Arrivals and Departures

What Does It Mean to Be “Made” Somewhere?

In Italy, I learned to stop searching for an authentic, fixed self, or an automatic kinship with the Chinese diasporic community—especially in a globalized world.

Jul 06, 2021
My Own Personal Contagion

My German cockroach infestation, almost too good a pandemic allegory, forced me to confront the question of how much I could bear from New York City.

Oct 26, 2020
My Higher Power Is an Airport

The forces of air travel are virtually unknowable and immense, and we ourselves are small. I find a sort of peace in that.

Leaving on a Jet Plane: On Life in Airports and Coming Home

The temporary thrill of flying around the world without consequence.

Dec 02, 2016
The Accidental City

“I navigate New York by means of accumulated memory.”

Oct 27, 2016
Driving to Nowhere

“The car was a sanctuary, the only place that fully offered an escape.”

Sep 28, 2016