By Aji Kang

“With your large, generous hands you cradled, caressed me:

after you built the cooking fire,

after you brushed ashes from your apron,

after you tasted whether the rice was done,

after you placed the dark bowl of bean paste on the pitch-black table,

after you patched your sons’ clothes ripped by thorns on the mountainside,

after you bandaged your small boy’s hand cut on the firewood ax,

after you picked lice one by one from your husband’s and sons’ undergarments

after you fetched the first egg of the day’s laying,

with your large, generous hands you cradled, caressed me.”

from “Dayanhe—My Wet Nurse” by Ai Qing 1

Intersectionality is a choice to support and be supported by people who are different from you. 2

The concept became popular several decades ago among many scholars and activists in the US who wrote about how social pressures and lack of opportunities make it very difficult for many women to pursue their dreams.…