An Uong

An Uong is a writer living in New England and Los Angeles. Her work is forthcoming or has appeared in Catapult, Eater, Roads and Kingdoms, Winter Tangerine, Wildness by Platypus Press, and elsewhere. She can’t say no to a bowl of bún bò Huế. Find her online: @anuonganuong.

 

AUGUST 2020 NONFICTION: WITCHCRAFT

“Gotta go, bye!” was just one of the many pieces of knowledge I folded into my everyday expressions after watching the latest episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. The phrase was a tell-tale sign that she was up to something, a quick and finite way of removing herself from any situation to scutter off toward mischief. 

Six ascending notes on a xylophone was the dream sequence that called me to our family’s TV throughout my childhood. Mysterious and otherworldly, the jingle promised a new misadventure in magic every time. A guitar solo followed, with Sabrina the Teenage Witch appearing across the screen in bubbly pink letters. Friday evenings were spent this way: sitting cross-legged in front of the TV and basking in Sabrina’s bubbliness.

MAY 2020 NONFICTION: THE MAKING OF AMERICAN MONEY

My mother and I grew comfortable with the ease of our recycling routine, like how the lids gently flipped open to reveal the potential of money. We didn’t notice the patrol car crawling toward us one day until the police officer tapped on my mother’s shoulder, clearing his throat.

West Side Recycling was a windowless cavern of abandoned metal and purchased recyclables. It was painted in three fat stripes of red, white and blue that encircled the squat building. In the distance, Griffith Park’s hills looked like a movie backdrop: crisp, never-ending, ready to swallow. The strip of sidewalk in front of the building was often filled with people dividing recyclables into aluminum, glass or plastic.