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-Rebecca Feng | Friday, April 28, 2017
How can I fairly represent the life of “the other?” Even if I can represent it, how can I use language, any language, to capture the totality of her life? How can I make you understand, empathize or, at least, listen, to the story of a life that is not your own? Should I start
Rebecca Feng | Friday, March 31, 2017
Seven weeks prior to coming to Notre Dame, I had a conversation with a Notre Dame sophomore from Beijing. When I inquired about the food on campus, she answered, with an ethereal smile I did not quite understand — “There are two dining halls, North and South. Which dorm are you assigned to?” “Lewis,” I
Rebecca Feng | Friday, February 24, 2017
That winter, Fr. John Jenkins refused to declare Notre Dame a sanctuary campus; this winter, the cheers of the hockey game were echoing in my bones; that winter, Trump attempted the travel ban and millions of immigrants’ dreams were shattered inside their own already weak stomach; this winter, he and I spent hours during dinner
Rebecca Feng | Friday, February 10, 2017
The 2006 French Open was the first time Roger Federer played Rafael Nadal in a Grand Slam final. Nadal won the game after four sets. It was also that sizzling summer I first started to practice tennis. The elegance of Federer and the persistence of Nadal kept me practicing each serve, forehand, backhand and interception.
Rebecca Feng | Friday, January 27, 2017
“The all-seeing eyes of the Buddha represent good luck,” he told me, smiling. “Honestly, I still think they are a little creepy,” I tried to bargain with my horrible bargaining skills. “You Chinese?” “Yeah.” “Special price for Chinese, only a thousand rupees. We Nepalese love you Chinese.” My curiosity grew — “Why Nepalese love Chinese?” “You
Rebecca Feng | Friday, December 2, 2016
There are two concepts that have confused me since I came to Notre Dame — what is home and how to reject mediocrity. Let me start with my confusion over the concept of home. I remembered the first time I went back to China after my freshman year fall semester. Walking into the arrival area,
Rebecca Feng | Friday, November 11, 2016
Editor’s Note: Rebecca Feng co-authored this column with her twin sister, April Feng. “Protect yourself. Don’t date American guys. Racism in America will never come to an end. He will never truly respect you.” “Mom, you read about America from the news. I will go to America, and I will find out for myself.” “Rebecca,”
Rebecca Feng | Friday, October 28, 2016
A land, my land, sits quietly across the ocean. Its scent, my scent, permeated the air, the air in the Chicago airport, far away from my vast land. I watched planes landing and taking off and felt summer dying and fall growing. I was about to set off for a place where a piece of
Rebecca Feng | Friday, October 7, 2016
It happened right after the first snow in Beijing. Red leafs lay on the ground, freshly dead, covered by snow. I used to think they looked like blood veins under a person’s skin. Friends found that analogy strange – “How unromantic!” If these leafs are the crucial veins of a body, what would my friends
Rebecca Feng | Friday, September 23, 2016
Professor Menes said to me, “Talent will burn out, soon, but faith will not. That’s what keeps us writing.” Do you remember Mrs. Brown? The old woman we met two weeks ago through Virginia Woolf. She sits in the corner of a train from Richmond to Waterloo, whose feet, in their “clean little boots, scarcely