By Annabelle Marcelo The author’s mother, Magdalena Aglipay circa 1930 at age 16. I cannot remember the exact last moment I saw my mother, but I know where. We were at the airport in Manila. Mama and a sizable coterie of kin stood in a fenced area for watching travelers depart. I was by myself […]
Author Archives
Asian Women United
Everything Lost, Everything Found
By Denise Panaligan A candid photo of the author’s mother. In the beginning, they were in celebration. The room buzzed with anticipation. Doctor Aquino with her sanitized latex gloves at the edge of the bed coaxing and directing. The two assistants ready armed with umbilical cord scissors and blankets. Her father holding her mother’s hand […]
The Paper Menagerie
By Ken Liu The following is an excerpt of Ken Liu’s short science fiction story, which won the 2012 Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story. At my request, Mom also made a goat, a deer, and a water buffalo out of wrapping paper. They would run around the living room while […]
AhMa: The Story Teller
By Eliza Y. Chan At 83, AhMa was still amazingly curious about life, people and learning. No sooner had she taken her first breath, Mother had to fight for survival. She was born on an auspicious day for boys, but not for girls. The midwife tried to persuade Grandma to cast her newborn into the […]
Familiar Words and Foreign Hearts
By Joann Kweon My grandmother was a woman of few English words. She would smile and politely say hello, but not much else. A God-fearing woman with a Korean heart, she was proud of her children and never ran out of Korean words. When her favorite son married, she already had plenty to say to […]
The Man on the Bridge
By Rora Oh The author and her mother after leaving the man at the bridge When my mother was pregnant with my brother, she found out that the Man had not graduated from high school. ‘I married an illiterate’ was the first thought that came to her. She did not know what to do. Who […]
MOAS has returned! After something of a hiatus, AWU is happy to announce that we are again accepting submissions and will be posting stories weekly. We look forward to hearing about your experiences with mothers, mothering and all things motherly whatever that may mean to you. Stay tuned for our first post-hiatus blog post first […]
Contemplating Radical Love
By Su Yon Pak She made her rounds today. My mother. She cares for them as she did for many years, a resident alien nursing in a nursing home now, she is the resident, alien. Stealthily, dementia began to visit her. She started […]
Empty Plate
By Yun Sun A man sets a plate For the first time for his wife Just after she dies
Memories of My Mother
By Elaine H. Kim This photo of the author’s mom was taken in 1937, when she was about 35 years old. I am over 70 years old. My mother has been gone for almost 25 years, and I am still immature enough to have not totally forgiven her, despite what I know about her social […]
