Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! Thank you for following my blog and for your interest in my adventures in Shanghai! As many of you are hopefully continuing to socially distance, I hope that my blog illustrates that once the world recovers from this outbreak (which is not now in the US), things will improve. You should all treasure the small daily interactions. In Shanghai, life has returned to a new normal. The recovery timeline for Shanghai is not applicable to the US and new outbreaks may still occur. However, we are all in this together and if we wear masks and cooperate with social distancing guidelines things will improve.
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Life in Shanghai
I hope that this latest entry finds all of you continuing to be safe, maintaining social distancing practices, and healthy. As I’ve done before, I want to emphasizing the importance and necessity of wearing masks. Masks are one of the few effective methods to slow the spread of covid-19. While they are not a 100% guaranteed solution, they have been proven to effectively limit the spread of covid-19. Moreover, masks alone are not enough, it’s important to continue to expect the government (particularly in the US) to mandate increased testing and tracking of people who are sick. While tracking may seem like a violation of privacy, it’s done here, and I feel a sense of ease knowing that everyone has a green QR code indicating that they’re healthy. So, I again ask you to continue to take covid-19 seriously and demand the same of your friends and family.
The current number of cases in the US has now hit over 3 million. Therefore, I remain increasingly concerned about my family and friends (as well as all of you) who are in the US. I hope that this concerns you as well. Unfortunately, it seems as though the US is too late to effectively halt the spread of covid-19 without immediate, unilateral, and potentially draconian action (regardless of the impact on the economy). However, I grow continually pessimistic that such action will occur because all the current administration cares about is money.
Due to other recent news, this week, I’d like to share my views about the recent policy by the current administration to not allow international students to remain in the US if their universities remain on-line only. This is a senseless action taken to punish students for a global pandemic, which is no individual student’s fault. While I think that this is a harmful decision by the US government, I believe that the long-term implications may be more profound. Having both grown up in an academic environment and began my own journey in Academia, I think it’s abundantly clear how beneficial it is to have both a racially, ethnically, and geographically diverse set of students, faculty, and staff. Moreover, the message that the US is currently sending to the world is that they disagree with me and that the US does not want you here. I believe that such a position will eventually lead to many leading scholars and scientists choosing to not pursue degrees, faculty positions, and jobs in the United States because they do not feel welcome. Having spoken with my research supervisor about some of these issues, I’m aware of how much more difficult it has been (in the last year) for students to come from China to the US to get their Ph.D. This action is the latest in the racist and xenophobic actions taken by the current administration that in my opinion leaves the US in a precarious position, not just for the future of academia, but for how it’s viewed by the rest of the world. This action, on top of the continued systematic oppression and racism towards black people that exists in the US continue to emphasize the long term problems caused or enhanced by the current administration.
Now, lets transition back to discussing covid-19. The situation has continued to improve here in China, particularly in Beijing. The number of active cases has decreased to 240 (down from 328). In Shanghai, there 28 active cases (all imported from returnees to China). The current recovery rate in Shanghai is 95.2%, while the rate for China as a whole is 93.9%. In comparison to the US, I think this emphasizes that it is possible to control the spread of covid-19, when swift and scientifically backed actions are taken. Hopefully, smarter heads at the state level will prevail.
In terms of research, this was a fairly productive week. I had the 300 Project collaboration meeting every afternoon. This was a very interesting opportunity for me to learn a lot about the different research that members of the 300 collaboration are working on. It also allowed me to present some of my previous work and explain how I plan to use these simulations, which should hopefully lead to some interesting papers in the coming years. Other than the meeting, I spent a lot of time working on my DES stellar mass – halo mass relation research as well as on some of my research on the spectroscopic completeness of DESI clusters. Given the collaboration meeting, it’s unsurprising that I spent a lot of time on Zoom. In addition, I had our SJTU AstroCoffee as well as our Zu Group meeting. Since the semester is over, we no longer have weekly colloquiums.
The combination of the collaboration meeting along with mostly miserable weather (either very humid, hot, or raining), unfortunately led me to only go for 1 run this week. It’s supposed to be a little bit cooler during this upcoming week, so hopefully I’ll be able to go for some nice runs then (even if there’s some rain)! Additionally, Sunday was the hottest day I’ve experienced in Shanghai. It was 100 degrees (feels like 118), with ~60% humidity. Apparently, this is the type of weather that is typical of Shanghai in the summer (so I guess it’ll be a very hot summer). Despite spending a lot of time inside, I still saw some beautiful flowers and paintings.
