I was born as the first male child in a Chinese/Cambodian American immigrant family. Needless to say, I was the family favorite, as is customary for the male child who ensures longevity of the family name. Baby sister Katie was born exactly one year afterwards (the brat interrupted my birthday party at Chuck E' Cheeses), and baby brother Covey four years after that. Mother worked at one minimum wage job after another to support father through a four year nursing degree at NDSU, and consequently the Wong's lived frugally. We lived in a low income apartment unit for the majority of my childhood, and relied on the kindness of the sponsors that brought my parents to the country to get by. Pennies were pinched wherever they could be pinched. Clothes were bought secondhand and horribly unfashionable, allowances and personal spending money were a thing of fantasy, and everyday conveniences like cable, internet, and cell phones remained out of reach. Classic Asian parenting dominated my upbringing, to a point that during a stretch of time throughout elementary school I was required to recite all 109 recognized elements of the periodic table and identify hundreds of human anatomical structures before being allowed to go out and play. By the time I reached middle school and high school, I had successfully (or so I thought) rebelled against my upbringing and was living the life of a vagrant (still kind of am). Although I was fully capable of maintaining perfect grades, I let them slip habitually to the point where my academic imperfection was accepted. I avoided math and science classes like the plague. Breaking rules, escaping punishment, and breaking more rules became my favorite past time. All of my roguish tendencies came to a head when I was expelled from a summer gym course on the last day for giving my instructor the finger and several accompanying suggestive pelvic gyrations. Way to end freshman year in true fashion. I went through high school much better behaved. I took up the guitar and devoted hundreds of hours practicing (this marginal talent is my only cultural vice, I swear). I played soccer and was heavily involved in extra curricular activities. I remember now how badly I wanted to be well liked, popular. I craved attention but now sought it in a way that didn't involve being deviant. In the end I did alright. I met my hot, white, tall girlfriend that I see to this day. I was elected junior and senior class president as well as homecoming king in a class of over 500 (probably the only Asian in North Dakota's history who can claim that). I've developed a taste for finer things, probably some sort of reactionary response to never having them as a child. I'm doing my best not to become a doctor or scientist or mathematician and thus am diverging from the grand narrative that unfailingly prescribes itself on people like me.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Tiny mini history of Alex Wong
I was born as the first male child in a Chinese/Cambodian American immigrant family. Needless to say, I was the family favorite, as is customary for the male child who ensures longevity of the family name. Baby sister Katie was born exactly one year afterwards (the brat interrupted my birthday party at Chuck E' Cheeses), and baby brother Covey four years after that. Mother worked at one minimum wage job after another to support father through a four year nursing degree at NDSU, and consequently the Wong's lived frugally. We lived in a low income apartment unit for the majority of my childhood, and relied on the kindness of the sponsors that brought my parents to the country to get by. Pennies were pinched wherever they could be pinched. Clothes were bought secondhand and horribly unfashionable, allowances and personal spending money were a thing of fantasy, and everyday conveniences like cable, internet, and cell phones remained out of reach. Classic Asian parenting dominated my upbringing, to a point that during a stretch of time throughout elementary school I was required to recite all 109 recognized elements of the periodic table and identify hundreds of human anatomical structures before being allowed to go out and play. By the time I reached middle school and high school, I had successfully (or so I thought) rebelled against my upbringing and was living the life of a vagrant (still kind of am). Although I was fully capable of maintaining perfect grades, I let them slip habitually to the point where my academic imperfection was accepted. I avoided math and science classes like the plague. Breaking rules, escaping punishment, and breaking more rules became my favorite past time. All of my roguish tendencies came to a head when I was expelled from a summer gym course on the last day for giving my instructor the finger and several accompanying suggestive pelvic gyrations. Way to end freshman year in true fashion. I went through high school much better behaved. I took up the guitar and devoted hundreds of hours practicing (this marginal talent is my only cultural vice, I swear). I played soccer and was heavily involved in extra curricular activities. I remember now how badly I wanted to be well liked, popular. I craved attention but now sought it in a way that didn't involve being deviant. In the end I did alright. I met my hot, white, tall girlfriend that I see to this day. I was elected junior and senior class president as well as homecoming king in a class of over 500 (probably the only Asian in North Dakota's history who can claim that). I've developed a taste for finer things, probably some sort of reactionary response to never having them as a child. I'm doing my best not to become a doctor or scientist or mathematician and thus am diverging from the grand narrative that unfailingly prescribes itself on people like me.
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When you say "I'm doing my best not to become a doctor or scientist or mathematician and thus am diverging from the grand narrative that unfailingly prescribes itself on people like me.", it reminds me of the stereotypical view that Asians are only good scientists, mathematicians or doctors. Here I am, an Asian, studying chemical engineering in one of the top colleges in the US. Many people still think that I study this major because of the self-fulfilling stereotypes of my race. However, this is not the case as I truly love the subject I'm studying and I would not make a different choice if I was given a second chance. I didn't try to keep away from mathematics and sciences, although it will make me a more "typical" Asian.
ReplyDeleteIt's wonderful that you love chemical engineering so much, perhaps your affinity for the subject was shaped by the culture that surrounded your upbringing as an Asian? Docile body?
ReplyDeleteWhen I get up to "Pennies were pinched wherever they could be pinched. Clothes were bought secondhand and horribly unfashionable", I feel that I am one of the child who lives in that apartment because I have a similar childhood like you. My family was poor and all my parent went to another place(far from my hometown) to make money. I lived with my grandmother in countryside most of time. I also like chemical engineering and im major in chemistry. I agree with Alexander that your interest of chemistry engineering was shaped by the culture that you experienced as an Asian.
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