Prose about a dear grandmother, memory, and unspoken words.

"You can’t define America in one word"

The love and torments of Giovanni

Is reading for pleasure destroying our brains? The definition of what reading is, and how it ought to be conducted, becomes controversial.

My mother all but cut off contact with my grandfather, so I never knew him outside the secondhand childhood stories, anger, and sadness.

"“Ở hiền gặp lành” is a phrase I grew up with. It translates to "good things will meet good people”. "

"Before you go, please tell me: Who are you?"

Maybe it’s human nature to migrate. To drift from one person to become closer to another.

"“I love you” had to be said for the relationship to work, and for that, I questioned my parents’ love for me."

And of course, no Chinese New Year parade is complete without the iconic golden-scarlet lion dances that frolic in the streets.

20 years after the US invasion of Iraq, its brutal effects are glaring & highlight the detriment of American intrusion in other countries.

... there is a cosmic hand / Placing your hand in mine / While my eyes become bewildered / like a doe in bright light.

March contained great wins for the Asian community at the Oscars; it also commemorates International Women's Day & the legacy of Ruan Lingyu

"she taught me that cooking is a kind of magic / a frenzy of sweat and love and work."

"My Dad’s experiences as a migrant father were not taken seriously unless his criticisms were proofread by his pre-adult daughter"

in february, speaking Bangla tastes like blood.

"I’ve taken a train over the harbor bridge, went for a bush walk, patted a koala, and swam in the Pacific."

"Rib-climber, boy-eater, get in, you want to be kept / safe. Every storage ransacked and every container found wanting. "

"but nothing’s loved me as much / as the clippers that licked up my scalp, sixteen / & godless shaving off my hair. "

You lived through the Japanese Imperial Rule and the Chinese Civil War. But a heart attack was enough to take you down.

a part-time lover / and a full-time friend, my big-girl / curls and dollar store mascara punched out / into an ash sweltered Interstate 80

what I don’t name is all the parts of me I’ve left behind for the junkyards to ingest...

With an intricate history, Bollywood has had an immense influence over not only South Asian media and entertainment, but across the world.

"Mostly I just sleep / I dream that it is Halloween & that we can all be / whatever we want, even alive."