Team Yo!'s New Year Resolutions

2020 was a year unlike any other and came with its share of challenges and tragedies, but it was also a special year for Team Yo! -- it's the year our group of friends reunited and started this online zine.

Though we all were going through our own personal struggles amid quarantine, we looked forward to seeing each others' faces (virtually, of course) every few weeks to brainstorm the next issue and joke around. Yo! Magazine was intended to be an online space for folks in our community to take solace and come together since we couldn't gather physically in our Japantowns anymore. Through educational and historic articles, comfort food recipes, fun quizzes, and community-sourced stories, we managed to carve out our own home on the internet. We reconnected with old mentors, tapped our own friends to contribute their personal stories, and even added two new individuals to our core team.

And now as we look to 2021, we are nothing but grateful for the support and encouragement our loved ones have given us. Whether you've shared our stories on social media or added your email (and the emails of your entire family) to our subscriber list, we want to say this: thank you. We hope this new year will bring more joyful memories than tough times and that we'll get to see one another in our Japantowns once more, but we also hope to continue building our loved zine and making it a place you can turn to when you need it -- a place that feels like home.

With that, our team would like to share some of our own personal New Year's resolutions.

For my fam - stick to one dog name  (Charky -> Charchi -> Char Char-> Chuckie -> Bubba... pick a lane, Michelle!)

For me - Spend more money on skin care this year (maybe if I write this, it’ll make me feel ridiculous enough to spend less)

- Michelle

I resolve to get my COVID-19 vaccine by February1st, 2020. Oh wait... that's not within my control.

Here's another one. I plan to use this formula to help calculate my life post-vaccine:

365 - Current (Cumulative) Day of the Year = How many days I will go out to eat/drink/hang.

Magazine Goal: Bringing more resources and stories for our readers to find insight in the culture, history, and identity of our community. Some big stuff coming in 2021!

- Craig

To find balance between work and life, health and indulgence, activity and relaxation; all while always loving my family, friends, pup, and self.

- Keri

My 2020 Resolution: To not wear pajamas all day, every day.

- David

Drink more water!! But also practice daily gratitude - find a moment or thing I’ve enjoyed each day.

- Megan

I usually have a lot of fun with New Year’s resolutions. Setting goals and learning about myself as well as others are always fun, but with how difficult it was last year, I never had the time/moment to really set any resolutions, nor do I have interest in making one this year except to get through it.

- Philip

As for me, I hope I can continue making connections with people online and *maybe* (looking at you, Biden administration) be able to meet people in person again this year. Though 2020 was lonely in some ways, being forced to plug in helped me to meet and engage with folks I never would've been able to know in real life. Here's to a year of reminders that we have far more in common with one another than we think.

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