Essay

ESSAYS

Drum Head: Playing Through My Chronic Pain

But pain and pleasure intertwine in playing the drums, much as they do elsewhere in life. CATAPULT

Illustration of honey walnut shrimp on a plate on a blue table with yellow chopsticks

The Meaning of a Dish: Honey Walnut Shrimp

The Chinese American dish that isn’t, really. RESY

Illustration of a faceless person holding two hands to their face. To either side of them are volumes of books that say things like "diary"

Pain in the Brain

A column on life with a chronic headache. CATAPULT

An illustration of a bowl of queso by John Blanchard

When Authenticity Means a Heaping Plate of Tex-Mex

What does authentic mean, anyway, when cuisines migrate and adapt with people? SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Illustration of a woman with long black hair and her head in her hand by Olivia Waller.

Towards Chinatown

On the possibility of losing of my mother — and the loss of my mother tongue. LONGREADS

Photo of six children napping on a floor, each on their own pillow.

Stress Purchase of the Week: The Perfect Muji Sleepwear

How one fresh pair of PJs upgraded this writer’s sleep aesthetic. SHONDALAND

Illustartion of a storekeeper looking out a window at mountains. On the shelf next to him are bags of chips.

Counter Revolution

My grandparents from China risked everything to start a humble grocery store in an unlikely place — and changed my family forever. SOUTHWEST: THE MAGAZINE

Photo of three people pushing a boat in knee-high water. Inside the boat are a woman and two children with a blanket around them.

Houston, a Love Letter

I write this from California, 1,900 miles away from my hometown, as I watch the devastation of Hurricane Harvey unfold. VOGUE

Photo illustration of a Filet-O-Fish sandwich

Filet-O-Comfort

My immigrant family made an American fast-food staple their own. SHONDALAND

Photo of a monument with Japanese characters on it at Manzanar. There are snow-capped mountains in the background.

Walking In Their Footsteps at a Former Japanese Internment Camp

I wanted to see Manzanar with my own eyes, so that my understanding of history might feel deeper through the experience of place. NPR

Illustration of a person in a blue swim suit in the water. The perspective is under water.

To Swim Is to Endure: On Living With Chronic Pain

If I don’t swim, the pain grows. If I’m in more pain, what will become of my life? CATAPULT

CREATIVE NONFICTION

A woman with dark hair holding a coat over an arm. She is in the bottom of a art installation that looks like the bottom of a pool.

The Aunties at the YMCA

The aunties at the YMCA DGAF. JELLYFISH REVIEW