Read Dmae’s “My Turn” columns in the Asian Reporter
Dmae has been a monthly columnist for Portland’s Asian Reporter newspaper. She draws from her personal experiences and AAPI issues and concerns. Many of her articles have been collected in her book The Letting Go Trilogies: Stories of a mixed Race Family.
Read her column here in the Asian Reporter. http://www.asianreporter.com/columns-Roberts.htm
Three personal essays published in Oregon Humanities magazine are included in Dmae’s first memoir book The Letting Go Trilogies: Stories of a mixed Race Family.
My Brother, the Keeper
Dmae tries to understand her brother’s need to hoard.
“I just saw my little brother, Jack, digging through a Dumpster at our neighborhood grocery store, and I pretended I didn’t know him. He was in the dirty, torn clothes he likes to wear for what he calls “collecting….”
Encore Issue http://oregonhumanities.org/magazine/encore-fall-winter-2011/
Next Issue http://oregonhumanities.org/magazine/next-fall-winter-2012/
When my mother died, I wondered if I’d still be Asian.
“I’m part Asian,” I’ve said most of my life.
“Oh, which part is that?”
I point to my prominent cheekbones, my best facial feature.
“This part.”
“I see.” No one really sees. Sometimes I can’t see. I look in the mirror and turn my face to and fro and see Meryl Streep with a flat nose, freckles, and dark, thick hair. Often I look at my beautiful Asian women friends, and while I feel at home, I wonder if they look at me in that sideways manner as well.
From The Sun Magazine Readers Write section
“At the age of ten I became my mom’s sous-chef. She would tell me what vegetables to cut up and always criticize me for doing it wrong. Then, after she heated her wok till the oil was smoking and flames shot up toward the ceiling, she would start to shout: “Garlic! . . . Now the onions! . . . Bring me the carrots and bamboo! . . . Where’s the cabbage? . . . Hurry with the broccoli! Now!”…”
READ ARTICLE (third article on the page)
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Articles about Dmae
Telling Stories: Dmae Roberts’ Insightful Works on Multicultural America Posted by Colors of Influence July 2008
Dmae Roberts is a two-time Peabody award-winning independent radio artist and writer who has written and produced more than 400 audio art pieces and documentaries for NPR and PRI programs. Her work – often autobiographical or focuses on cross-cultural peoples – is informed by her biracial identity.
Posted by The Oregonian April 05, 2007
Portland-based MediaRites, a nonprofit dedicated to telling the stories of diverse cultures, is the recipient of a 2006 Peabody Award for its radio documentary “Crossing East,” the first radio series to examine in detail the history of Asian Americans.