Culture Chronicles #6: Stop fyp doom scrolling and put on some shoes. Also, should Substack subscriptions be cheaper?

A monthly selection of reads that I found fascinating on Substack and off it.

View from my apartment.

Today I made the mistake of reading the news the moment I woke up. I was instantly slammed with a whirlpool of bad news, which also included a friend’s announcement, in her newspaper column, no less, that she was sick.

I shut the tablet, closed my eyes, and wonder how to get that ball of anxiety off my chest.

I suppose if you’re American, you’ll totally relate. There’s doom and bad news everywhere. If you sink yourself into your social media “fyp” (For You Page) you may actually believe that your life is godawful.

The best cure, besides tossing my tablet into a room that will only unlock itself at a certain time (tell me if you know of such a lock), is to put on my sneakers and go out for a walk.

It may seem like an overly simplistic solution, but being present is what we need to do at a time like this. If I start my day with a morning walk I always feel like I’ve been injected with a dose of happiness. Is it the sun? The greenery around me?

I live in a gorgeous, green neighbourhood. I have a 15-minute city lifestyle. It’s pretty awesome despite what the doomers say about said lifestyle. There are many good things in my life right now. Can you find the goodness in your life right now?

We can’t control if the world melts down. But we can choose to have a walk in the morning.

So, if you feel overwhelmed by your fyp, I urge you to abandon it and go out for a walk.

And, oh yeah, stop reading the news and your fyp!

You gotta watch this Chinese movie

People always ask me to recommend “starter” Chinese dramas or movies, and I’m always at a loss what to recommend. (Chinese dramas … there’s just so much of them.)

However, if you love fantasy and to know more about Chinese mythology Creation of the Gods I (Netflix) and Creation of the Gods II, which is airing in the cinemas now, can’t be beat! It’s even airing even in the United States. Please watch it, it’s really good!

More non-Chinese Malaysians are learning Mandarin

The non-Chinese enrolment in SJKCs (Chinese vernacular primary schools - Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina) soared from 17,309 in 1989 to 101,011 in 2020: A 484 per cent increase in three decades. This means non-Chinese students now account for a fifth of all SJKC students.

The data indicates that Malays account for about 15.3 per cent of the total student population in SJKCs. This is significant for Malaysia’s Malay-Chinese ethnic relations, as it partly represents early-stage contact between sizeable groups in an increasingly mixed setting that was traditionally more homogenous. - Commentary: What does it mean that more non-Chinese Malaysians are learning Mandarin?

For too long, schools in Malaysia were segregated by races. Most Chinese people went to SJKCs, most Malays to “sekolah kebangsaans” or national schools where the main medium is Malay.

I was one of the last batch of students that studied in truly multi-cultural national schools. And as a result of this, I can speak four languages, which is a very typical Malaysian condition. However, due to government policies over the years, we saw a shift out of this, with Malaysian schools getting more and more divided by race. As a result, increasingly, the races began drifting apart and not able to relate with one another.

Seeing this “mixing” return is really encouraging to me.

By studying together, these children will grow understanding the nuances of each other’s cultures and hopefully Malaysia’s future will be less divided.

Is Substack’s payment model broken?

Actually I shouldn’t respond to someone’s Notes like this. A paragraph of text isn’t going to adequately express what I’m trying to say. My response to

Cosmographia

was not very polite, and a bit curt, but I was in a rush to go for my morning walk that day (sheepish smile).

But here’s the thing, Substack is a very Western-centric platform. (I really hate using the word Western because it always brings in this idea that I’m anti-West, but I’d have to say United States, Europe blah blah and I’m lazy). That means prices are skewed towards what they consider “coffee money”. For those living in Asia, US$5 is not coffee money.

What I want is the ability to support Substack writers in currencies that are considered coffee money (though, in Malaysia, “duit kopi” literally means bribes lol), and I’m not talking about Starbucks coffee, but the coffee served in kopitiams where the floors have a suspicious amount of crusted dirt. That’s about RM3 or so; about US$0.50. I doubt that’s ever going to happen.

I’m a professional writer of 20+ years who believes that I deserve to get paid the right wages, but I also know that not everyone can afford to pay me US rates, so I have a tip jar. I also don’t expect anyone to support my newsletter, though I’m immensely grateful when they do.

What I do is to subscribe periodically for a brief period of time to some writers. I also watch out for special subscription rates at the end of the year. I hope they don’t feel too broken hearted when I stop paying, however.

While I don’t think Substack’s payment model is broken, it is definitely skewed towards Western wallets. And I think people have the right to complain about that.

As if reading my mind

Robert Wu

created a petition to Substack about this. I’ve added my signature and I hope somehow, someone at Substack will listen.

Making Substack affordable for average folks

Malaysian switching superpower

I once had a normal conversation with a Malaysian in front a Mauritian friend and he thought we were talking in a completely different language.

We spoke mainly English, but spoke like this guy in the video, meaning we were switching languages every few words. I suppose most people in the world don’t speak like this!

Other misc articles

• How I use social media, and why Mastodon is still No.1 for me (okay, I wrote this)

• Casting the Net: How ‘Scam Farms’ Trap Aspiring Actors, a follow up of what I wrote in The risky, scary business of Chinese entertainment

• I’m so tired of social media (yeah, me too)

• Sci-fi writer John Scalzi reacts to revelations about Neil Gaiman: Taking Leave

• In case you’ve not read

  Vicki Robin
  I just want to say Your Money or Your Life changed my life. Here’s her summary of the philosophy behind it. Now, Vicki is teaching me about the realities of growing old, something I’m admittedly a little afraid about.

As I know subscribing to a newsletter can be quite a commitment, you can also give me a tip: