“You lose too much hair. Eat more sesame seeds so your hair will be darker and healthier.” My mom would say this to me whenever she finds my hair all over the floor. “I won’t have darker hair just by eating black sesame seeds. Does eating red beans…
Hard-working employees, law-abiding citizens, straight-A students. These labels have been plaguing the APIDA community since the end of World War II, when this community’s perceived universal prosperity was used to suppress other minority groups, especially Black Americans. The model minority concept delivers a disturbing message to minority groups…
I sometimes come across scenes in movies or TV shows that make fun of Asian students’ obsession of getting As. The characters (usually white) would ecstatically celebrate getting a B, while their Asian peers look gloomy, if not depressed. Although years passed since I watched this sitcom, I…
Every year, many Southeast Asian and East Asian communities celebrate the Lunar New Year in late January or early February. Lunar New Year is based on the lunisolar calendar, in which months are determined by the cycles of the moon. Being the home for people from many Southeast…
As children, we experienced tremendous joy and an intrinsic desire to acquire something as we stood in front of a shelf full of toys. It is a human instinct to satiate ourselves using any means, whether it be through receiving basic life necessities such as food and shelter,…