What is home?
Writers and others in the diaspora reflect on their identities and relationships with places.
Issue #105
Hi all —
What is home?
To me, it’s a feeling.
When I land in my childhood Denver International Airport and see the spiky tents emerging from the wide open plains and the peaks of the Rocky Mountains in the distance, it feels like home. Or as I return to Northern California, where the plane teases the San Francisco Bay as it lands and the Pacific fog wraps the city’s skyline, it feels like home.
The concept of “home” is often a question many of us first- and second-generation folks sometimes face — especially as rhetoric continues to swirl around who “counts” as “American” here in the United States.
Most South Asian American families came to the U.S. after the 1965 Immigration Act abolished discriminatory quotas and opened up new possibilities, particularly from Asian nations, to immigrate and build a life in the U.S. in the decades that followed.
I’d like to share some recent reads that continue to explore that idea of home and our identity with places.
Journalist Ashwini Gangal’s new Substack — “I Live Here Now” — shares a series of interviews with Americans who moved to the United States at some point from somewhere else. I appreciate these interviews because they discuss a wide range of experiences of how people define home and create a new life in a new location.
“This series is based on a simple premise. That migration is an act of everyday bravery. Migration changes everything — our worldview, our character, our personality, our relationships, our ambitions, our identity, and our sense of time, place and home.”
Researcher/writer/cultural strategist/(and childhood friend) Sowmya Ramanathan wrote an open letter to India, after a recent three-week visit, that hits on relatable second-generation feelings about the complexities of connecting with your familial homeland.
“I’ve felt a mixture of resentment and longing for a more stable or secure connection. And I know now that grief is at the heart of it all: the grief of being unable to communicate, living impossibly far, being so different, and feeling unable to call you home. I know that this is all exacerbated when I see you fall so easily into and out of relationships with the people closest to me: my parents. Why have you never afforded me the same ease?”
Hope you enjoy these writings.
Thanks for joining the conversation,
Vignesh
From the RWB archive
Spotted on social
Former First Lady Michelle Obama interviewed comedian Hasan Minhaj on “IMO,” the podcast she co-hosts with her brother Craig Robinson:
Coachella stars
It’s the week between this year’s two Coachella festival weekends, and Brown History shares the South Asian artists who have performed at the iconic music event over the years:
A ‘Saree Run’ in Southern California
For readers in the Los Angeles/Orange County area…
On April 26, Saree Run USA, a health and wellness festival dedicated to South Asian women, takes place at Huntington Beach Central Park. “The Saree Run aims to transform the way South Asian women think about health & fitness — dispelling inhibitions and changing their approach to wellness on a day-to-day basis,” organizers said.
Participants can run, walk, jog, or dance in a saree at the Saree Run. Learn more about the event and tickets.
The Gray Brown Lady
I aspire to be device-free on my morning walks. But most days, I’ve been doing the New York Times’ Wordle game first thing as I take Laddoo outside and he spends 20 minutes chewing on grass and waiting for passersby to pet him.
For any fellow carom fans out there — and I’m assuming many Times readers of South Asian descent — Friday’s Wordle was a fun one.
And it’s an excuse for me to brag I got it in two tries. (Rare, honestly!)
Red, White and Brown Media facilitates conversations through the lens of South Asian American identity.
Forwarded this newsletter? Subscribe for free.