What a beautiful essay. I've been spending a lot of time lately digging through and restoring some of my mother's and my paternal grandmother's old photos, and when asked why this had become so important to me I quoted: "A recipe for cultural catharsis: Interview the prior generation. Open yourself to a flood of memories, good and bad, re-experienced in real-time. Go through boxes of old photos together. You might feel a sense of rooted belonging." Of course, one's own family memories can provide a sense of belonging, but so can reading a piece written by someone from another culture, time and place. Thank you for sharing it.
Like you, Alicia, it touched on so many of the topics that light my brain up! I'm also someone that will always always be drawn in by writing touching on these questions of identity, belonging, displacement, food, grief, untangling family history to better understand them and myself, feeling like an outsider and trying to find ways to use that as a strength rather than fall into some sort of victim mode etc etc etc.
I'm so glad of this monthly opportunity to discover new (to me!) voices and writing. This wonderful writing inspired me to click into Christoph's newsletter, and I laughed out at the bio of: a mixed kid making it their entire personality. Cos, same but without wanting to admit that I do that lol
This is gorgeous!
What a beautiful essay. I've been spending a lot of time lately digging through and restoring some of my mother's and my paternal grandmother's old photos, and when asked why this had become so important to me I quoted: "A recipe for cultural catharsis: Interview the prior generation. Open yourself to a flood of memories, good and bad, re-experienced in real-time. Go through boxes of old photos together. You might feel a sense of rooted belonging." Of course, one's own family memories can provide a sense of belonging, but so can reading a piece written by someone from another culture, time and place. Thank you for sharing it.
I enjoyed this so much.
Like you, Alicia, it touched on so many of the topics that light my brain up! I'm also someone that will always always be drawn in by writing touching on these questions of identity, belonging, displacement, food, grief, untangling family history to better understand them and myself, feeling like an outsider and trying to find ways to use that as a strength rather than fall into some sort of victim mode etc etc etc.
I'm so glad of this monthly opportunity to discover new (to me!) voices and writing. This wonderful writing inspired me to click into Christoph's newsletter, and I laughed out at the bio of: a mixed kid making it their entire personality. Cos, same but without wanting to admit that I do that lol
The way the “recipes” pepper this piece!
A lovely essay! Beautifully written!
I really enjoyed this!
i loved this so much
🫶