Performers
Growing Up Without My Mother, I Found Strength in Olympic Skating Heroes
I lost my mother when I was young. So women like Michelle Kwan, Tara Lipinski, and Sasha Cohen taught me about femininity and fierceness.
Looking for a Reflection as the Only Asian Actor in a Production of ‘Mulan’
I felt humiliated singing a song about honor when I could only feel shame. As I stood in yellowface, I had finally fulfilled my quest to become white.
Take a Number and Get in Line If You Have Dreams of Fame and Fortune
The truth is, not everyone can be famous and unless you were born with a famous last name, getting into show business isn’t always walk in the park. In the eyes of the decision makers of the entertainment industry, you’re essentially a needle in a haystack looking to get your big break just like everyone […]
I Thought Figure Skating Wasn’t for a Girl Like Me
Skating was for graceful girls, pretty girls. Girls with money. Not a girl like me.
Body Armour: From Gymnastics to Scoliosis
“He traced my spine. It turned out to be curvy, a little snake made of bones.”
Piano Women: The Artists Who Helped Me Subvert the Music Industry’s Obsession With Categorizing My Body
The day-to-day negotiation I faced as a mixed-race woman made me resist the idea that classifying myself and my body was the only way to get my music heard.
Seeking the Fairway, But Caught in the Rough: When You’re Not the Golf Prodigy Your Father Hoped You’d Be
“The first set of clubs arrived when I was seven, cotton candy-colored in pink and blue.”
Swimming to Joy; or: How the Water Saved Me
On inherited traumas and joys in an immigrant family, and swimming as an antidote to despair.
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Running from the Dark
“I run to silence the voices that haunted my brother and sister.”
A Bed of Fists: On Playing Soccer in Moscow
“Flying into Putin’s Russia on a tourist visa with my soccer gear hadn’t seemed utterly daft.”
