Daily Archives: March 31, 2021

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sakara Life, the direct-to-consumer New York City-based wellness and lifestyle program that is transforming lives by harnessing the power of food as medicine, announced today the completion of a $15 million Series B financing with significant investment from new investors One Better Ventures, Silas Capital (Boll & Branch, Herbivore, ILIA) and existing investor, Annox Capital (ClassPass, Dropbox, Clear). Sakara also announces the appointment of strategic investor John Replogle, former CEO of Seventh Generation + Burts Bees, as Chairman of Sakara Lifes Board of Directors to shepherd an expansion into new consumer packaged goods verticals.

The Series B investment is led by John Replogle, Silas Capital, and Annox Capitals founder, Bob Mylod (Former CFO and Vice Chairman of Priceline), who has been an investor and Board member of Sakara since the closing of their Series A round in late 2015. In this new role, John Replogle will help grow and scale Sakaras CPG vertical into a fully comprehensive global lifestyle brand spanning multiple categories outside of food. Replogle specializes in nurturing and developing consumer brands that have a positive impact on the world through mission-driven ventures with breakthrough sustainable business models. In the age of COVID-19, Replogle reports consumers will double down on items that have an indelible impact on their health.

"I joined as an investor and Chair of the Board of Sakara because I believe the company is uniquely positioned to create a consumer-compelling platform at the forefront of the wellness movement, says John Replogle. I'm excited to build on the magic the team has created and help cultivate a robust health and beauty platform. Sakara is beautifully positioned to tailor to every facet of each clients lifestyle, to advance human health, and to continue on their mission to transform lives on a global scale."

A testament to the companys crescendoed growth, Sakara was able to turn a $5M raise in 2015 into immediate profitability within one year and 15x revenue growth to date. Sakara is expected to approach $150 million in profitable revenue this year and stands as an example of the value consumers place on mission-driven brands. The transformational results clients experience year after year and ability to scale quickly whilst remaining profitable is a feat unique among startups in hypergrowth. Raising $20 million in capital-to-date, Sakaras most recent round of funding will fuel the holistic lifestyle brand to accelerate innovation within its CPG arm and sustainability practices.

John Replogle, who will now act as Chairman of the Board, will help take what we know about health and clean living and translate that into products that not only transform the way we eat, but the way we live, says Whitney Tingle, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Sakara Life.If weve learned anything about consumer behavior while building this company, its that people finally understand that the choices you make every single day have the greatest impact on your health, and were proud to be a part of those daily decisions, says Whitney Tingle, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Sakara Life.

"Sakara Life is a category-defining brand offering a proprietary nutrition philosophy backed by cutting-edge science that has delivered proven efficacy. We feel the brand has broad permission to credibly extend into several larger adjacent categories, including clean beauty, stated Brian Thorne, Partner of Silas.

Sakara, which sold nearly 2 million meals in 2020, plans to use the influx of capital to expand into new categories, introduce new technology, invest further in its sustainable packaging and support the growth of the teams footprint.

Key areas of investment include:

Founded in 2012 by Whitney Tingle and Danielle DuBoise, Sakara Life provides a wide array of premium wellness solutions, including its signature plant-based nutrition program delivered ready-to-eat to clients' doorsteps and a digital marketplace with more than 30 branded functional snacks, supplements and ingestible wellness products. The co-founders pioneered the concept of food as medicine and infused this groundbreaking philosophy into the zeitgeist as it is understood today. Sakaras numerous industry-first moments have cemented the brands identity as wellness premiere plant-based and first-to-market nutrition authority. Almost ten years later, Sakara employs 172 individuals and is available nationwide. Other industry firsts include being among the first brands to offer ingestible CBD in the form of its best-selling Hemp Chocolates as well as tapping into the ingestible beauty category with its introduction of collagen-boosting, award-winning Beauty Chocolates, Probiotic Chocolates and Nootropic Chocolates.

