2022-2024 U.S. City Rankings (Southeastern United States & California)

With COVID restrictions lifted and a stable job finally at my helm, I started traveling again: first locally in Virginia, then to further destinations like California and Florida. Here’s how these different cities or areas rank.

1. Roanoke, Virginia

Home is where the heart is. Roanoke is the perfect combination of big time city and small town feel. Although my religious beliefs do not align with those who live here, I can’t say that I’m bored in this city.

2. NOVA/DC 

I don’t want to live in NOVA, but I always have a good time when I return. There’s always something new to try, and I’m never disappointed by the vegan food at Loving Hut. I also really enjoyed my biscuit sandwiches from Preservation Biscuit Company and the Oreo cupcake at the Bakeshop next door during my most recent trip to Falls Church. Each individual city in NOVA is a vacation on its own.

3. Blacksburg, Virginia

As a UVA grad, this is heresy to say, but Blacksburg is a much more enjoyable city to visit as an adult than Charlottesville is. The drive on 81 is scenic, and once you’re in the city, you don’t have to deal with the traffic that Charlottesville has. Located less than an hour from Roanoke, Blacksburg fills in what Roanoke is missing: a tried and true boba shop (Kung Fu Tea), a larger international market (Oasis), authentic Chinese food (Spicity), and an eyebrow threader that doesn’t have bad reviews (Best Eyebrows Threading).

4. Charlotte, North Carolina

I went to Charlotte for a Jesse McCartney concert at The Fillmore, and it was a very easy experience. I thought parking and the post-concert traffic would be a pain, but I easily found parking next to the venue at VBGB Beer Hall and Garden. The signs say you have to make a purchase to get your parking validated, but I walked around the restaurant and stumbled upon the QR code to validate my parking without buying anything. I was able to freely use their bathroom and read my book in my car while waiting for the concert to start. After the concert, I waited for traffic to die down before leaving, and it did not take long at all-10 minutes max-and when I left, it was a straight shot to my Airbnb: I dealt with absolutely no traffic. The highway to Charlotte is a different story, but getting around the city was very easy. I went to Ma Ma Wok for delicious vegan friend rice and BBQ drumsticks and Oh My Soul for an expensive but hydrating Guava Push. Ma Ma Wok had a parking lot, but Oh My Soul had very accessible and plenty of street parking in the quaint NoDa neighborhood, which I was able to walk around while waiting for Oh My Soul to open for dinner. 

Fun Fact: My first time in Charlotte was a field trip to Carowinds where I didn’t ride any rides and sat with my middle school teachers the entire day because I had no friends!

5. Bethesda, Maryland

You could technically put Bethesda in the NOVA/DC category, but I wanted to shout it out because unlike all the other DMV cities, I had never been here before. I love walking around the Bethesda Row area and parking has never been an issue for me despite the lack of lots.

6. Greensboro, North Carolina

Greensboro would be higher on this list if Boba House, a vegan restaurant, hadn’t shut down. The pho at BaoBao Kitchen, despite having the same chef, just doesn’t hit the same, and while the vegan ribs banh mi is really good, it’s not enough for me to drive two hours for, but in combination with the Cinnaholic, it could be. Greensboro also has the next closest Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods after Charlottesville. It also has plenty of bubble tea options like Moshi Moshi.

7. Harrisonburg, Virginia

Despite UVA being bigger than JMU, Harrisonburg is yet another college town that ranks higher than Charlottesville on this list simply because of its unexpected Asian vegan options. First, you have Vietopia, which I’ve been going to since my Duke Bowl days. They have a flavorful hu tieu chay broth, while Charlottesville still doesn’t have a Vietnamese restaurant. Next, you have Boboko, which is an Indonesian restaurant that is now unfortunately closed. You can’t even find an Indonesian restaurant in NOVA. Lastly, you have Mashita, a Korean restaurant with an entire separate vegan menu. The Korean restaurants in NOVA don’t even do that. Right next to Mashita is Aristocat Cafe, a cat cafe offering a wide selection of delicious teas. Charlottesville doesn’t have a cat cafe! Bonus: Even the Jonas Brothers have been to Harrisonburg, performing at JMU for College Gameday in 2024.

