Find some of my most recent essays on Following the Thread, my newsletter about motherhood and art. A few of my favorites:
- Against futility - on Tomie dePaola and the painful optimism of children's books
- An update form the garden - on Camille Dungy, Annie Dillard, and the scope of nature writing
- Practical magic - on process (in writing, caregiving, and knitting)
More Essays
On dusk - Black Warrior Review (2021 Nonfiction Contest winner), parts:whole
On knitting and inheritance - This Long Thread: Women of Color on Craft, Community, and Connection by Jen Hewett
On names and cultural identity - Zora
On ritual, religion, and anxiety - Exposition Review (Longreads Editors' Pick, Pushcart Prize nominee)
On comfort food - Shondaland (Included in the anthology Accolades)
On 'Crazy Rich Asians' and community - HelloGiggles
On watching Japanese reality show 'Terrace House' as a Japanese American - BuzzFeed News
On 'The Mindy Project,' and 'wrong' ways of expressing ethnic identity - Bitch Media
On cultural appropriation and wearing kimono while mixed-race - The Boston Globe
On making clothes by hand - HelloGiggles
On meeting my long-lost uncle - HelloGiggles
On disclosure - Discover Nikkei
On knitting and inheritance - This Long Thread: Women of Color on Craft, Community, and Connection by Jen Hewett
On names and cultural identity - Zora
On ritual, religion, and anxiety - Exposition Review (Longreads Editors' Pick, Pushcart Prize nominee)
On comfort food - Shondaland (Included in the anthology Accolades)
On 'Crazy Rich Asians' and community - HelloGiggles
On watching Japanese reality show 'Terrace House' as a Japanese American - BuzzFeed News
On 'The Mindy Project,' and 'wrong' ways of expressing ethnic identity - Bitch Media
On cultural appropriation and wearing kimono while mixed-race - The Boston Globe
On making clothes by hand - HelloGiggles
On meeting my long-lost uncle - HelloGiggles
On disclosure - Discover Nikkei
Poetry, etc.
"Where I'm From" - Best New Poets 2024 (University of Virginia Press)
"Leaving East Peoria" - Hobart After Dark
"Prayer" and "Our Toilet Has Googly Eyes" - Between the Lines 2021: An Anthology of Creative Writing (City Lit)
"Minerals" - Milk Candy Review
"El Scorcho" - Exposition Review
"Leaving East Peoria" - Hobart After Dark
"Prayer" and "Our Toilet Has Googly Eyes" - Between the Lines 2021: An Anthology of Creative Writing (City Lit)
"Minerals" - Milk Candy Review
"El Scorcho" - Exposition Review
Interviews
In-depth interviews with artists and makers—from novelists to cartoonists to a forager and the queen of punch-needle embroidery.
More
Reporting, cultural criticism, Los Angeles city guides, and more.
