Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! Thank you for following my blog and for your interest in my adventures in Shanghai! As covid-19 keeps many of you sheltered in place or working at home, I hope that my blog illustrates that once the world recovers from this outbreak, things will improve. You should all treasure the small daily interactions. In Shanghai, life has returned to a new normal. I emphasize that the recovery timeline for Shanghai is not applicable everywhere and that new outbreaks can 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 all of you are staying safe and healthy while continuing to wear masks and socially distance. Before beginning, I do want to acknowledge that I’ve chosen to drop the Life in Quarantine title this week. I’ve realized that even though I’m still working from home, I’m lucky enough to be in a situation where covid-19, while still a major concern, is no longer a dominant aspect of my life. Despite that, I still will continue to update you on the situation here and share my thoughts/opinions on the situation in the US.
Over the last week, I’ve grown increasingly concerned about the covid-19 situation in the US. It’s undeniably clear to me that as a whole, the US has given up on trying to halt or slow the spread of the virus. While some states are following CDC guidelines and using science to make their decisions about reopening, it’s disheartening to see how cases are spiking in Florida, Arizona, California, and so many other places. This is even more troubling given China’s swift and effective reaction to the spiking of cases in Beijing (more on that later). So, I implore all of you to continue to work from home (if possible), to always wear masks when you go outside to public places, and to maintain social distancing protocols. If the Federal government is too cowardly to admit that this situation won’t magically go away and attempt to deal with a response, then I hope each of you will act smartly instead.
While last week definitely served as a reminder that the covid-19 situation can change rapidly, this week offered much more stability. There have continued to be more cases in Beijing, but so far this appears to be a localized outbreak. Reports I’m reading suggest that this outbreak is under control, with fewer cases being reported each day. In response, the Chinese government effectively closed parts of Beijing and are now requiring 14 days of self-quarantine for all people who visit Beijing (as well as a few other parts of China). So, I’m not sure how much traveling I’ll be able to do this summer. In total, there are 228 active cases in Beijing. In Shanghai, there are just 23 (all imported). The recovery rate in Shanghai is 95.7%, while for China as a whole, the rate is 94.1%. I will reiterate that while these numbers are promising, the situation in Beijing has raised a lot of fear of a second wave here, so, I don’t see travel restrictions being eased in the near future.
In terms of research, this was a fairly productive week. I spent a lot of time working on my research related to the Luminosity Function of cluster member galaxies. While I’ve made some progress in matching the desired figures, there still a few sizeable differences I’m working to resolve. Additionally, I’ve continued to make progress on finalizing my DES paper on the Stellar Mass – Halo Mass Relation. My goal is to get that submitted next month. Other than my own research, we had another successful week of AstroCoffee. I also had more Zoom telecons, one for the Zu Group and one late night meeting for DES.
As I mentioned last week, it’s Plum rain season. Thankfully, it wasn’t quite as hot this week (though there were a few brutal days). However, we’ve had lots of rain/thunderstorms/and high humidity. Despite all that, I was able to make time for three runs this week! Even with the weather, there’s still lots of Beauty in Shanghai (both flowers and a cute cat)!
This was a jam packed weekend. While the main event of my week was the Solidarity Shabbat (more on that later), I also had a fun Saturday! My friend Heather and I made white Peach jam! As most of you know, my Mom makes tons of Jam all summer! Since I haven’t been able to go home since arriving in October (and I won’t be returning home anytime soon), I’ve been craving my Mom’s homemade jam. So, Heather and I decided to try to make it ourselves!
It’s been a while since I’ve gone through the whole jam making process with my Mom. Thankfully she shared her recipe as well as a few insightful tips and tricks to help make delicious jam! As you can see, the process went really well! Surprisingly, getting jars in China was actually really easy. The primary difficulty was finding pectin (and making sure it was the right thing). This was a really fun way to spend the afternoon! Plus, we ended up with beautifully colored and tasty jam! I can’t wait to start enjoying it and to make more jam later this summer!
Following our jam making adventure. Heather, Shimi, and I attended Matter is the Minimum, as storytelling fundraiser organized by members of the Black community in Shanghai (including Erica Switzer, who led the Solidarity Shabbat discussion) in support of Campaign Zero. This was a very moving and thought provoking event. 7 storytellers shared with the audience their own experiences through either stories, songs, or dramatic performance about dealing with systemic racism and racism by police in the US as well as racism that they’ve faced in China. Each performance was powerful. While I don’t think I can adequately describe each story, my primary takeaway was how pervasive systemic racism is in all parts of the US and how often white people downplay the mistreatment of Black people. I’ll discuss more about these issues later, but I think it’s important that each of us continues be be anti-racist and a vocal and supportive ally to the Black community.
Food in Shanghai
This week, I had two delicious meals out. On Friday, our Solidarity Shabbat was catered by a Black owned caterer/bakery, Suga’hai. I enjoyed a delicious meal of okra and cauliflower gumbo, red bean and rice balls, blackened tofu, and a delicious oreo brownie!
