This coming Monday, Kenzie starts 7th grade. I am so thankful that we have such a wonderful relationship, she is truly the best daughter I ever could have wished for. At 12, she is already strong, beautiful, and kind…yet she still has these moments of hesitation and uncertainty that remind me of my pre-teen years….
It’s like a billion determined ants crawling all over my body. Tiny, insistent, constant tremors in every crevice, including the previously untouched depths of my navel. If I try to physically relieve the sensation by scratching, it becomes infinitely more intense. I’m driven to the point of tears for lack of relief. As it turns…
Kenzie starts middle school tomorrow, and to celebrate, we’re taking a family-do-nothing day. (Well, only fun things, and only if we feel like it.) I’m hoping to spend most of the day crafting and drinking fancy coffee and tea drinks. Kenzie hopes to make a run to Teso Life and K-Coop. But we’ll see what…
Mackenzie shared some of her family history with her school today, in celebration of the AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) half of her heritage. The black-and-white photo is my father and his parents, taken at the Taipei airport on August 12, 1970, right before he left for the States to get his PhD at Indiana…
Being a mom is hard. Full stop. Whether you’re a working mom, a stay-at-home mom, or a combination of both, it’s an all-consuming role. You can read every self-help book, attend every therapy session, and still find yourself consistently putting someone else’s needs before your own. Right now, Mackenzie has been crying in her room…
One of my former students recently gave Mackenzie a beautiful cheongsam. It’s hard to put into words just how deeply this gesture moved me. Being Chinese American can feel complicated. When I was younger, some of my relatives focused only on my “American” side—so much so that I never received a cheongsam of my own….
It can take years to realize how deeply someone has impacted you, and sometimes that realization happens a little too late. One of my favorite classes I’ve ever taken in my academic career was game theory, with Dr. Mine Cinar. Ideas from that course followed me everywhere. Every situation I looked at, every dilemma I…
In the wake of elections, many of us find ourselves trying to address the deep-seated fears these moments can resurface. As a parent, it’s especially painful to see your child carry fears connected to the racial climate around them. Today, buried in my inbox among emails related to meetings, and guest lectures, and the humdrum…
Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays because, as an introvert who actually likes people, it’s the perfect chance to stay cozy at home while making quick, low-pressure connections with lots of folks. Plus, Halloween kicks off our family’s “Six Months of Fun!” We have Halloween in October, Thanksgiving in November, Christmas in…
It is so hard to believe that Kenzie is already in 5th grade. There have been so many changes and challenges over the past year, and she’s taken them like an absolute champ. The transition into a new school is so hard, and she navigated new friendships, new social circles, and learned a lot in…
The stress of the pandemic definitely sped up the the physical aging process for me. I went from having a lone, stark white hair, to now having several pieces of tinsel scattered throughout. The sprinkling of salt doesn’t really bother me, and I actually look forward to seeing how my hair changes my appearance as…