Issue 71 | you don't need to "just deal with it"
Indigenous Peoples' Day | Guest Editor Amy Chin, founder of Calm Better Days
Hi! Today is Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and I dedicate this week’s Culture Corner to it. That alone isn’t enough, and I’m thinking about as you read this. If this issue feels more serious, you’re hearing my my self-imposed pressure to get this right. I feel this way whenever I talk about another community publicly, but I don’t want my fear to stop me from saying anything. Please bear with me, a forever work in progress!!!
Another reason why this issue is special — we have another Guest Writer from the community! Amy Chin is the founder of Calm Better Days, which sounds like everything I want in life, but is actually a platform making CBD products more accessible. I’m honored to make her story accessible to you, today :)
Karen from The Cosmos
Dear Cosmos Community,
After my second child was born, I was elated. I was also sleep deprived. I handled most of the home and child responsibilities. I was perpetually cranky, irritable, impatient. I was that yelling mom. Every morning felt like a dark cloud on an endless loop. I thought this was motherhood, and I had to just deal with it.
I began seeing a marriage therapist who concluded that I had anxiety and postpartum depression. It never occurred to me that this was possible; I didn't know the symptoms. But the diagnosis enabled me to do something about it. My marriage therapist suggested I try CBD. I sought a holistic way of life and was reluctant to use prescription meds.
I got my CBD from the medical dispensary, and my life changed. I felt patient, even-keeled, and mindful. I could enjoy interacting with my kids! I didn’t yell anymore!
Nowadays my micro-dose regimen (which is most effective when CBD is taken in small amounts, 3-4 times a day) may start with a tincture or vaporizer for the quickest onset to set the tone for my day. I usually take an edible before lunch and then a nice dose for a good night's rest. I've recently added CBD tea and honey into the mix and love slathering on a nice CBD body cream at the end of the day. I’m having fun adding self-care to my day, as a ritual, to show up for my mental health, and, yes, to celebrate me :)
I started Calm Better Days because I wanted other folks to access the benefits of plant medicine! My mission is to normalize plant medicine, normalize mental health, and normalize moms consuming the plant. I curate products that are safe, high quality, and carefully vetted. I’m also passionate about supporting small-farmed, women, and BIPOC-owned CBD brands.
I understand from my own experience that it can be challenging to get started. To help, I’m offering The Cosmos Community a free 30 minute CBD consultation! We’ll talk through how CBD works in our body, understand the nuances of different delivery methods, and figure out your ideal dosage. We’ll review your current mental and physical health goals together, and I’ll recommend the best CBD products to address those issues. You can book a session below!
P.S. For runners and folks based in New York City: On Oct 18, I’m collaborating with @RunforChinatown to talk about how CBD can help with overall wellness, mental health, and running. Run for Chinatown supports small businesses and historic sites in Chinatown, New York through community runs! We’re meeting at 5:30 PM on Oct 18 at Lanterne Lab (69 Mulberry St). Hope to see some of you there!
Cosmos Classifieds
A place to help you find Asian American therapists & mental health practitioners committed to serving the community. Posts are sponsored by practitioners. Email me at karen@jointhecosmos.com if you're interested in a feature!
Ky Ngo Dennis | Licensed Psychotherapist
Ky is offering a virtual 8-week AAPI Women's Group: An Exploration of Culture, Family & Emotions beginning November 9. You'll explore your family and cultural history with AAPI women who understand you. You'll be guided in a supportive environment to dig deeper into your backstory and your inner emotional world.
Schedule a free consultation with Ky to see if this group could support you!
Israa Nasir | Mental Health Coach | sliding scale pricing available
Using psychotherapy-based techniques, Israa’s coaching sessions will help identify your mental wellness goals and develop a plan to increase coping skills like self-care, resilience, healthy boundaries, and improving communication skills, (or anything you want to improve in your life). If you are looking to improve your emotional health and self-awareness, she’d love to chat with you!
Book a free consultation session with Israa here to see if you can work together!
Community Events
Camp Cosmos ‘21 Giveaway *ends today!*
Free gear for hiking in the park, or just feeling mad comfy walking to the grocery store (up to $170!)
Camp Cosmos ‘21 has closed its doors for the year, but I have one more thing to give away: free gear (up to $170!!) from our partner Merrell. Today’s the last day to enter the Giveaway — see our Instagram post below for all the details!
