USA DAY

  Given the date, it would be silly to not spend at least a little bit of time talking about America the country today. As an Asian American I feel that my relationship with this country is a little weird. From when I was young I was almost always the only Asian among my friends, this is something that persisted through most of my early years. It’s never actually bothered me on some deep fundamental level. I was just some kid doing kid things. Even as I sat to write this down I was trying to see if there was something I could say besides what I’ve just written. That may sound a little vain or selfish in a “man, why can’t I trauma dump on the holiday” vibe, but that’s really not my intention. What I think I want to say is that on this day, there are a lot of things I’ve come to love and hate about the place I live in and it probably wouldn’t get that much better or worse if my life had brought me somewhere else to begin my journey. 


I think what has really helped deepen my connection to America has been esports. As silly as that may seem, America and the continent as a whole has often felt super unique in the world of esports. There are so many famous personalities here across every esport from FPS to MOBA and RTS. Those are just a few things that immediately came to mind. If you look into esports you will find NA players are among the most recognizable amid some frankly poor results. NA has always struggled to be relevant in the context of any international competition. I think the only ones where we have actual relevance are ones that international competition rarely participates in and even then we find ourselves outclassed occasionally. There is something magical about watching us play though. The crowd is invested for any pop off, the underdog narrative comes into full effect and not many can claim they aren’t moved a little bit by the “USA USA USA” chants. The peak of this experience for me was watching the Boston 2018 major in CSGO where Cloud9 won NA’s first and only ever major. Being a part of that crowd gave me a lot of pride for this country. We were all there watching the dream run unfold. People were cheering loudly and the entire stadium could feel the eventuality of the run. No matter who won or lost, it was a historic moment for all of us on that day. 


There definitely is more to say, but I’ll leave it at that for now. This really feels like part of two more articles so highkey should put some effort into those, but today isn’t that day. Since it’s a holiday I will be going out and having some fun with my friends. I encourage you to do the same after reading this post. There is certainly more to unpack with this and I would love to do that in a future post, besides that, I will see you tomorrow with another post.

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