american Tag

There has and always will be a lot of talk surrounding any film that attempts to paint a narrative of the United States’ armed engagements over the past decade or so. American Sniper is no exception. My problem? Everyone and their mother has something pretentiously groundbreaking to say about the goals of this film. There’s the, “Chris Kyle is an American hero and his efforts have been glorified with the help of Clint Eastwood,” contingency. Then, there’s the, “This film only points out the inevitable failure of the United States’Read More

Yesterday, I Skyped a girl I have never met, yet a girl I have been speaking to every day for four years. She lives in England and is starting her first year of university this month. She occasionally sends me sparkly stickers and British jewelry, and I whimsically mail over cards covered in amateur doodles of cartoon animals. I watched as she picked out a prom dress, I listened to her rants about her qualms and insecurities, I told her dumb jokes to alleviate the stress of exam season. SheRead More

I come from a long line of proud, Chinese-born and Chinese-raised relatives, but I am the first one to be born in the United States. Despite living in a suburban Bostonian home, I was raised on scallion pancakes and rice, torturous Chinese lessons every Saturday, and stereotypical Asian values. Every dinner was a lecture about how fortunate I was not live in a poverty-stricken communist country. Grades were always held as a number one priority, even before health and sanity. My Chinese school and group of family friends were alwaysRead More