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The Cultural Hyphen (continued) |
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| "What are you?," and "...You don't seem Chinese. I mean, you don't play with computers, you don't do karate, you don't have an accent, your hair doesn't look like Moe from the Three Stooges..." or, "Ya know, you could pass for a Filipino!" In my life, I have heard references made to gooks, chinks, jap, nip, and coolie. I sat through Breakfast at Tiffany's. I have braced myself in the presence of "Dental-Floss Blindfold" jokes. I silenced myself when others pulled at the sides of their eyes and bucked their teeth. I asked myself - why am I forced to put up with this? Just because my hair is dark and straight. Just because I am short and my eyes are a little more narrow. Little things that, for some reason, make me so different. Me. The guy who was, in the eyes of my own relatives, a "Jook Sing, ... so American...." |
I asked myself if I was lying when I filled in the bubble that read 'Pacific-Islander' or 'Asian-American.' I wondered if I and others like me always would be separated from the world by a hyphen. Born and raised in San Diego's white suburbia, Andy Lowe is a Chinese-American student attending UCSD. Andy has been a contributor to non-profit alternative publications such as NONSENSE, as well as a founder of The Visionary Magazine. This story, The Cultural Hyphen, was originally written for Pam Ramsey's A.P. class at Clairemont High School. It was also the starting block for Andy's play, The Cultural Hyphen, which was produced by the Young Playwright's Project at the Old Globe Theatre from November 9 - 20, 1994 and recently played in San Diego. Bridge illustration by Duke Windsor. |
