Why can’t a sparky love co-exist with the stable everyday kind as well? We have bypassed the in-between, unable to sit with both/and of a relationship being at once thrilling and exciting as well as reliable and calming, but love is certainly not an either/or.
Read MorePerpetuating 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.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreI 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.
Read MoreGerwig’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.
Read MoreThese 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.
Read MoreWe do owe people things, and we cannot build any kind of community or resistance without owing.
Read MoreNo Place Like Home is an immigration-story spin on the Wizard of Oz.
Read More“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.”
Read MoreI 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.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreI 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.
Read MoreIt’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.
Read MoreTraditional 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.
Read MoreFiction 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.
Read MoreArt 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.
Read MoreI learned to love in the language of food, but the consequences of that ran deep.
Read MoreThere’s always a chance to build a relationship and start fresh, if you’re lucky.
Read MoreIt’s time diverse lived realities are treated as fact and alternatives designed to not only accommodate individuals but change as a system altogether.
Read MoreThe thing about decisions, as I learned recently, is that the right ones can be messy as hell.
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