So you’re not a superhero. You get frustrated when you mix up verb tenses. You can’t cross the street without saying a small prayer. You’re not conventionally attractive, by American or Bengali standards. You stall in your writing – and your reading and your half-made plans. You take off your kameez one shoulder at a […]
Traveling is a sensory overload. I’m winding down on my international tour through Spain, France, Italy, Greece, and Turkey. In a few days, I’ll be back with family in Bangladesh trying to build a whole ‘nother life on the subcontinent (though I’m sure my compulsions — book buying, tea drinking, and writing about people in […]
I’ve had a bit of downtime from working on events — the last major one was the huge success of the Feminist Zine Fest (you should definitely check out the photos and interviews with our rock star zinesters that I put up). It’s taken me a few weeks to recover from having worked on an […]
Brown dog with ears up peering out of shadowed doorway. The skin of my hands; the skin of her back; the beat in my chest; the long pause. Her breath, shuddering. There are so many things I found impossible to put into words last year. I massage a woman’s back with a feather-light touch as […]
For the second half of this month, I put up a firm “On Vacation” sign and put my NYC life on hold. Back to the west coast, back to my family, and back to reading a book a day. So much of my past few months have been about producing — more workshops, more writing, […]
I’ve finally landed in Seattle, after several high-octane weeks – writing, working, interviewing, and speaking. Spending time with my family has been a nice change of pace; downtime really feels like downtime when in the Pacific Northwest, unlike when I take a few moments to close my eyes every night in NYC. In celebration of […]
It’s little late for Mother’s Day, but I’ve collected some of my scattered thoughts about the concept of ‘mothering’, inspired by a Tweet that me and my friend Amanda Zhang put together. I have been thinking about how complicated Mother’s Day is as a holiday. Some of us were not raised by our mothers or […]
“How do you honor people in your pieces?” I asked two different poets these past few weeks. I’ve been struggling with this question as I think about writing and publishing more publicly. I always have ownership over my own stories, even when they include other people – family members, friends, and people who look suspiciously […]
Hey all! Remember when I said I was doing a reading? Well, the reading happened last Saturday and it was amazing. I was so honored to be amongst such passionate folks — writers, listeners, and organizers — that cared about disrupting stereotypic narratives of Bengali life and art. It was also amazing to be in […]
This week, As[I]Am (my emerging Asian American social justice online magazine) released its first themed issue, on “Resistant Bodies”! Other than being wildly ecstatic that we have finished up the editorial process, it has made me reflect on the growth of As[I]Am since I founded it last year: Even in this short year, there were […]