Some quotes from our special guest @JeremyTiang in my Asia-Pac Studies Lit&Film class and my thoughts after reading his book "State of Emergency": "There's so much of the past that clings to us." We read stories in a temporal context. These screenshots are my context. 1/4

In the US right now, protesters are being scapegoated to make this moment into an "Emergency." The police state uses these instances to justify increasingly draconian measures toward protestors (framed as 'rioters' CAUSING 'unrest' - & ignoring the original cause). 2/4

2 of Breonna Taylor's 3 murderers are left uncharged. Meanwhile protesters on the AG's lawn in Louisville are charged with felony + 2 misdemeanors. These labels serve their interests. They WANT those who are not there to think of this moment as an EMERGENCY & thus justified. 3/4

One last one for the creatives out there: "History is indifferent to the needs of narrative." Historical fiction requires a strong basis in uncovered histories. How does the "past that clings to us" show up in the present? How will THIS moment cling to us & our imaginations? 4/4