We're all familiar by now with the constant back-and-forth around what we should have done with our time being forcefully sequestered to our homes. It wasn't enough for us to mentally and emotionally navigate a global crisis for which almost none of us had context; we should also get an online degree, or start a business, or learn a skill, or start a TikTok. And, you know what, nuff respect for any of you who did one or all of those things. I tried some of those things, still trying to stick with a couple of them and, honestly? I'm hating every second of it.

Why? Well, I anticipate that trying to wrap my head around a constantly evolving international health crisis while living in a country that can't even streamline its one passport renewal system has a part to pay in it. But it's also not that big a part. It took me a few months, but I realized eventually that for me (and I imagine, possibly you as well), the virus took away a huge part of my life without me ever getting infected. It took away who I was.

In 2019, Liu Yifei, the actress who plays Mulan in the recently released remake, make a social media statement standing with Hong Kong police. The same police who are brutalizing and rounding up protesters outside of protocol, and who have received numerous complaints about arresting citizens without warrants or providing identification, and unnecessarily harming and endangering civilian lives.