8. San Diego, California

San Diego is kind of an outlier on this list in that I don’t really have strong opinions about this city other than that its Downtown is the whitest place I’ve ever visited-that is until I realized Roanoke is pretty white too. I’ve enjoyed my time here but don’t really long for it. I would definitely revisit family but wouldn’t go here on my own volition unless it was to Donna Jean for vegan pizza.

9. Pinellas County, Florida

I can see why people retire in Florida: winter does not exist here. I enjoyed shopping at Countryside Mall and eating at Lotus Vegan restaurant, but I hated the roads getting there. In Florida, if you make one wrong turn, whether it be a late or early turn, the only way back is a u-turn. Because there are beaches in Florida, I can’t say these areas are just roads like in Houston, but I did spend a lot of time driving around trying to get to places I wanted to go.

10a. San Francisco, California

San Francisco is a nice walkable city with many pretty sights, but the vegan food here was sooooooo mid to me. It is also a very white and white-adjacent (Asian) city devoid of any culture.

10b. Richmond, Virginia

All of the same problems I had with Richmond when I lived there still exist: it’s a big sprawling city with lack of public transportation from and to the suburbs, and there’s nothing to do in the suburbs. The food options are good, but is it really worth it to drive 20 minutes for a meal for one? If we could combine the walkability of San Francisco and the vegan food of Richmond, then we’d have the perfect city.

11. Charlottesville, Virginia

What is there to do here besides attend the University of Virginia? I hate Emmett 29-it’s so wide and congested, and the vegan options are so lacking for a big college town. I loved the vegan charcuterie at Botanical Fare, but it is no longer on the menu. Harrisonburg is the better stopping point for NOVA road trips and Greensboro the better Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods option.

12. Raleigh, North Carolina

Raleigh has four lane roads that lead to nowhere and a good vegan restaurant, The Fiction Kitchen, located in a very empty downtown.

13. Chesapeake, Virginia

Last and very least, the #1 reason why I wanted to make this list, is Chesapeake, Virginia. There’s nothing in Chesapeake except the promise of Virginia Beach, and I’ve had better frozen foods than the one restaurant I tried in Chesapeake.

The Minimalist's Guide to Bubble Tea: A Ranking of NOVA's Best Bubble Tea

What makes a good bubble tea? After drinking bubble tea for about nine years, I finally have the answer. 

The first bubble tea I ever consumed was on the storied Grounds of the University of Virginia. It was the start of the food truck era at UVA's amphitheatre. One student group, allegedly run by Commerce School students, started a stand called TJ Tea (TJ standing for Thomas Jefferson for those of you not well-versed in Virginia history). They had two simple options: green milk tea and black milk tea. A couple of people I had met through various Asian organizations worked for TJ Tea, making the memory even more nostalgic. According to my ex-boyfriend, TJ Tea became a direct competitor to his Asian-interest fraternity and/or-I don't remember-Taiwanese Student Association's bi-annual bubble tea sale. This was true because during my four years of college I never bought a bubble tea from Lambda Phi Epsilon or TSA. TJ Tea was my first exposure to bubble tea, and it was great. Because Asian students ran the storefront, I was blissfully unaware that it was owned by white people and thus of supposedly lower quality than that of the Asian interest groups. 

Edit: Technically when I was in high school, I had a taro smoothie with tapioca pearls from a Vietnamese restaurant in Florida. Vietnamese establishments have long offered fruit smoothies and slushes with tapioca pearls. However, this was before bubble tea became mainstream, and milk tea was still new to me, having grown up in a small rural town in Southwest Virginia with no access to Asian food besides my mom's cooking and Chinese takeout.

During my second year of college, Charlottesville got its very first bubble tea shop less than a mile away from campus on the historic UVA Corner. Berry Berry was founded by the owners of another lunchtime tenant of the amphitheatre: Got Dumplings. They must have witnessed TJ Tea's success. 