"We are building a global wellness movement -- one that uses the power of plants as medicine -- that puts you in the drivers seat of your own well-being. Were humbled by the enthusiasm from this set of incredibly talented and experienced group of investors as we set out to redefine the future of wellness, says Sakara Life Co-Founder and Co-CEO Danielle DuBoise.

About Sakara Life

Sakara Life is a New York City-based wellness and lifestyle brand providing all the tools for people to love the bodies they live in to live a mindful, healthy life, including an organic, nutritionally-designed meal program delivered ready-to-eat to clients' doorsteps. Sakara Life was founded in 2012 by Whitney Tingle and Danielle DuBoise who bootstrapped the company with $700 they raised at a dinner party. Now available across the U.S. with offices in NY and LA, Sakara Life has changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people with its holistic approach to food and innovative meal delivery program nutritionally designed and chef-crafted to nourish the body, mind, and spirit.

Sakara Life has quickly become a favorite among celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Lily Aldridge and Drew Barrymore whose demand helped grow its nationwide footprint since 2015. The brand now offers a wide array of wellness solutions ranging from its signature nutritionally-designed meal delivery program, a digital marketplace with more than 30 branded SKUs of functional snacks and supplements, as well as S-Life Magazine, a content-rich editorial space where followers can learn about the science and spirituality behind the Sakara lifestyle. Their debut cookbook, Eat Clean Play Dirty is a National Bestseller and their recently-launched namesake podcast features the voices of todays most influential industry tastemakers, including Jessica Alba, Arianna Huffington and Dr. Mark Hyman.

About John Replogle & One Better Ventures

John Replogle is a leader in the conscious consumer and mission-driven brand movement, with extensive experience leading fast growth, high performing businesses including Seventh Generation and Burts Bees. Seventh Generation helped to launch the B Corp movement and has been awarded the Best for the World distinction from B Labs. John believes that business is one of the most powerful forces on earth and such power must be harnessed for the greater good. He also served as President of Unilevers Skin Care business and President of the Guinness Bass Import Company. John started his career at the Boston Consulting Group and holds degrees from Harvard Business School and Dartmouth College. Recently, John is a Founding Partner of One Better Ventures, a Real Leader 100 social impact firm that advises and invests in mission driven consumer goods companies. He serves on the Boards of Seventh Generation, Dartmouth, Leesa Sleep, Cree, Melissa & Doug, Beautycounter and BEST NC. He is an active environmentalist and champion of social entrepreneurs.

About Silas Capital

Since 2012, Silas Capital has been an active emerging growth equity and venture capital investor that partners with consumer brands, in order to help these companies achieve significant revenue growth and profitability, improve operational efficiency, and increase brand recognition and value. The complementary backgrounds of the firm's partners comprise executive leadership roles across growth equity and venture capital firms, as well as operating companies, which allows the group to deliver on a unique value-add proposition to the management teams, founders and companies with whom we partner. The firm not only invests capital to help these companies grow, but also brings significant resources and capabilities to actively assist in the growth of revenue through its expertise in e-commerce and digital expansion, alongside its knowledge of traditional wholesale and retail channels. Previous and current investments for Silas include Bare Snacks, Bellroy, Boll & Branch, Casper, Chief, Dos Toros, HATCH, Herbivore, ILIA Beauty, Naadam, Lord Jones, Something Navy and Summersalt to name a few. Learn more at http://www.silascapital.com.

About Annox Capital

Founded in 2013, Annox Capital is a venture capital firm based in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The firm looks to invest in and advise companies that take a bold approach to doing things, using disruptive technology or online strategy to improve business processes or human experiences. In addition to Sakara, Annox Capital has invested in innovative companies such as Redfin, Vroom, Clear, StockX, ClassPass, and Dropbox.

