Minor Feelings

This audio-friendly summary follows Cathy Park Hong’s reflections on Asian American identity—how it can be shaped by invisibility, pressure to overachieve, and the constant need to explain one’s reality to people who may not recognize it. Through personal memory and cultural history, the narrative shows how racism can be both loud and quiet: visible in major incidents, and also embedded in everyday assumptions and systems.

Across eight chapters, the story moves from childhood and family history to immigration policy, public violence, and the rise of hate crimes. The through-line is a gentle but clear invitation: to listen more closely, to take Asian American experiences seriously, and to make space for complex identities without pushing them into the category of “other.”

• Listeners who want a clearer, more human understanding of Asian American experiences beyond stereotypes like “model minority” or “quiet success.”
• Anyone trying to learn how racism can show up through invisibility, history, and everyday systems—not only through overt slurs or headlines.
• People looking for a thoughtful, non-judgmental prompt to reflect on identity, belonging, and what respectful allyship can look like.

Cathy Park Hong is a Korean American writer and poet whose work examines identity, culture, and power. Born in Koreatown, Los Angeles, to parents who immigrated from Seoul, she has written widely about the complicated emotional and social realities of being Asian American in the United States.