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feel comfortable around him for that

reason. I feel like I can be myself

around him. I don’t have to do

something just to look cool, whereas

around a big group of people that

aren’t Asian or are just really loud, I

feel like I have to play a role.”

Mike sounded dismissive of Western

communication styles, but he admitted

that he sometimes wished he could be

noisy and uninhibited himself. “They’re

more comfortable with their own character,”

he said of his Caucasian classmates.

Asians are “not uncomfortable

with who they are, but are uncomfortable

with expressing who they are. In a

group, there’s always that pressure to

be outgoing. When they don’t live up to

it, you can see it in their faces.”

Mike told me about a freshman

icebreaking event he’d participated in,

a scavenger hunt in San Francisco that

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