Selected Writing
"What My Mother Left Me"
The New York Times
February 2, 2018
As the Hawaii-born daughter of Filipino immigrants, I grew up with long, straight, Asian hair. I assumed I had inherited it from my dad’s mom. She kept hers in a tight bun but it cascaded to her waist when she let it unravel. In high school, my own hair was so thick I couldn’t fit it into a large banana clip. I cursed how much of it I had, a curse I wish I could take back. In college, it took more than an hour and a pair of thinning scissors for my stylist to cut my hair into something manageable. Now, I’m in and out of a chair in less than 20 minutes.
I walked along Court Street a block from my home. One storefront away, a bulldog in an old, tattered green sweater lumbered along the sidewalk alone.
She sniffed a blue mailbox. She turned, slowly, in a circle. She sniffed the mailbox again.
Was she lost?
Bob Abrahamian hosts the local radio show Sitting In the Park on station WHPK. The show focuses on Chicago soul music. Contributor Kristina Francisco has this profile of Abrahamian, and his love of soul music.
For bicyclists at all levels, there are the official “rules of the road,” and then there are the often more important unwritten rules of the road. These are the extra ones you invent to compensate for the motorists and pedestrians oblivious to their two-wheeled road-mates. Chicago writer Kristina Francisco shares some wisdom passed on to her.
Her friend and sage advisor, Jenny Abrahamian, is a bike enthusiast and chemist.
I've got a secret I've been keeping, one that some of my closest friends don't even know. I'm telling you because I've got to get it off my chest and since you don't know me and I don't know you, maybe it's easier to share.