02/01/2026
Happy New Year, Dear Guests!
As some of you may have noticed, we’ve been quiet over here at Urbanity Lush, rarely posting in 2025. There were several reasons for this silence, but the main one is this: I’m an incredibly sensitive person, especially when it comes to the suffering of others. And honestly, 2025 ushered in a presidency unlike anything America has seen — at least not in my lifetime — whose sole purpose seemed to be hurting as many people as quickly as possible. “The cruelty was the point,” as many political pundits declared.
There have been sweeping changes to our government, many done by executive order, particularly around immigration enforcement. As a brand that has served many J1 immigrant students and working professionals, it’s been deeply unsettling — heartbreaking, really — to see this population put under the microscope. Some have been scrutinized for posts they made years ago expressing their feelings on a particular policy or presidency, which led to their visas being revoked or denied outright. This didn’t happen to the students I hosted, thankfully, but the mere fact that free speech is being monitored in what has historically been a free nation has scared off many of my international guests.
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