(left-hand side of Active Reader=Rice For Thanksgiving)

(right-hand side = Vocab definitions, synonyms, prompts)

Until four years ago, when cancer took my grandma, the Chinese side of my family, my dad’s side, spent every Thanksgiving at her house. It was always warm, heated by the oven and stove, which grandma usually had running since morning. Our family is large, but the feast she prepared was always much larger. She cooked pies, meats, vegetables, and stuffing, which however delicious, were not my main course. My sister, my cousins and I, we came for grandma’s rice and gravy.

And that’s what comes to mind when I think about Thanksgiving—not pilgrims or gratitude, or pumpkin pie. My image of Thanksgiving consists of grandma’s eleven grandchildren pouring turkey gravy over mountains of steamed white rice.

feast (noun): A large, fancy meal with a lot of food.; synonyms: meal, banquet, spread; prompts: unknown word

pilgrims (noun): A group of people who traveled from England to establish the first American colony at Plymouth in 1620; celebrated the first Thanksgiving feast with the area’s Native-American tribes or groups.; synonyms: travelers, voyagers, journeyers; prompts: unknown word

gratitude (noun): A feeling of thankfulness.; synonyms: appreciation, gratefulness; prompts: unknown word

I believe in rice and gravy because I am rice and gravy. I’m half Asian, half Anglo and completely American.

My generation learned in school that culture was something to celebrate and something necessarily foreign. Nobody ever explained to me that culture is not a set of exotic garments and foods, but something everyone has.

Back then many government applications and forms had yet to acknowledge the shades of grey in between the major ethnic groups. I usually checked the “Asian” box even though I am equally white. It seemed like everyone expected me to fit inside that box and I sometimes worried that I wasn’t Asian enough, like I was pretending.

Anglo (proper noun): Informal for Anglo-American; an English speaking person, especially a white North American who is not of Hispanic or French descent.; synonyms: n/a; prompts: unknown word

culture (noun): The ideas, customs, skills, arts of a given group of people.; synonyms: background, traditions, customs, ethnicity; prompts: unknown word

foreign (adjective): Describes something from another country, unfamiliar.; synonyms: non-native, immigrant, different; prompts: unknown word

exotic (adjective): Describes something strange, interesting, unusual.; synonyms: foreign, imported; prompts: unknown word

garments (noun): Articles of clothing.; synonyms: clothes, outfits, attire; prompts: unknown word

ethnic (adjective): Describes something relating to different races, ancestry, or culture.; synonyms: racial, national, cultural; prompts: unknown word

So I used to mourn what I saw as the loss of my Chinese heritage. Grandma never taught my dad to speak Cantonese; our holidays were the American ones; and we ate our family dinners with forks.

See, my grandma’s generation wasn’t taught that diversity was valuable. Her parents came to this country at a time when the central focus of American immigration policy was keeping the Chinese out. Discriminatory laws turned them into illegal immigrants. They used fake papers and adopted a fake family name in order to come here.

Until 1943, the United States would not allow Asians to become naturalized citizens. Many parts of Phoenix, where my grandma grew up and where I was raised, were designated off-limits to Chinese people before World War II. And interracial marriage remained illegal in Arizona until my dad was a teenager. Needless to say, my grandma was encouraged to downplay, not preserve her Chinese culture.

mourn (verb): To feel sadness at a loss or death of someone.; synonyms: grieve, sorrow; prompts: unknown word

heritage (noun): A family’s cultural background.; synonyms: tradition; prompts: unknown word

Cantonese (proper noun): A form of Chinese spoken mostly in southeastern China.; synonyms: n/a; prompts: unknown word

diversity (noun): A wide range.; synonyms: variety; prompts: unknown word

immigration (noun): Coming to live permanently in a foreign country.; synonyms: migration, emigration; prompts: unknown word

discriminatory (adjective): Describes treating someone or a group of people unfairly, based on their differences.; synonyms: prejudicial, biased; prompts: unknown word

immigrants (noun): People who come to live in a country in which they aren’t citizens.; synonyms: migrants, foreigners, aliens; prompts: unknown word

naturalized citizens (noun): People from foreign countries who have lawfully become citizens of the United States.; synonyms: n/a; prompts: unknown phrase

designated (verb): To point out, to indicate.; synonyms: intend, specify; prompts: unknown word

off-limits (adjective): Describes areas where certain people could not go or live.; synonyms: forbidden, prohibited, outlawed; prompts: unknown word

interracial (adjective): Describes a relationship or involvement between people of different races.; synonyms: integrated, mixed; prompts: unknown word

downplay (verb): To make something seem less important than it really is.; synonyms: belittle, minimize, understate; prompts: unknown word

preserve (verb): To keep something in its original form, to protect.; synonyms: save, maintain, uphold, sustain; prompts: unknown word

Which is why I’ve come to be proud of my mixed identity. My very existence is a mark of progress and a symbol of my country — a collage of people with roots all over the planet, who, though not without strife, form something new and strong together.

The now-common phrase “long time no see” came from the literal translation of a Chinese expression into English. To me, rice and gravy is a similar type of translation. It’s a delightful piece of culture that arises only at that point where immigrants braid their past into the American story. And that’s what my family celebrates with rice and gravy for Thanksgiving.

identity (noun): Who someone is, individuality.; synonyms: self, personality, uniqueness; prompts: unknown word

very (adjective): Describes something particular or exact. When combining the word very with a noun, it adds emphasis to the noun. Example: His very words were especially insulting to her.; synonym: actual, precise; prompts: unknown word

existence (noun): State of being, life.; synonyms: living, being, reality; prompts: unknown word

collage (noun): A form of art where pictures or objects are pasted together to make a larger picture.; synonyms: collection, patchwork, image, montage; prompts: unknown word

who, though not without strife (phrase): A phrase added to show that people with mixed identities can experience difficulties.; synonyms: n/a; prompts: unknown phrase or colloquialism

literal (adjective): Describes taking words in their most basic sense, based on the actual words in their ordinary meaning.; synonyms: factual, exact, plain, unembellished; prompts: unknown word

braid (verb): To join together, to weave people’s pasts into “the American story.” Used figuratively as a metaphor to show similarity to the process of braiding hair.; synonyms: join, blend, combine; prompts: unknown word