Additionally, I noticed that there are tons of cicadas in Shanghai. You can hear them all the time. So, make sure that you have your sound turned up! 🙂
Overall, this was an incredibly social week. I had events every day from Wednesday through Sunday.
On Wednesday, Moishe House hosted the first of a series of discussions on Black Lives Matter. I helped organize the series with Hannah Maia and the discussion was led by Clem, who is a member of the black community as well as an educator who’s lived in Shanghai for 15 years. The discussion focused mostly on definitions of terms relating to racism, prejudice, and discrimination, particularly in US. I’ve uploaded the slides with the definitions we discussed so that you can see what we talked about. I found the discussion to be very honest and interesting. We had a long discussion on what racism means and who can be racist. One concept that I’ve struggled with is whether their is a difference between systemic racism and someone being racist. I personally think that there is, but it’s a very nuanced and complicated argument. We also spoke about intersectionality and how we choose to identify ourselves. I found the discussions to be very informative and this was a great way to make everyone in the group comfortable with one another so that we can move on to discuss some more difficult topics. I’m very much looking forward to continuing this series and to gain greater insight into how I can become a better ally.
In contrast to Wednesday’s heavier discussion, on Thursday, I had dinner with my friends Kate and Ilan and got to meet their new dog, Pina! They think Pina is a Samoyed breed.
Pina is beautiful! She’s very soft and fluffy. More importantly, she’s super friendly and calm. It was a lot of fun getting to play with her! She’s one of the most beautiful dogs I’ve seen in Shanghai.
On Friday, I had dinner with my friends, Heather and Shimi. Heather made a fantastic pasta salad with artichokes, sun dried tomatoes, basil, and goat cheese and I made a roasted vegetable salad. Then for desert, Heather made a delicious vegan banana cream pie!
Heather is a fantastic cook! I always treasure getting the opportunity getting to enjoy her cooking! Afterwards, Shimi taught Heather and I how to play Backgammon. I learned the basic rules when I did Birthright, but unsurprisingly Shimi knew all the key strategies (and how to roll doubles or maybe that was just luck) and won. I look forward to trying to win next time, though! 🙂
After dinner, the three of us (as well as some of my other friends from the Moishe House community) went to Casey’s (one of the Moishe House residents) farewell comedy show. It’s been a very long time (I think since I was at Brown) since I’ve seen any live comedy. While the acts may have been a little more NSFW than I was expecting, I still had a lot of fun and we all had a lot of laughs!
Following the comedy show, on Saturday, Moishe House had a farewell party for Casey, who’s moving back to the United States. To give her a proper sendoff, I baked a vegan lemon cake, topped with a blueberry compote! It was another successful new recipe and I was thrilled with how lemon forward the cake was!
Lastly, on Sunday, my friend David (from the Moishe House community) invited friends to go GoKart racing for his birthday! Despite the brutal heat, I joined in for a fun afternoon. I think the last time I went GoKart racing was when I was 4-5 in Lake George (but my Mom can probably actually remember, since it was not a fun experience for her). This time, I got to drive, which was a lot of fun! It was pretty stressful though, with lots of bumping into other riders, cars stalling it, collisions, and a lot of slamming on the brakes.
Overall, it was still a lot of fun (though I am not very good at it).
Jewish Life in Shanghai
On Saturday, Kehilat Shanghai hosted a summer Taco Party! This event was designed to bring members of the community (both those with kids and those without) together! As you can see, the event was a huge success! We had about 50 people come, which was fantastic. It’s great to know which community members are still in Shanghai and for me, it was a really nice opportunity to meet some of the community members who I’d only briefly met. I also met the founders of Kehilat Beijing, who were visiting from Beijing. Kehilat Beijing has been around for much longer than Kehilat Shanghai. I’m looking forward to visiting Beijing once the 14 day travel restrictions have ended. Overall, it was really nice to see the community together, especially since other than Passover, we haven’t really done this in a long time.
This was a very fun week, filled with with lots of time spent with friends! This upcoming week should be a little bit quieter, and without the conference, hopefully I’ll be able to make some more headway on the many different research projects that I’m currently juggling.
I hope that you enjoyed hearing about my fun adventures this week! Overall, I hope my update reminds you that eventually things will return to normal (though this is not a process that can be rushed). If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about the current covid-19 situation, please let me know. If you need to talk about how to stay positive and productive , please reach out. I want to help support you and assure all of you in any way that I can.
