Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! Thank you for following my blog and for your interest in my adventures in Shanghai! As covid-19 continues to plague the US, and you are (hopefully) wearing masks when you go outside and are social distancing, I hope that my blog highlights that the world can recover from covid-19 by following these practices. Once things improve, I hope you’ll look forward to small interactions with friends and family. I’m sure you’ll find these interactions meaningful and enjoyable. In Shanghai, life has returned mostly to normal. Since outbreaks may still occur, it’s important that you wear masks and cooperate with social distancing guidelines so things improve.
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Life in Shanghai
I’m sure this latest update finds you at what feels like the end of an exhausting and incredibly long week. Throughout this stressful time, I hope that all of you are staying safe and healthy. If you voted in person, I hope that you wore a mask. Moreover, I hope that you continue to wear masks, maintain social distancing, wash your. hands, and generally follow smart and safe guidelines.
A lot of this post is my thoughts and feelings about the 2020 election. While some of this is unique to my experience in Shanghai, others are my own personal opinions. However, after discussing the election, I will share fun highlights from my week.
It’s hard not to look back at the week and realize that the 2020 presidential election dominated every aspect of my week. Whether it was WeChat messages with friends or talking with my family, almost all my conversations (even those with my Chinese colleagues) were about the election. I want to start by saying that I’m relieved that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won! I’m excited to have a return to honesty, integrity, morality, and trusting of science in the White House. Moreover, I hope that they work to end the systemic racism that exists within the United States as they have claimed that they will.
For me, this was a very stressful week. Remember that I am 13 hours ahead of you. So, when you were watching the results come in on Tuesday night, it was Wednesday morning. When things looked bleakest on Tuesday evening, I had to nervously work through the day fearful that Trump would win. Thankfully, my former home state of Michigan (along with Wisconsin) came though that evening. Although I wasn’t super concerned about Michigan because I understood that the votes from Wayne County/Detroit were still being counted, I was happy for my friends and colleagues back in Ann Arbor! Moreover, because of the time difference, information would trickle in throughout the day. Sometimes, like when Georgia and Pennsylvania first went blue, it was when I was awake (and my family was not). Others, like when Biden and Harris won, it was when I was asleep. The 24 hour news cycle has never felt more apt for me.
Regardless of how stressful it was, it was wonderful to wake up to such good news on Sunday morning! Getting joyful messages from friends in Shanghai and family abroad, made me so happy and optimistic for the future. I hope that you share in my optimism and hope that electing Biden and Harris is the first step towards recovering from covid-19 and from the systemic problems that exist in America.
While I personally am thrilled with the election results. I also still feel a great deal of shame and embarrassment in being American. Given that over 200,000 people have died as a result of the Trump administration’s arrogant and inept handling of covid-19 combined with the racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, and generally derogatory rhetoric spouted by Trump and his acolytes, it’s hard for me to rectify how 70 million people voted for Trump. If you voted for Trump, I think you really need to look in the mirror and ask yourself why you are comfortable with this kind of behavior. While you may claim that you are not a racist, by supporting this administration, you are complicit in the racism that they are advocating for. Moreover, the violent and dangerous rhetoric that Trump and his followers are spewing about a rigged election is incredibly terrifying and I pray that nothing happens in the coming weeks. While this national nightmare may be over, and some things can be quickly changed (like re-entering the Paris Climate treaty or a covid-19 national mask mandate), America must spend time reflecting and understanding that Racism, White Supremacy, and Intolerance are alive and well in America and that for many people, they are perfectly okay with this sort of offensive behavior. I believe that we can be better, we must be better, and that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris can begin to lead us on this path. The first step on this path is self reflection and realizing what we all, regardless of who we voted for, can do to be better, more caring, more accepting, and more loving human beings.
Now that I’ve taken the time to reflect on the election, I want to discuss the covid-19 situation in the US. While I feel hope as a result of the election, I still feel incredibly fearful about the number of cases that are being reported each day. It’s terrifying that the US is moving toward 10 million cases. It scares me that these increases are being seen around the world. It terrifies me that over 100,000 cases are being reported every day! That is anything but slowing or halting covid-19. I hope that all of you are taking this seriously. I hope that you will not be traveling for Thanksgiving or Christmas. While I’m sure not seeing your families may be hard, think of this from my perspective. Every time you take an unnecessary vacation, more people get sick. For people like me, who aren’t able to fly home, we will have to wait even longer to see loved ones. It’s already been over a year since I saw my family. Please act smart and safely and as an American people stop being selfish and work towards the greater good, which is a recovery from covid-19.
