Mary H.K. Choi

Your mom is the first person you fall in love with, so it's loaded forever and carries all this baggage. There's almost always a communication barrier in place. In my case it's a language and cultural barrier, but other times, it's because your mother's love is conditional or because you're fundamentally different.

Jockeying for a popularity position has been a valorized teen tradition since the notion of a discrete teen stage of life was invented.

I was born in Korea and left before my first birthday.

I was born in Korea and left before my first birthday.