By my third year, the Comm School students graduated and TJ tea was no more. That's when my visits to Berry Berry started skyrocketing. The owners of Berry Berry had taken advantage of the frozen yogurt and emerging bubble tea craze. 

Fun Fact: I once saw UVA men's basketball star, now Indiana Pacer, Malcolm Brogdon order Thai Tea with his girlfriend at Berry Berry.

In 2015, during the spring semester of my fourth year of college, Berry Berry rebranded as Got Dumplings, the same name as its food truck, and eventually got rid of their frozen yogurt, now a dying trend, machines to expand seating. With the introduction of a new food ordering app to Grounds around the same time, bubble tea became even more accessible. OrderUp (now incorporated under GrubHub) was not started by a UVA student nor in Charlottesville, but they had a market in Charlottesville, and a ton of my friends worked for them. To promote the app, our friends shared a number of free delivery codes, which could be taken advantage of if you signed up with different email accounts. At the time, they didn't have the capability to check whether you used the same phone number or if you added a period to an existing email address to sign up for an account. My roommates and I took advantage of this, and bubble tea became my apartment's new favorite study companion.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. Graduation came, and my boba addiction stopped-mainly because I became vegan and more conscientious of what I was consuming. However, when I moved to NOVA, I continued to drink a lot of Kung Fu Tea believing that their non-dairy milk powder was actually dairy-free until I learned that non-dairy creamer still contains casein, a protein found in cow's milk, so while the lactase was not present, animal cruelty still was. 

From there, I kind of stopped drinking bubble tea aside from the occasional fruit tea at various places because there was simply no vegan milk tea options. That all changed when my friend who was aware of my search went to San Francisco and sent me a Snapchat of a bubble tea shop called Boba Guys offering vegan milk options. There was hope, so when I went to LA in December of 2018, Boba Guys was at the top of my must-visit list. It did not disappoint and set the gold standard for all bubble teas moving forward. 

Back in Virginia, my search continued to dishearten me until I moved back to DC this most recent fall and discovered Ocha Tea, the only bubble tea shop in the Northern Virginia area publicly offering non-dairy milk options until two new boba shops in Alexandria, the only two, opened recently. None of these stores existed the first time I lived in NOVA. New dessert and boba shops continue to open every day in the area, proving that bubble tea continues to remain popular among customers, especially those of Asian descent. 

Note: Several other dessert places in the DMV such as Matcha Cafe Maiko and Who Seek offer dairy alternatives but don't specialize in bubble tea. 

Because of my proximity to these shops, I've been drinking bubble tea regularly again. It was my experience with one of these newer shops that inspired me to write this story. A month ago, I got a "Peach-Mango Fruit Tea" from Monster Tea that really made me question, "What is bubble tea?" more specifically, "What is fruit tea and why is this one so good? What is good bubble tea?" because later that night I could not sleep. I ordered a fruit tea because I didn't want caffeine, yet here I was struggling to sleep because in my mind fruit tea is this: the caffeine-free Celestial Seasonings Fruit Tea Sampler and because Monster Tea had not clearly labeled their menu to include the ingredients in their fruit tea, I was confused. 

I quickly found my answer to "What is bubble tea?" and "What is fruit tea?" with a swift Google search. It turns out I had been drinking fruit tea for years without knowing it had caffeine in it unless otherwise stated, but in my defense, I almost always opted for the milk tea before going vegan. To answer my last question, I needed to break down and analyze the individual components of each of my favorite bubble tea store's drinks-basically what I had just learned on Wikipedia. Using information from the store's website, menu, and Yelp page along with employee interviews, I compiled the following data:

After analyzing the data along with my personal experience, I had my answer, which I now present to you in a list: A Ranking of NOVA's Best Bubble Tea.

6. Spill The Tea

Alexandria's second-newest bubble tea shop ranks at #6 for their watered down version of bubble tea. Based on my experience and that of several other Yelp users, the drinks at Spill the Tea are flavorless with no defining fruit or tea flavor. I had the namesake, Spill The Tea drink of oolong tea and dragon fruit, and there was neither an oolong or dragon fruit taste. The dragon fruit component of the drink came from a syrup and dried fruit bits, which added more to the aesthetic of the drink than the taste. Overall, the drink tasted more like sugar water, which fits with their use of organic sugar as a sweetener. 

