Housing Stability Changed My Life
My mom, my six siblings, and I moved into a homeless shelter in Brooklyn in February 2021. It was a shelter for families with children, and the apartment they put us in was horrible. The walls had graffiti and mold on them, the floors looked like they’d never been cleaned, and you could hear rats […]
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Reunion Is Only the Beginning
The cold and quiet Bangladesh airport filled with my loud cries as I was taken away from my loving mom’s arms and placed into those of a tense and muscular man. I was 4 years old, and his arms felt unfamiliar even though he was my dad. I couldn’t stop crying, yearning for my mom […]
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Proud Parents of This Great Kid
My mom called me to dinner. I swallowed thickly and emerged from my room, faintly practicing the lines I had prepared. It was the winter of 8th grade, and Christmas music was playing. Feeling light in my chair, as though I was going to fall out of it, I cleared my throat and told my […]
Read MoreFace to Face With Grief
I heard my mom talking on the phone to my uncle, her brother. Her voice was quiet, a cracked whisper I had never heard her use. “When?” Then she turned to me and switched to Cantonese: “Mommy died. She died last night. The nurse called me just now. Mommy died. She died in her sleep.” […]
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