Walt Whitman believed that the power of poetry and democracy are derived from their capacity to make a unified whole from diverse and sometimes contradictory parts. He said, “The United States are the greatest poem.” As a Hybrid American who contains multitudes, I see myself reflected in Whitman’s words…

Finding Vietnamese food everywhere I go in the world

What does it take to live a flourishing life? — I recently received an apology from someone who’d said unkind things about me behind my back and who’d treated me with condescension and contempt for a period of time 15 years ago. I was an art world newbie who’d crashed the party. I didn’t have any traditional art training beyond…

When nature and beauty invites you to take a deeper look and examine your beliefs — Happy Earth Day! — A visitor to Treehouse, the exhibit I curated at Brentwood Arts Exchange, told me that she and her husband had been fighting with each other the day of the opening event. They stewed in the car all the way to the gallery. After walking around the space, their anger began…

If I love Paris so much so much, then why don’t I just move there? — When I returned to DC after three months in Paris last fall, an acquaintance asked me if my time there had really been as dreamy as I’d presented on social media. “Hell oui!” I exclaimed. “Why don’t you just move there if you liked it so much?” the acquaintance asked. …

On the last night of a week-long convening on social cohesion and identity in Dortmund, Germany, a group of us went to a jazz club called domicil, a volunteer-run space in an old UFA cinema that once screened experimental and art house films. I’d lightly resisted when Jörg, who’d co-founded…

“Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our…

I find myself questioning whether my attempts to depolarize our country have been worth the effort. — [I wrote this piece for the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung newsletter. It was printed in German and this is the original English text, with a few minor edits.] Shortly after the 2016 election, I began inviting Trump voters to my house for dinner. I wanted to understand why almost 63 million…

“He’s walking every D.C. street while wearing a ‘Black and Brown Lives Matter’ sign. He’s also White and voted for Trump.” -The Washington Post I first met Ken Woodward when he came to one of the Blueberries & Cherries dinners I was organizing after the 2016 election. I always had…