I should have known better when I saw the mountain of fruit syrup bottles on the counter behind the cashier. While using fruit syrup is not a sin-many other places on this list use fruit syrup-Spill The Tea has not quite figured out the right combination of syrup, tea, and sweetener to get the flavor of their drinks down. While their tea is loose, who knows what's actually in those tea dispensers behind the counter, and how long it's been sitting there. Based on the watered down flavor of both fruit teas and milk teas, my guess is there isn't enough tea being brewed with the water. Nevertheless, Spill The Tea makes the list by default for offering a vegan milk option and for also offering delicious vegan food.

5. Monster Tea

Monster Tea is actually very good, but their unclear menu, as previously mentioned, ranks it #5 on our list.

Their old website menu is a lot clearer, but the menu above is what I saw in-person. It does not mention which drinks are caffeine-free. Additionally, non-dairy milk options are not listed. I only found out they offered coconut and almond milk when I called and asked. 

Looking at this menu, the Peach-Mango fruit tea looked the best. I ordered it with the fresh mango bits, which I thought automatically came with the drink based on how it's presented on the menu. Imagine my confusion when the cashier asked me if I wanted any toppings. Upon realizing that adding toppings myself meant adding to my cost, I forgoed the strawberry poppers also listed with the drink even though I really wanted them. 

Given all my confusion, I wasn't expecting much in terms of quality. However, at the time, I was suffering from a sinus infection, so I was severely dehydrated and needed something to drink pronto. This tea temporarily cured me. It was so good, making it easy to devour and quench my thirst. In comparison, it took me two days to finish my Spill The Tea. 

Monster Tea has figured out the right combination of tea, fruit flavor, and sweetness using primarily the same type of ingredients as Spill The Tea: loose tea and artificial fruit flavor. However, the difference in quality became clearer when I zeroed in on two minor differences: the tea and sweetener. Monster Tea claims to use their own blend of tea and a homemade syrup to sweeten their drinks. By selectively curating their ingredients and offering fresh fruit toppings, Monster Tea shows that they care about the quality of their drinks. I wish this was clearer and more transparent to customers.

     

4. Kung Fu Tea

KFT is honestly not my first choice for bubble tea anymore, but I had to put them on the list as an homage to the OG founded way back in 2009 and "Starbucks of bubble tea" [Washington Post]. Despite not offering any vegan milk options at the moment, Kung Fu Tea makes our list at #4 for what Monster Tea doesn't have: transparency. On their website you can find merchandise, news, extensive menu information, and a whole downloadable PDF ingredient list for. each. of. their. drinks. They didn't have to go that hard, but they did, and that's what I love about them. 

KFT has a constantly changing menu, but I've never been confused by the options there because of how clearly labeled everything is on their in-store menu. Okay, so they did deceive me originally with that whole non-dairy milk powder business, but that was all in the past, and with a whole ingredient list online, it's suffice to say that they have atoned for their sins (They should really clarify it though because it is misleading if you take things way too literally like me). 

Quality-wise, the Kung Fu masters, as the founders like to call themselves, researched and sampled many ingredients before coming up with their original recipes. They settled on hand-picked tea leaves from the highest peaks in Taiwan, the birthplace of bubble tea, brewed every three hours, homemade boba cooked every two hours, non-dairy creamer for "the most natural and creamy flavor of milk" and presumably for a longer shelf life and lactose-intolerant customers, cane sugar syrup, and various jams, juices, syrups, and powders to flavor their drinks. 

While I don't go to Kung Fu Tea for bubble tea anymore because I can't drink their milk teas and because I'm not a huge fan of classic fruit tea flavors, I can still rely on them for a unique non-caffeinated and vegan-friendly refresher, something most bubble tea shops are missing. My favorite is the Longan Jujube Tea-it has tea in its name, but trust me, it's caffeine-free. It says so on the menu and ingredient list.

