Not Who I Pictured

My parents’ marriage is so weird that I still kind of look at it and go, “huh?” They say it’s a product of time and circumstance, which…

I’ve come to look at perfection as an infection, a hereditary condition that’s found its way from my mother’s genes to mine. I am not…

Every time Dad came home, the place was different. The studio where we lived on the second floor of an old building felt even tinier…

When Tino DeAngelis died, my grandmother called my mother and mentioned his death, and that there wasn’t a funeral or a wake for him. My…

My grandfather wanted to be a soldier but he was too young so his brother Peter helped him. Peter took his birth certificate and smudged…

If her mother hadn’t died when she was six, the family would have stayed in Paris. She would have been raised a proper French girl and…

Memory is an act of perception, but when summoned, my memory provides bullshit. I was eight when this photograph was taken, and all I…

“Faye,” my Aunt Kathy called out to my mother as we sifted through the boxes of photos in my recently deceased grandmother’s spare bedroom…

His name is Rip. I know that because, well, it’s none of my business. Why someone took a picture of this boy in a button-down on a…

I never planned on betraying my grandmother. It definitely wasn’t deliberate, I think. Then again, most betrayal, I’d like to believe, is…

My Great-Grandmother Ly was used to being alone. And when her husband died after a tumultuous life of alcoholism, she carried on with her…

I often wonder how much of the desire to uncover details about my ancestors is actually about them at all. I have joined the family-history…

The hospital called my grandfather when she died, just as he had arranged. He knew she was failing rapidly and so kept calling to check on…

Where I’m from, you can choose your name. You can choose the name you will be remembered by, but it comes with a responsibility. My…

By the time I met Mr. Negandhi, the family home had been crumbling for years. My parents and I were seated in his office as his assistant…

I discovered the photograph of my Great Uncle Tham Hoang Tin after I asked to see one of my great grandmother. I had seen the photo on her…