Ganbei Fall 2020 Nostalgia

GANBEI MAGAZINE : NOSTALGIA
A
Childhood
in Parts
Sunbeams filter through the windows,
suspending dust particles
like silver ornaments. I am cleaning
the living room, choosing what
to keep and what to discard from
eighteen years of life: casting away
the old before a new beginning
away from home. It’s strange to think
that next year, I might not be home
for Lunar New Year—perhaps my
parents will send me red packets
through Wechat for the first time.
Maybe it’s best to start with the
bookshelf, where things are relatively
easy to sort out. I reach for the
stack of CDs that are on the highest
shelf, and they come tumbling down,
a cascade of my oldest memories
laid out in front of me: Sun Wukong’s
Havoc in Heaven, Nezha, a strange
teaching cartoon about common
idioms. The tapes play in my mind’s
eye: a loop of low-quality film in
flat, bright colors, painting mythical
characters on an old TV, making