In peace,
Jesse
Hi Jesse, it sounds like you had quite the busy week with lots of social and science events. Thank you for your comments on the US policies for international students. I really hope the law suits from various colleges make a difference (and do so swiftly). It’s definitely a scary time to be a foreign student in the US. I’m glad to hear your research and presentations went well. Thank you for sharing the slides from the black lives matter discussion. I found them very helpful. Wow, those cicadas are loud. I guess I’d rather have that buzz than the fireworks I’ve been used to the last few weeks. I hope you didn’t melt this week. I’ve been sweating through 90 feels like 100 degree weather and what you had is way worse. I’m glad to hear go karting was fun. Were the cars designed for someone 6’2”? I really liked all of the food pictures. It sounds like you had some great meals. The lemon cake, and especially the blueberry compote looked amazing. I’m glad you’re able to see friends and enjoy community events. It’s definitely been very isolating here (I’m glad the numbers in Shanghai and Beijing are decreasing). I hope you have a great week. Stay safe and healthy.
Love,
Emmet
Also, that Pina is a really pretty dog!
Love,
Emmet
Hi Emmet! I agree with you. I hope that the lawsuits by US universities make a difference. I’m glad you found the slides helpful. The cicadas are loud. Thankfully, they’re not really near my apartment. The GoKarts were fun. You’re right though, I am definitely too tall for them. Probably someone about 5’8” would be most comfortable. I hope that you’re able to do some social distanced activities with friends soon. I hope you have a productive a safe week!
Hi Jesse, Just a quick thought today in response to something you wrote in your blog about this administration”punishing” foreign students. My sense is that the xenophobia, racism, and isolationism that is a hallmark of this admin has little to do with punishment in any obvious way. It is pure “nativism” and anyone who is not viewed as a native American in the sense that they are not White, European stock that lives in the USA then they are considered as second class, a cost, and a problem for the “native Americans” who are unemployed, unemployable (short term) and who are poorly educated.
You also asked whether there is a difference between systemic racism and bigotry, and I think that there is: one can refuse to be a racist and act to be anti-racist but if laws and practices exist that are inherently racist (including for example, police stopping Black drivers at far higher rates than White drivers and so all the added problems that being stopped brings; laws that involve police interventions with misdemeanors which can result in prison sentences if one cannot pay fines; bail laws that punish the poor (read Black and Brown community) more than the wealthy (read White); health care “rationing” that skews White and not toward people of color. Mortgage costs that are higher for people who are Black and Brown .. Systemic racism is part and parcel of America no less today than it was 70 years ago.
Hi Bernard! Thanks so much for sharing your insights. I think your point about nativism is 100% correct and stated much more succinctly than I could. The current administration is wrapping itself in nativism and only cares about white, Christian, under-mildly educated, men.
I really like your point about being racist vs. systemic racism. Those are excellent examples of the systemic injustices that exist in the US. Part of my personal dilemna relates to who can be racist. I believe that anyone, regardless of race can choose to be racist towards someone of another race (or even one’s own race). However, the systemic racism can only be done by the oppression of a minority. So, to me it comes down to how you separate racism and prejudice, which is a difficult semantics argument.
So here’s my “quick and dirty” thoughts about systemic racism. I don’t know that systemic racism necessarily only affects minorities. Look at apartheid South Africa. The Black community was the vast majority. The systemic racism does not depend on numbers but on power and authority and so the powerful can treat the powerless, those with less power and the vulnerable (three distinct groups, perhaps) with racial animus. So while anyone who is not anti-racist may passively or actively support racist practices of others or the racist practices of the society, it takes power and authority of the society to create systemic racism – racism that is either explicitly written into the institutions within the social system or is implicitly written in (given the nod) – so we in the US had red lining of homes and mortgages (Levittown was explicitly White only when constructed post WWII ), and police stop and frisk in NYC was explicitly written but traffic stops by cops across the US is implicitly given a green light. Bail laws are explicit but the “intended” (I would argue) consequence is that the poor and the colored are jailed but the more wealthy pay and play… etc etc
Thank you for sharing your experiences with all of us, Jesse. It is wonderful to experience life in Shanghai through your eyes.
Thanks Peg! I’m glad to hear you’re still enjoying seeing my experiences! I hope that you, Art and the rest of your family continue to stay safe and healthy.
