Shweta Ganesh Kumar shared with me this TED Talk from novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie about how "a single story" about another person or country can cause critical misunderstanding, and I felt that the talk really reflected why I started this blog. Please watch it below, if you haven't already: I sometimes teach creative writing to children and teens and have been very shocked to see that the first impulse of my students - all Filipinos or Chinese Filipinos ages 11-15 - is to write stories featuring characters with blond hair and blue eyes. It seems that, like the seven-year-old Adichie, my students have "a single story" about what literature is and do not think that people like them can exist in literature. (Needless to say, I am now trying to expose my students to more Filipino literature and literature from other Asian countries.) I blog because our students, nieces and nephews, children, grandchildren, and godchildren NEED AND DESERVE more than "a ...
I think I may have read Yeh-Shen at one point, or at least a version of it. The tale is one that I am glad to have remembered...
ReplyDelete...I think I will reread it.
:)
Heading over to Color Online!
ReplyDeleteOMG!!! I so love Ed Young's Art! That alone would make me buy the book! :D
ReplyDeleteAsakuun, I'm glad to hear that Yeh-Shen sticks with readers! :)
ReplyDeleteNathalie, I knowww... How do I love thee, Ed Young? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height your watercolors, oil pastels, and colored pencils can reach.