Yesterday, Ichiro Suzuki left the Seattle Mariners and was traded to the New York Yankees. I wrote this short personal essay for The Seattle Star, “Why Ichiro’s Departure Makes This Nikkei Girl Sad.” It wasn’t an essay about his baseball career (the 2001 team, the All-Star appearances, etc.), but what he represented for me as a Japanese American who had also just moved into Seattle, and as a student of the region’s ventolin inhaler online shop history and literature.
The news happened very quickly, and I didn’t take very long to write the piece. However, I’m starting to see how I might approach a longer personal essay, and I’m starting to think about what essays that are not lyric, and more “traditional” essays, might look like.
8/2/12: Update: the piece has been reprinted on Discover Nikkei, web project of the Japanese American National Museum. I’m thrilled and honored.