3. Ocha Tea

Ocha Tea really wants you to know that they "only brew premium loose teas, no powders!" but from my research, most places do use loose leaf tea, so I'm not so sure why they chose this marketing strategy. That leaf logo is pretty darn cute though. "Ocha" also means "tea" in Japanese, but the owners are Vietnamese. However, "cha" is tea in Chinese and basically how you pronounce "tra" in Vietnamese so no cultural appropriation here. Besides, Asians have been cooking their neighbors' foods for centuries without managing to offend anyone-something Americans haven't quite figured out. 

Side note: I'm just now realizing how tautological their store name is (it's like saying Sahara Desert or Chai Tea), which reminds me that I totally forgot about TT Lounge in Richmond, where I experienced a bubble tea cafe for the first time.   

I found this picture, and I am clearly drinking a bright orange Thai tea with boba at TT Lounge, which means TJ Tea definitely took my Taiwanese milk tea virginity! (Amazing how a random picture you don't even remember having can serve a purpose nine years later-also it's been nine years since my first year of college?!) Thank you Jeson for taking this photo.

In my opinion, Ocha Tea is the vegan-friendly and better version of Kung Fu Tea. They have a wide variety of drink options besides bubble tea such as chai, matcha, and real fruit smoothies, making it more approachable to newcomers than the traditional bubble tea shop. I've had their Oreo Milk Tea with almond milk and Guava Cooler Signature Fruit Tea, clearly labeled on the menu as a Jasmine tea drink, and can vouch for both. The only thing keeping Ocha Tea from the top two spots is that two of their ingredients are not homemade or fresh: the fruit flavoring and boba, but hey, I wouldn't want to deal with those guava seeds either.

2. Boba Guys

Edit: Boba Guys has since been cancelled: https://sf.eater.com/21285651/boba-guys-manager-fired-racism

Since this article was written, I've had TeaDM in Falls Church, VA (they also have a "mini" location in Vienna), which offers plenty of non-dairy drinks in addition to almond milk for their milk teas. I wasn't in the mood for a milk tea during my visit, so I opted for one of their most popular drinks, the Green Iceland of green apple and lychee green tea. The serving sizes here are huge, so it actually took me two days to finish my drink, but it was still tasty the next day. In terms of aesthetics, in addition to their space-themed interior, which we unfortunately did not get to sit in because of COVID, the drinks here also have the coolest names and appearances, such as the color-changing lemonade my sister got.

Okay so Boba Guys isn't technically located in DC yet or anytime soon, but it's so good, it makes the list at #2. Think of Boba Guys as a more mature version of Kung Fu Tea. It's more organic, more sustainable, and more hipster with the same openness and transparency. 

The two ingredients Kung Fu Tea doesn't offer fresh, Boba Guys does. Boba Guys uses actual milk and fruit for all of their drinks. You can visibly see the difference in their Strawberry Matcha Latte of "organic matcha over [your choice of milk] and housemade strawberry purée."

Boba Guys was one of the first cafes to offer Oatly in America and as previously mentioned, the first bubble tea shop I discovered to offer dairy alternatives. My trip to Boba Guys actually coincided with the great Oatly shortage of 2018, which explained why the shop was out of oat milk. Thankfully, they still had almond milk. 

In addition to offering more sustainable milks, Boba Guys most recently introduced bamboo fiber straws as a replacement for traditional plastic straws. They also sell metal straws and drinking vessels for hot and cold drinks on their website. 

Kung Fu Tea sells mugs and cups too, but there's a stark contrast in design. Boba Guys has definitely taken a more mature approach with their merchandising and branding, opting for a simple black and white logo and aesthetic permeating through their stores and website, whereas Kung Fu Tea has taken a much brighter color scheme.

With vastly different menu drinks from traditional bubble tea shops, Boba Guys has set itself apart from the competition. They've revamped classic bubble tea drinks to incorporate local, sustainable, and organic ingredients and offer seasonal menu items with global influences such as the Ponche Navideño Mexicano and Black Sugar Hojicha from their 2019 Fall/Winter menu. 

With this worldly approach, Boba Guys is making sure bubble tea isn't another dying trend. Their success has undoubtedly influenced others to take on the challenge of redefining and introducing bubble tea for the masses not already in love with this classic Taiwanese drink. 

