Jennifer is Vietnamese, a determined fan of Korean food and culture, and befriended me when she thought I was more Korean than I am. She suggested a day trip on a Monday to eat Korean BBQ without knowing that it had been at least five years since I had eaten at a Korean restaurant. I…
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Photo by Rashad Harris @sleepyoptics The wasps on Yale’s campus were just like the people: invasive, mildly annoying, and a problem that could easily be avoided by staying inside my dorm all day. But our first day of exploration called for the opposite of confinement in my empty, eggshell-colored prison that I had grown to…
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Puffing out his chest with pride my older cousin meticulously ties the corners of the flag around his neck. “Boricua man!” he shouts to the crammed subway passengers, his breath cloaked with the bitter smell of Bacardi. “Yo soy Boricua man!” he bellows triumphantly, throwing his arms over his head and pretending to fly around…
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Artwork: “Found My Wings” by @synth3ticc When I was younger, there were times when I wished that I could cut myself into two perfect halves: one Arab and one Asian. The Arab one would look like my father with curly Afro hair that smelled of saltwater and a big nose that would guide me home.…
Read MoreIt was the summer of 1993 and Keilani and I sat by the crackling fire as the bullfrogs croaked a sonorous symphony, the grass swayed from a whispering breeze, and the stars zipped in different directions across the vast night sky. “What a weekend,” Keilani said, resting her hands on the back of her jet-black…
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As a child, I was something of a voyeur. It’s natural, of course, for children to both see and consume the world while also trying to understand it, often while fading into the background–the proverbial “be seen and not heard.” Adults often make the mistake of carrying on with their lives as though children are…
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Illustration by Divyakshi Kedia There was no one at the drive-through window, so they sat simply and looked at each other. The fluorescent lights from inside cast a bright yellow triangle through the glass, past Darren’s own window, into the car, and spilled all over his lap. She watched the light carefully until a shrouded figure…
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Illustration by Andrea Miranda The rhythmic tapping onto the table began to irritate me. My eyes flicked up from the menu I was perusing. Tap-tap-tap. I searched for the accuser and landed on a young woman, her ring was taking the lead and I began to feel the rhythm on my temple and the teeth…
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Moving slowly and deliberately can be its own revolution, to take time to pause, reflect, listen to your body and spirit. In a series of small steps, align your actions and decisions with the life you are creating. In this way you can fight against a sense of hurry and rush and rashness that today’s global…
Read More“What about this one?” Kat holds up their phone. On the screen: a sprawling, old-style wooden ranch house nestled in half a square acre of disheveled grass. We’ve been searching for three weeks now; the landlord’s pressuring us to leave and we’re starting to get desperate. Affordable three bed places are thin on the ground…
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