Joshua Stephens
@joshuastephens
Writer | Photographer | Antifascist Bookworm. Vegan. Coffee nerd. High school dropout. I’ve written for outlets like AlterNet, Truthout, Gawker, The Blizzard, Standart, & BK Magazine. 🌏 Bangkok www.jxshua.com
This is what a person commuting to an office in Gràcia for a role that requires 2 languages and a least 6 competencies would come home to.
Considering an eighth act as a niche Thailand content-creator, in case anyone needs this.
File under: Things that turn up with the in-laws on a public holiday. Despite it all, I am happy with my life decisions.
Popped out for sticky rice. Found a silent gay rave on our corner upon my return. Never change, Bangkok.
Odds seem good some of you may be having a garbage day. Here’s some recent shots of my cat, ตัวแสบ (Tuasaeb; lit: “Body of Chaos”, menace, etc). aka อ้วน (“fatty”), หล่อสุด (“the most handsome”).
When I tell you that that opening track’s lyrics *still* give me chills, almost to the point of tears, believe me. It was everything I’d needed to scream at the fascist microcosm that had held me hostage. And returning to it now feels so uncanny and ominous, in the swirl of techno-fascism.
I have 32 preorder slots left on my first photobook, Notes on Nourishment — a photo-essay love-letter to a Bangkok at odds with its conventional representation. Preorders are entitled to a print of any (one) image from the book, as well as a note on its backstory, postmarked from BKK. Hit me up.
I’m selling photo prints again to cover bureaucratic costs in locking down our marriage certificate before my visa runs out. Can ship pretty much anywhere in the world. Hit my site. Holler if something calls to you. www.jxshua.com
Tonight’s protest against the election theft, outside the Bangkok Arts and Cultural Center. As with most protests since 2022, it’s overwhelmingly aunties and uncles. Negligible youth participation.
(Hopefully) winding down my exile in Ho Chi Minh City. My evening walks have typically avoided the party areas. But I wandered this way looking for a particular restaurant tonight, and I’m not mad I caught this.
The response to this has been nothing short of shocking. The holiday production deals I’ve been using to keep these prints cheap will probs disappear in a few days. So if you’d like to have something I’ve shot turned into a print for yourself or something else — now’s the time to hit me up!
Exiled in Ho Chi Minh City till New Years. Writing, walking, eating.
If you’re still reeling from the recent gutting of @teenvogue.com, I might recommend either or both of these novels I finished this month. Stories of women-led anti-colonial revolt, but even more noteworthy — stories that tackle the messiness of resistance in pretty unvarnished ways.
Today is the last day of the “jae” (vegetarian) festival in Thailand. Less interesting for its food than it is as a window into the history of migration and Thai ethnonationalism’s failure to erase local cultural diversity. I’ve pitched a photo-feature on it for 3yrs now, high and low. No takers.
Absolute dorks: “Veganism is a white people thing!” Bangkok: “Get in, losers. We’re getting weird and eating vegan for ten days.”
Scenes from the neighborhood, tonight, as I walked to check on a friend’s cat.
Having a miserable day? Here’s our cat, insisting I stop writing to play fetch with him.
Pumpkin green curry w/ tempeh, long beans, and Thai eggplant. I know neither how to explain how bomb this is, nor why I’ve never made it before.
Local supermarket was running clearance on veggies last night. Scored a small pumpkin + a bag the size of my head of Thai eggplant and long beans (each) for 5 MYR —about €1– total. 3 blocks of tempeh for about the same. Breakfast spoils.
Word on the street is Trump might be dead. Here’s some vegan kale-basil-cashew-chillie pesto I made after my workout this AM.