1. Yagut St.

One such restaurant offering bubble tea to new customers is Yagut St. in Old Town Alexandria, a predominantly white neighborhood in a predominantly white city. They take the top spot our list by actually being located in the area and offering high-quality ingredients, vegan milks, classic cafe options like cafe sua da (Vietnamese iced coffee) and black milk tea, new unique and colorful drinks with names like Night Fall and Lavender Dream, and a highly Instagram-able floral wall with a neon message touting "Treat Yourself." 

According to DataUSA, Non-Hispanic Whites make up more than 50% of the total population of Alexandria. That's 80,100 people in 2017. In Old Town, the percentage is higher at 84.77% according to areavibes.com. Meanwhile, Asians make up less than 10% of the city's population.

In comparison, in Annandale where Ocha Tea and the Kung Fu Tea I frequented are located, the White population is a little more than 30% of the city's total population or 14,200 people. Asians are not far behind, totaling about 25% of the city's population or 10,600 people. 

This population disparity explains the lack of Asian restaurants in Alexandria. However, the owners of Yagut St. have been working on changing that since 2011 with the opening of their first restaurant, Caphe Banh Mi. In 2017, they opened their sister restaurant combining Vietnamese food with America's love for brunch, Sunday in Saigon, located right next door to Yagut St.

Note: This makes Yagut St. the third Vietnamese-owned bubble tea shop on this list after Spill the Tea and Ocha Tea. Both Kung Fu Tea and Boba Guys were started by Taiwanese guys, and Monster Tea is Korean-owned (Berry Berry/Got Dumplings is Chinese/Vietnamese). As you can see, it really doesn't matter who makes your bubble tea as long as all the ingredients are there. I think my ex-boyfriend was just salty about TJ Tea stealing his customers. Fans of bubble tea were just happy to finally have it consistently on grounds. 

Yagut St. is named after a street in Dalat, Vietnam, a coffee-growing city. It's the only shop on our list that doesn't include a component of bubble tea in its name but make no mistake, their bubble tea is worthy of this top spot. They are the lone bubble tea shop in the area to offer oat milk in addition to soy and almond milk, thus making their black sugar milk, a popular new tea-less drink seen all over social media, accessible to vegans (Note: I definitely did not know it was tea-less when I ordered it, making yet another case for clear and descriptive menus). The oat milk perfectly mimicked the flavor and consistency of cow's milk, and the homemade tapioca bubbles were soft and chewy with just the right amount of sweetness from the brown sugar. My only quibble is that there wasn't enough of the drink as half of the small cup was ice. However, this is an easy fix. I also tried and enjoyed my friend's Night Fall, which was a blend of butterfly rose tea and pink-rose poppers. 

Like all the other restaurants on this list, they use loose leaf tea for all their teas. In addition to their homemade boba, they also offer homemade syrup. The only thing that isn't fresh is their fruit flavoring, which as we've seen does not hinder the taste of the drinks. 

The only thing missing from Yagut St. is a running website and a clearer menu. Those should come in the upcoming days as they continue to refine their brand. 

Update: Not all milk teas can be made vegan as the flavorings are pre-mixed, but the ones that can still hit the spot.

Conclusion

This is by no means a complete list-it will constantly change as bubble tea shops continue to open and innovate-nor at 3,000+ words is it a minimalist list, but to those new to bubble tea, I hope it clears any confusion. To those who have been drinking bubble tea all your life, I hope this brings back memories and inspires you to make smarter, more conscious, and yummier food choices. Maybe this guide will serve as a resource to someone considering opening a bubble tea shop one day. Even if none of that happens, at least I finally know what fruit tea is.

Beyoncé and a Lesson on Accessibility: OTR II Review

On July 27, I went to see Beyoncé and Jay-Z on their OTR II tour at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland. I thought about buying tickets when the tour was announced but wasn’t convinced until I saw Beyoncé perform at Coachella. I also didn’t want to go alone, but after Coachella, I had to go, so I bought a ticket for my sister as well. It was only fair since she bought my Reputation ticket.