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Sakara Life Announces Series B Fundraise and Appoints John Replogle As Chairman of the Board to Architect New CPG Category - Business Wire

Like the majority of my friends and family, I have been embracing crafty things through the seemingly endless UK lockdowns. I havent yet got into puzzles or sourdough but I have pickled things, made chutney, something approximating jam, and am currently deep down a cross-stitching rabbit hole. Im staying with my sister at the moment and Sunday afternoons are beginning to look like a badly costumed scene from an Austen film with me cross stitching, my sister working on crewel work, my brother-in-law practising guitar and my three-year-old niece making surprisingly good progress with some fabric, spare threads and a (very blunt) needle of her own. According to sales of knitting needles, embroidery kits, bread flour, puzzles and physical books we are far from alone in this.

What has this got to do with architecture? One of the most noted craft revivals in British design history the arts and crafts movement came from a reaction away from the industrial and impersonal. It reacted against unemployment caused by machines and embraced the soul and imperfection of the handcrafted. After a year of enforced appreciation of the local, a growing resurgence in realising just how beneficial it is to be in some way connected with your local community and a skyrocketing appreciation for all hobbies crafty, might we see another craft revival?

People are drawn to the traces of the human and the imperfections in the handmade. It gives an object a soul, and a sense of narrative (some of my jam is very soulful). Additionally, there is a sense (rightly or wrongly) that a handcrafted object may be better than its factory counterpart, or of higher quality. When this principle is applied to buildings it may come in the form of handmade bricks, carefully crafted window reveals or a well-designed door handle. These small touches, unnoticed by many, accumulate to become appreciated by even the most architecturally unaware.

I hope differences in nomenclature do not prevent the profession from embracing principles that go to the core of its values

This appreciation of craftsmanship and considered design is also finding its way into recent non-architect-led reports concerning housing. The Building Better Building Beautiful Commissions final report spoke against large developments of low-quality housing and cited one developer saying customers have a particular attachment to arts and crafts architecture. The Church of Englands Coming Home report mentions design or designed roughly twice on every page and calls for design codes for its developments and for a major shift in design standards to protect our environment.

Beauty is a contentious word, but also one that is having its zeitgeist moment in considerations around housebuilding. When I read through the paragraphs in these reports that refer to and attempt to define what the committees mean by beauty I was struck by words and phrases such as sense of delight, light, harmony, place, local, sustainable, nature, stewardship, community These are terms I would also associate with crafted and well-designed buildings and places. I hope differences in nomenclature do not prevent the architectural profession from embracing principles that go to the core of the its values.

Both reports refer to design quality and beauty with reference to long-term investment in sustainable architecture. They conjure the notion of crafting a building to last, to be adaptable to future uses and to tread lightly environmentally. With the growing momentum behind calls for better-designed buildings, the regulatory backlash against poor-quality (especially facade) workmanship, and an ever-deepening societal commitment to facing the climate crisis, are the days of the thrown up quickly, low-quality housing development over? I hope so.

If the enforced slower pace of life and consideration for the handmade that the pandemic has given us are coupled with a future expectation of slower, better-crafted, more sustainable architecture (and lifestyles) then all those endless sourdough starters I had to look at on Instagram will have been worth it.

Read more:

Could our year of crafting revive the craft of building? - Building Design

I regret to inform you that dad bod is back.

I dont mean the physique itself which never went anywhere because the fleshy form to which the term refers is, by definition, a pretty easy one to maintain but rather the late-2010s buzzword and the surrounding discourse it provoked. For those who have the luxury of having forgotten what people were talking about on the internet six years ago, dad bod entered the cultural lexicon around 2015, then quickly took over the zeitgeist from there. The origins of the dad bod discourse are often attributed to a 2015 Odyssey article by then-college sophomore Mackenzie Pearson, who described the dad bod as, a nice balance between a beer gut and working out, arguing that many women actually prefer this low-maintenance physique over a more sculpted male form because the former doesnt intimidate us.

