Twinkie

by Jessie Lutz – Chinese adoptee, high school senior, international communications manager for CCI

They call me twinkie.
An American classic.
White creme nestled in a fluffy yellow cake.
Yellow on the outside white on the inside.
Overwhelmingly sweet.

But there is nothing sweet about being stuck between two worlds.
Too white-washed for China, too Chinese for America.
A foreigner wherever I go.

Somehow my Asian exterior is synonymous with:
mathematician, pianist, geek.
And so when I can’t do math homework,
or play 7 instruments,
or fix their computers, they call me
twinkie.

Twinkie.
A sickening sweet novelty
wrapped in ignorance.