Writing is my coping device in grasping an identity that feels like laundry list of exceptions: Asian American but not Chinese, Japanese, Korean or South Asian; technically of Vietnamese heritage but not ethnically; Spanish-speaking but not Hispanic; model minority with an Asian mother who never cared about report cards; lovechild of a Vietnam war bride but with a non-veteran father, etc. I'm a memoirist in the throes of articulating my mother's story -- the greatest enigma in my life. I write because I looked for mirrors in books, and instead found endless windows -- frames framing frames for looking out or inwards. The brilliant Toni Morrison said, “if there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." Here we are.