Letter to My Imaginary Daughter

I wrote about mothers and daughters and the myths that animate our lives: The Little Mermaid, Psyche, Persephone and Inanna.

“I feel sympathy for Psyche, who is taken from her family and thrust into a bewildering new life, only to have that revoked as well. I, too, have experienced a double loss, shedding one culture for another halfway around the world, only to end up close to where I started but in a different kingdom entirely. New Jersey was nothing like Taiwan. Hong Kong was nothing like New Jersey. Like Psyche in the wilderness, I have no guide to help me navigate my new surroundings. Being a third culture kid means being misunderstood and out of place, a seed planted in the wrong soil, swept up in a story that I didn’t choose. I spend years looking for an idea of “home” in somebody else, not realizing I need to seek it within myself first. Although I lack a template, I eventually build a life for myself, grain by grain.”

• Read the full essay in KHÔRA. I was chosen to be one of the first four writers to contribute to KHÔRA, a publication affiliated with Corporeal Writing that was launched in 2020.