My response to discovering and reading three journal books that my
stay-at-home tutor kept, during my first few years of elementary school.
They were created for my long-distance mother
as a form of check-in logs, as part of the remote parenting.
The journals were handwritten meticulously.
There was a star-rated system for different aspects of life that
my mom deemed important: study, piano, patience, focus, personal hygiene...
——
The piano melody is the *only* remnant of eight years of lessons —
I don’t even remember how to read notes anymore.
The jianzi (毽子) — Chinese hacky sack — was
a school requirement to meet physical criteria.
It was something I practiced every spring, only to be repeatedly frustrated
by a sport that, in my opinion, is intrinsically frustrating in its very rules of play.
- from 2025 -
Jianzi in Chinatown
My response to discovering and reading
three journal books that
my stay-at-home tutor kept,
during my first few years of elementary school.
They were created for my long-distance mother
as a form of check-in logs,
as part of the remote parenting.
The journals were handwritten meticulously.
There was a star-rated system for different aspects of life that
my mom deemed important:
study, piano, patience, focus, personal hygiene...
——
The piano melody is the *only* remnant of
eight years of lessons —
I don’t even remember how to read notes anymore.
The jianzi (毽子) — Chinese hacky sack — was
a school requirement to meet physical criteria.
It was something I practiced every spring,
only to be repeatedly frustrated
by a sport that,
in my opinion,
is intrinsically frustrating in its very rules of play.
- from 2025 -