I'm Laughing Because I'm Crying

From standup comedian Youngmi Mayer, an unforgettable memoir written with 'raw, enviable freedom that simply floors you,' interrogating whiteness, gender, and sexuality in America, navigating a tumultuous childhood in Korea and Saipan, and coming to terms with her parents' shortcomings (Michelle Zauner). 'Do you know what happens if you laugh while crying? Hair grows out of your butthole.' It was a constant truism Youngmi Mayer's mother would say threateningly after she would make her daughter laugh while crying. Her mother used it to cheer her up in moments when she could tell Youngmi was overtaken with grief. The humorous saying would never fail to lighten the mood, causing both daughter and mother to laugh and cry at the same time. Her mother had learned this trick from her mother, and her mother had learned this from her mother before her: it had also helped an endless string of her family laugh through suffering. In I'm Laughing Because I'm Crying, Youngmi jokes through the