America the Great

I grew up in a traditional Asian home. This meant that your sense of self and service didn’t just start and end with you. It meant that you were part of and responsible for not only your extended family, but also for your community. You showed up when you were called without fail. You didn’t wait to be told that things needed to be done. Instead, you pitched in where you saw a gap and you asked, “What else needs to be done?”

Though there is a wide diaspora to the term “Asian,” some things are universal between Asian communities. Let me be clear. This isn’t to say that we’re perfect or that there aren’t issues within our groups, but the way in which the Asian community collectively pulls together is something to respect and admire. …

America The Great

Pandemic. Race issues. White nationalism. Republicans. Neo-liberals. Collective silencing. Over amplifying. Me too. Not you. Shut up. Speak louder. I have too many feelings. You don’t know how it feels. You don’t feel enough. Depression. Depression. Suicide. Rape. It’s not rape. He could’ve. She shouldn’t have. Asshole. Bitch. White supremacy. Black aggression. Asian perfection.

Look at me. Look at me! LOOK AT ME!

Oh. My. God. It’s all too much.

America, we need a break. This relationship we have, it’s not working. It’s so toxic and unhealthy. I know, I know. …

Race Relations

I once wrote a piece to my community about how systemic racism has shaped the Hmong/Asian American landscape and the similarities therein between African Americans and us. Though there were a lot of nods of agreement, the flip side of that was that Asians still felt largely invisible and abused by the African American community — in particular, the later settled Asians like the Hmong, the Karen, and other Southeast Asians whose migration stories didn’t begin until the 1970s. …

I might be in the minority here, but I was not thrilled with how Shonda Rhimes reimagined Regency England. Let’s break it down to the main issues.

The representation of Regency England and Black folks.

Throughout English classes in high school to college courses, historical England is familiar to most through the works of Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Emily Bronte, and a myriad of others. None of these authors sugar-coated the hardships of Regency England. If anything, it is the hardships and rigid rules of the times that are the catalysts for their protagonists. …

In the wake of the #metoo movement, many woman fearlessly stepped forward with their stories (including me), but one aspect of #metoo that did not get enough serious attention were male victims. Recently, there’s been a lot of buzz generated for the Bridgerton series (based on the novels by Julia Quinn) on Netflix, spearheaded by none other than Shonda Rhimes. It’s a historical romance set around the Bridgerton aristocratic family in Regency England.

One of the major devices that Quinn uses to move her plot along is that Simon, the Duke of Hastings (Daphne’s husband), does not want children because of his own traumatic childhood. Daphne, on the other hand, desperately wants children. It is bad enough that Daphne manipulates the Duke into marrying her by declaring that others saw them in a compromising situation. …

Although there are more indications for each of these herbs, I’ve only listed what they’re used for in postpartum recovery. This is a quick list of some of the benefits to the ingredients used in the Hmong postpartum chicken diet.

Non-commercial chickens:

Probably the key ingredient to the chicken diet is a free-range, non-commercial chicken that someone in your family has lovingly butchered for you. There are some real benefits to eating this non-commercialized chicken.

1. No added growth hormones or antibiotics in the chicken’s diet, which means that you get the benefit of the chicken’s natural growth without absorbing extra hormones. …

Depression and PTSD is not one size fits all, despite how the societal narrative makes it sound. You may feel some of the symptoms or all of the symptoms but rarely are there two identical cases. For me, at the height of my depression, I felt utter hopelessness. I was drowning and even though my brain told me to fight, my heart — my will — just couldn’t. It was a battle against myself as well as against others.

Every morning, I’d wake up and my brain would say, “Come on, Yia, just get out of bed. Swing your legs over and stand up. You can do this.” I’d tell myself, “Today, I’m going to work on my resume. Today, I’m going to look for work. Today, I’m going to be productive.” Every morning started with a pep talk, but my environment would still pull me back under. …

My grandfather was a medic in the Secret War. It ran from 1961 to 1975, mostly in parallel with the Vietnam War. At one point, he’d been lost down the Mekong River, swept by the dark currents as he was ferrying others across. My uncles searched for him for days down river, dodging the Pathet Lao the entire time. After a week, they took grandpa for dead, but miraculously, a few months later, he found his way back to their village. …