Kim O'Connell

Based in Arlington, Virginia, Kim O'Connell writes about history, nature, culture, design, and food, and especially enjoys when those things intersect. Bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Huffington Post, Ladies Home Journal, Atlas Obscura, and other national and regional publications. www.kimaoconnell.com

Stories

Cover Photo: An image of the author on her birthday as a child. She and her mother rest their arms on each other’s shoulders and are looking at each other.

Learning to Love My Mother’s Body and My Own

Envy feels a lot like binging—the more you give into it, the worse you feel.

Dec 16, 2020

People | Family | Bodies

Cover Photo: An image of Arlington Boulevard

Carving Out a Vietnamese Identity in the New South

For Asians in the South and everywhere, there is still narrative scarcity.

Mar 02, 2020

Columns | Finding Little Saigon

Cover Photo: Three figures line the foreground in prayer positions. One of the figures, a woman, holds incenses that smoke. In the background there is a gate with a cross on the top with a Virgin Mary figure underneath.

Seeking Sacred Spaces in Vietnamese New Orleans

Here, Vietnamese people hold the distinction of having been refugees twice over—first from Vietnam, second from Hurricane Katrina.

Jan 23, 2020

Columns | Finding Little Saigon

Cover Photo: A man begins to put a duck on a skewer in the Eden Center. Behind him to his left, a row of roasted ducks with the head still attached hands. Another man on the right looks on at the duck the man is handling.

Finding Eden and Myself in a Vietnamese Shopping Center

There, as I walk in a sea of Vietnamese people, I know I stand out.

Dec 11, 2019

Columns | Finding Little Saigon