“I defend fragments because they define and mirror my own hybrid existence, where fragments of memories and experiences intersect to form a nuanced understanding of self and place.”
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Perpetuating the same narratives of conflict in mass media not only dictates a cultural hierarchy of what is considered important but also creates distance in how we are able to see ourselves represented in stories at large.
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The stories stayed with me long after I finished, and I still seek out certain essays or refer them to loved ones going through a hard time.
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I had planned to write a swashbuckling adventure of demigods defeating villains against-all-odds, but I have never defeated a villain. I have only loved and been loved and lost love. The simple version of why I wrote this story is in the attempt to get over a boy.
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Gerwig’s films resist storytelling structures that serve masculinity. From Frances Ha (2012) to Barbie (2023), her stories embrace and celebrate what is traditionally considered feminine. They depict the truest parts of existing as a woman in the world.
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These books capture that magic that drew me to books in the first place, and I revisit them when I need to fall in love with the world again.
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We do owe people things, and we cannot build any kind of community or resistance without owing.
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No Place Like Home is an immigration-story spin on the Wizard of Oz.
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“It’s a powerful and uplifting message, and kids adjusting to new homes will find a lot of themselves in Lan’s journey, and perhaps a bit of Lan’s courage in themselves.”
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I want to believe that love finds us in the middle as well. Love finds us in the mess, in the muddy spring days, rainy nights, 3am departures as my bedroom door swings shut with the heartbreaking sound of finality.
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The Summer I Turned Pretty affirms Laurel and Susanna’s capacity as responsible, loving mothers simultaneously with them having impulsive, carefree fun. It made me believe that life doesn’t end after having kids.
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I needed to know that falling in love takes no prerequisites—that it can be fleeting, nurturing, anchored in a lake at sunset or a glance across the table over hot pot—no less valid or life-changing, regardless of the form it takes.
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I’ve always struggled with the idea of growing up, probably because I read too many fantasy adventures as a child and desperately wanted my own. When I inevitably grew older, I began reflecting on what the idea of “grown up” actually means.
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It’s easy to romanticize quitting your job on a whim and pursuing art. The reality is steeped in challenges of opportunity, financial constraints, and stress-filled planning.
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Traditional love languages disappoint us, but we are immigrants. Again and again, I witnessed the ways we are adept at starting anew, lives from scratch, snippets cobbled together like a lullaby.
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Fiction can convey ideas that reports cannot — but it’s not a replacement for fact and history. Meanwhile, data is one form of storytelling but also not necessary to validate lived experiences and truths. Reading widely across genres is key.
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Art takes an incredible amount of time, resources, and emotional and logistical support. To reduce it to talent and discuss success in terms of inevitability means to rob anyone not born into wealth and connections with an opportunity to even start.
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I learned to love in the language of food, but the consequences of that ran deep.
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There’s always a chance to build a relationship and start fresh, if you’re lucky.
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It’s time diverse lived realities are treated as fact and alternatives designed to not only accommodate individuals but change as a system altogether.
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