Belle Yang

So, check this out.

Tonight, I went to an event at the library. It was the grand finale of the three months of events centered around The Joy Luck Club book as part of a national grant. Everyone who participated in any of the book club discussions (like my mom and I did) were invited to bring a guest to a big dinner of Chinese food and entertainment. My mom couldn't make it, so I decided to just invite Louis, except he was out selling a house when it was time to go. First awkward moment of the night was that I arrived all by myself. Second awkward moment was that I walked up to the registration table and they had NO record of my RSVP. All these high school volunteers just stared at me as I stammered out that I was a new commissioner and that um, they should probably check the list again. How the heck do I mention my role without being all pretentious about it? Fortunately, I was rescued by a very nice librarian who introduced herself and then proceeded to give me the royal treatment of leading me to a spot at a "reserved" table front and center of a room full of Asian folk. Very awkward.

Even more awkward, I sit down at the table with a Chinese couple who look me up and down, politely compliment my jade piece, and then practically ignore me. I'm saying a silent prayer for Louis to hurry up and save me, when another woman joins the table. Apparently, she is the scheduled "entertainment" for the night, as she is a well-known author who is going to speak about her books. Now, all four of us are basically just looking at each other, awkwardly wondering what to talk about. Finally, Louis arrives! The couple starts speaking to me as soon as he does. Humph.

About this time, we get up to get in line for food, then come back to the table and Nancy Fong joins us. Nancy has worked at the SL Library for about 30 years and is a big part of every success the library has ever had. She's really wonderful. Our table starts having a pretty interesting discussion about whether people living in unincorporated San Leandro should have to pay the $50 non-resident fee to use the library. I argue for a reduced fee, as does the couple sitting next to me. Ok, now we're getting somewhere. Then, Louis mentions that Nancy has worked at the library for almost as long as he's been alive. Then, Nancy mentions that Louis could be her son.

Then, Nancy mentions Danny's name, like out of nowhere. Louis and I go, "we know him!...and his wife, Dayni, and she's a librarian in Oakland, at the Chinatown library, and isn't that a coincidence?" The author remarks that it's such a small world. Nancy says, "oh, and I heard they had a baby." So, I say, "they had a girl!" Nancy says, "aw, how cute!" and then I proceed to whip out my phone and show pictures from the day I visited Sarah, Kean, and co. Now, everyone is oohing and aahing over Sarah and Kean and not only is the awkwardness quickly fading, but now that they see that Louis and I have a Chinese niece and nephew, we're golden.

We finish eating and the author sitting at our table introduces herself as Belle Yang. She gets up front to share her story about how she was born in Taiwan and then moved with her family to San Francisco and then eventually the Monterey coast. At one point, an ex-boyfriend of hers became a stalker and she went to China to try to escape the stressful situation at home. In China, she learns about her family's history and also begins painting and drawing. After Tiananmen Square, she comes back to the Bay Area only to discover that her stalker is still around. She ends up spending the next four years basically locked up in her house because she is afraid to leave. During those years, she got even better at her art, as it became a sort of meditation for her. She began publishing illustrated books for kids and adults, and now she's a pretty big deal.

During her talk, she showed slideshows of her artwork and drawings from her books. They were amazing! She had this one video clip of her working on an elegy, or graphic novel. In the video, the camera shows the progression over time of how she designed one full page of drawings. It was so incredible to watch. She has a great sense of humor, too. I like her.

After dinner, we are all invited to purchase her books from a table in the back of the room. I decided to buy a copy of her autobiographical kid's book called Hannah Is My Name. It takes place in San Francisco, and she says the reason she used the name Hannah was because she wanted kids to relate to the story and she thought the name would be easy for an English-learner to pronounce. I like that it takes place locally and has a female main character, so I tell Louis I wanna buy a copy for Sarah, in appreciation for the fact that she basically saved me over dinner and gained me a bunch of respect by being her proud auntie. When it was my turn to ask Belle to sign my book, I was tickled when she signed it, "For Sarah, Jennifer's niece."


Beat that, Tita Jen :)