In terms of covid-19, in Shanghai, the situation is under control. All the cases that have occurred this week were imported cases (the US must mandate a real 14 day quarantine when people travel — A quarantine where you do not leave a hotel room for two straight weeks). In total, there are 98 cases (down from last week). There are 7 in Beijing. The recovery rate is 91.5%. For China, that rate is 94.2%. This is very much the status quo.
In terms of the rest of my week, despite the added stressors of the election, I was able to get some work done. We’re nearing completion on my Dark Energy Survey paper (which I’ve been saying for a while, but we’ve been enhancing the statistical analysis). Additionally, I started work on the actual science data for my Luminosity Function analysis! I also spent a bit of time reading the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) proposals and meeting with colleagues to discuss them this week (though very late at night — thank you daylight saving time). It’s a weirdly fun and interesting process and I’m glad to be a part of it (It’s the first real professional service I’ve done, which is neat!). I’ve also been working on my DES-ACT project, on high redshift clusters, which is cool! Overall I’m spreading my research resources thinly, but enjoying the research! 🙂
Other than work, I did take time to go for 3 runs this week. This was a great way for me to relieve a lot of the stress that I’d been feeling about the election, plus it got me away from the computer screen or my phone for a while. In the walks and runs I took, I also took a few more photos of Shanghai to share with you! A bunch of the photos are in the nearby Xujiahui park, which I enjoy running in/around!
I also took some time for some fun stuff! On Thursday, I went to another Unravel storytelling event with my friends Hannah Maia, Heather, and Shimi. The theme for this show was superpowers! Since these are all real life stories, these were not superhero stories, but rather stories about ways parents had inspired the storyteller or helped them overcome grief. One story focused on dealing with the death of a parent and another focused on recovering from injuries to return to marathon running. Overall, the stories were very interesting and enjoyable. The event is somewhat like a This American Life podcast, so although not all the stories matched the theme perfectly, it was a very enjoyable night!
On Saturday, I also went to the foreign language bookstore to pick up some new books! I just finished Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson, so I was down to my last book. Just Mercy is an excellent book and is a very moving narrative detailing much of what is wrong with the criminal justice system in the US. I decided to get some lighter books this time and I ended up getting Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology, Anthony Horowitz’s Moriarty, and The Girl in the Spider’s Web (the 4th book in the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Series). So, I’ll definitely have some fun fiction books to read for a while! It was a really nice experience getting to peruse aisles of books knowing that I could read them! So, I look forward to return visits when I finish these!
My favorite part of the bookstore is that on the top floor, they have manga! Although all of it was in Japanese (I think), it was really cool getting to see a lot of my favorite titles! I even bought a few volumes for the collection that Emmet and I share!
Food in Shanghai!
On Wednesday evening, following an exhausting election day, my friends Hannah Maia and Anton joined me for a fantastic vegan dinner! We went to an event sponsored by a new vegan plant based protein, Zee-ai.
We had a great four course meal of lentil and artichoke soup, vegan chick’n nuggets, mushrooms with zee-ai, and coconut cake! The soup was my favorite! It was a great way to unwind after a stressful Wednesday.
On Thursday, before Unravel, I got dinner with my friends as well!
We got spicy peanut noodles, stir friend sword beans — both of these are favorites of mine, steamed vegetables, shuijiao — dumplings, and boazi — bao buns. Everything was really great! Special thanks to my friends for making sure everything was vegetarian!
Jewish Life in Shanghai
As part of the Tov! religious school that Kehilat Shangahi runs, we are doing adult learning sessions. The idea of this is to discuss topics of interest (sometimes Jewish, or related to Judaism, others not), each week presented by different community members. This week’s session focused on Jewish Gangsters! Josh, the Kehilat president, gave a really interesting presentation on the history of Jewish gangsters in the US (Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Seigel,…) as well as how there were also Jewish gangsters in Shanghai! We then had a long discussion about how we should feel about these gangsters. Should they be admired for standing up to Nazi’s or condemned for still committing crimes. Overall, it was an interesting discussion and a fun way to spend a Sunday morning. And yes, I plan to give an Astronomy talk at a future session!