The term caught on, and discourse ensued, as it is wont to do. There were myriad dad bod explainers, obligatory dad bod countertakes, dad bod infographics and even a dad bod parody of Taylor Swifts Bad Blood. Even celebrities, including Leonardo DiCaprio, noted childless dad-bod-haver, made headlines for rocking the buzzy physique. Like all memes, however, dad bod eventually ran its course, and was even declared dead by GQ in 2019.

But internet discourse, like the very building blocks of material existence itself, can neither be created nor destroyed. It just changes shape, cycling through various forms until one day, at some inevitable point in the future, somebody finds an old meme in the back of the internets closet and attempts to resurrect it. That seems to be what happened yesterday, when the New York Post ran an article claiming the dad bod is making a post-pandemic comeback. Thus, in this, the year 2021, we find dad bod discourse emerging from the ashes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch shrimp tails to reprise its role in an ill-advised 2021 revival.

Its not that theres anything wrong with the dad bod itself, nor is there necessarily anything inherently problematic about Pearsons original argument, despite some very fair counterarguments claiming praise for the dad bod highlights the sexist disparity between the unequal beauty standards to which men and women are held. In fact, at face value, the central dad bod thesis even appears somewhat body positive, and seems to provide space for men to enter largely female-dominated conversations about body image. In praising more average physiques as not only acceptable, but sexually desirable, the dad bod buzz represented a subversion of traditional standards of attractiveness and masculinity.

Moreover, in addition to giving space and recognition to male bodies that fall short of societal ideals of peak performance, embracing dad bods also provided women with some power, or at least the illusion of it. As a woman, its easy to measure your own sexual market value as a reflection of your partners. If you are dating a conventionally attractive man, that suggests you, yourself, have more sexual currency at your disposal; If hes hot, that means Im hot. It can feel subversive and empowering, then, to actively reject the sexual currency a man is presumed to possess based on his good looks to look a man right in the perfectly chiseled abs and say, Eh, no thanks.

As Ive previously written about the similarly self-aggrandizing satisfaction of being a woman who prefers a more modest-sized penis, however, the problem with these sentiments is that theyre often merely a reversal of the exact same kind of body shaming they seek to subvert. Are men with eight-packs and bulging biceps losing sleep over dad bod competition? Probably not. But as we move away from the admittedly flawed body positivity of the 2010s toward a movement more focused on body neutrality, its become increasingly clear that theres simply no reason to talk about let alone assign value judgements to any body, body type or body part.

We can appreciate a dad bod, yes, but we neednt crown it the ideal male form. More importantly, we dont need to go digging up old discourse; we have plenty of our own. Lets leave the dad bod back in 2015. It was a simpler time. Hell be happy there.

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The Year Is 2021 and We're Still Talking About Dad Bod - InsideHook

The organisers were astounded by the turnout

Trigger warning: Mentions of sexual violence.

On Wednesday evening last week, hundreds of UEA students gathered in the campus square for a moving demonstration of solidarity with Sarah Everard and the many victims of sexual violence. The demonstration was organised by two women who wish to remain anonymous.

They told the Norwich Tab: The event came out of continued conversation and slowly bubbled up over a lifetime as women. We felt that there needed to be a space for women to express this anger, frustration, and grief at not only the recent tragedies but the state of the world and womens place in it. Female rage is often confined to the internal and we wanted to shout our thoughts. Our pain felt silenced, and we could not let that happen.

Photo: Roo Pitt

The event began with a two minute silence, during which attendees were asked to honour the memory of Sarah Everard, a young woman who was kidnapped and murdered as she walked home from Clapham Common to Brixton. Afterwards, pieces of pink paper and pens were handed out, alongside hand sanitiser, as students were encouraged to write down their stories, their thoughts and their fears.

Some of these were read aloud, while the organisers invited students to speak through a megaphone about their feelings and their experiences. Several women shared their experiences of sexual harassment and assault on and off campus, as well as advice on where to seek help and counsel as a victim. Some men also voiced their support. The zeitgeist was one of anger but also of hope.

