This Peculiar Burden: Wesley Yang’s The Souls of Yellow Folk
Yang boasts an admirable track record in publishing on a variety of subjects, but a highlight reel does not a cohesive collection make.
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Posts Tagged: Asian
What’s Between the Covers: A Conversation with Naben Ruthnum
Naben Ruthnum discusses CURRY: EATING, READING, AND RACE and FIND YOU IN THE DARK.
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On Becoming a Person of Color
I finish counting and start over, trying, always, to solve the equation of myself.
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The Rumpus Book Club Chat with Mary-Kim Arnold
Mary-Kim Arnold discusses her debut book, Litany for the Long Moment, exploring adoption through a feminist lens, and dancing on the line between genres.
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Rumpus Original Fiction: Zhiyu/Jerry
Here is the genuine article: a young, American man, who expects the things he wants to come quickly, with just a word, a smile. So be it.
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In Between the In-Between: Talking with Jenny Zhang
Jenny Zhang discusses her story collection Sour Heart, trying to escape the past, collective versus individual responsibility for trauma, and love as imprisonment.
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Multitudes: (Re) Writing Mother
I like to listen to my mother’s voice; the sounds she makes in an English-Korean mashup; we are each the other’s dictionary.
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The Rumpus Review of Seoul Searching
Seeing is a critical part of normalizing, and though it seems like a rudimentary expectation, it’s important for American audiences to see Korean-Americans simply living their lives.
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R.I.P.: Odd Habits
I would really like to see a coming back or recreation of funeral rites. Let’s create new ones. Let’s take this matter into our own hands.
...moreHow Yellow Is Yellow Enough?
At the Paris Review, Monica Youn discusses her latest “Twinkie” poem, “Goldacre,” written after last year’s Best American Poetry controversy: It was around the same time that I first heard the insult “Twinkie”—yellow on the outside, white on the inside—a label I brooded over. New acquaintances seemed surprised, judgmental, to learn that I couldn’t speak Korean, had […]
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The Saturday Rumpus Interview: Jennifer Baker
The more variation we see in life, the more it becomes less about seeing one type of book by marginalized people.
...moreWhen Racist Stereotypes Work in Your Favor
At Slate, computer-science professor Philip Guo discusses an odd side effect of stereotypes about Asian men: when he was first learning to code, they actually worked in his favor. Even when Guo was a novice, people gave him the benefit of the doubt, which allowed him the time to learn everything he needed to learn. Friends […]
...moreOn Realizing You’re Not White
The paint was several layers thick, each new message or drawing layered on a chaotic background of the preceding scrawl….“It’s the chink hate wall,” he said. Kevin did not consider my Chinese ethnicity when he said this. For Maisonneuve, Kimberley Fu writes about moving from the sanctuary of a color-blind high school where “our quarterback was […]
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