Originally published 9/01/2010 New York, NY. To some, Mei Rong Song might seem like an unlikely hero. She’s owns a flower shop in Chinatown’s East Broadway Mall. She’s a mother of three in her late 30s, who doesn’t let her limited English prevent her from being outgoing and talkative. But…

(Published originally on Spoonwiz.com — a literary food blog that has unfortunately shuttered.) Aug 2, 2013 Editor: Elizabeth McKenzie My sister gingerly sprinkled tiny globs on her plate of rice, ground chicken and vegetables. She was careful not to look too close. I dropped a larger spoonful of hăng hơdŏm…

Many moons ago, I lived with a local Vietnamese family and taught English in Ho Chi Minh City. For my first celebration of Tết, I learned a few customs for attracting luck — sweep your room, adorn family altars with fresh fruit, and wear red. Less clear, however, was what…

A question a writer gets is “why?” Why write? Why agonize over paragraphs, sentences, or the decision to choose one word over another? Why surrender your free time to the obsession of articulating why? I wrote these words in a forum as an intro, but I think they do a…

I attended 2017 AWP conference in February, and checked out the panel, In Praise of Junot Diaz and Claudia Rankine: Furthering the MFA vs. POC and AWP 2016 Keynote Conversations. The speakers were Allen Gee, David Mura, Faith Adele, Christine Hyung-Oak Lee and Marcus Burke. …