Race and Culture
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learning. reading. writing.
I’m still trying to read as much as possible. Below is a highlight of what I’ve read in the last couple of months. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee – I had to check out what all the fuss was about. It really took me back to watching Korean dramas with my parents as a kid, but in the form of an epic novel. Becoming by Michelle Obama – who can say anything bad about Michelle Obama? I can’t. This was a great example of a famous person’s memoir and I think I’ve learned a lot from the writing of it. The Leavers by Lisa Ko – Whoa. Read this book.…
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When Headlines Affect Mental Health
There was yet another shooting in America yesterday. https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/29/us/gilroy-california-food-festival-shooting-victims/index.html? This beautiful 6-year-old, Stephen Romero, was at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California with his mom and grandma when he was killed by a random shooter. This photo could be of my little boy, who is nearly the same age. This is my worst fear about living in the US. When I worked at a large liberal corporation in a landmark building in the PNW, I lived in perpetual fear of a shooting at work. My child was attending daycare in that same building. Panicking any time there was an unexpected drill, I’d fly down 7 flights of stairs, heart pounding,…
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Social Media in a Time of Political Upheaval
My social media feeds have been all over the place lately. Normally a smattering of mental health-related posts, some good articles here and there, but mostly pictures of my kid or my dog — but now, during the border crisis, it all seems ill-fitting and jarring. The images of migrants seeking asylum locked in cages, caked in filth, haunts my mind constantly. As I live my charmed life in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, my guilt continues to grow. Why should I be able to carry on, while innocent children at our border suffer? This is a drop-everything-and-scream-for-action type of emergency, yet we carry on. All of us look away sometimes…
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This 4th of July, I’m Furious
I have been a patriotic American since I have naturalized at the age of 16, after immigrating with my family when I was 9. Though my politics have always been progressive, I often shrugged off criticisms of the US government. “People don’t realize how good we have it and how bad it could get,” was my philosophy, happy to be among the privileged relishing in my civil rights and human rights. Before immigrating, my family ran a bathhouse in South Korea near a university. I remember when the Wanted posters went up. They posted one in our entryway. I studied the photos that were clearly college student ID pictures. Fresh…
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Michelle Yang, Writer
Having worked with professional copywriters in the creative industry for over 4 years and with gifted writers in the nonprofit sector for 6 years before that, I faced significant trepidation calling myself a “writer.” I was the organized one with the business sense: a marketer, a producer, a project manager. Not a professional “creative.” As someone who’s suffered from imposter syndrome my whole life, this is no easy barrier to overcome. Still, I started writing because I was dedicated to a mission. To convince those newly diagnosed with mental health conditions that it is not a life sentence because a happy full like is still well within reach. This was…
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“Coming Out”
On Wednesday, May 1, 2019, I “came out” to the world about my mental health. My story, “My Mental Illness Did Not Prevent Me From Suceeding, But The Stigma Nearly Did” was published on a major outlet. I had pitched my story in early February and was over the moon when the editor responded later that month. I had been eagerly anticipating its publication ever since. There would be no turning back after this “Coming Out.” Sure, I had already told my story to my own social circles, but this was a national, even international, stage. I set out to tell my story to make myself an example, an advocate.…
- Bipolar, Career, Feminism, Happiness, Health, Parenthood, psychosis, Race and Culture, Uncategorized
My first podcast interview is live!
Listen here! How High Achievers Can Mask Mental Health Issues (s3e07) Michelle Yang was a very successful teenager on paper. Michelle was outgoing, earned excellent grades, and worked hard at her immigrant family’s small restaurant. Her constant battle with depression, anxiety and insomnia was less obvious to the world. The stigma against mental health conditions, especially within her family, prevented her from accessing proper help for years. Finally, while studying abroad during college, she suffered from a serious episode that led to her being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Michelle now wants to break that stigma and encourage others by sharing her own story of how a successful career, a happy…
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Before Me
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Parenthood
Parenthood saved me. Maybe not in the way you think. I was such a good Chinese daughter. I was “drinking the kool-aid” as my brother called it until I was about 30 years old. All growing up, my parents would scold me and say, “You will understand when you become a parent yourself.” The irony is, when I was finally ready to become a parent, that’s when I stopped drinking the kool-aid. Stopped being a “good daughter.” I finally drew the boundaries I needed to stop the patterns of abuse. Preparing for parenthood made me reflect deeply on the type of parent I wanted to be and it was…
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PSYCHO
My nickname in high school was not cute. It’s not something I can laugh about even today, nearly 20 years later. It was a name that stung, what people called me when my back was turned. PSYCHO I would show up to school crying non-stop, having gone weeks without sleep. I was a top student in the class, yet I’d doodled on my final exams instead of answering any questions. I screamed at my best friend during class with a bunch of nonsense. It hurts because the nickname was accurate. I hadn’t slept in weeks. I was having a psychotic episode. I had not been diagnosed with anything. My family…
