IDENTITY

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Happy Monday everyone! It’s been a turbulent and exciting time for America since the presidential election result was announced a few weeks ago. I won’t touch too much on the topic of politics since we’re all very sensitive when it comes to this subject. However, I am a first generation Taiwanese-American female living in the US, and my priorities and values may differ from a lot of other people across the country. I guess I’ll tell a sap story that might uplift some of you that are going through an identity crisis. I don’t mean split personality or anything, but I’m going to talk about race. Yeah, that identity.

My family and I immigrated to the US when I was only four years old. We lived in a very small town outside of Raleigh, NC, and there were maybe 5 other asian families that lived within a 25 mile radius of us. I remember walking into my pre-k class and the kids laughed and teased at the fact that I couldn’t speak English and my facial features were so different than theirs. Talk about a traumatic first day of school.

Within a couple of years we moved to a suburb outside of Dallas, TX. Things didn’t get much better. The teasing stuck with me all the way through high school. I did everything I could to “fit in”. I joined the cheerleading squad, dyed my hair blonde (more like orange) or got blonde highlights, wore colored contacts, and rejected anything that was tied to my Taiwanese heritage.

Flash forward to 2009 when I moved to Los Angeles. What an eye opening experience. There were asians of all sorts…EVERYWHERE, ANYWHERE. I was suddenly entranced by the asian culture. Not just Chinese, but Korean and Japanese. I wanted to learn more about my culture, my ancestors, my heritage. Me. I wanted to know everything I’ve pushed away and denied for the bulk of my life.

I recently visited the motherland, and I love everything that Taiwan has to offer. I’ve come to embrace anything and everything that makes me, me. The point of this blog post is this: love thyself. No matter your origin, skin color, sexual preference or religion. There will always be haters and kids that tease. This is a time for us to support and love one another. It’s so much easier to be nice than to be mean. Don’t be mean. Love y’all!