Brookline Asian American Family Network
  • About Us
  • FAQs
  • 2022 Essay Winners
  • Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month
    • 2022 AAPI Heritage Month
    • 2021 AAPI Heritage Month
  • March 30th, 2022 Statement read at School Committee Meeting
  • IACW
    • 2021 IACW Thank you Letter
  • In the News
  • Support
  • Resources during COVID-19
  • Race Matters
  • Essay Contest Winners
    • 2021 Essay Winners
    • 2020 Essay Winners
    • 2019 Essay Winners
    • 2018 Essay Winners
    • 2017 Essay Winners
    • 2016 Essay & Video Contest winners
    • 2016 - Video Contest winners
  • Lunar New Year Celebrations
    • 2021 Lunar New Year
    • 2020 Lunar New Year
    • 2019 Lunar New Year
    • 2018 Lunar New Year
    • 2017 Lunar New Year
    • 2016 Lunar New Year
    • 2015 Lunar New Year
    • 2014 Lunar New Year
    • 2013 Lunar New Year
  • Petition
  • BHS Asian American Studies
  • Previous BAAFN Events
    • 2017 >
      • 2017 Lunar New Year Event
      • AAPI May 24th, 2017 event
    • 2016 >
      • February 2016 - Lunar New Year Event
      • December 2016-Let's Talk Event
    • 2015 >
      • February 2015 - Pan Asian Lunar New Year Event
      • May 2015 - Author of "Eurasian"
      • September 20th, 2015 - Brookline Day
      • October 24th, 2015 - BAAFN Open House with Assoc.Dean Brian Poon
    • 2014 >
      • February 2014 - Pan Asian Lunar Event
      • May 2014 - A Day In the Life of Asian Pacific America, Workshop
      • AAPI Brookline Library Display
      • October 2014 - BAAFN Open House
    • 2013 >
      • February 2013 - BAAFN Lunar New Year
      • May 2013 - Asian Americans Speak, Adoptee & Multiracial students, panel discussion
      • July 2013 - BAAFN Potluck Picnic at Larz Anderson Park
      • September 2013 - Brookline Teen Center and Brookline Day
    • 2012 >
      • October 14th, 2012 - BAAFN Open House
    • 2011
    • 2010
    • 2009
  • Letter to School Committee
  • Letter to Select Board
  • Pictures from Vigil
  • Vigil Introduction - Ashley Eng, BHS '19
  • Vigil Statement - Yuki Hoshi, BHS '22
  • GASP statement March 2021
  • Resources of Interest
    • Town of Brookline
    • U.S. Census Report 2010 (issued March 2012)
    • Understanding Brookline
    • Bibliography for Adoptees and Multiracial
    • Brookline Reads Books
  • Rachel Lee - 2018 BAAFN Award -
  • Jocelyn Zhou - 2018 Creativity Award
  • Yiming Fu - 2018 Creativity Award
  • Lana Chang - 2018 Content Award
  • Maiya Whalen - 2019 BAAFN Award -
  • Iris Yang - 2019 Content Award
  • Nina Bingham - 2019 Creativity Award
  • Elena Su - 2020 BAAFN Award -
  • Sellina Yoo - 2020 Creativity Award
  • Adrian Seeger - 2020 Content Award
  • Rani Balakrishna - 2020 New Voice Award
  • Jacqueline Gu - 2021 BAAFN Award
  • Tina Li - 2021 Activist Award
  • Lilia Burtonpatel - 2021 Creativity Award
  • Claire Choi - 2021 Content Award
  • Audrey Seeger - 2021 Content Award
  • Joon Lee - Keynote address 5/5/21
  • Driscoll School - 2021 AAPI Project
  • Pierce School - 2021 AAPI Project
  • Eun-Jae M. Norris - 2022 BAAFN Award
  • Emerson Lin - 2022 BAAFN Award
  • Ellie Hyde - 2022 Content Award
  • Kayla Chen - 2022 Creativity Award
  • 2022 Essay Contest Rules

2019 BAAFN Award 

Picture
Maiya Whalen - 2019 BAAFN Award Winner
Picture

​Home at Last
by Maiya Whalen

           I am the child of two worlds. A bridge between the East and the West. The product of my Indonesian mother and Irish-Armenian father. My summers were split between two cultures, the salty and crisp air of Boston, Massachusetts and the blistering humidity of Jakarta, Indonesia. I grew up celebrating with the white lights and pine trees of Christmas and the red envelopes and delicious feasts of Lunar New Year. I ate chicken nuggets with chopsticks, and rice with a fork.
          As a child, these differences were as inconsequential as the color of the kue lapis that I chose to eat. I existed in these two spheres without a second thought as to how I was different. But as I grew older, so did the gap between my two identities. My differences crept into every corner and crevice of my life. My eyes were too small, too inky to be white American, but my 5-foot 8-inch stature towered over my petite Indonesian family. Once able to read the Indonesian words that flowed on the books left in my aunt’s room, as each summer swept by, so did my ability to read these books. I still understood the Indonesian words that poured out of my family, but every time I opened my mouth, nothing of the same would appear. It was as if my American-ness held my tongue; it prevented me from speaking anything other than English. I nodded along to every conversation, understanding, but barely able to contribute more than a word or two. I felt paralyzed. Too Asian to be just American and too American to be just Asian.
           But these differences also lent themselves to unite me with not one, but two worlds. As I grew older and more aware, I finally realized the value of being two races. The way that I could have the best of both worlds: American and Asian. Each time I returned to Indonesia, I breathed in the sun-sweetened air as if we’d been apart for centuries. The rambutan fruit grew sweeter and sweeter each time I tasted it and the tang of starfruit pinched my tongue each time I took a bite. The vivid greens and yellows that painted the countryside grew richer and richer each time I came back. I recently returned to Indonesia after years of being apart, and everything felt just right. The way the bebek tasted, the sight of luscious palm trees, and the sounds of crickets and ceecak in the pitch black night. Everything I touched, tasted, and smelled felt like home. Because I was. I was home.
         But my home also lies in Boston. I love the way the trees light up in the dark nights of the winter, the way snowflakes fall and create soft blankets over the earth, how the air is crisp and clear as I walk the cobbled steps by Faneuil Hall. I love the way the old glass streetlights shine through a rainy, fall night, how the green desk lights at the Public Library glow on a sunny afternoon. Boston is where I was born, where I was raised, and I am as rooted there as a maple tree.
Being part of two cultures means that my identity may be split, but I am still completely myself. Even though on the surface they may seem wildly different, Indonesia and America are similar in more ways than one. They share the same sky, the same air, the same stars. They are connected by the same ocean and their winds both fly under the wings of birds. People in both places smile and laugh, even without knowing the same language. When I am apart from either place, their essences still live inside of me. Indonesian and American blood flow within me and nothing can ever break their bond apart.
           After 17 years on this earth, I have finally found home within myself. I have one half in America, and one half in Asia, but I am still entirely me; I am Asian-American, not one or the other and no matter where I am in the world, I realize that as long as I embrace both of my identities, I will always be home. 
                                            ___________________________

​
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.