Because of my moderately low income, I bought the cheapest tickets available. I don’t have a choice. This has been my strategy since I started buying any type of ticket. As a result, I fail to ignore the location of the seat in relation to the stage for concert tickets and the departure times for airplane tickets, which has caused some stress in the past, but when I bought my OTR tickets, I thought I did good: “$50 for Beyoncé AND Jay-Z?! What a steal!” Little did I know, how much these billionaires had swindled me because my seats, for lack of a better word, sucked.

Two weeks earlier at the Taylor Swift concert, my sister and I had scouted our OTR II seats and thought they would be nicer than our Reputation seats because well, we’d actually get a seat, as opposed to standing room only.

As a result, we were in positive spirits when we sat in our seats for OTR. We were even closer to the stage than last time. That all changed when opening acts, Chloe x Halle came on, and we couldn’t understand a word they were saying, which was really disappointing because I think they’re really talented and wanted to hear their music. Yet, my sister and I were still optimistic: “Okay, maybe their sound engineers just suck, but Beyoncé and Jay-Z, they’re experienced veterans, so they’re going to sound awesome.” We were wrong because I couldn’t understand a word Jay-Z said throughout the entire concert. I only understood Beyoncé because I was more familiar with her songs (I thought Jay would sing more songs from his most recent album, 4:44, which was the only album I had listened of his, but he only sung “The Story of OJ” from it. They also didn’t sing any songs from Everything is Love except for “Apeshit”).

We couldn’t understand anything because all the speakers were frontwards facing, and according to my sister, sound waves travel in straight lines, so our positioning for Taylor Swift, while farther, was better because we were facing the stage.

To make matters even worse, we couldn’t even enjoy the visual show because we couldn’t see anything. We didn’t see them enter the stage because they entered at the center of the stage, which was blocked off by the screens, which were also all frontward facing and partially covered by speakers. As a result, we didn’t even get a clear look of the exclusive images of the Carter family during Beyoncé’s performance of “Perfect” (My favorite moment of the night even though I could never love a man the way Beyoncé loves Jay-Z. I also enjoyed “****** in Paris” and “Apeshit” aka the Jay-Z songs I was familiar with. Everything else I couldn't understand or I had already seen from Coachella i.e. it wasn’t anything new).

Taylor Swift’s screens were curved for those on the flanks of the stadium (see below).

Alas, my sister and I weren’t the only disappointed ones at FedEx Field on July 27. Our whole section was silent for the majority of the night. The party next to us even left before the concert was over. I had wanted to get there early so we could see the opening acts and get the most of our $50 tickets, but the whole experience was a bust.

Together, Beyoncé and Jay-Z are worth a billion dollars. There is no reason why they can’t afford to make their stages, screens, and speakers curved so everyone in attendance can hear and see. This is what accessibility is: providing an equitable experience for all. If celebrities really cared about their fans, then they would do this, but all they care about is maximizing their profits, so they can provide better lives for themselves, not us. Otherwise, why would bad concert seats exist? They don’t care about us, which is why we need to stop worshipping them. While we may not have the same talents as Beyoncé and Jay-Z, we have the same capability to improve ourselves and make the world a better place for others. That’s the message I took from this concert: how to make the world a more equitable and accessible place for all.

TL;DR: OTR II sucked. We couldn’t hear or see anything, and they didn’t even play any new songs. Celebrities are cancelled because they have the money to do something about this inaccessibility, yet they choose not to. Also, if these artists really cared about us, then they would end their concerts before public transportation stops running, so everyone can get home in a safe and timely manner, but they don’t, so we try not get trampled as we fight for a spot on the last Metro [1] and wait two hours to haul an affordable Uber home. [2]

[1] OTR II was on the weekend so the Metro was still open when the concert ended.

