Elizabeth Miki Brina will receive an MFA in Creative Writing from University of New Orleans. She is currently working on a memoir that focuses on her mother and the rarely told history of Okinawa. Her work has appeared in Bad Pony and Hippocampus and is forthcoming in Crab Fat, New Delta Review, So to Speak and Under the Gum Tree. She teaches ESL at a community college.
My first memory is of getting bitten by a dog. His name is Shiro, which means “white” or “castle” or “generation” in Japanese, depending on how it is written. Shiro has long white hair, blue eyes and a grayish-pink nose. I am 3 years old and he is just above my height, but I can still look him in the eyes. I believe we understand each other, our arrangement. I believe, at age 3, I’ve earned his subservience. He carries himself proudly. Majestic, like a horse.