This was a stressful week, but thankfully, it had a happy ending! I hope that all of you are equally relieved that the election has finally been called. I hope that this upcoming week will be a little bit more relaxing. Also, before I forget, Lucky safely made it home to Israel and is back with her family!
I hope that you enjoyed hearing my thoughts about the election. If you have any thoughts on the election, please share them. I also hope that you enjoy seeing all the delicious food I tried this week! If there’s anything you’re curious about, please let me know.
In peace,
Jesse
Thoroughly enjoyed reading your piece this week. We share the ups and downs, fears and reliefs,…except of course not understand necessarily your work. Be well.
Hi Phyllis! Wonderful to hear from you! I’m glad that you enjoyed this entry. I’ll keep trying to make my work more accessible (and probably do another explanation session in a future entry). Hope you and Barry continue to stay safe and healthy!
Hi Jesse,
It sounds like you had an equally stressful week as we had here in the states. I know I definitely spent more time on CNN clicking on Pennsylvania and Georgia then I ever have before. It is certainly a relief to see Biden win, though I am quite concerned by the lack of a response by the current administration or Republican leaders. I’m anticipating the last two months of this presidency will be a hot mess. Hopefully Biden is swift to enact executive orders to reverse some of the terrible policies in place. His speech and Kamala Harris’s speech were both messages of unity and really promising. I’m certainly concerned about COVID here. It’s not longer creeping up, we’re in a second wave and I hope people are taking it seriously. I’m glad you were able to do some fun things this week. It sounds like you got some great books to read. And what a manga section! It’s too bad they were all in Japanese. I like seeing all of the pictures from your runs. Especially the cat! The unravel event sounds really cool. Both of the dinners you went to looked fabulous. Is Zee-ai a product you can get in a grocery store, or is it only available at restaurants. Given all the vegan nuggets we’ve had, what is it closest to? The adult learning at Tov also sounds like a nice change of pace from your usual week. I’m glad it was fun. I hope your research continues to progress nicely and that you don’t have too many late. Igor DESI meetings this week. I hope you continue to stay safe and healthy!
Love,
Emmet
Hi Emmet! I spent so much time on CNN, Chris Cillizza’s twitter feed, and the 538 blog. It felt like I was checking every 5 minutes. I agree that the current administrations lack of response along with those of Lindsey Graham and other Republicans is very worrisome. I agree with you about covid-19 in the US. I hope you, Mom, and Dad continue to stay vigilant and safe. The manga section was so cool! I wish some of it was in English, but it was neat to see so many of our favorites! Zee-ai is a product I can get on taobao (or via WeChat). So, I probably will try it some time. The nuggets reminded me of quorn nuggets the most. I hope that you have a productive, safe, and healthy week!
Jesse,
We love reading your comments…especially like hearing what
non Americans have to say about our new President… good stuff.
Glad we are part of your reporting.
Stay well and safe.
Jay & Georgia
Hi Jay and Georgia! I’m so glad to hear that you enjoyed reading this entry and hearing my thoughts. I hope that you both continue to stay safe and healthy as well!
Hi Jesse, Don’t know if you managed to listen to the Biden /Harris talk to the nation last night but it was so refreshingly different from the poisonous blather that Trump spewed at his inauguration. They focused on healing and on unifying the country and dealing with the issues that must be dealt with from the pandemic to systemic racism. The problem is that Trump has not conceded and that McConnell will do his darndest to ensure that no bipartisan legislation will even be put up for a vote. Trump’s actions smell like he is trying to foment a coup d’etat to ensure that he does not leave office (because when he leaves office Deutsche Bank will call in his debt to them of 1/3 billion dollars and the NY State AG will bring criminal charges against him.
Jewish gangsters: a few years ago there was a wonderful presentation by the Saratoga Historical Society in conjunction with someone from the Jewish community in Saratoga about how Saratoga was the summer home to so many of the Jewish gangsters. The casino here was a favorite place.