P.S. I recommend the Merrell Moab 2 waterproof hiking boots and the warm without weight crew socks, it’s getting cold outside!
Community Book Swap + Potluck
Sunday, Nov 7 | 11:30-1:30 PM ET | Prospect Park, NY
Y’all asked for it!!! Bring as many books as you want to our community book swap on Sunday, November 7th. Grab some coffee on your way, bring lots of snacks (since food is a very Asian love language!!), and join us for a fall picnic in Prospect Park. RSVP below and we’ll send you the exact location to meet up soon!
Culture Corner
This week’s Culture Corner honors Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Below are four Indigenous women centering their heritage in their work. There are many more. To learn more about the significance of today, I found Native Education For All a very helpful resource.
I want to be honest that I felt unprepared to write about these women, to “comment” on today. I felt it was not a day that should center me, or my feelings, while at the same time trying to be kinder to myself. My lack of awareness is not just my fault — our country’s education system, and the media we consume, fails to tell the story of Indigenous people with nuance and complexity. Trying to hold all of this while writing :)
Bethany Yellowtail is a fashion designer who created her own brand, B. Yellowtail, to honor the indigenous designs stemming from the Northern Cheyenne and Crow Tribes. She also created The B. Yellowtail Collective, a marketplace for local Native American, First Nations, and Indigenous entrepreneurs to sell their goods. Bethany is vocal about the lack of economic opportunity for her community and the impact of creating a marketplace and a path out of poverty. She started out witnessing how “the global fashion market is incredibly saturated with faux Indigenous/Native design and the majority of global consumers have zero consciousness that contemporary Native peoples exist”. But instead of letting that defeat her, she’s doing things her own way, adamant to show that Indigenous fashion is not just beadwork and geometric designs.
I worry that I, as an Asian American, should not be wearing Indigenous fashion. I wanted to share Bethany’s own response to this fear: “So, what I really want people to know is: We want you to participate and purchase from us. We want you to know these stories. We want to share these with you. And, we’re doing it in a respectful way. We want you, however, to choose something authentic and, ultimately, to really see us. When you think about it, it’s a beautiful way to exchange knowledge.”
Photo credit: B. Yellowtail
Sierra Teller Ornelas is the first Native American to run a television comedy (Rutherford Falls on Peacock). She identifies as Navajo and Mexican American. When she first got into the industry, she was told a Native sitcom, and Native stories in general, would never get made. But Sierra filled the writers room for Rutherfood Falls with ten writers. She features fashion from B. Yellowtail. She has Navajo director Sydney Freeland helm four episodes. And she remains committed to writing characters that feel like real people: “I wanted to tell a story where you could have three Native people having a regular conversation, maybe talking about movies. That’s what’s revolutionary, is us just getting to be funny and smart and interesting. Those are the Native people I know. But we’re not perfect”.
I admire Sierra’s work and journey so much that I’m nervous writing about her!!!! I don’t want to get it wrong — her persistence despite the way the industry’s treated her, her decisions to tell stories that challenge stereotypes, to be in a position of influence, and never waver from her mission.
Photo credit: Nia Macknight for The New York Times
Deb Haaland is the current United States Secretary of Interior and a citizen of Pueblo of Laguna. She is the first Native American to serve in a Cabinet position. In 2018, she became one of the first Native women elected to Congress. As Secretary of Interior, Haaland heads the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), which was responsible for a history of “genocidal and assimilationist policies”, but if anyone, it’s Deb who can balance a legacy of distrust of the BIA with a conviction that things will change.
I’m self-conscious of my lack of knowledge in policy, and I know in mentioning two initiatives Haaland led, I am likely leaving out others. Please bear with me. During her time in Congress, she passed the Not Invisible Act and the Justice for Native Survivors of Sexual Violence Act, which aim to coordinate government response on the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. This has been on my mind as I grapple with “Missing White Women Syndrome” — the lack of media and government attention to find missing women of color.
Photo Credit: InStyle Magazine
Joy Harjo is the first Native American woman to hold the title of United States Poet Laureate. This poem captures how I felt learning about these four women, how ignorant I still feel about the Indigenous experience in America, and the hope that I am learning.