Mindy's Blog

I am fluent in Mandarin, and know little Cantonese. From a young age I could distinguish the two languages by the tone of speaking- I thought Cantonese sounded like angry temple bells, while Mandarin sounded like the firm waves of an ocean. I never thought too much about the two languages, until I actually came […]

Although I need to wear glasses with a particularly strong prescription (blame my genes), I don’t find myself ever confusing two different people. Especially not when they stand right in front of me, face to face. That’s why it was strange for me to be called the name of my much shorter friend of a […]

I was told from a young age that MSG, or monosodium glutamate, is terribly bad for your health. My mom would cook up these delicious black bean noodles and tell me all about her recipe and the way she meticulously prepared everything. But then, she would brag a little, making it clear that she didn’t […]

Recently, I went on a trip with my family to Japan to visit some relatives. Spending time with family and getting a glimpse into the daily lives of people who live in Japan gave me a fresh perspective on how different our habits and lifestyles are. I noticed a lot of these differences in the […]

When I first moved to Washington in 2018, my mom and I would frequent a small nail salon for manicures in our free time. It was a small, beautifully decorated place owned by a sweet Vietnamese couple. When I found out that this place closed a couple years later, I realized how truly hard these […]

Every culture in Asia has its own unique preferences and traditions, and the flavors I and many others grew up with are now spreading across the States. To see the same flavors that have been with me throughout my entire life, even when I lived in China, was a huge comfort. I remember coming across […]

My aunt, who permanently stays in Japan with her grandson, can usually be seen on the couch in her living room, watching live streams on her beige-colored iPad. It’s not often I see her, yet that sight always brings a smile to my face. Her usual feed is populated by fruit and vegetable sellers, (she’s […]

Frantz Fanon is a renowned philosopher known for his work on decolonization and racism. His description of the objectification of colonized cultures is reminiscent of cultural appropriation of Asian cultures, indicating the intrinsically tyrannical nature of colonization and the confinement of Asian cultures into stereotypes. In Franz Fanon’s work Racism and Culture, which portrays the […]

This photo above shows me holding up a crab from the store that we buy all of our seafood from. My dad staunchly refuses to buy seafood from anywhere else- whether it be Costco’s or even the Asian supermarkets populating Washington, he insists that this is where the real deal is. Before immigrating to the […]

As a high school student who frequently uses socials, whether it be TikTok or Instagram, one thing that stood out to me since I first came to the US was the lack of AAPI representation in the media. But living in Los Angeles, a state with a high Asian population, it felt as though their […]