People
Unlearning My Immigrant Mother’s Ideas of Beauty
Like many immigrant daughters, I’m of a lineage of women who didn’t put themselves first.
After My Divorce, I Found Comfort in Cohousing
I’m not sure I want to be vulnerable or join a community. I’m not sure I even remember how.
In the US Health Care System, You’re Not a Patient. You’re a Consumer
On some level I know the system is designed to break me down, but I feel guilty because I am good at letting it.
Teachers Are Told to Ignore Their Bodies, But Chronic Pain Made Me Listen to Mine
I have never been as vulnerable with students as I was then, having to tell the fifth graders I was in pain.
Covid-19, Memory, and Remembering My Grandma
Can I trust the sparse memories in my long-Covid brain? If I don’t record this, will my Frankenstein-ed memories escape, just like Grandma’s did?
Understanding Madness and Mental Health Through Lucha Libre
Luchas Libres remind me of the advice I got on my first roller coaster ride: “You have to scream the whole time. It’s only fun if you scream.”
Group Chats Don’t Replace Friendship—They Can Keep It Alive
The group chat is a means, not an end. Not what our friendship is, but what keeps it alive.
In the Mid-’90s, We Didn’t Know the Word for Consent—But That Didn’t Stop Us
How do we match our desires with our demands? I didn’t have the language to ask.
The Lightning Strike That Burned Through My Family
My mother’s body, one in a million, became a conduit for lightning, and, three months later, it became a conduit for me.
The Story of My Father’s Hands
In that motel room I saw my father forever altered, with lasting wounds, like the scar on one of his hands—hands I’d studied and knew by heart.