““Chinese” in blood and “American” in birth, my life has been defined by these two at once conflicting, at once coexisting words. In my first attempts to navigate my dual identities, I encountered classic, Fresh-Off-The-Boat-style difficulties: disparaging remarks on my mom’s lunches, the particular sort of ‘othering’ that comes with the phrase “that Chinese girl,” and the occasional slur. It can be tempting to see the ‘Chinese’ in ‘Chinese American’ as a sort of unwanted epithet that threatens one’s ‘American’ status. I used to struggle with reconciling my dual identities; but now, I realize that perhaps no reconciliation is needed. I can hold the totality of both within me, and be all the richer for it. I come from thousands of years of Chinese ancestry but live in a nation of just a couple hundred. I find my understanding of the world is so much broader and more fruitful given the intersection of my identities.

My identity is my life — but it does not define my life. Where I go and what I do is entirely of my own
prerogative: and yet, it will always by wonderfully shaped and colored by these two words: “Chinese” and
“American.””