This newsletter is a bit of an experiment.

I’m not sure where this will go, but I do know what and why I want to try, so we’ll start with a few questions you may have. You’ll get another missive soon on why I called this Weft.

What did I sign up for again? If you’re on this list, you either responded to my vague post about it on LinkedIn, or you said you were interested in following this line of thinking following some research I conducted in 2024. My intent is to create a space to explore a demographic and shared experience: kids of immigrants and beyond, anyone who holds two cultures. In the US, this is likely Asian American and Latino/a/e communities, because those two groups have accounted for a big wave of immigration starting in the 1960s or so.

What is this going to look like? My goal is to send you something once a month, with the possibility that I might publish more often. I’ve come up with a few ideas:

• Reported articles
• A journey through history/the internet I’m calling Rabbit Hole
• Link roundups of related stories and research I find interesting
• The occasional personal essay from me (or someone else)

There are other things I really want to get into - oral histories, entrepreneur and leader Q&As, but those are down the road.

Why a newsletter? Newsletters are something I have experience with and are the fastest thing for me to create and disseminate by myself. I am also consulting, meaning I can only dedicate so much time to this. I know, there are so many newsletters out there. I will not be offended if you subscribe and never read. Or subscribe and decide later to unsubscribe.

Why I use ButtonDown: I know I could make money and have more influence on SubStack, but I feel like I cannot write a newsletter about race, identity and culture while getting paid through an entity that supports racism. Yes, I understand their argument about the First Amendment, and I support everyone’s right to be able to speak their mind, but that does not mean I need to support what they say.

Why does this matter now? The past few years have been a roller coaster of “unprecedented” events. I’ve been thinking and writing in bits and pieces since the last presidential election where identity came up often (“choosing” to be Black). The conversation has continued and it seems like it is even more important to build a community to figure this out — together. It feels like every week there are questions about who we are - as Americans, and kids of immigrants.

Hopefully that answers some questions that will help you decide whether to stick around, or maybe share this with a friend?