Amy Dong's Blog

it's been two weeks since i started teaching english at 北安 (beian junior high). i'll give myself some more time before writing a full-blown reflection on my work as a fulbright english teaching assistant here because I have too many thoughts at present to assemble them in any coherent or meaningful way.

for now, i will simply claim that these past two weeks have been some of the most transformative of my life. that teaching is the best job i have ever held in my life. that i have already teare...

this week, apart from climbing mountains in taipei to make myself feel small and making new friends to make myself feel a part of something larger, i finished the subtle art of not giving a f*ck by mark manson. this book was a fast read. everything made sense. nothing felt extraordinary. it's not the kind of book that makes your jaw drop and think wow, never in a million years would i have thought of defining happiness or success or freedom like that. it is instead the kind of book that makes yo...

this past weekend, in my quarantine hotel room in taipei, i lay in bed crying and watched youtube videos on how to cope with depression. fuck, i thought. one doctor said i have anorexia, another said i have anxiety, another prescribed me with daily 10mg prozac on the off chance the anxiety got worse and/or was also mild depression, but honestly i think it's been kind of useless because up until now, it seems only to be inebriating me with vivid, bloody dreams where i'm either killing somebody or...

Weekly Poetry Prompts: #484 by Robert BrewerFor today’s prompt, take the phrase “On (blank),” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and write your poem. Possible titles include: “On Point,” “On Target,” “On and Off,” and “On the Last Day of School.”

“On Laughter Lines”

my mother has these laughter lines.they spill from the corners of her eyes andcrinkleever so slightlyso that when she smiles it looks almost as thoughshe’s closing her eyes, al...

last week was National Eating Disorder Awareness Week.

it was also book club week. the spotlight was on Beth Macy’s Dopesick and the nightmarish, all-consuming reality that is America’s opioid crisis.

it was also relapse week. the spotlight was on me and my anorexia. on my own nightmarish, all-consuming reality because ironically and incidentally, this past week kicked off my worst bout of anxiety-induced starvation yet since coming out of the ED version of AA/NA just under a year ago, presu...

This semester, people used the word “refreshing” to describe you in ten conversations.

What did they mean, exactly?

Why does it matter so much that you counted?

“Now that is a most interesting question: whatever became of me?”– Truman Capote, Other Voices, Other Rooms

Is “refreshing”The cloak of cool air that follows a hot shower?The smell of grass and wet concrete after rain?Your favorite song, orA soft pillow?The lotion on your hands, orThe face mask y...

“There will always be children and there will always be old people. We spend most of our lives somewhere in between . . . but of course each of us is infinite.”— Elizabeth Alexander, The Light of the World

One. It’s August 9th and I’m flying home to see family. I’m congratulating myself on a summer well-spent in New York—I didn’t get fired from a job I liked, I watched Seth Meyers bake with Martha Stewart live*, I got better at telling my eating disorder (instead of my dietitian) to fuck off—and...

…we all had a few words to say.

Grant Zhaosays,“Happy Birthday, Elaine!!!”“Amy asked us to describe you in a few words, and I guess the best thing I could come up with ischerished.Senior year has been very different without your company around, and often times I find myself wishing you were still here to crack jokes, gossip, and get late night food with.Nevertheless, you’re still always there for me when I need to rant or ask for advice, and I’m so so grateful for that. I hope you’re enjoyi...