Im From

Where #ImFrom: A secret war

By Haylee Thikeo

You ask me, “Where are you from?” and begin guessing with China and Korea. After going through a list of Asian countries, you somehow end up at Hawaii. In a desperate attempt, you tell me I look Hawaiian to try to prove you know me.

Where #ImFrom: Both sides of the hyphen

By Ngozi Onike

I spent most of my childhood navigating two cultures. I grew up in South Bronx with Nigerian parents who never taught me to speak their Igbo dialect, but expected me to understand it. I was taught to greet my elders with…

Where #ImFrom: Not like Jackie Chan

By Michelle Huynh

In fifth grade, one of my classmates asked me where I was from. I told him I was from Santa Clara. He wasn’t satisfied with my answer. I told him I was from California. He wasn’t happy with that, either. I told him I was…

Where #ImFrom: This land right here

By Pamela J. Peters

Where am I from? I am indigenous to this land. I was born and raised on the Navajo Tribal Reservation in New Mexico and Arizona, where Indian life revolves around family, clans and community, where our native language is…

Where #ImFrom: A genetic roll of the dice

By Delondra Williams

My background is mixed, and my skin is light brown, so I look like everything. People aren’t sure whether I’m black, Middle Eastern, Italian, Indian or what. People from almost every ethnicity assume I am one…

Where #ImFrom: A diagnostic question

By Anh Ho

As a doctor, I get some of the most personal questions: Is it serious? How long do I have to live?

But there’s one question I get more than any other: Where are you from?

Where #ImFrom: Real-life aliens

By Matthew Claiborne

I was 10 years old when someone first asked me, “Where are you from?” The incident took place in a tiny Louisiana river town. I was playing in a city league basketball league and my predominantly black team found ourselves…

Where #ImFrom: Struggle for satisfaction

By Armand Cuevas

In Japan, more so than in America, I am reminded that I am not white.

The question of “Where are you from?” in a place as diverse as California was almost always innocuously aimed at your…

Where #ImFrom: Swinging identities

By Christopher James

Florida, where I grew up, is an entrapping place. It might be the humidity, the cheap rent or the many minimum-wage jobs, but people who move there tend to stay there, and I don’t think it’s purely by choice.

Where #ImFrom: Not an exotic object

By Winnie Wong

The cashier at the wine store around the corner from my Boston apartment asks the question as he rings me up.

“Where are you from?”