Rachel Minkin covers the average American's view on the American education system and the facts that back it up. But are the people of America right? To receive the data the "Pew Research Center”  sent out and surveyed “5,029 U.S. adults” through a randomized sample of residential addresses. Out of all the data collected, only 16% of the adults believed that the American system is going in the right direction, with 51% saying it's going in the wrong direction and 32% were unsure.  The believed “major” reason behind the decrease of the education system came down to three main points. 69% of all participants...

“I’m hungry.” A line I probably (definitely) say too many times a day, and maybe even more times than I open the fridge.  Luckily, however, I’m American, and live in Fremont, California (okay duh). “What does this have to do with anything?” says you. “Well,” says I (Heimler reference), “we have been so blessed to be born into a country, state, and even city that offers so many opportunities.” Now, while I was half -joking, I wouldn’t be lying if I said I can go out—practically within a 30-minute drive in any direction—and eat basically any cuisine the world offers. This is such an insane reality that we take for granted; we do not realize that our environment provides us with such a luxury.  But my main perspective is not coming from my never-ending quest for the perfect burger (surprise ikr). Instead, it springs from the one that ponders on what I am going to be in the future, or the question I feel most of us dread: “What are you going to major in?” I HATE IT! But I don’t th...

In order to get a United States Citizenship, applicants must prove their proficiency in the English language through tests that assess their spoken, written and read English skills. All official public documents of the United States government are written in English. It has become customary to assume that those who do not speak English are not American. Having known all of this information, it was shocking for me to find out that the United States does not have an official language.  Now, this was not an accidental choice. The Founding Fathers purposefully left an official language out of federal law. This was because they did not want to tie a language to the national American Identity. They wanted anyone to have the ability to become an American. This same belief is not upheld by the majority of our nation in the modern age. Not being able to speak English is seen as something that makes someone inferior—something that makes someone less of an American. When two people who speak ...

November 1st marks Christmas time. It's practically already winter: “ Snow is falling as the carolers sing. ” I don’t have time for Thanksgiving; make way for Christmas! In my holly jolly Christmas mood, I got to thinking about Santa hats, festive string lights, singing out to a cold night sky, and of course, Christmas treats—candy canes in particular.  I relished the thought of those minty, red-and-white spiraled stripes. And then I remembered I had a blog to write, about America. The American flag also has red and white stripes…so I thought a bit more about this tangent and wondered, why roll with this design choice? Thinking about Christmas turned into candy canes, then the national flag, and now Betsy Ross, as she was allegedly the one to create the first American flag. So naturally, still having to write a coherent blog, I did a bit of researching. Nike was controversial at some point in 2019 due to repping Betsy Ross’s original flag design in one of their new Air Max ads. Di...