I don’t remember much of my childhood, but I remember this poster. It’s always been in my life. I’ll see these old photos of my grandmother, when my mom was a kid, not long after they emigrated from Laos, and this poster is in the background. It’s the Hindi goddess of fertility and love, and my mom says she prayed to it when she was pregnant with me. In some ways, I feel like I was born into it, that it created a certain ethos at home and shaped who I became. It’s like a physical reflection of who I am, everything I feel emotionally and spiritually. And to know that my mother and grandmother look at it the same way feels like some kind of déjà vu.
~ Pavady Senechaleunsouk, food truck operator, Fresno, CA