On Saturday, I went to lunch at one of my favorite vegetarian restaurants in Shanghai!
I had a delicious meal of vegetable wontons; shredded zucchini, carrots, and mushrooms; tofu with bamboo and mushrooms; edamame with a green vegetable I can’t remember; and tomato with broccoli. The tofu, wontons, and carrot/zucchini/mushroom salad were my favorites!
Additionally, I did a lot of cooking this week. On Saturday night, I made a sweet and sour tempeh stir-fry with Heather for dinner. I also made a Mediterranean Quinoa salad as well as Pra Ram Tofu (tofu with peanut sauce). So, lots of good eating this week!
Jewish Life in Shanghai
This week was the joint Moishe House/Kehilat Shanghai Solidarity Shabbat that I co-organized with my friend Hannah Maia. The two of us put a lot of time, effort, and energy into the event, so I’m pleased to report that it was very successful and meaningful evening. The event began with a service that I led. To keep the service in line with the theme of discussing how to be better allies and ending systemic racism, I incorporated different readings into the service, which added an additional and necessary weight to the evening. If you’re interested, I uploaded the Supplement below.
Following the service, we had a moving and interesting discussion, led by Erica Switzer, a secondary English and Drama teacher from Chicago, who is also a story teller and comedian. Erica’s leadership and guidance really carried through the evening to make the event as impactful as it was. Our discussion began by talking about why people are uncomfortable talking about racism (whether it’s shame, embarrassment, or feeling it’s not your place to bring it up). We then discussed what we as a community believed are the underlying root causes of systemic racism in 2020 (including economic inequality, which traces to slavery and scapegoating/fear of the other). Our discussion ended by talking about what it means to be an ally. As part of this, we heard from some members of the Black community who joined us and shared ways that we can be better allies. The primary takeaways for me is that it’s important not to be just a social media social justice warrior. We need to do more than post a black square on Facebook and Instagram. Whenever possible we need to support Black owned businesses and Black students. We also must listen when Black people explain what the problems are and not write them off as complaining.
This event was very well attended! The organized discussion led to many lively and interesting smaller discussions. Overall, I felt that this was an incredibly important event. I was honored to have helped organize it. This event raised a few hundred dollars that will be donated to the Campaign Zero and to Jews for Racial and Economic Justice.
I know that I’ve spent a lot of time in the last few weeks posting about the systemic racism and injustice that exists in the US. I hope that you’ve used these posts as a springboard to have your own discussions. I want to let you know that this won’t be the last time that I’ll be posting about these issues. I’m helping to organize a discussion series at Moishe House about racism, racism in the Jewish community, and what we can do to be anti-racist and end systemic racism.
In addition to the Shabbat on Friday night, as a change of pace and lighter event, I went to Moishe House’s bagel brunch on Sunday! I made vegan cashew cream cheese and my peach jam! Both were a hit. After a weekend filled with heavy and impactful discussions, it was nice to relax with friends on a Sunday afternoon.
Before concluding this post, I want to take the time to wish my Dad, and all the other Fathers reading this a Happy Father’s Day! As I said when I wrote on Mother’s day, it’s been very difficult being so far away from my parents for such a long time (and the prospect of not seeing them soon makes it more difficult). However, I want to thank my Dad for being such a wonderful, loving, and supportive Father. Whether it’s talking about different readings for Shabbat services, helping me to plan the Passover Seder, checking in on how my research is going, or just chatting about what mediocre TV we’ve been watching, I’m so thankful that we’re so close. I love you so much. Thank you so much for being the best Dad I could ask for.
This was a really eventful week! This upcoming week is the traditional Dragon Boat Festival. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if they’re will actually be Dragon boat racing (due to covid-19 concerns), but if there is, I’ll try to see it. Next week should be a bit more relaxing. However, I’m sure I’ll have plenty of interesting stories to share with you.
I hope that this update about my life and the covid-19 situation in Shanghai is both enjoyable and impactful. I hope that my actions taken to have a dialogue about systemic racism here in Shanghai remind you all that wherever you are, you can do something to improve the situation. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about the current covid-19 situation, please let me know. If you need someone to talk to about how to stay positive and productive while you shelter in place, please reach out. I want to help support you and assure all of you in any way that I can.
In peace,
Jesse
Thank you for sharing your life this week, Jesse. I am proud of you for organizing the Solidarity Shabbat with Hannah Maia and for leading the services. The discussion sounds excellent. I will look forward to hearing more about the series you are starting at Moishe House. I really enjoyed seeing you make jam, Jesse. It is wonderful that you are following in my footsteps! I am excited to try your jam some day. And it is also great news that you are making progress with your luminosity research. Finally, I was very touched by the wonderful things you said about your father. You are a terrific son, and I love you so much. Mom
Hi Mom! Thanks so much! I’ll definitely let you know more about the discussion series once it’s planned. Thank you so much for your help/advice/tutelage in jam making. I don’t think the jam would have come out as well without your help. I’m so glad both you and Dad were touched by my message! I hope you have a safe and healthy week!
