Writer: Hang Yu To be honest, the little "mischiefs" I’ve pulled in English class could fill a whole mini drama. While others memorized words, I sneakily browsed Stranger Things fan art under my desk. While others practiced listening comprehension, I scribbled down Lady Gaga’s lyrics in my notebook. When it was time to hand in English homework? More often than not, I’d “forget to bring mine.” My poor English grades were never because I couldn’t learn it — deep down, I just t

Writer: Linhan He I never liked people watching me. In class, I sat in the back. On the playground, I found the quietest corner. When the teacher called my name, my face turned red before I even said anything. That was me – the girl who blushed first and talked second. So when Miss Nian said our class had to do the school's speech competition, my stomach dropped. It felt like she was pointing right at the thing I was most scared of. “Everyone needs to prepare a three-minute s

“As the Japanese saying goes, you get knocked down seven times but you get up eight times,” Al Muratsuchi told the Rafu Shimpo in early 2016. Two years earlier, he had lost his seat in the California State Assembly by 706 votes. Now he was running to win it back. I never interviewed Muratsuchi. Most people we write about aren’t public figures, but he has spent twelve years in the State Assembly, and he has talked about his life many times in community newspapers, candidate p

The future usually feels safest when it is far away. Reverse aging. AI writing software. Cryptocurrency replacing traditional payments. These are ideas I normally encounter through headlines, arguments, or science fiction. They seem close enough to imagine but distant enough that I do not have to seriously consider what living with them would mean. Then I found myself standing in an exhibition hall, surrounded by people trying to build them. The first conversation that truly

At school, Faith has somehow gained the title of “relationship advisor.” It is not an official position, and she definitely does not have a certificate hanging on a wall somewhere. The name mostly comes from the fact that people like talking to her about crushes, relationships, and everything that comes with them. If someone likes another person, has no idea what to text back, or is trying to figure out whether someone likes them, Faith is often one of the people they go to.

Why are people so afraid of an ordinary life? We are told to dream bigger, work harder, and become something more. A student should go to college. A worker should find a career. A person should keep moving upward. If someone stays in the same place for too long, we often assume that something must have gone wrong. But what if nothing went wrong? For Anthony, this question did not first appear as a philosophical question. It appeared as another normal day. Anthony is a janitor

“Do you actually think reading changes people?” Matt looked up from his phone. “What?” “Like actually changes them.” We were sitting after school, both of us not really doing anything. Matt had been scrolling for the past few minutes, and I had a book open in front of me that I had stopped reading. He looked at the cover. “You’re asking this while reading?” “That’s why I’m asking.” He laughed. “Okay. What do you mean by change?” “I don’t know. Actually change. People always s

Dress, Photo Credit: Allison Pan Why do people care so much about a dress? It is only cloth. It cannot speak, think, or remember. Still, people spend months searching for the right one, especially for a wedding. They want to be beautiful, of course, but perhaps they also want something more. They want to be seen in a certain way. For Cassat, this question did not first appear as a philosophical question. It appeared as a wedding dress. Cassat grew up in Utah. When she was

Competition Writer: Xichen Wang My Grandma's Hands, Artist: Allison Pan The first thing I see when I think of my grandma is her hands. They are not the soft, smooth hands of a young woman. They are wrinkled, dotted with faint age spots, and the skin is thin, like the pages of an old book that has been read too many times. But to me, those hands are the safest place in the world. They have held me through every storm, guided me through every uncertainty, and woven the quiet

Yielding to the world, for good reason, is much easier than standing against it. Narratives (which are often true) tell us about the harsh realities of our world: that perhaps hopes are impossible to fulfill; that perhaps your dream career just can’t sustain your life; that injustice is inherent to our human existence. This doesn’t mean one’s existence has to be miserable. Reconciliation is a recurring theme across our essays for good reason: many people are able to come to t

Juan was born in 1989 in California. His mother worked long hours cleaning offices, and his father was rarely home. From a young age,...

John was born in 1983 in Springfield, a mid-sized town in the Midwest. His mother worked as a nurse in a local hospital, and his father...

Bryant was born into modest circumstances, raised in a community where money was scarce but resilience was common. Looking back, he...

“At the end of the day,” Eric, a member of Yangzhong, China’s police team says slowly, “my job is to just follow orders.” Maneuvering...

Throughout all the interviews I’ve conducted, I’ve slowly come to notice one role which has repeatedly, yet inadvertently, found its way...

Evan’s life is likened to a vast ocean shrouded in fog, a metaphor for time. Older generations have mapped out their parts on how to sail...

Regarding how characteristics mask one’s histories, I agree. However, I want to go beyond that. Is this a good thing? Do the so-called...

Studies often show that casino employees usually experience a sense of moral dirtiness from running the games where gamblers may lose...

There are billions of different people in this world, and no one is ever the same throughout human history. Considering this situation,...