Author Archives: Thien-Tu Nguyen

NF’s Real Music

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“[God] also gave me this as an outlet. This is what music is for me. When I feel something, whether it’s anger, it’s a passion about something, or fustration, like, this is where I go. … This is a therapy for me.“

Nathan John Feuerstein, NF

The quote from above is in the last few minutes of the song. He breaks down why music is such a powerful tool – it is more than just sounds and noise, rather it is something that helps heal. Real music to him is the unification of truth and aesthetic.

If you haven’t heard some of NF’s music outside of his hit songs (like Lie and Let You Down), it can get very dark. Motifs of abuse, depression, and struggling with mental health are interwoven into all his music and it can be very intense. However, this kind of music, in my opinion, is a perfect example of the unification of the faculties. Using music as an outlet is freeing in the exact way Schiller believes art to be a tool that gives us freedom from the constraints of society. In this song, NF addresses the negative perspectives towards his music ( Ex. “Hearing these parents, they telling their kids / My music is violent, you gotta be kidding me”). However in saying “I am not here for acceptance”, he unabashedly raps about difficult subjects like domestic violence in his songs. Moreover, he expresses that he creates for himself, which is in itself an act of freedom. It also can make the audience morally better by opening discussions for mental health to be spoken about more openly. I also really love how you can feel his emotions through his style of rapping and overall tone of the song and video.

Food for Thought

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One of my favorite things to do is to explore San Diego in search of the perfect street tacos (especially since yesterday was Taco Tuesday). The most divey street taco stands, run by an old grandma in the back, are almost always the best-tasting tacos! The tacos pictured above were no exception! Incredibly flavorful and cheap 🙂 Unfortunately, many of these kinds of restaurants have been forced to shut down during ICE raids as some have workers who illegally immigrated to America. Sadly, this recently happened to a keystone bakery called Con Pane Rustic Breads and Cafe in Point Loma. (some more info linked below if you want to be sad)

Furthermore, for those who are unaware, street food vendors have recently (early 2019) been legalized in Los Angeles to protect immigrants by giving them the means to earn money. This is actually a hot topic as some may perceive this legislation as taking jobs away from “Americans” whereas others see it as empowering immigrants to pave their own way to a better life in America. Purely from a food perspective, I believe this was a positive move because it allows cuisine to expand to more cultures and taste new perspectives in life (both figuratively and literally). Call me an idealist, but I hope this law enables people to be more open-minded to accepting new cultures through food, especially during times when politics and racism are more polarized then ever. America is, after all, the melting pot – a melange of so many different cultures.

In Declarations of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, it states “law can only prohibit such actions as are hurtful to society. Nothing may be prevented which is not forbidden by law, and no one may be forced to do anything not provided for by law”. Preparing food with love and care is probably the least hurtful contribution to society that any person can make, so it seems to me legalizing street vendors is almost a given. Yet, other places still have many strides to make as racism and xenophobia continue to dominate.

What do you think about street vendors? Do you think legalization is good or bad? How should legislators handle the food industry? Do you think immigrants in the food service industry should be penalized for working?

Bonus question: Where can I get good tacos in San Diego?

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-01-15/san-diego-bakery-ice-audit-con-pane

Worst Date Ever!

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This past Tuesday, my day ended completely differently than I had planned at the start of the day. I’m deathly afraid of public speaking and my sense of humor is dead-pan at best, so I would have never imagined myself standing in front of a stage of people doing a stand-up comedy set. At 5:30 AM when I went to work, I was scrolling through my socials on the bus and stumbled upon an event at a local restaurant called Herb and Wood. The event was a “Worst Date Ever” themed storytelling competition. Ironically, the prize was dinner for two at said restaurant. Maybe it was the prospect of free food, or perhaps the tiredness of waking up at 4:45 AM for work, but I ended up submitting a set a mere 10 hours before the event.

I really enjoyed the experience so much! I had absolutely no expectation coming into this event, other than to enjoy myself and have a few laughs with my friends. However, I ended up winning $150 of dinner so it was 100% worth the 10-minute stand-up set I threw together in a matter of hours. But, my biggest motivation to sign up was to challenge myself to be out of my comfort zone and maybe learn a new skill. While I don’t really believe in New Year’s resolutions, at the beginning of the year I always say to myself that I will try something new each month because I never know until I try it if I would be any good. This has led me to discover so many of my current passions and hobbies like cooking, powerlifting, and now maybe even stand-up comedy!

This mindset really reminded me of a lot of Kant’s perspective on untapped talents. He states in the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, it is failing to do your duty when “[one] finds himself in comfortable circumstances and prefers to give himself up to pleasure than to trouble himself with enlarging and improving his fortunate natural predispositions” (74). He argues that it is a disservice to yourself to not try and see what talents you have the potential to love. If you go in without any sort of intention of winning (like I did) and do something new purely out of wanting to be happy, even if you fail, it is still morally good to have tried at all. So, I encourage you all to try something out of your comfort zone (maybe even once a month!)

Below, you can see a brief video of me mentioning UCSD as part of a bit 🙂

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