Monday Matter: Your weekly Foreign Bodies roundup
We have a giveaway winner! + Read this on transracial adoption, stealing cars and more
Every Monday, we’ll send Foreign Bodies readers a story (or six) we recently read and adored. This is also a chance to do some housekeeping and give shout-outs and all that jazz. Our Monday Matter roundups are available for both free and paying subscribers.
First things first
A little housekeeping
A big congrats to Keerthana V. of Nashville, the winner of our first-ever Foreign Bodies giveaway! Getting your I Was Their American Dream package together right now (with a couple of added surprises) and mailed out within the next few days. Thanks to everyone who participated! Look out for our next giveaway Tuesday. Remember: Paying subscriber entries count twice.
Speaking of paying subscribers…
As you know, I added the option to become a newsletter patron earlier this month and am so grateful to everyone who's opted in. The paywall doesn't go up until 2020 (Issue 14) but early subscribers help me gauge how many monthly hours I can afford to give and how many hours I can afford to allocate to pay my dedicated copyeditor. Unfortunately, I’m still quite short of my January 2020 goal. Want to help?
Here are some of our subscriber options:
If you’re a student or need an additional discount, please email me at 4nbodies@gmail.com and we’ll work something out!
We’re also always open to one-time donations. If your gift exceeds any of the above annual rates, we’ll automatically comp you a year’s subscription. Just send us a note and let us know about your gift!
Psst… any profits from our new lil online store on our new lil revamped website also directly fund Foreign Bodies:
Read this!
Stories we’re loving
The Trip (The New Yorker, Weike Wang): In this piece of short fiction, a Chinese-American woman and her Caucasian-American husband take a tour through China and visit her family, but the couple seems to slowly inch apart throughout the course of the trip. “He didn't think it was fear. He told her what he thought it was. Ignorance leads to fear, she said.” You can read here or even listen to Wang tell the story herself.
The Trauma of Transracial Adoption (YES! Magazine, JS Lee): As a child, Lee was told her Korean mother loved her so much “that on the day I was born, she took me to a police station in Seoul so that I may have a better life.” She was adopted into an affluent white family from the Boston burbs. “Everyone saw what I gained—two houses and two sisters born from two White Catholic parents—but not what I lost.”
I Would Steal a Car for You (Guernica, Martín Espada): I’ve only just discovered the poetry of Espada, and I’m hooked. The first stanza: “Papo stole a car so he wouldn’t be late for school, the first bell/and the last chapter of the book you taught in English class./He wanted to know how the story would end. His story ended/in handcuffs and jail, his gold star attendance record ruined.”
What Would A Woman of Color Do? (The Rumpus, Julie Sunyoung Chung): Immigrant parents who come to the United States often say, “‘My generation suffered so that my children and their children would not have to.’ How do we transcend generations of trauma and let go of our burdensome past?” This essay got to me.
In the news
Relevant news coverage that doesn’t really fall under our larger mission to de-stigmatize through personal storytelling, but is still essential reading for anyone who wants to stay up-to-date on immigrant/refugee mental health.
A Young Immigrant Has Mental Illness, And That's Raising His Risk of Being Deported: “José's son was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder last year and has faced barriers to getting affordable treatment, in part because he doesn't have legal status.” (Essential reporting from my fellow Carter Fellow and friend, Christine Herman. This was originally published in June, and recently featured on Weekend Edition).
Georgia's Center for Victims of Torture Fights Stigma To Provide Mental Health Care To Thousands in the U.S. and Around the World: A profile from Saporta Report’s Megan Anderson highlighting the Clarkston-based facility, which does important work with immigrants and refugees in metro Atlanta and beyond.
Bookshelf
Books and essays I’m currently reading (plus reader-recommended works!)
Currently (re)reading: Know My Name by Chanel Miller. I’m working on an essay for Electric Literature on a literary theme I keep noticing in my own real-life therapy and recovery: this idea that to heal, we must forage until there’s less and less to gather. It’s something Miller, who is white and Chinese American, describes beautifully in her memoir following the assault. And if you haven’t done so already, be sure to listen to her recent poetry reading at Glamour’s Women of the Year Awards.
Wrapping up: Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate. Got this book free via Audible and decided to give it a chance. A fictional narrative centered around true events involving the Tennessee Children's Home Society scandal, in which families were torn apart through illegal adoption and a corrupt orphanage. It was at times gut-wrenching and at other times, heartwarming. Overall, a compelling read. Or listen. Whatever!
Reader rec from Shannon Al-Wakeel: Shards by Ismet Prcic, a fiction book with nonfiction layers chronicling the life of a young Bosnian (also named Ismet Prcic) who flees his war-torn homeland and seeks to reconcile the past with his present life in California through storytelling.
Remember, we always have tons of wonderful stories and resources available at foreignbodies.net.
Love to see it
Shout-outs, thank-yous and more
Thanks for the love, Anjali! If you’re not reading Anjali’s insightful political columns over at ZORA yet, get to it!
Also, from one of my favorite essays by her in Southern Foodways, titled Soak the Beans:
“I’m losing my family recipes—in part because I never fully learned them, and in part because the people who knew them best have died or are too ill to teach me… Certainly, there is beauty inherent in the diaspora, in being a part of a family with roots that stretch across countries and continents. But there is also loss. Immigration unintentionally alters the fabric of a family’s cultural identity.”
And in the same vein, thanks to Shaban for the support and for always lifting my spirits, often when I least expect it! <3
I’m a mega fan of Vesna’s Immigrant Strong newsletter (latest issue here) and highly recommend you hit that subscribe button. So many good reads! Vesna is also an incredible writer herself.
And last but certainly not least, big ups to Jennifer for recommending the recent Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj segment on mental health. “One time I told my dad I was feeling sad, and he was like, ‘Drink water and pray.’” Lol, relatable. (Read our issue on faith x mental illness!) Watch the full Patriot Act segment here.
OK, that’s it for now. Did you absolutely hate this? Open to criticism and suggestions. See ya later!
Love,
Fiza