The New Yorker:

By Ed Park

Wednesday, February 26th

I’m doing a Q. & A. event with an old friend, Cathy Park Hong, to help launch her new essay collection, “Minor Feelings,” which is subtitled “An Asian American Reckoning.” “Minor feelings” are the ones that Asian-Americans have—the ones that go unacknowledged because they exist outside the black/white racial binary. (During the Democratic debate in South Carolina the night before, for example, candidates brought up “the black vote” and “the white vote,” but I strained to catch any mention of an “Asian” vote.)

Cathy’s book pinpoints the racial ambiguities and injustices that I’ve never fully addressed in my own writing, and the fierceness is energizing. The event, at a bookstore in Brooklyn, attracts a warm, receptive audience. Standing-room only. Lots of Asian faces, but not exclusively. I’m bowled over by Cathy’s smarts and fire. Afterward, I put on my black Buffalo Sabres cap (I’m self-conscious about my hair, which needs a cut) and talk to some writer friends. I’m happy the event went well and I’m happy to be socializing—I hardly ever go to events in the fall and winter, when I’m always shuttling my sons to hockey practice. I hate to leave.

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