Hi Jesse,
It sure sounds like you had a full week. I’m glad to hear Beijing thinks they have the outbreak under control. I hope that proves to be the case. Hopefully the number of cases remains low in Shanghai. I’m so happy to hear that your solidarity Shabbat was a success. It looks like you had a huge crowd and I’m glad to hear that it was a meaningful and reflective experience. That’s cool that you could follow that experience up with the storytelling event. I think listening to Black people tell their stories of racism is incredibly important as we build a more inclusive society.
On another note entirely, your peach jam looks great!!! What a vibrant color. I’m glad everyone liked it and that you had fun making it! Your meal at the vegetarian restaurant looked amazing, too!
I hope you have a nice and productive week and can make some more headway on your research! Maybe you’ll get to see a dragon boat, too! Stay safe and healthy!
Love,
Emmet
Hi Emmet! Thanks! I’ll definitely keep updating you about the situation here in Shanghai and in Beijing. I’m glad you were moved by what I explained about the solidarity Shabbat. It was wonderful seeing so many community members attend. The story telling event was a very powerful followup. I’m glad you liked the color of the jam! I was pleasantly surprised by that. I hope that you also have a productive and safe week!
Hi Jesse,
It sounds like you had an interesting jam packed week. I hope the jam was yummy!
Best,
Ryan
Thanks Ryan! It was a great week. I’ve already been enjoying the jam! It’s been nice to make something that reminds me of home. 🙂
Another very thoughtful and important blog, Jesse. Very inspirational to hear about the Solidarity Shabbat that you helped organize. Here there were a number of events organized to celebrate Juneteenth which will next year become a NYS holiday (commemorating the day June 19th, when Texas slaves finally learned that they had been freed from slavery more than two years before by the Proclamation of Emancipation. This to me resonates with our own story of Moses negotiating for the emancipation of the Children of Israel with Pharaoh and the length of time it took for Pharaoh to finally let them go only to chase after them to bring them back).
Finding ways to support our Black brothers and sisters is so important , not least because systemic racism has meant that not only are Black and Brown neighbors more likely to be apprehended by police but are far more likely to suffer beatings and death when apprehended and far more likely to be found guilty of the same actions Whites are given a pass on and are far more likely to spend time in prison and face the death penalty for crimes for which Whites are punished far more leniently. But more than that: Blacks’ median income in the USA is about $35,000 PA compared to Whites who earn about $69,000 and in the Bronx, for example, a Black man can expect to live 6 years fewer than his White neighbor.
On a very different topic. Loved your piece about making jam. I wonder how challenging it was to find pectins in Shanghai as opposed to pectolase (the enzyme that breaks down pectins resulting in increased juice output from fruit). I may have missed this but did you say what fruits you used to make the jam? Berries or plums? or?
Here in Saratoga we just harvested our rhubarb (well half the crop) and made both a delicious compote and some rhubarb muffins. We also have in our yard a lot (relatively speaking) of wild strawberries (a weed in the eyes of those who are looking for a lawn) . These are tiny strawberries (about 1/4 inch at most) but very tasty if not very juicy. I also see that we have a large “crop” of clover that is calling me to make into a clover wine. (You need about 1 gallon of flower heads to make a gallon of clover wine – so that is going to be a job to cut the flowers and then snip the petals from the green base). But wines made from dandelions and clover and other foraged plants and flowers can be wonderful even as they are very different from grape wines.
I forgot to address one other point you made about this “administration’s” magical approach to covid 19. Sadly, this president and his VP seem to have absolutely no fear about magical thinking and the solution to this pandemic. Think about it: Trump and his disciples and acolytes are all suggesting that the CAUSE of the increase in incidence of Covid 19 has nothing to do with inappropriate behavior spreading the disease. No. The CAUSE of infection is increased tracking of those infected. Thus if we stopped tracking who was infected and who they may have infected then the actual numbers of those infected would decrease. So TRACKING is the problem. If that isn’t magical thinking I don’t know what is… and that is precisely the sort of magical thinking that my 2 year-old grand-daughter engages in when she closes her eyes and can’t see you then YOU have disappeared. Are we living in an insane world when so-called adults make the same sort of claim or are we living in an insane world? They are as thick as bricks if they imagine that a refusal to track solves any problems with this pandemic.
Thanks Bernard! I’m glad you were inspired by my description of the Solidarity Shabbat. It’s great that it’ll be a NYS holiday next year! I agree that it does resonate with the Passover story. Your point about how systemic racism leads to economic inequality is spot on. We actually touched on that during our discussion as well.
I’m glad you enjoyed seeing me make jam! Pectin wasn’t that difficult to find. Heather found it on Taobao (China’s bigger version of Amazon). We made white peach jam, which has been very yummy! The strawberries and rhubarb sound delicious! Along with the clover, it seems like you’ll be having a summer filled with plenty of delicious food/drink from your garden!
I completely agree with you about Trump and his acolyte’s approach towards tracking and testing. It’s incredibly disheartening. Hopefully, in November we can get good effective and smart leadership again.