The organisers said: We were astounded by the turnout. Initially thinking it would be just us shouting in the square to some friends. However, a safe space that included hundreds of people was created that day; we were surprised and honoured at the vulnerability of everybody present. We know it had an impact on those who attended based on the positive responses we have received. We hope it will continue to have impact on the university, encouraging dialogue between students and those in charge and a possible ripple effect for the wider Norwich community.

We feel overwhelmed with joy that so many people want to support each other. The fact that we could facilitate a moment of absolute solidarity filled us with assurance that we had done something positive. It was a relief to be reminded that these stories and emotions can be expressed without judgement.

Photo: Roo Pitt

Social distancing was prioritised throughout the event. Chalk circles had been drawn in the Square to denote where households could sit while maintaining a three-metre distance. Facemasks were compulsory. The organisers explained Covid safety was so important; we needed to provide the space physically but also securely. Security guards were present throughout the event.

A recurrent theme throughout the evening was criticism of how UEA handles sexual harassment and assault accusations by students. One speaker detailed the flaws in the report system, while another told us it took her parents threatening to go to the press for the university to take action against the offender. In a recent post on Concrete Confessions Between UEA Seshions, an anonymous poster pitched a second demonstration against the way UEA handles allegations. The post received 367 likes.

#ConcreteUEAconfessions24785 Thinking of doing another sit in event against the way UEA handles allegations against sexual assault. Like this if youd be interested in going?

Posted by Concrete Confessions Between UEA Seshions onThursday, March 25, 2021

The organisers said: We think the university and the wider world needs to fix up. There is obvious need for change otherwise so many people would not be this dissatisfied. Substantive action is needed; support cannot be this nebulous plaster doled out every time people express themselves. There needs to be long term, lasting change. We need zero tolerance, training, support for survivors and lessons for perpetrators so that they do not reoffend.

A UEA spokesperson told the Norwich Tab: The University takes any allegation of abuse or harassment extremely seriously and investigates each individual case accordingly, fully supporting those involved. We remain absolutely committed to supporting anyone who reports an incident and have introduced a dedicated system to ensure people receive any guidance and help they may need. We would welcome an opportunity to meet with the organisers of the event and others concerned to fully understand their concerns.

Finally, intersectionality was a deeply important aspect of the event. Some speakers addressed their privilege, while one speaker urged students to remember Black women are at the bottom of the privilege pyramid. Another speaker spoke about the death of Blessing Olusegun.

The organisers also stressed the relevance of intersectionality, explaining the weight we carry is not just for ourselves, but for all the women who have gone before and who are yet to appear. Your whole history is often associated with oppression and struggle. This is exacerbated when you are from a minority: disabled, LGBTQA+, an ethnic or religious minority, working class etc. It is very important to us that the movement is intersectional because everyones voice should be heard, especially those whose voices are more often marginalised. Theirs should be amplified.

Photo: Roo Pitt

With thanks to the anonymous organisers for their statement.

Read more from the original source:

UEA students gather for a demonstration of solidarity with victims of sexual violence - The Tab

by Glenn Nelson, contributing columnist

The first major local protest ignited by the murder of George Floyd swelled in downtown Seattle and started exhibiting elements of violence. It seemed almost predictable when the flummoxed police force began funneling the mostly white crowd of vandals south. Already in coronavirus lockdown, Lei Ann Shiramizu watched it all unfold on television.

Reports Shiramizu heard about police tactics indicated the group was being herded straight into the Chinatown-International District (C-ID). The mounting images being beamed to the public, of busted windows and other forms of vandalism, were like zaps to her psyche.

My baby is out there, was the urgent thought that crossed her mind.

One of the culturally important intersections in Seattles C-ID is South Jackson Street at Sixth Avenue South, the unofficial starting point of the citys revitalized Japantown. Nihon Machi, as its known in Japanese, had been disintegrating in earnest since the World War II mass incarceration of people of Japanese descent. Precisely on that corner sat Shiramizus baby, Momo, next door to another Japanese American business Kobo, which occupies the historically significant Higo Variety Store space.

