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InVasian Reviews

“Impressively presented collection…A memorable, rewarding and insightful read, InvAsian is a seminal work…highly recommended contribution to Women’s Studies in general and Asian/American Studies in particular.”
— The Midwest Book Review, June 2003

“A fabulous collection…
— AsianWeek.com, April 30, 2003

“Busts every stereotype in the book about Asian American women…rich with witty, entertaining, and sometimes heartbreaking essays and poems.”
— S.F. Weekly, April 30 – May 6, 2003

This collection of poetry and prose explores the issue of being Asian American and female in the United States.
— Filipinas, July 2003

InVasian Foreword

I couldn’t sleep the night before my 20th birthday. I just knew that the next morning, when the “-teen” dropped from my age, I would be forever transformed into someone more mature, more responsible, more… well, into an ADULT. I’d encountered the same restlessness rumbling under my chest many times before—in the still and nervous moments before my house awakened each Christmas morning, as I clutched the steering wheel before my driver’s test, as I stared at the clover flowers on the soccer field before my first kiss, when the door clicked as my parents walked out of my dorm room the day I moved into college.

So. You can imagine my surprise when I awoke the next morning, feeling like the exact same girl. That was six years ago, and some things still haven’t changed.

Don’t get me wrong—there have been plenty of new things to excite me, to break my heart, to worry about, and to hope for. But I still read fashion magazines and wonder what I’d do with Gwyneth Paltrow’s wardrobe, or a runway model’s height. I now live 600 miles away, but when I go home, my parents still ask me where I’ve been, who I was with, and when I will become a doctor. I still get butterflies when I’m around someone I like. I still get zits (aargh!). I still have dreams.

Thank goodness growing up doesn’t have to happen overnight. It’s overwhelming enough already. And if you’ve grown up with parents or grandparents from another country, or with strangers always asking you where you’re from, or without seeing too many actresses, or senators, or singers, or athletes who look like you, then you know it can seem overwhelming, TIMES TEN. That’s why this book is for YOU.

You won’t find what we’ve collected here in beauty magazines or music videos. Your teachers aren’t going to tell you about the thoughts and emotions you’ll encounter within these pages. This book is about the things that we see and understand as only Asian girls do. It affirms what you’ve known deep down, all along—that our identities pit us against challenges that other people don’t have to deal with, but that we are more than capable of conquering them with attitude and with grace, because we are female and we are Asian in America.

Be forewarned. Once you choose to flip through these pages, you make the decision to come face to face with the complicated and the diverse, the painful and the beautiful—to confront the courageous and unforgettable emotions, images, and voices of your Asian American sisters. You’ll begin to envision yourself and the heritages you’ve inherited in new ways. You’ll laugh and cry out loud, seeing your pain, your anxieties, your exhilaration, your confusion, and your pride reflected in our stories and poems. You will be infuriated, comforted, inspired. Your inner creator/artist/storyteller will be awakened, and she will invade your soul and stir your imagination.

A-ha! We’ve got you already! There’s no turning back now; so just sit back, and enjoy this ride while it lasts.

Evelyn I. Rodriguez