From “People Who Look Like You” [“You track the proliferation of white male/Asian female couples on the street”]

You track the proliferation of white male/Asian female couples on the street, in your friend groups, on your Instagram explore page. Ha ha, you think when you see one, as if reacting to a bad joke. You love dumplings and imagine hosting a dumpling-making party where your apartment fills with all the Asian-white couple friends you know, past and present. A literary hero of yours and her husband could be the guests of honor. The tall white man, flanked by other white men who follow his instruction, peels a dumpling wrapper from the stack. Friends take turns scooping, dipping, pleating, sealing, while the rest gossip in the background like mirrors. In your mind, the gathering takes on the varnished feeling of science fiction. The trope of beautiful Asian women dating ugly white guys troubles you, but you look around the room at all your beautiful Asian girlfriends and the white men who vary in both attractiveness and social skills.

Dumplings are everywhere when the room erupts in laughter at the punchline of someone’s story that you missed. You automatically laugh too, like you can’t help stepping into the space the world has made for you.