The Universal Asian

An Adoptee’s Reaction to ‘Joy Ride’ (2023)

Available in theaters July 7. “Joy Ride” hits like a solid punch to that white kid’s face: satisfying, but maybe not quite right. For...

Ella Wu

'Everything, Everywhere All at Once'

Warning: possible spoilers ahead! Available in cinemas on March 25th On behalf of The Universal Asian, I had the privilege of attending...

RECENT POSTS

An Adoptee’s Reaction to ‘Joy Ride’ (2023)

Introducing Studio ATAO’s ‘Food Systems 101’

Introducing Jessica Henwick and ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’ (2022)

Musings of a Middle-aged Matriarch: Finding my tribe

ADOPTEE VOICES

Ella Wu

An Adoptee’s Reaction to ‘Joy Ride’ (2023)

Available in theaters July 7. “Joy Ride” hits like a solid punch to that white kid’s face: satisfying, but maybe not quite right. For...

Cynthia Landesberg

Artificial Habitat

Growing up, I lived in one of those unremarkable suburban neighborhoods everyone has seen and no one remembers. Two-story houses....

Book Review: 'The Global Orphan Adoption System' by Dr. Kyung-eun Lee

OSH

Book Review: 'The Global Orphan Adoption System' by Dr. Kyung-eun Lee

"The Global Orphan Adoption System: South Korea’s Impact on Its Origin and Development" by Dr. Kyung-eun Lee is an informative and...

Living as a Returned Migrant in Korea (Part 2 of 2)

이영숙 Kristin R. Pak

Living as a Returned Migrant in Korea (Part 2 of 2)

Reposted from Ildaro.com As Koreans from the diaspora who have returned to the motherland we are acknowledged by the government as part...

IN THE WORLD TODAY

Introducing Studio ATAO’s ‘Food Systems 101’

Ella Wu

Introducing Studio ATAO’s ‘Food Systems 101’

Studio ATAO is raising funds for their first food education program “Food Systems 101: An Introduction to the Politics of Food &...

OSH

Book Review: 'The Global Orphan Adoption System' by Dr. Kyung-eun Lee

"The Global Orphan Adoption System: South Korea’s Impact on Its Origin and Development" by Dr. Kyung-eun Lee is an informative and...

이영숙 Kristin R. Pak

Living as a Returned Migrant in Korea (Part 2 of 2)

Reposted from Ildaro.com As Koreans from the diaspora who have returned to the motherland we are acknowledged by the government as part...

Human Rights: My life as a migrant adoptee, 2018 (Part 1 of 2)

이영숙 Kristin R. Pak

Human Rights: My life as a migrant adoptee, 2018 (Part 1 of 2)

Reposted from Ildaro.com Introduction: As someone who became a migrant through intercountry adoption, Kristin Pak has a unique...

ASIANS IN ENTERTAINMENT

Ella Wu

An Adoptee’s Reaction to ‘Joy Ride’ (2023)

Available in theaters July 7. “Joy Ride” hits like a solid punch to that white kid’s face: satisfying, but maybe not quite right. For...

Introducing Jessica Henwick and ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’ (2022)

Ella Wu

Introducing Jessica Henwick and ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’ (2022)

Tonight is the last chance to catch English actress Jessica Henwick in “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” (2022) in select theaters!...

In Conversation with Justin Cardona from Asian All American

Heath Hyun Houghton

In Conversation with Justin Cardona from Asian All American

This spring, I had the great privilege to spend some time chatting with Justin Cardona from Asian All American, a media company based in...

Book Review: 'Our Violent Ends' by Chloe Gong

Lilly Schmaltz

Book Review: 'Our Violent Ends' by Chloe Gong

What are you willing to do for love? Roma is stunned by Marshall’s death, and he is out for revenge. Juliette will not spill any secrets...

FINDING OUR CULTURE

Korean Adoption Documents: The print portfolio

A.D. Herzel

Korean Adoption Documents: The print portfolio

The meaningful and meaningless documents that make up the story of my adoption inspired this set of digital composites. The first step in...

OSH

Food: Truly colorblind glue

As I walked the streets in the Asian part of Rome near Termini Station, the Asian stores were mostly empty, perhaps as a result of COVID...

Introducing Cathy Lu & 'ABCs for the American Born Chinese'

OSH

Introducing Cathy Lu & 'ABCs for the American Born Chinese'

Artist Cathy Lu, a 20-something American born Chinese, has launched her debut children’s book. She shares this with The Universal Asian,...

kimura byol lemoine: 'SAEKDONG색동DIASPORA'

Exposition De Groupe Saekdong 색동 Diaspora

kimura byol lemoine: 'SAEKDONG색동DIASPORA'

"…and Room in the Bag of Stars (…et de la place dans le sac aux étoiles)" — "SAEKDONG색동DIASPORA" PHI Foundation; Tiohtià:ke/Montréal;...

LIFESTYLE

OSH

Introducing Angela Wu

Angela Wu is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Empowerment Coach who is passionate about de-stigmatizing mental health in the...

Cynthia Landesberg

Choosing Parenthood

“I think, maybe, we should talk about starting a family,” my husband said one day, as we sat on the back porch of a winery north of our...

Haiku Kwon

A #hyphenatedAsians POV: Christine Ha

Christine Ha is a powerhouse of creativity and resilience. She was the first-ever blind contestant and winner of Gordon Ramsey’s amateur...

OSH

Food: Truly colorblind glue

As I walked the streets in the Asian part of Rome near Termini Station, the Asian stores were mostly empty, perhaps as a result of COVID...

IN OUR OWN WORDS

Musings of a Middle-aged Matriarch: Finding my tribe

Heather Lewis

Musings of a Middle-aged Matriarch: Finding my tribe

There’s a sea of different people in this world. While everyone is unique and different, there are enough commonalities between us all to...

Vanessa Nguyen

What It Means To Be Asian in America: Recognizing and breaking the cycle of trauma

The rise in hate crimes against the AAPI community has left many of us questioning not just our identity as Asian-Americans, but how we...

Cynthia Landesberg

Artificial Habitat

Growing up, I lived in one of those unremarkable suburban neighborhoods everyone has seen and no one remembers. Two-story houses....

Musings of a Middle-aged Matriarch: How do you find joy?

Heather Lewis

Musings of a Middle-aged Matriarch: How do you find joy?

As adoptees, many of us have had to create our own joy. We have to work at joy because it doesn’t come naturally to us. We are too busy...

FICTON & POETRY

Samantha Der

Appearances

That night, as she stood alone on the water’s edge, the expanse of the ocean before her felt as dark and infinite as the universe. A soft...

Lauren Kofalt

Poems

Time Time flies by In the blink of an eye How should I spend my day So many things that I could do But in my bed i just lay Being...

Samantha Der

Are You Me? The Noodles That Tie Us

I loved my shirt With three pockets of color Gym shoes Blue shorts And black hair That flopped over My gold-rimmed glasses I was ready...

Lauren Kofalt