My life means much more than just my ethnicity. I now understand that I have the agency and self-determination to decide who I want to be.

Posted in Excerpts/Quotes on 2018-07-02 02:55Z by Steven

My return to GW [George Washington University] helped me find myself ways I never thought possible. I’m on my way to forming a sense of self on my own terms and my life is fuller as a result. I think of myself as a traveler, a foodie, a passionate student, a news and media junkie, a social justice enthusiast and more. My life means much more than just my ethnicity. I now understand that I have the agency and self-determination to decide who I want to be.

Mailinh McNicholas, “What It’s Like Being an “Other”,” College Magazine, June 19, 2018. https://www.collegemagazine.com/what-its-like-being-an-other.

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What It’s Like Being an “Other”

Posted in Articles, Asian Diaspora, Autobiography, Campus Life, Media Archive, United States on 2018-06-22 16:40Z by Steven

What It’s Like Being an “Other”

College Magazine
2018-06-19

Mailinh McNicholas


Mailinh McNicholas

I’ve remained on the fringes of two different and separate Anchorage, Alaska communities. I have a Caucasian father and Vietnamese mother. My high school friends often talked about my ethnicity and attempted to place me into a defined racial category. Some of my peers pegged me as an Asian immigrant, some have asked if I am Native Alaskan, and others simply asked ‘What are you?’

Unfortunately, my hopes did not match my reality. A few months into my freshman year at GW [George Washington University] I found that my college peers also cast me as “the other.” Although I’m equal parts Asian and White, to my white friends I’m Asian and to my Asian friends, I’m white. My bi-cultural heritage once again left me excluded from being included in ether community…

Read the entire article here.

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