the ex
There was, of course, the presence of an “ex.” Her name was Kathryn Kawano. She was half Japanese. Quite reactionary, I gave Mark a judgy look for his propensity to […]
The foreignness of the language of love
Intimacy wasn’t limited to physical. I got to know Mark more personally, and it was quite a challenge to feel close to someone whose life story was so different from […]
Road trip 1999 – part 2
We found out the following day that Grand Canyon was closed for winter for just one more week. Mark was disappointed, and I was devastated to miss the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. […]
Road trip 2016
Seventeen years later, in 2016, D and I stopped at the north of Grand Canyon during our road trip to Santa Fe. We had spent the morning in Death Valley, […]
Road trip 1999
Spring break was approaching. Just like the winter break, I had planned nothing. Mark asked me if I was interested in going on a road trip to Grand Canyon. I […]
Flame
When I came back to my dorm room, Clare was still up. “I heard the voice mail,” she smiled. I told her what happened, and both of us got very […]
Spark
Mark drove us to a bar somewhere downtown (I had no geographic sense). I had a glass of wine. What happened in the following hour was that he asked me […]
The buildup
Mark sat next to me in the Japanese art history class every time. He was the most enthusiastic student and very passionate when he spoke up. Sitting so close to […]
Study of art
The study abroad program entered into the second half, and I had to choose the classes again. I envied others for knowing what they wanted to study with confidence. I […]
3rd drama and coda
From Florence, we took another train to Rome. It was warmer in Rome, and the whole city was like one big museum, with ruins of ancient times found in every […]