Yaldaz Sadakova

04/26/2024
Nighttime shot of a convenience store on West 14th Street in New York City

Breaking Up With New York, Once and For All

And with journalism.
02/23/2024

The Shame of Forgetting My Mother Tongue

I've forgotten my mother tongue and I feel like a different person when I switch languages. I thought I was a freak. Then I discovered these things are common.
09/23/2023

Becoming Canadian

Studying for the Canadian citizenship test exposed me to a misleading story about how Canada came to be.
04/17/2022

How I Stopped Seeing Cooking as Anti-Feminist

To defy my patriarchal upbringing, I refused to cook—until I adopted a plant-based diet.
04/13/2022
Graffiti image of devil

Don’t Be the Voice of the Voiceless, Even If You’re a Minority

We, the voiceless, are already speaking for ourselves.
12/01/2021

Who Taught You to Love?

I’ve changed countries and languages, but my attachment style has remained the same.
06/19/2021

Rejecting The Single Immigrant Story

There's no such thing as The Immigrant Story. There are numerous immigrant stories.
04/10/2021

Are You a Global Citizen?

Being a citizen of the world isn't about traveling. It's about rejecting nationalism.
12/20/2020

Why Meaningful Writing About Immigration Takes Time

I used to think I’m a slow writer. Now I know that thorough is what I am.
04/11/2020

Is Prayer Useless in the Face of Inevitable Change?

Staying present is a better approach.
04/02/2020

Vipassana Meditation Helped Me Develop Self-Awareness

I’ve changed countries, but my subconscious patterns have persisted. They have followed me through all my moves.
03/21/2020

Despite the Stigma, I Self-Published My First Book—a Collection of Personal Essays on Immigration

For many diverse writers, self-publishing is the only route to publication.
01/14/2020

Foreign, Poor and in the Ivy League

When you simultaneously inhabit the worlds of poverty and privilege, you feel excluded and inadequate.
01/02/2020

Cultivating the Courage to Tell My Immigration Stories

What will people think of me? I try not to care.
08/21/2019

The Hermetically Sealed Suburban Lifestyle

To an immigrant, the suburbs can be soul-crushing.
06/02/2019

How I Found My Creative Voice in a Foreign Language

Developing a unique writing style is hard enough, but what if you have to do it in a foreign language?
05/13/2019

How I Made the Foreignish Logo

Designing a logo looks easy until you try doing it yourself.
05/04/2019

I Live an Ocean Away From My Mom. Our Separation Is a Wound That Never Heals.

When I’m away from my mom, I'm used to not having her in my daily life. But when I see her and become accustomed to being with her every day, parting hurts. It feels like picking at the scab of a wound and making it bleed again.
04/01/2019

Working-With-Editors Fatigue: Symptoms, Causes and Treatment

This is a debilitating condition which affects as many as 75 percent of writers and journalists worldwide.
02/18/2019

People Mispronounce My Foreign Name But It’s Partly My Fault

When people butcher my name, I don't correct them for fear of making them uncomfortable.
01/30/2019

Shame and Self-Loathing in Brussels

My biggest humiliation happened a decade ago in Brussels.
01/14/2019

Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me When I Began Self-Publishing My Writing

Self-publishing is not for losers.
09/20/2018

How I Came Up With the Name Foreignish

The first names I could think of were embarrassing.
08/31/2018

Don’t Underestimate Immigrants

As an immigrant, I'm so used to being underestimated.
08/27/2018

Stop Asking Where I’m From

The answer won't reveal much anyway. There's a better question. No, it's not "What's your background?"
07/16/2018

Dream Big, Unless You Have a Shitty Passport

When I lost a job because of my nationality, I understood you’re not entitled to global career dreams and wanderlust if you belong to the underclass of non-Western passport holders.
07/06/2018

Checking My Passport Privilege

My EU passport gives me an enormous privilege—a privilege I didn't work for. The least I can do is acknowledge that privilege.
03/28/2018

A Precarious Visa Situation Makes You Vulnerable at Work

I tolerated bullying and accepted ridiculous pay at my first journalism job. I thought I had no choice because I was a foreigner who needed a visa sponsorship.
01/24/2018

Is Making Friends as an Introverted Immigrant Harder Than Dating?

I used to think that moving from one country to another is what exacerbates the task of making friends as a busy adult. Now I realize it's my introversion, too.