The day I took my U.S. naturalization oath five years ago, I was disappointed by the judge’s demand that everyone should speak English. It was…
Category: “What’s Your Normal?” Essays
Stories from APALA members on insights into their identities and what is “normal” for them.
My earliest memory of something being both Asian and Latino and cool was when Kogi BBQ hit the L.A. food scene with its Korean taco…
Depression became a normal part of my everyday vocabulary when I was twelve. I remember Newsweek did a cover story on Prozac back then. Upon…
The month of May is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month. I will start off with that. What I want to say is that I follow the…
It’s a Mad World. Webster’s Dictionary defines “normal” as conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern. It seems that this definition of “normal” could…
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t–you’re right.” ~ Henry Ford “Everyone has a purpose in life. Perhaps yours is watching television.”…
When I was asked to write this article, I had no clue what to write about. My everyday life is just like everyone else’s. I…
One of the joys of being mixed-race is that for a lot of people, my face is an open invite for them to approach and…
During the 2012 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Dallas, Texas, David Lankes led a two-day conversation on empowering our communities to seek, define, and use our…
The concept of “normal” is filled with ideas we often take for granted. It is also filled with anxieties about measuring up to those ideas,…