The Book of Unknown Americans
by Cristina Henríquez

Alma, who came to America leaving everything behind and being vulnerable, reminded me of myself as a new bride from Korea.  Having left Korea for the first time, I felt like a toddler learning to walk and talk.  Geum Jool means "golden string" in Korean and traditionally represents an arrival of a newborn in a home. The portrait of myself in a traditional Korean wedding gown with geum jool symbolizes myself being reborn as an American through marriage.

Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore by Elizabeth Rush

Rising sea level, the most catastrophic disaster humankind is facing, is not natural but human made.  Ophelia, a famous victim of manipulating her own lover, look brutally alike. Swallowed up by water all the beautiful things we created is a suicide indeed.