Shiramizu and her husband, Tom Kleifgen, had opened Momo more than 12 years earlier. They named it with the Japanese word for peach, signifying longevity and a happy, lucky life. They intended to be literal about it. Now her small business, and its mission of spreading joy, seemed on the verge of being sacrificed to protect Seattles downtown-based (read: white) power elite.

Were expendable, Shiramizu recalled thinking. Our neighborhood often gets short-shrifted. It seemed so unfair to me.

Because the idea of Asian American expendability crashed the American zeitgeist after the murders in Atlanta-area massage parlors, it seems like a recent concept. But define recent. Were as intimate in this region with the dirty little secret of Asian hate as anywhere. Seattle infamously and violently expelled more than 200 people of Chinese descent, chasing them down to our now ballyhooed waterfront in 1886. Bainbridge was the first place in the country from which people of Japanese descent were forcibly removed in 1942, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066.

And if those citations seem too ancient, it was barely over a year ago that Gayle Coston Barge, a Bellevue College vice president, defaced a mural about the World War II incarceration by artist Erin Shigaki, who is Japanese American.

Asian Americans have been the largest non-white population in this city, by a wide margin, since forever. Yet this place has rarely felt like a haven.

I grew up in Seattle hearing my mother being called a dirty Jap, then trying to furiously scrub out my own dirty Jap-ness in the bathtub. I coached a mostly Asian American basketball team called the Dragons, which felt inspired until opposing crowds suggested our girls learn to play with rice balls instead of basketballs and mock-Asian, ching-chong, ah-so gibberish became a constant soundtrack for our games. The fan mail from my writing includes a substantial share of racially inspired death threats, including an offer to send me back to Japan in a pine box.

But were mostly not invisible or unforgotten, just unconsidered. Until, that is, America needs takeout or a scapegoat. It certainly cannot be a surprise that Donald J. Trumps China flu/Kung flu/Wuhan flu racist naming conventions were not original. During my lifetime, weve also had the Asian flu and Hong Kong flu as official influenza designations. Weve also had the swine flu, even though H1N1 originated in Mexico and had its breakout moment in California. Where we once fretted about the so-called Africanized killer bees, we now fear the Asian giant hornets. If goods are inferior, they must have been made in Japan, then China, and now, I suppose, Vietnam or Thailand. Asians routinely are mocked for absence of originality in product design, even though two of the worlds most notorious knockoff artists are U.S. companies based in Seattle Amazon and REI.

Asian Americans have long occupied a racial netherworld in which other groups of color presume us as essentially white, even though white people dont accept us as even marginally close to being like them as other non-white groups assume. That makes us convenient wedges in the usual Black/white binary of racial discourse in America. Recent examples include the fight over affirmative action in places like Harvard or Washington State during the I-1000 debate as well as the media focus on Black suspects in some attacks against Asian elderly.

There is plenty of anti-Blackness in Asian American communities, but we, of course, are not deploying ourselves as wedges. When I went to photograph the C-ID last summer, a sea of Asian-owned businesses stood in solidarity, through their murals, with the Black Lives Matter movement. I think that surprised a lot of non-Asians who just dont view us the way we view ourselves as supportive, bona fide members of the same racially discriminated and oppressed club as our Black, Latino, and Native sisters and brothers.

Still, it chafes to even refer to Asian Americans (which Ive been doing to make a point), as if we are a monolith. Asian immigrants come to the United States from more than 18 different countries, according to U.S. Census data. That means at least as many different customs and languages, longstanding divisions and rivalries, and a large spectrum of cuisine and skin tones. Many of us accede to the grouping because non-Asians cannot tell us apart, nor seem willing to expend any energy doing so, and its both a cultural imperative and a self-defense mechanism (given our history in this country) to not make waves.

