The Knot:

Though Crystal knew Persis would be the one to ask the question, she couldn’t have imagined just how grand that proposal would be. The groundwork for the actual moment was “a grand adventure that spanned years and continents.” Persis drew inspiration from a song she loves: “Girl in L.A.,” by a pop-folk act called Us the Duo. The song narrates a long-distance love story, much like Persis and Crystal’s. The lyrics mention various locations around the globe: “I’ll yell it out from Nashville, a little closer to your ear...I’ll scale the China Wall to have you closer here to me...I’m in love with a girl in L.A.” As part of her plan, Persis planned trips with Crystal to all the spots mentioned in the song. At each location, she captured footage to be compiled into a proposal video.

“Persis and I are a couple of travel bugs, so when she suggested hitting these spots, I was all in but had no idea why [we were going],” recalls Crystal. “Sure, China in the middle of winter seemed a bit out of left field, but hey, who am I to turn down an adventure? Little did I know, each destination was part of her grand plan. The big reveal happened at The Hummingbird Temple in Los Angeles. As soon as I saw Us the Duo set up with their instruments, I knew something was up.” The musicians began to sing “Girl in L.A.” while Persis’ proposal video lit up on a big screen. After the song, a few friends Persis had recruited led Crystal to the backyard. There, Persis was standing in front of towering letters spelling out “Marry Me Today.” Talk about a moment for the memory books.

So happy to have played a small role in Persis' grand master plan and watched this unfold in person!

Rest in peace, Auntie Rosel.

I've always admired his passion, drive, and hustle. It's been a long, winding road for him, but after 14 years of ups and downs, he finally hit the astonishing one million subscriber mark!

It's so cool to get a glimpse of Anthony Bourdain as a person through the eyes of my old college friend, Angela.

Tony continued to support me in small ways to show he was watching and supporting. He called me his hero on Instagram when I responded to an IvankaTrump.com editorial request. He consistently stood up from his dinner table to greet me (which I always thought was too much), and we had a kind of rapport: He let me tease him. After I left my job at Mission last year, I spent a lot more time traveling and didn't see him as often.

I loved this part too:

We talked about places I’d never been that I wanted to see—Greece, Croatia, Portugal, San Sebastian—and places he thought I needed to visit: back to the Philippines, to Berlin to party, to Africa. He said, “You’re going to get people you meet there to teach you more important things than they would teach me because you’re you.” One of my favorite things he said that night was that his show Parts Unknown was a political show masked as travel television. I shared with him that art is important to me because art is inherently political. And, to me, food is an expression of art, and so cooking can and should be a political act too.

Clearly he was a brilliant man who did everything he could to encourage everyone to embrace diversity and other cultures around the world.

The world is a better place because he lived.

The Cut:

When Mission Chinese Food’s executive chef Angela Dimayuga publicly shared her response to Ivanka Trump asking to feature Dimayuga on her website, she had no idea it would be a big deal. […]

Dimayuga’s Instagram post, which was picked up by the New York Daily News, Elle, Bustle, and the Daily Mail, featured a handful of screenshots showing her response to a request from IvankaTrump.com’s contributing writer Adi Heyman. “As a queer person of color and daughter of immigrant parents,” she wrote, “I am not interested in being profiled as an aspirational figure for those that support a brand and President that slyly disparages female empowerment.” […]

“As a woman, as a queer Filipino with immigrant parents, all the things within my personal politics are important to me: women’s rights, immigrant rights, gay rights,” she said. She hopes that Ivanka will see people fighting those battles against her father’s administration and start speaking up in her role as his adviser. “If she is trying to move in a positive direction, we need to see action faster,” Dimayuga added. “I feel like there are these small steps but just barely. I want her to acknowledge that she hears us.”

I haven't spoken to Angela since college but it's damn good to see her doing so well and not being afraid to speak up.

An amazing acapella cover by Glenn featuring his studio homies!