If I’m being honest, a part of me has always questioned whether I belong in the Opinion section.
I’ll be the first to admit that I am an introvert.

I didn’t know much about my grandma before she passed away.
My āmā, which is Taiwanese for “grandma,” was an elusive figure to me. I wasn’t familiar with the life she led in Taiwan before immigrating to the United States with her husband and two sons in the 1970s.

This post was updated May 30 at 9:36 p.m.
The fight never stops.
The basic right to bodily autonomy is once again under threat in the United States.

It has been a busy year for student researchers at the University of California.
In addition to conducting research and taking care of all of the things that come with life in academia, graduate student researchers have been advocating for a union that would represent 17,000 student researchers across the UC.

This post was updated Sept. 27 at 5:45 p.m.
A union for student researchers. Workers terminated by UCLA for participating in union activities. The nullification of a proposition that allows ride-hail drivers to avoid classifying their workers as employees.

Dear cherished reader,
We’ve made it.
After more than a year and a half of lockdowns and Zoom classes, we’re finally returning to some semblance of normalcy.

I can sum up my first lecture at UCLA in one word: overwhelming.
Back then, it was normal to shimmy your way through packed aisles, knocking over notebooks and computers while apologizing profusely under your breath.

Connection.
It’s a word that has taken on new meaning during a time of isolation.
For many, connection is now riddled with disconnection. But in a year that has tested the human spirit in many ways, we haven’t stopped connecting.

This post was updated Jan. 18 at 7:47 p.m.
The COVID-19 pandemic may come to an end in a matter of months.
But if California can’t get its act together, hopes of a return to normalcy may remain little more than a pipe dream.

America lost more than its dignity last week.
It lost its soul.
Thousands of rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, the day Congress was set to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.