The apparent duality of Lei Ann Shiramizus 2020 experience her outward grace and cheer in the face of unrelenting, anxiety-provoking challenges is evidence of how effectively she employed coping mechanisms Asian Americans and other BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) communities developed over centuries in an othering, white-supremacist society.

Embracing the sense of being forsaken has prompted Asian American communities to become self-sufficient, even self-contained. This has led to being described by everyone else as tightly woven, secretive, or the unfortunate label, exotic, which plays into the kind of fetishization that likely contributed to the recent murder of six Asian women in Georgia. Truth is, the we-can-do-it-ourselves culture of Asian Americans has evolved from naked necessity and has become self-perpetuating by its success. Witness the stick-wielding elderly Asian woman, who put her San Francisco assailant on a stretcher last week.

Such Asian American self-care left Shiramizu feeling alarmed and amazed that day the Seattle police essentially bulldozed protesters into the C-ID. She was alarmed by the rampant vandalism that occurred on the south side of Jackson but amazed that the north side, with its parade of Asian businesses, including Momo, was left unscathed. Neighborhood scuttlebutt credits two local champions who stood watch and ensured that the unruly crowd left the businesses alone.

Residents and business owners have long believed the C-ID to be chronically under-policed. That frustration percolates at a high degree over the still-unsolved 2015 murder of Donnie Chin, the much-beloved champion of safety and justice in the neighborhood. That lack of priority, and the resultant invisibility of the neighborhood to police, probably most reveals the forces lack of intention and consideration when they introduced potentially violent protesters into the C-ID excusing neither.

Scrambling to save her business, Shiramizu started opening her shop while the C-ID was still a lockdown-mandated ghost town. Doing so made her more vulnerable, a target for some yellow-fevered white dude who could have been having a bad day. Of the some 3,800 anti-Asian acts of hate reported nationwide to the group Stop AAPI Hate since March 2020, 68% were committed against women of Asian descent. Washington state had the third most reported incidents, after California and New York.

Shiramizu found her own guardian angels local restaurant workers who walked her to her car at night. She and Kleifgen also exercised self-defense, three times emptying Momo of its goods to make it a less-appealing target for looters. Hastily gathering and piling Momos inventory into her sister-in-laws SUV took about four hours; restocking and rebuilding the shops displays required a long, 812-hour day. With the exception of some indignities that werent directed at her the occasional human waste left in Momos doorway she survived the ordeal without incident.

I never felt in danger, Shiramizu said. I was either nave or I just walked boldly. She added that the intergenerational respect that is strong in Asian cultures helps the C-ID make up for the absence of traditional policing.

The undercurrent of race-based peril only increased the usual degree of difficulty for maintaining a business during a pandemic. Shiramizu tried just about everything. She and her workers photographed all their merchandise and created an online store; one of the offshoots was Momo To Go, in which customers supported the business in exchange for a cache of delicately gift-wrapped goodies. A couple once commissioned Shiramizu for $300 worth of personalized to-go wares; it made her feel like Santa Claus. An outdoor event in Chiyos Garden was washed out by a torrential downpour that prompted all goods to be relocated back to Momo in record time. But other special events attracted lines that stretched from the little shop with COVID-limited space, up Jackson Street.

At the end of August, Shiramizu and Kleifgen announced the inevitable Momos permanent closure. The disclosure prompted many loving lamentations. By the end of October, it was over. A couple of former vendors have since opened Sairen at the location.

The pandemic and threat of vandalism did not cause Momos demise, Shiramizu says, but they accelerated it.

I feel strangely lucky to have been able to experience it, she said. It was like going to your own funeral, except you were still alive and you got to hear what people thought about you. I know it seems kind of perverse that I I dont know if the word is enjoyed but it was really one of the most touching experiences of my life.

