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October 20 was the first Diwali I have experienced without my dadi. And it was one of many signs that made me question the extent of my faith.
You know when you close your eyes, travel back to that one moment in time, the one that feels so real you can smell it, hear it and feel its warmth in the air? For me, that moment has always been Christmas.
Looking around at our impromptu and day-late Diwali celebration, I began to understand how growing up doesn’t have to mean leaving home behind. It means learning how to rebuild it wherever you go, translating rituals instead of replacing them.
With college, I hoped to fix every disappointment I had in myself. No need to worry, reader: I won’t provide you with a long list of my weaknesses. Over the years, I have concluded that every single insecurity I have about myself, in some shape and form, connects to one major issue: my public speaking anxiety.
I ask myself this question nearly every day. Ironically, back in December, I had nearly convinced myself that I would get in. My favorite procrastination strategy was to pull up the graph for Hopkins on Scoir, see my star land in the green-ish area, and think, “Maybe I have some hope.”
While I like to consider myself an honest person, I’ve realized lately that I’m often dishonest with myself. If a near-stranger were to ask me about my fears or my childhood, I’d hardly hesitate before answering with the truth. I’ve never been one to fear saying too much.
When your family lives in a different time zone, you learn to measure Home not by distance, but by hours.
Fifteen minutes a day. That’s it. After that time elapses — whether it’s all at once or in smaller, two minute segments — a gray hourglass fills up my screen and white sand trickles through. No more scrolling for today.
A myriad of competing voices constantly tell the story of immigration in the United States. Statistics reduce immigrants to a set of numbers. Politicians turn them into talking points. Yet, for millions of immigrants, the struggle and difficulty of seeking asylum or moving to the U.S. is not a debate, but a lived reality — a choice made out of necessity and hope.
You’ve got a midterm today. And another tomorrow, and a paper due the next, maybe even two. Maybe even a presentation or a lab report to go with that. You start to think that maybe your professors came together to discuss the best way to suffocate you with the most oppressive workload their evil genius minds can come up with.
Like a horse with a broken leg, I have come to face my own death sentence: I am a poet uncomfortable unpacking emotion.
It’s not that I’m ashamed of being Vietnamese — now at least. Growing up was a different story. I really don’t want to frame this piece like another “I grew up in a predominantly white area and I had no one that looked like me,” because that’s not real.
Last year around this time, I shared the secret weapon I had discovered in my lifelong battle with a stutter: the beat. The relentless, driving rhythm of a hip-hop track was more than music — it was a blueprint for fluency. I could speak with a force and clarity that felt both superhuman and, somehow, like the most authentic version of myself.
There are 8.5 billion people on planet Earth. It is, thus, astonishingly unlikely ever to find your true soulmate: that elusive other half, that person who makes you feel whole.
I picked the show because I didn’t want to watch anything I’d get too drawn into and want to binge, and it didn’t look like the kind of thing I’d actually want to watch. Four years later, I spent this summer at the edge of my seat, worrying that the main character would pick the wrong brother.
To anyone else who feels like they’re drowning in deadlines: You are not alone. This place can be heavy, yes, but it’s not just about the pressure. It’s about the people who stand beside you in the dining hall after a brutal exam, the friend who texts to check in, the quiet moments of laughter that cut through the noise.
The highly unusual pursuit of baring one’s soul to a machine might not be the most adventurous way to spend a Saturday afternoon, but it may very well have been the most rewarding. With legs lazily propped up on the wooden bench accompanying the Mudd Hall windows, I anxiously anticipate the logic behind my greatest weakness. I received a succinct, even personal response.
Am I doing this right? This question trailed me throughout high school, as I revised a single email twelve times or stared blankly at my math test. As an overthinker, I let that mantra play on repeat.
I wait outside of Remsen 101 at 9:49 a.m. Once the clock reads 9:50 a.m., the students from the room flush out, some munching on their breakfast, sipping their coffee, talking to friends, some waving at those waiting in the hallway. I patiently wait until I can trickle inside, then I find my seat and set up my laptop and tablet.
Scattered amongst the alleys of my hometown’s characteristic brick houses are its numerous hole-in-the-wall convenience stores. Finding them requires a good eye and a lot of patience. With their rusted storefronts and yellowing strip curtains, they’re often built as extensions of family homes, and even referring to them as “stores'' is rather generous. Instead, we affectionately call them “Xiao Mai Pu,” which translates to “small concession stand.”
