Culture

Asian Heritage Month

Stories, poems and reflections celebrating Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

An honest foundation

When I look back at the way I lobbed on a thick layer of eyeliner, I remember the YouTube tutorials of mostly white women with the eyes that I wanted, explaining to me just how easy it was to look as flawless as them.

Asian-Face

I wish I could tell myself these answers, but identity, no matter what it’s based on is always constructed and deconstructed. Built-up and destroyed.

A Family Meal

I hardly knew some of the people there yet it was, in some comforting, familiar way, its own family meal.

How I will Raise My Kids

You will watch and read content from cultural icons of my time. You will gain a balanced appreciation for the arts to complement your university application and become inspired by the wits of Ali Wong, David Chang and Awkwafina.

Speaking In Red

Behind my face mask, I felt tomato bits stuck in my mouth. But I couldn’t let anybody know they were there. I had to prove myself through the fluency of my English that I was from here just like everyone else. That I was not the other.

Byelingual

After being in Vancouver for so long, I find myself struggling to tell my mother about my day in Chinese, bogged down by English jargon and unable to explain my studies to my grandmother and giving up on reading Chinese altogether.

T&T

The grocery store can’t replace my parents’ cooking or my brother’s sarcasm or my family’s love, but I guess it’s good enough for now.

Toto, I have a Feeling We’re Not in Vancouver Anymore

As the days passed, it became increasingly apparent that we as Asian-Canadians did not belong. I was sporting a Korean-inspired fringe at the time, which seemed to warrant additional attention such as textbook ‘are you from China?’ racial comments.

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