“Dad, I want to be an actor. No son, it’s pronounced doctor!”. This phrase coupled with a picture of a stern-looking Asian man is a meme I’ve seen circulating the internet ever since I was in middle school. It’s definitely humorous and may even seem like an exaggeration…

Summers were once my own.Now I spend themChasing someone else’s dreamsTo fulfill unspoken obligations… Unspoken obligations which bind meLike the feet of my ancestorsBack in my homeland China. “Become a doctor,” they say,As if there is no alternative. But didn’t they come to America,The land of the free,In…