In this interview, food writer Bettina Makalintal reflects on finding her voice, the trendification of ube, and why she’d rather not refer to Filipino cuisine — or any cuisine — as “the next big thing.”
identity
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Fugitive and the Chameleon
“Mario’s father had gone by many names. Luis Archuleta. Lawrence Pusateri. The man the son knew as Ramon was just a fraction of his way into what may be one of the longest fugitive runs in U.S. history — a 50-year game of cat-and-mouse that played out across the West, from the streets of Colorado […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Native Scholar Who Wasn’t
“Academia is an industry, like journalism, that defines itself in large part by its ethical standards; we’re supposed to educate people and produce knowledge. So what does it mean that we’re also a haven for fakes?”
Posted inCulture, Essays & Criticism, Highlight, Nonfiction, Quotes, Uncategorized, Writing
Listen to the Sound of My Voice
How a journalist found her voice as her mother lost hers.
Posted inEditor's Pick
A Cultural History of Racial Fraud
What does it mean to perform race for a white audience?
Posted inEditor's Pick
Shortcuts to Identity: How We Tell Asian American Stories
“When it comes to bubble tea and Amy Tan, I’ve taken different stances, but the two have much in common. They’ve both become shorthands of some vaguely ‘Asian American thing.’”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The True Story of Jess Krug, the White Professor Who Posed as Black for Years—Until It All Blew Up Last Fall
“She fabricated harrowing personal backstories, peddled gross caricatures, and spoke from perspectives she had no right to claim. And nobody stopped her.”
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Highlight, Quote Posts, Quotes
‘My Tongue Swallowing the Taste of Home Soil’: On Filipino Food, Family, and Identity
“Far from our barrios, mountains, and islands, we cook, so that we may practice swallowing our undesirable truths, acidic and blood-heavy.”
Posted inHighlight, Nonfiction, Quotes, Science & Nature
There She Goes: How to ‘Feminize’ a Face
How a trans woman found the surgery that could restore her sense of self.
Posted inEditor's Pick
He, She, One, They, Ho, Hus, Hum, Ita
Amia Srinivasan on language and pronouns: “Language is a public system of meaning. No individual can unilaterally decide what a word means, or whether any given word, according to standard usage, truly describes them. And yet the definitions of words – as any lexicographer will tell you – depend on patterns of actual human usage, […]