In middle school, I glimpse a trailer for a popular action adventure movie starring an A-list heart-throb and an unknown foreign actress with a melancholy down-turned mouth. She is not unusually beautiful, not compared to others, and not particularly gifted either. And yet, there is a three-second clip in the trailer which I enjoy: the […]
Christina Yu
Christina Yu
Christina Yu holds an A.B. in English and Creative Writing from Dartmouth and an M.F.A. in fiction writing from Notre Dame where she held several fellowships. Her work has appeared in magazines nationwide including Fence, New Letters, New Delta Review, Indiana Review, and the Robert Olen Butler Prize Stories anthology and has been nominated and […]
Christina Yu: Window
I live in an apartment on the first floor. When passing on the outside, friends like to tap the bedroom window and wave hello to me. While working at my desk by the window, I like to receive calls, and I also like it when my roommates knock on the door—but I dislike seeing a […]
Christina Yu: Help Desk
At work, I call the Help Desk to ask them to help me fix something on my computer. I explain the problem, step by step. When I am almost done explaining, a new image appears on my screen, and I say, “never mind” into the phone. There is a pause. I am informed that I […]
Christina Yu: Flirtation
Every day on my cruise vacation, the cleaning service leaves my hand towel in the shape of a different animal. The first morning, an elephant. The next, a monkey. Then a duck. I am trying to understand why I find this so thrilling; the towel is only a towel after all, and the animal only […]