[2] Taylor Swift’s concert was on a Tuesday so the Metro was closed when the concert ended. The whole transportation situation was a mess. First, we had no idea what direction the Uber pick up zone was. Once we eventually got to the pick up zone, we had to wait at least two hours for the surge to go down from $80 to its normal price of $15. Then, the stadium staff wanted the Uber drivers to park and then call their customers, but this was not clearly communicated, as the drivers wanted us to meet them where they were in the pick up line. As a result, there was a lot of yelling and annoyance. Thankfully, our Uber driver wasn’t difficult and getting a ride home was the only blip in our Reputation experience. I wish I could say the same thing about our OTR II experience.

P.S. Jay-Z wore a headband. It was cute.

My First Day of Unemployment

I struggled to get out of my bed as normal even though it wasn't for work. As a result, I didn't get to eat a proper breakfast (you'll see why this is important later) as I rushed to leave my house in time to get to the Hirshhorn museum in time for my 10:00 entry into the Yayoi Kusama Infinite Mirrors exhibit. As I was running to make it to the museum before 9:45 aka the latest I was supposed to arrive according to my ticket (people definitely showed up after 9:45 though and it wasn't a big deal), I immediately regretted choosing such an early entry time.

It's amazing how long the line was for a same-day walk-up timed pass.

Because we were the first entry group of the day (which I didn't consciously realize when I signed up for a ticket), the lines for the five mirror rooms were super short, so I definitely recommend getting a 10:00 a.m. ticket (definitely don't regret choosing such an early entry time now). Staff members recommended seeing the mirror rooms first before viewing the other collections, but some people were not smart and did not listen lol.

The first mirror room: I didn't realize that these rooms were tiny and only fit 2-3 people at a time. I thought they were actual house-sized rooms even though I've been to the Hirshhorn before, and this wouldn't make any logical sense at all. The mirrors make the room appear a lot bigger than they are in photographs, which is the artist's intent duh lol This image is actually a screenshot of a video I took inside the room. You only get 20-30 seconds in each room, which is definitely not enough time to appreciate the work in addition to recording the moment.

The second room: This is also from a screenshot of a video I took. The selfie I took was blurry and obscured by two strangers-the disadvantage of being single-having to experience the exhibit with strangers. Clearly, I haven't gotten the hang of taking a good picture in 30 seconds. I think this picture is fitting though because of the cell phone smack dab in the middle: taking a picture of the exhibit and sharing it is part of the experience. There's an excellent New York Times article about this.

The third room: I got to enter this room alone because there wasn't a line-hence, better quality pictures.

This wasn't in the room but was one of the two peep holes in the exhibit. 

The fourth room: This is when I realized the staff has to repeat the viewing instructions for every group who enters. Imagine saying the same thing over and over again every 30 seconds for eight hours. I have mad respect for the Hirshhorn museum employees. I auto-enhanced almost all of these pictures on iPhoto, but the changes are most pronounced in this photo, which is why I've chosen to post the original picture. 

The fifth and final room: I think I was the only person in line for this room, and again, I got to enter alone, so I had so much time in here that I even struck up a conversation with the staff member who accompanied me inside the room. The topic of conversation: how someone broke one of the pumpkins and hence why visitors can't be trusted alone in this room. 

It's so much easier taking pictures when no one else is in the room. Being single is definitely an advantage when going to crowded/over populated places-once the lines got longer, staffers were asking if there were any singles to join a group or another single ahead in line. I think this advantage beats having to experience the exhibit with strangers. My metro wait was longer than any wait I had to do inside the Hirshhorn. I did have to pay $21 for parking though because it was a weekday. It would have been more economically efficient to Uber-note taken for next time.

The description does not align with the piece of work, but this is Kusama's "Notice of Approval of VISA petition..." I think this was pretty important given Trump's recent attempts at banning immigration. It's also pretty cool to see people lining up by the hundreds to see an Asian woman's work.

Last but not least, The Obliteration Room: you can't renter the exhibit once you enter this room. 

No one ever shares the art description, but I think it's important to look at a piece of art beyond its face value especially when it's already there and you don't have to figure it out for yourself, which I think is dumb by the way. 

Overall, I loved this exhibit and the messages behind each of her pieces."Anatomic explosions [truly are] are better than atomic explosions." 

And oh, I got a headache because I didn't eat enough. I'll write more about my day in another post/Youtube video.