Jesse, that ppt/pdf is so clear and direct. Would you be okay with my using it, or a slightly adapted version, with some classes?
Lisa
Hi Lisa! I’m so glad you found the powerpoint helpful. I checked with Clem, the educator who led our discussion, and you can definitely share the slides with your class. Additionally, there’s another resource that Clem shared with me that I’ll e-mail you!
Hey Jesse! Thanks for the pictures of Pina 🙂
It sounds like you had a great week! It’s nice to see things have returned to normal in Shanghai. Is Emmet already in Beijing to visit or you’d just like to explore beyond Shanghai?
Thanks Ryan! Pina is very cute! It was a really nice and seemingly normal (pre-covid) week! Emmet’s still in Boston. He won’t be in Beijing until the fall. I’ll definitely visit once he arrives! I definitely want to explore outside Shanghai. Some of my friends and I have discussed some small day trips or weekend trips to some of the nearby cities though. So, hopefully I’ll get to see other parts of China, soon!
Hi, Jesse. I commented earlier this morning, and my post did not come through, so I hope this one does. I wanted to say how much I enjoyed the Black Lives Matter slides, and I learned from them. I agree with you that it is a shame that our current administration is putting so many unnecessary restrictions on international students. I am glad that Skidmore wrote a letter as part of the New York 6 schools to protest, and that adds to other protests by Harvard, MIT, and Boston University. Let’s hope. It is upsetting how COVID is rising and folks are not wearing masks or social distancing. I am relieved to live in a state with a good governor who has flattened the curve.
I was fascinated that the flowers are still in such bloom and want to know more about the mural with the birds next to the flower pictures. Is it a mural? I am eager to try the lemon cake with blueberry compote. I am now harvesting black, gold, and red raspberries from our backyard as well as lettuces and currants (white and black) and rhubarb. But once I get more of my raspberry jam combinations made in the midst of our kitchen renovation, I plan to pick blueberries, which are on!
I am glad you have made so many friends and have a full life as well as academic accomplishments. And how fun that you remember the go-karts. You were 5, and we rode together. But it was Cooperstown for Nonny and Bompa’s 50th wedding anniversary. You wanted to go faster, and I did not. Nice memory.
Much love,
Mom
Hi Mom! I’m glad that you learned from the slides. I found them very helpful. I’m glad to hear that Skidmore signed the letter as part of the New York 6. Hopefully, these actions will improve the situation. I’m very relieved that you and Dad are in upstate NY and that Gov. Cuomo has been taking this seriously from the beginning.
The mural with the birds is actually outside a construction site that’s near where Heather and Shimi live. I’m not sure if it’s a logo, but I thought it was cool. There are still some flowers blooming here, though much fewer and far between. I’m sad that I won’t get to enjoy any of the harvest from your backyard this summer.
Thanks for correcting me that it was Cooperstown, not Lake George. I knew you didn’t want to drive fast. There were some parents driving their kids yesterday and I definitely had flashbacks of you being very uncomfortable driving the Karts. It was a fun memory, though!
Dear Jesse, As usual I enjoyed your blog. When I was at SUNY, I worked on a grant that taught cultural competence to DSS caseworkers around NY State. We also used intersectionality as a way to broaden our senses of who we are and what motivates our beliefs. I was recently surprised by how defensive some conservatives (Trumpsters) are about the suggestion that they enjoy white privilege!
I am impressed with your cooking abilities. I may have to have your mom teach me her jam making tricks, as I have currants ready for picking. I enjoy the pictures. I couldn’t tell from the picture, but were you socially distancing at the Taco party? Is it not necessary now that you numbers are low?
Take care and thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to write each week.
Monna
Hi Monna! Thank you! Intersectionality is a very interesting concept and one that we plan to discuss further throughout the series of BLM discussions. I completely agree with you about peoples response to white privilege. I think a lot of people are just completely unaware of all the things that they don’t have to do because they have the benefit of being white.
Thank you! My Mom helped teach me a lot of the foundational techniques for cooking (espescially with jam and baked goods). Her jam is the best! The rest I’ve learned by experimenting with different recipes.
At the Taco party, we were not socially distancing. That practice has not been enforced since about early May. Prior to that, restaurants had limits on how far apart tables could be. However, there have been no new domestic cases in Shanghai (all cases have been caught at the airports), so that’s allowed the relaxing of a lot of these restrictions.