From 851c7732953d1cdc105fb4a2e928e6a2cd55c9cd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: rchou Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2025 03:05:21 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] post 4 --- posts/post4.md | 31 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ script.js | 1 + 2 files changed, 32 insertions(+) create mode 100644 posts/post4.md diff --git a/posts/post4.md b/posts/post4.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dd47f96 --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/post4.md @@ -0,0 +1,31 @@ +#### Home is a Moving Target +## Sep 18, 2025 +--- + +The first thing I notice when I land in Taipei isn’t the humidity, it’s the English. +The customs officer glances at my U.S. passport, smiles politely, and greets me with a crisp, "hello". +It’s friendly, but it’s also a signal: foreigner. + +Back home in the States, the signals run the other way. +Strangers will tilt their heads and ask, “Where are you really from?” +To them, my black hair and last name are proof that I don’t fully belong. + +Two countries, two kinds of distance. +In Taiwan, my Mandarin carries a soft American lilt. +In America, my face carries a history I can’t shed. +The result is a strange elasticity of self: I’m stretched across the Pacific, always a little too much and a little not enough. + +And yet, in that stretch, there is unexpected abundance. + +I love the late night chaos of a Taiwanese night market, the smoky perfume of oyster omelets, the sugar crust on fried sweet potatoes. +I also love the messy creativity of American diners, where pancakes arrive bigger than the plate and coffee refills never stop. +My playlists swing from Faye Wong ballads to Kendrick Lamar verses; my shelves hold both pu'er tea leaves and prepackaged mac and cheese. +These aren’t contradictions. They’re coordinates. + +Belonging, I’ve learned, isn’t a single address. +It’s a moving target, a constellation of tastes, sounds, and memories that shift as I do. +I may always be a foreigner in Taipei and a hyphenated question mark in California, but I carry the best of both with me, like dual passports of the heart. + +Maybe that’s the quiet gift of being Asian American: +To stand in the middle of two cultures, to love them both fiercely, and to know that home isn’t where people decide you fit. +Home is everything you refuse to give up. diff --git a/script.js b/script.js index 8a78bcf..3d9a254 100644 --- a/script.js +++ b/script.js @@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function () { // Dynamically load posts on the home page if (document.getElementById("post-list")) { const posts = [ + { title: "Home is a Moving Target.", date: "Sep 18, 2025", excerpt: "The first thing I notice when I land in Taipei isn’t the humidity, it’s the English.", file: "post4.md" }, { title: "Hemming", date: "Jul 28, 2025", excerpt: "Everything I create lives on screens", file: "post3.md" }, { title: "Scars, Sadness, and Soulmates", date: "Jan 26, 2025", excerpt: "Healing isn't a prerequisite for love, being human is.", file: "post2.md" }, { title: "Meaningful Action", date: "Jan 23, 2025", excerpt: "wow this is barely comprehensible", file: "post1.md" },