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Illustration by Nancy Correia
As your immigrant parents settle in the Western world, high expectations are set for who you will become. From the very moment clumps of cells form in the womb, you are given expectations you may never live up to and dreams you may never fulfil. Yet you are their hope.
Illustration by Nancy Correia
“At home, your culture fills your walls, your belly, and your heart. At school, your culture does not exist. Instead, you learn how to assimilate into Western civilization, its expectations, and the norm. This is who you are expected to be and dream of becoming.”
Illustration by Nancy Correia
“The first time you witness your classmates dress up as your culture for Halloween. You see your culture and physical features reduced to a silly costume, a sad imitation that diminishes your ancestors and fills you with embarrassment. This must be how they view you.”
Illustration by Nancy Correia
“Realizing that none of your favourite idols, toys and characters in books, TV, and games look like you, nor have characters that represent you. This forms what you idealise and what kind of beauty you aspire to embody.”
Illustration by Nancy Correia
“One night, you become hairy, develop acne, and grow taller. Your body changes, but the repressed societies you live in can barely explain it to you and tell you what’s going on. You’re mostly told you’re becoming an adult, are shamed, and encouraged to hide.”
Illustration by Nancy Correia
“People who look like you project their insecurities about their ethnic-ness onto you. Your own family may tell you that your skin is too dark or that your nose is too big. These projections reinforce that achieving whiteness is the goal and that your ethnic-ness is not okay.”
Illustration by Nancy Correia
“Self-acceptance in a world not made for you is a difficult journey, the older you get the more you realize how much you love who you are. Between worlds, you collect pieces of both that fill your cup, reminding yourself of what makes you, you.”
Illustration by Nancy Correia
“You exist in the context of all that came before you. From the femmes who were taught to dim their light to nurture the dreams of others, to you, who has the gift of freedom to shine bright and nurture your own dreams.”
Illustration by Nancy Correia
“You exist in the context of all that came before you. From the femmes who were taught to dim their light to nurture the dreams of others, to you, who has the gift of freedom to shine bright and nurture your own dreams.”

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