Prose
Supermarkets
April Li Sometimes I am convinced that my mother hates me. Like now, standing on the sidewalk, tension collecting in the space between us like the Beijing heat, muggy and oppressive. She stares forward, glass dish of congee clutched in her hands. It was hot when she pulled it out of the pressure cooker earlier,… Read More Supermarkets
The Things We Leave Behind
Cindy Chen Chinese New Year is a novelty at first: when you’re a kid, and you see the lion dancing and hear the drum beats, you feel a sense of wonder for your culture in ways that hadn’t been prominent before living in America—not even living in a city that is primarily Asian. There is… Read More The Things We Leave Behind
City Called El Paso
Blair Donohue This is how you come into the world: It is September and I am newly a midwife and you are newly born. You slip into my hands as still and silent as a deer and your mother asks me if you are alright. I don’t know what to tell her. You’re not moving.… Read More City Called El Paso
Crooked Streets
When I stepped off the sea-beaten water taxi and sunk my foot into the fleshy, waterlogged plank below, when curls of laden mist kissed my skin and heavy sighs of dirty orange sunlight seeped through the air, when I realized that, though dozens of people ambled around me, the… Read More Crooked Streets
Omelette
Aaron Xuandi Wang Two years ago, in the scorching summer before college, I went on an excursion to Yunnan to visit the land of Nuosuo, an ethnic minority group in China. The trip took shape with an invitation from Mahai, a 20-year-old Nuosuo youth whom I met through a volunteer program that sent teachers to… Read More Omelette
and i woke up in my childhood bed (after Phoebe Bridgers’ Funeral)
Maggie Mei-Yin Wong the one thing i’ve been doing ever since i was born has been moving. i’ve lived in 4 different countries, 6 different apartments all in just one city. counting all the college-related moves i’ve done, i’ve moved 10 times in my life—with an error margin of, let’s say, 3, just to be… Read More and i woke up in my childhood bed (after Phoebe Bridgers’ Funeral)
Until Morning
Cindy Chen The face I wear is a porcelain mask, fitted every morning, painted with a soft, loving smile, glitter added to my eyes to make them shine, and dried overnight to make sure there is no water staining the surface. Each night, I put the final touches to… Read More Until Morning
On a text from my mom that I never replied to
Jiakai Chang “Jiadi and Jiakai, This is an awkward topic coming from your mom, but I need to let you know that one of your cousins in Taiwan, who is a junior in college, got pregnant and has to quit school and become a mom. So just wanted to… Read More On a text from my mom that I never replied to
