Houston, we're back

If you've been invited to this blog, I would dare to say that we have some level of mutual commitment to each other's life, love, and growth. So hello again, buddy.

Earlier posts below were written during my semester abroad in the Dominican Republic. I want to deliver in this blog's continuation some documentation of my personal development, which hopefully advances rather than dragging in circles-- but no guarantees here. I am not promising perfection. This is still a personal blog at the end of the day. I am striving to be honest and thoughtful while expecting that some people will be turned-off by my personal, political, academic statements. And sometimes I will be arrogant, poorly-worded, and/or just plain wrong. I hope you stay tuned.

A note on the title. At first I chose a title that seemed to place politics at the forefront of the blog, though that was not the main purpose of my writing. In this current title, "Flo" is both the mispronunciation of name and my chosen "Starbucks" name (the name I give to baristas and delis). "Funk" also can be interpreted in multiple manners- style, music, stench. All of those are relevant. "Funk" also funktions (hehe) in relation to the social theorist Cornel West's lexicon:

"This funk is neither a skill nor an idea, not a worldview or a stance. Rather, it is an existential capacity to get in tough with forms of kinetic orality and affective physicality acquired by deep entrenchment in-- or achived by pretheoretical styles owing to socialization in-- the patterns of Afro-American ways of life and struggle."

West's idea of Afro-American life speaks to the courage to struggle in the face of hate; the courage to face the truth; the courage to both laugh and cry. As an Asian American, I work in solidarity with blacks and other people of color... And strive for some funk.