Author Archives: Melody S. Gee

I was delighted to review Jia Lynn Yang’s book, One Mighty and Irresistible Tide, for Commonweal Magazine. Her vivid, deeply human, and sweeping history of the decades leading up to President Johnson signing of the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act is a must-read. Read the review here and purchase the book here.

I published 2 new pieces in Commonweal. The first is a review of books, Chinese American fiction and memoir, called “Tales of Assimilation.” The second is a memoir piece called “Language and Conversion.”

If you’re in Chicago, come by for some poetry!

A huge thank you to Subterranean Books on Delmar, our five amazing Kundiman Midwest poets, (L to R) Mikkel Snyder, Rachel Ronquillo-Gray, Helene Achanzar, Hyejung Kook, Eugene Gloria, and myself. Special gratitude to Katherine Witzig, our delightful accommodations host. The reading was packed, the words were lyrical, piercing, hilarious, and breathtaking. We hope to doContinue reading “Kundiman Confluence Reading”

“The Convert Wants Wounds, Not Scars,” is today’s poem on the Academy of American Poets. Thanks to Eduardo C. Corral for including me in September! https://poets.org/poem-a-day  

My short piece, “Why I Came,” is up at Commonweal. It’s a brief recounting of my conversion to Catholicism, and an explanation of why I stay in this faith community in this particularly difficult, troubling, and trying time. I’m grateful to Katherine Lucky for her guidance and encouragement with this piece.

My essay, “We Carry Smoke and Paper” is in the latest issue of Blood Orange Review (v. 11.1). I’m grateful to the editors, especially Laura Westerfield, Heloise Abtahi, and Kristin Becker, for their generosity in getting this piece in shape for the beautiful BOR.

My short article, “The Sense of the Story” is up on The Common Reader blog today. Back in January, Michaella Thornton’s in-depth look into how layoffs hit women and mothers (Pinkslips: How Layoffs Create Double Jeopardy for Working Mothers) included part of my experience of getting laid off from St. Louis Community College. “The SenseContinue reading “The Sense of the Story on The Common Reader”