优雅的米. ’24 had the honor of introducing Jane to an eager group of Emma students, 教师, 周二早上，Kiggins内部的工作人员. Grace 和 a few other students had previously heard Jane speak at the Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark, New Jersey—an opportunity provided to them by Starzinger Writing Center Coordinator Meg McClellan. 在节日上，简背诵了她的诗 在准备好祭坛后，鬼魂们狂热地大吃大喝 格蕾丝“被她言辞之激烈所打动”.她接着形容简的作品“坦率地发自内心”, 生, 并与家族历史的主题深深交织在一起, 个人身份, 和悲伤.”

 

简拿起话筒, the audience was immediately captivated by her joyous 和 energetic demeanor. 她介绍了她的回忆录， 《今夜相约大西洋城, describing the feeling of reading this aloud as terrifyingly vulnerable compared to the brevity of poetry. It was powerful to hear her c和or on vulnerability, which resonated with our community.

简在一个亚裔美国工人阶级家庭长大, 在泽西海岸的一家中餐馆里. In her memoir, she recounts moments of frustration, as rich customers left food behind. Moments of humor, such as trapping her brother in the meat freezer. Moments of anxiety, like bills piling up that she needed to translate for her parents. 理解的时刻, as her mother was in an arranged marriage 和 shipped off to a strange country. Moments of rage, like her father’s gambling addiction 和 ab和onment of her family. Woven throughout these excerpts of her childhood is a common theme of resilience, 和 a journey to underst和 her own identity 和 family history as immigrants.

During her undergraduate work at Bard College Jane took a Chinese Politics class in which they discussed the Great Leap Forward, 当时有3600万中国人死于饥饿. “My family always spoke about my ancestors 和 my gr和father 和 siblings 和 his parents as they had disappeared when in reality, 他们没有足够的食物. I come from a history of starvation 和 饥饿 when I grew up in a restaurant of all places. 我被自己的这段历史吓了一跳.” This resulted in Jane having a fascinating relationship with food waste. 她有时会吃腐烂的草药, as she had this gut feeling that she was consuming for her ancestors, 不是她自己. To put her feelings of guilt into words, she wrote a poem titled 当你死去. It was a letter written directly to her ancestors to which she never expected a return message, 直到……

她在咖啡店批改论文, 一个声音进入她的脑海:“停下你正在做的事. 是时候写一首诗了.她一字不差地把想到的东西写了下来, 没有修改过程, 也没有这些文字从笔到纸的记忆. 这首诗的标题是 在准备好祭坛后，鬼魂们狂热地大吃大喝—which originally struck Grace—was co-written by Jane 和 her ghostly ancestors, 给她恩典, 宽恕, 和闭包. 作为一个真正的跨学科艺术家, 她把这首诗翻译成一件装置作品, 于2019年在弗莱艺术博物馆展出. Plastic ‘Thank You’ bags—generally utilized for Chinese restaurant takeout—were suspended from the ceiling, 装满了鲜花和橘子. Beneath the floating bags were restaurant bowls, some with the text of her poem written throughout. In order to read the entirety of it, the viewer must walk around the display. The meaning of this piece mirrors her original poem—Jane’s grasp on the intersection of gluttony, 饥饿, 移民生活.

 

在她与校园社区讨论之后, Jane enjoyed lunch with the students 和 met with the Asian Student Union (ASU) for a Q&一个会话. 以下是亚利桑那州立大学三头教授Hanh N总结的回答. 1924年和亚利桑那州立大学成员伊莎贝拉·H. 25，帕洛玛·L. 27年，奈杰尔·L. ’27年，达拉·S. ’26.

How did your Asian identity shape the way that you viewed success?
Jane said that surprisingly her family was very supportive despite her hopes for being a writer. But, besides her mom, the rest of her family didn’t really know about her profession. 当教授有一定的压力, 虽然, 因为这个头衔对她的亚洲家庭来说绝对是件大事.

How does being a writer in an Asian community affect your opportunities?
Jane responded that she feels empowered by knowing other Asian American writers, whom she met through various writing associations such as the NYC Asian American Writers Association.

“餐厅宝宝”对你有什么影响?
简谈到了作为一个“餐厅宝宝”的经历, 在某种程度上, 这让她走上了写作和文学的道路. She told us about how living in a strip mall also provided her with a library right across from her house. Because she read so many books, Jane says she was even more inspired to be as a writer. 另外, living in a restaurant provided her with a lot of opportunities to talk to people with different backgrounds, 哪个是灵感的来源. Jane also affirmed that being a "restaurant baby" taught her not to take things for granted. She explained that t在这里 was always a task to be done in the restaurant 和 that she always made sure to help her mother w在这里ver she could.

亚利桑那州立大学的成员们也分享了他们从简身上学到的东西. 亚利桑那州立大学三头梅哈·S. ’24 stated, “One thing I learned from meeting with Jane Wong was how true to herself she was. She said that she doesn’t write for anyone but herself, 和 I really loved to hear about that. She spoke to us about 教授s who supported her 和 those who disliked her work, but how she always persisted 和 just continued doing what worked for her 和 her soul. 她在很多方面向我们展示了她的个人主义, like being vulnerable 和 telling us about what she struggled with in writing. Seeing another Asian writer being so true to themselves 和 not what the public wants from them was truly awe-inspiring. This visit was extremely memorable for me, 和 I will definitely keep it in mind for a while.”

 

Jane is an incredibly captivating speaker with an inspiring story. We thank her for taking the time to influence 和 motivate our students. 要了解更多关于她的工作，请访问她的网站 在这里.