I Am Who I Say I Am
I Am Who I Say I Am
A Family Man
When he was 16, my grandfather pedaled his beat-up Hero bicycle six miles every day to deliver lunch to his father and his brother, who worked the rice fields outside a small village in Southeastern India.
Asiatic Pixie Dream Girl
“You’re, like, the whitest Asian person I’ve ever met. Like, you don’t even qualify as Asian at this point; you’re just another white girl in an Asian body.”
Asian Expectations
Coming into this life, we never know what to expect. We think we’ll build this amazing life for us, just to find out that society and our families have already laid out what is bound to happen.
My Experiences with Street Harassment
As a Sri Lankan child who was raised in Singapore, most of my childhood and teenage years were spent freely walking around the streets without much fear of being catcalled or harassed, as the culture and general societal personality in Singapore is to ‘mind your own business’.
Invisible Foreigner
“You are not a real American”, said my student. Lana looked at me with her big puppy dog eyes with her big round gold frames. She was a 19 year old student from a small city in China and I was the first foreigner she had ever met.
Taming the Tigers of Our Minds and Upbringings
I think one of the most difficult things that I have dealt with growing up Asian American are the cultural differences. I can’t speak for other generations, but as a first generation and only daughter in my family I think the direct conflict of eastern and western values causes tension.