For as long as I've remembered, my grandfather has played the starring role in all of my father's stories. Dad will always, to this day, proudly describe my grandfather to me and my little brother as a bold, patriotic, and dashingly handsome young man, a perfect specimen of Korean manhood who will risk everything to protect his loved ones.

Once, for an elementary school assignment on illustrating our heritages, I drew my grandfather as a raven-haired, smiling stick figure holding the Korean flag. When we presented our drawings, I proudly retold my father's stories about my perfect, adventurous grandfather, embellishing details until my fellow classmates' eyes bulged in awe or narrowed in disbelief. My grandpa, I thought, was the most accomplished, caring, hard-working, and loving person in the entire world. 

When I was growing up, my parents told me that sex was an exchange between two people who love each other very much. It was a special gift that you gave to another person, which should hold great value. Through my experiences in life, I’ve come to realize that sex is in fact a wonderful exchange. It just doesn’t necessarily need to be shared between two people who love each other...

If there is one thing I’ve learned in all my years as a gay man, it’s to always use a condom! But one of the assumptions built into the ‘condomize-or-else’ mantra is the notion that everyone can afford to engage in safe(r) sex in the first place. Well, I’m here to tell you that nothing could be further from the truth—okay, well, maybe a few more things...

I have been in a middle-distance relationship (MDR) for just over a year. My partner and I live about 3 hours away from each other by car, and see each other every 2-3 weeks. Everyone is familiar with the perils of a long-distance relationship: lack of trust, infidelity, lack of physical intimacy, and the distance just getting between the lovers. With all these challenges, knowingly entering into an MDR might seem crazy. But for me, my middle-distance relationship has helped me regain my self-worth, autonomy, and intimacy within a relationship...