While she plots her next move, Shiramizu has been operating Japantown Seattles social media channels. Her strategy with them is the same as it was at Momo to lift others and spread cheer. That means as concerned as she is about the roiling anti-Asian climate, Shiramizu has refrained from any overt political messaging.

You consequently wont find the wildly proliferating #StopAsianHate hashtag on any of Shiramizus posts. She isnt keen on her cultural and racial appellation being sandwiched by two negative words stop and hate. Shed much prefer something like #StartAsianLove.

Thirteen years after she came up with the peachily positive concept of Momo, Lei Ann Lala Shiramizu may be on to something once again.

A contributing columnist, Glenn Nelson is a Japanese American journalist and lifetime South Seattle resident who founded trailposse.com and has won numerous national and regional awards for his writings about race. Follow him @trailposse on Twitter or @thetrailposse on Instagram.

Featured Image: Mural in the Chinatown-International District. (Photo: Glenn Nelson)

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OPINION: Seattle Needs to Start Asian Love in the Face of Hate - southseattleemerald.com

Triple Frontiers celebrates the works of three female dancemakers and it is also the first time Sutra Foundation is staging works by female gurus. Picture by Hari Anggara

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PETALING JAYA, March 29 The Sutra Foundations female-centric performance Triple Frontiers is finally happening after two postponements due to the movement control order (MCO).

Now that audiences are allowed in performing arts venues with a 50 per cent capacity, the show is set to premiere in Selangor on April 9 with a Gala Fundraising Night at the PJ Civic Centre Auditorium.

There will also be a show on April 10 and April 11.

The production which is under the artistic direction of the prominent Malaysian classical Indian dance guru Datuk Ramli Ibrahim had its Malaysian premiere in Seremban last Friday followed by Melaka the next day.

Triple Frontiers was initially scheduled to premiere in March last year as part of Sutras 2020 production but was halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The odissi performance was then moved to October 16 but was unable to be staged after a spike in Covid-19 cases throughout the country that prompted a second MCO.

I am relieved that finally Triple Frontiers can be staged, Ramli told Malay Mail.

A pent-up creative energy is about to be released and I can feel the audience, starved of live theatre for more than a year, are with us, body and spirit.

I can quote octogenarian Mrs Menon from Seremban: I have never missed a Sutra performance; I told my children who tried to dissuade me from going that Id be sick if I miss a Sutra performance.

Triple Frontiers is an important performance in the zeitgeist of the classical Indian dance of odissi as it features the works of three women dancemakers.

It is also the first time Sutra is staging works by female gurus.

Sujata Mishra, Parwati Dutta and Meera Das began their dance journey as proteges under odissi pioneers Pankaj Charan, Kelucharan Mahapatra and Debaprasad Das and dipped their toes into choreography after their respective gurus died.

Their tinkering with tradition was often disparaged but the trio of women went on to not only establish successful dance schools but are now outstanding dancemakers of odissi.

Set to enchant classical Indian dance followers, Triple Frontiers is presented in a triple-bill format where each segment highlights one dancemaker.

There are seven pieces in total which Ramli describes as very difficult in terms of technical difficulty.

The performance will feature young dancers from the foundations outreach programme that has gone into outer cities such as Kajang, Rawang, Sungai Choh and Kuala Selangor to nurture young talents.

Triple Frontiers showtimes:

- Friday, April 9 (Gala Fundraising Night); 8pm

Invitation by donation of RM150, RM80 or RM50

- Saturday, April 11 and Sunday, April 12; 8.30pm

Invitation by donation of RM60 or RM40

Venue: PJ Civic Centre Auditorium, Jalan Yong Shook Lin, PJ New Town, 46200 Selangor.

Call 03-4021 1092, email [emailprotected] or visit sutrafoundation.org.my to book.

Limited seats are available and the show is Covid-19 standard operating procedure (SOP) compliant.

See the rest here:

Sutra Foundations odissi performance Triple Frontiers is finally happening after being postponed twice due to Covid-19 - Malay Mail