Not sure if this is a good thing or a worrisome thing but we are expecting temperatures over the next few days in the low 70’s . Low 70’s in the second week in November. I am not sure if I remember this right but I think there was a Twilight Zone episode that dealt with the Earth somehow changing its orbit and all the people in NY were dying from heat and insufficient water and then the story suddenly changed and they found themselves freezing as the path the Earth took was away from the Sun. Looks like Biden , though, may return us to the Climate Accords and work federally to help us reduce our carbon hoofprint (sic). (we can be as cantankerous as mules except that donkeys are pretty smart and their cantankerousness is almost always because they sense the danger that they are asked to engage in… That’s why horses were used as war animals but donkeys never were – you cannot get a donkey to make the kind of leap that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid themselves made… but a horse would.
Let’s hope by next week the election has been decided and Trump has agreed to become the great loser in chief and will self exile to a land where the US has no extradiction treaty and the NY AG can impound his bank accounts so he can become a dishwasher somewhere.
Hi Bernard! I didn’t get a chance to listen to the Biden/Harris speeches, but I plan to this week. They sound very refreshing. I completely agree with you take on McConnell and Trump. Trump is clinging to power because he knows the financial and criminal charges are coming and he refuses to face them.
I didn’t realize that the Jewish Gangsters would come to Saratoga! That’s a fun bit of trivia to know!
I completely agree with your fears about climate change. Hopefully President-elect Biden can get the US back on track. Coal and Oil are not the answers, we must embrace green energy.
I completely concur with your last thoughts, though I wouldn’t mind Trump actually just going to jail instead.
Hope you and Lisa continue to stay safe and healthy!
What a great week you had, Jesse, although it certainly was a roller coaster with the uncertain outcome for the election. I cannot tell you how much I appreciated waking up to messages to the family on We Chat where you gave us updates of developments that happened when we were sleeping! And it is such a huge relief that we have elected individuals with morals and integrity and values. I particularly like how Biden said, “let this grim era of demonization begin to end here and now” as well as how he “will work as hard for those who didn’t vote for him as those who did.” Kamala was also articulate about how her becoming VP as a woman is monumental and how she wished her mother who came to the US from India at age 19 could see her now. Yesterday was a great day, but so was today since I woke up knowing that tRump will NOT be our president for much longer.
On a totally different note, I really enjoyed seeing the pictures from your runs in Shanghai. The flowers are beautiful, and I was struck by that longhaired orange cat. Speaking of orange cats, has anyone named that adorable Moishe house kitten? And thank you for letting us know that Lucky arrived safely in Israel, too.
The weather is very warm for November–in the 70s! I made pumpkin raisin bread, a childhood recipe from the original Golden Spoon Cookbook, and I substituted Bob’s Red Mill for the eggs to make it vegan. It turned out very well. I will share the recipe with you.
Keep up the good work on your Astronomy papers! I am so glad you like your new apartment and have made important friendships, too.
Much love,
Mom
Hi Mom! I’m glad my middle of the night messages were comforting. It was always a relief to wake up from messages from Emmet with positive election news for me. I really like the sentiments you shared from Biden and Harris’s speeches. I’ll have to listen to them this week. I have been able to sleep much better since the election was called.
I’m glad you enjoy the photos of Shanghai. It’s still somewhat in bloom (though flowers are still being planted). So, it should remain that way for a bit longer. I’m glad you liked the orange cat, he lives in my neighborhood, so I see him often (though he hasn’t warmed up to me yet). I’ll see the Moishe House Kitten this week and let you know if he’s been named.
Pumpkin raisin bread sounds very nice, definitely share the recipe with me! I hope that you, Dad, and Emmet all have a safe and healthy week!
Hey Jesse,
It’s awesome Lucky made it home safely! And thanks for al the manga cover photos – I went “wow!” Looking forward to catching up with you soon 🙂
Best,
Ryan
Hi Ryan! Agreed, it was comforting to know that Lucky safely touched down in Israel. I thought you’ld like the manga section! :). It was cool to see so many of my favorites even if they were in Japanese. Talk to you tomorrow!