Cherry Blossom Girl
Her name was Ing Hua. Literal translation: Cherry Blossom.
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Join NOW!Her name was Ing Hua. Literal translation: Cherry Blossom.
...moreI wonder, then, what it is to die. Perhaps to die is a matter of location.
...moreAlex DiFrancesco discusses their new story collection, TRANSMUTATION.
...moreSejal Shah discusses her debut essay collection, THIS IS ONE WAY TO DANCE.
...moreI don’t even know what planet I’m on!
...moreI nearly got disowned over my decision not to pass on the family name.
...moreLet’s not pretend first means there’s a good place to start.
...moreAnd what weapons does Trump have in his arsenal, beyond the name he has been able to hide malignant words and actions behind?
...moreI want to say it must matter. Because history is erased from our veins when we allow ourselves to forget where we came from.
...moreThere are times when I must uncork the period, for Isabel only chases my given name.
...moreFew things are as important to me as my name.
...moreWhen I told my friend Aharon that my family name used to be Schwartz, he said, “Used to be Schwartz—sounds like a Borscht Belt act.”
...moreBut as writers, what are we supposed to do if we have a super common name? Do we get a pen name? Do we find an SEO expert? Do we just kind of ignore the issue and hope our names will float to the top of the Google search results someday, somehow? Over at the […]
...moreKnow that you are trying to steal from a naming ritual and culture that goes back five thousand years.
...moreI’m thinking about the difference between “I stay somewhere” and “I live somewhere.”
...moreOver at the New Yorker, Sam Sacks considers why “in recent years, a curious number of novelists have declined to avail themselves of that basic prerogative: naming their creations,” letting a deluge of nameless characters emerge.
...moreNames play an important role in defining characters and can inform readers of what they should expect from a text. But not all names need to be serious—indeed, for much of the last century, comedic names have been preferred.
...more(adj.); having a well or suitable name From Dickens with his bitter Gradgrind to J. K. Rowling with her sour Voldemort, authors have long understood that names help establish character. —Neal Gabler, from “The Weird Science of Naming Things” A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet… wouldn’t it? Perhaps, or perhaps not. […]
...moreLast summer was a difficult season, the worst I’ve had in years. I bloodied an eye from weeping, capillaries branching like red vines around the hazel nest where my pupil gleams like a black egg.
...moreI try to be open about who I am. I’m not interested in having a blank slate; I’d rather everyone just know what’s on mine. Maybe people think I’m hiding from my past by being Anna. No, far from it. I’m showing you who I am. Do you see? In her poignant new Foundlings column at Literary Orphans, […]
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