The Gentle Project

Welcome to our season two, exploring “new possibles” with a mindful living.

Many of us are going through some on-and-offs with the new normals, which are actually getting old and tiring sometimes. It has come to a challenging new stage, where we try to understand ourselves and realities through rational thinking. Apparently, it’s becoming a critical agenda for all of us to co-curate a mindful living, not only to balance ourselves in the radical changes, but also to support sustainability of the planet.

Welcome to the second season of The Gentle Project! 

Do you have any friends who started parenthood during the pandemic this year? How does it sound to raise a newborn in a multicultural family in which parents are having totally different concepts on raising their child? How does parenthood reshape the couple’s relationship when so much love and care go to the newborn and deeper anxieties as well as heavier burden fall over their shoulders from the inside and the outside?

In this episode, Lyla is talking with Crystal, a dear friend who is currently living in San Francisco with her husband Bo and their newborn baby girl Olivia. Suffering an unexpected and dangerous high blood pressure in the following weeks after a rather easier normal delivery, Crystal found out her new adventure of being a mom was far more thrilling than she expected especially in the context of the pandemic. Let us go with her on this new journey to share her strength, resilience, and optimism.

How many of you have changed jobs or shifted career paths this year due to the pandemic? How many of you always wanted to try something you are passionate about, turned out to be stuck in a 9-5 job everyday, but finally made a big move to chase your dream because of the pandemic?

In this episode, Lu is talking to her friend Hong Wei, a foodie who is very good at trying new recipes as well as searching for the best deals during Boston restaurant week. During the pandemic, she quit her job, left Boston, Massachusetts, and started a whole new style of life as an intercultural food blogger in Dayton, Ohio. Let us hear about what made Hong Wei decide to leave Boston after Covid-19 broke out and what reflection she gained from all these changes in her life.

Have you found yourself or your friends and families enjoy reading more in this new normal? We do. The pandemic did cause a lot of pain and uneasiness, but meanwhile it has dramatically brought back some hopefulness for the development of independent magazines. Content creators kept delivering appealing narrative and messages that warmed the readers’ hearts and reignited their passion towards reading prints. Comparing to traditional book authors, creators behind independent magazines have left us a relatively low-key image. However, you will indeed find them a group of outspoken and fun characters after a joyful chat.

When COVID-19 hit New York, public places like museums, theaters, libraries, and concert venues were all shut down. Artists could not searched for materials and continued their creative projects. How did they survive the pandemic and support each other by exploring something new? In this episode, we are talking to a New York-based artist Lu Zhang, who is particularly good at incorporating ceramics, found objects, moving images, and sound into various forms of installations, and blending literature, pop culture, film and music into her artworks. During the pandemic, Lu and two teammates Herb and Trisha created a special painting club called P_Lub. Through her creativity, she reached deeply into human relationships and mental adjustment during this special time.