As ten-year-old Mercedes Jacobs sat in the Havana airport in 1962, the wait was long and her clothes were heavy. Already classified as an adult, she was only allowed three dresses on her journey to Miami,...

I’ve felt like an imposter from a young age in both parts of my biracial identity—my whiteness and my Asianness. I’ve never felt “Asian enough,” though the reasons may seem stereotypical or superficial...

Radiohead’s 1995 alternative chart topper, “Fake Plastic Trees,” is about my Christmas tree. The eponymous fake Chinese rubber plant lives rent-free in my mom’s closet—but having a deeply...

The hat looks heavier than it feels. Colorful flowers cover the right side of my head, while thin chains dangle on the left attached to metal medallions. A thick, itchy strap secures the hat on my head...

When meeting someone new, the first thing you learn about them is their name. A name serves as an identifier, signaling who someone is. A person’s name comes with a story. It says something about a person’s...

Food is necessary for the body, but it’s also necessary for the soul—and I don’t mean that in a metaphorical way. So many of my most cherished memories are associated with a particular dish; I think...

Pamela Anderson, a media personality who took the ‘90s by storm, is finally telling her own story. Last year, Hulu released a biopic series called “Pam and Tommy,” recounting the tumultuous relationship...

My high school boyfriend’s dreary old minivan was a staple in our driveway. He hugged my mom when they crossed paths in public, watched football games with my brother, and lovingly tackled my dog when...

I realized how different I was from everyone else when I first came to college.  When teachers would ask students to go around the room saying where they were from, I would always brace myself for...

Race is complicated—that goes without saying. Anyone, especially people of color, who just read the first sentence, knows that race can affect everything, from how the cashier looks at you when you...

I stood calmly on the moving escalator at the Peoria Civic Center in Illinois. I was a senior in high school competing at the Speech State Championship, where I just finished my second round of competitive...

The first thing most people say upon meeting me is, “I hear an accent. Where are you from?” Seemingly, there is nothing wrong with this question, but upon further inspection, accents can play a more...

While working in the journalism office last week, my boss asked me to make a list of a few common sounds in Chinese names that professors might find hard to pronounce. He was considering giving...

Junior Cassie Poirier identifies as a first-generation college student, yet she didn't know what that meant or the challenges it entailed until freshman year. “It was this feeling that everyone...

One day, as I sat struggling with a reading assignment, my roommate simply asked, “What’s up?” I wasn’t sure how to reply. In China, I never studied such exchanges in my English classes. I asked...

When in a Western country, I always introduce myself as “Eliza.” Very rarely do I tell people my Chinese name, “Xinyan.” I find that most Asian youth share this habit. Adopting an English name...