A year before I leave him for the last time, we take a trip together. Rachel is three, and we drive down to Maine in the summertime. By this time, I feel as though I am sleep-walking through the most … more »
It is mid-August and the air is nearly viscous when Hailey steps off the plane. Walking through the jet bridge, she’s not technically outside, but the heat and humidity are palpable even in this metal corridor, making sweat immediately break … more »
張 = Chuong/ to open up
媽媽 = Mother
爸爸 = Father
哥哥= Brother
清明 = Qingming Festival
金紙 = Joss Paper
拜神 = Pray
花桥 = Flower Bridge
An ambulance zips by the 張 family household, and I am … more »
Winter rushed in uninvited and unexpected. After one or two cold snaps in early December, the Welland Canal froze over. All ships, big and small, stood docked at the Port Dalhousie piers. Without tourists’ presence and sailors’ laughter, the port … more »
My mother and father would never let me keep a dog, but they let me take care of a bear cub.
The cub had the blackest fur, soft and coarse to the touch. It was about three or four weeks … more »
On the day Tarun discovered the papers that would change his life, it was also his daughter’s birthday. He couldn’t call to wish her happy birthday, only to hear her burbling through the static—back home, ten hours ahead, she would … more »
The laundry draped above me. The wires crossed the gap between one building and the next in the starless night. Air conditioning units sat fuming on sills, and my arms swam through the muggy air at every step, laden with … more »
Because she feared starving so much, my mother shopped three days a week at Costco, which meant that we hoarded food, and that eating was almost as essential as money. In our family, a large gift of cash was better … more »
I heard wearing black to weddings was inauspicious, so that must have been why I was vomiting into the hotel’s hydrangea bush while my brother kissed his bride five stories above. My father slapped my back as I coughed up … more »
A kilogram of boiled chickpeas, a few pinches of lemon salt, a whole lot more of kosher salt, a dash of tahini, ice as needed, and half a liter of olive oil: the recipe for Lebanese style hummus. I mixed … more »