Its less in the book with my dad, but over the years as hes processed some things and started to move on from the past a little, I see these glimmers of moments where the child comes out. I pulled my phone out and started typing on that flight, and gave myself until December 31, 2019 to finish the first draft or forget about it for good. I'd gotten to a point where I was a lawyer and was fairly accomplished, but I was still not honest about who I had been. T, My third grade teacher gave me a copy of Charlottes Web because she knew I loved books. One cannot be passionate about demolishing systemic barriers of racism and wealth inequality while remaining apathetic to food sustainability and climate change. According to our reviewer, Qian Julie Wangs debut memoir, Beautiful Country (Doubleday, Sept. 7), tells the story of how one little girl found her way through We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. SIMON: What did your parents caution you you should avoid saying and doing because your family was without documents? The waste I witnessed at Sharples threw into relief the hunger painted on the faces of the homeless lining the streets of Philadelphia, where I worked several part-time jobs. But having had that ingrained early on, in my adult life there is nothing that is too much work for me. So it finally culminated in the night that I found her rolling in bed and forced to call 911, and then holding my breath and waiting to see if she would get medical attention or we would instead get deported. For many years of my life, I operated by a set of clear and abiding principles, and asked inconvenient, challenging questions, but I had no formal spiritual framework. What do you hope your story will leave with readers, either with or without similar experiences to your own? Qian Julie Wangs debut memoir Beautiful Country is a compelling and intimate portrait of an undocumented childhood. SIMON: I feel the need to ask about your father, baba (ph) in Chinese. I realized that I had been Jewish all along; I simply hadn't known it. An Inside Look at Beautiful Country Author Qian Julie Wangs Bookish Wedding. She joins us now from Brooklyn, N.Y. The only way to balance it with working 60-80 hours a week was a concrete rule: As long as I was on the subway platform or on the subway on my way to or from work, I was writing on my phone. An online magazine for todays home cook. It d, Decca helpsto push forcitizenship., I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, Bobbin furniture: our favourite interiors trend, Brand new collaborations that make our hearts sing, Sabrina Ghayours Persiana & Spiced Carrot, Pistachio and Almond Cake. When I discovered Judaism, I finally felt complete. The book will forever represent to me the first time I felt accepted in the United States. Then, going into the election and hearing all the discourse, I felt something fundamentally change within me, where I recognized for the first time that I had a profound privilege to be on the other side of the experience and that I was choosing not to think about it and not to speak about it. But I had to think about making an income, and law seemed like a way that I could use storytelling to make a difference in peoples lives and still make sure I could pay off my loans. That myopic focus in the U.S. tends to result in Jewish spaces that feel deeply unwelcoming, and often even overtly hostile, to Jews of Color. Qian Julie Wang, who is a Yale Law graduate, now an attorney, has written a memoir, "Beautiful Country." Those subway snippets would become "Beautiful Country," a gorgeous and heartfelt tale of Wang's childhood as an undocumented New Yorker, published Tuesday. Nor, alas, were the circumstances of my childhood. Since 2016, the College has undertaken a substantial effort to reduce the waste that we generate and to divert waste away from incineration in Chester, Pa., and into compost or recycling. How did they react? We only spoke Mandarin, and that immediately relegated us to kind of a lower caste. It took me six months after the book deal to work up the courage to tell my parents. It was where I learned English, discovered my favorite books and learned what it meant to feel comfortable in my new land. The meals that were poked before being tossed. But each time I returned to that vision of a preteen discovering my book at the library when she needs it most, all of my fears fall by the wayside. Something I was really struck by was how much reading, and your local library, was a safe space for you as a child (as a fellow kid who loved going to the library!). SIMON: Let me ask you about the time your mother falls ill and it kind of underscored a lot of the fear in which you had to live because when you're undocumented - well, you tell us. I was very fortunate in getting a lot of early experiences that forced me to take on big cases and go into court and speak up. The only way to balance it with working 60-80 hours a week was a concrete rule: As long as I was on the subway platform or on the subway on my way to or from work, I was writing on my phone. WANG: It was, but I think I was protected by the fact that I was a child and just kind of took things as they came, as children do, and had that sort of natural resilience. I gave myself permission then to stop working on the book, not knowing if I would ever find my way back. Its the story of her childhood. If readers can take away anything from the experience, I hope it is that, beyond the external labels and divides, we are all not that different from each other. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their two rescue dogs, Could you share why you chose your name and the meaning it has in your life? QJW: For a child who found herself transported overnight to other side of the world, where she knew no one other than her parents, books were my salvation. And the fact that people are willing to risk being undocumented shows just how bad it is in the home countries of people who immigrate. All of us are stared at and assumed to be new converts or gentile. They became that in so many ways, not just in terms of learning English, but also finding a sense of emotional safety in America that wasnt readily available to me, and understanding the power of storytelling. In that sphere, I have been so fortunate to find lifelong friends my sisters and family in spirit. The book will forever represent to me the first time I felt accepted in the United States. Interview by Elena Bowes. SN: How did your work as a lawyer influence the writing of this book, and vice versa? For me growing up, the library was my second home. Without a doubt, it has been the Jews of Color community. Coming to America at age 7, she was thrown into the brand new world of New York City. There is universality in humanity and in the childhood experience in particular. This was particularly the case in early 2019, because I was also planning my wedding at the time. Books are my constant friend. I always loved books but after we moved, they took on the role of family. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou and Angelas Ashes by Frank McCourt really inspired me to write my book. SN: Theres a line in the book that reads, Ma Ma didnt know it, but she was the reason my imagination burned alive everywhere I went, the reason I saw love in all beings and things. Can you talk about the joyful, playful aspect of your relationship with your mom and your parents, and how they inspire your creativity? So after a day or two, the teacher recommended that I be put in a classroom for students with disabilities, even though I had no disabilities. Copyright 2021 NPR. WANG: In the U.S., my mother - my mother's first job was at a sweatshop in Chinatown. SN: What is the importance or role of education, inside or outside of the American education system, in the book and in your life? I was just playing with things, and I didnt really have that concept of work yet. It took me 6 months from when I got the book deal to tell my parents because they are still very much afraid that we could all be deported. It was verystressful and I didnt know how they would take it. They didnt take it very well. Now they have resigned themselves to it. The Chinese we do not like airingour dirty laundry it was how I was raised and it feels very exposing. I have shown them chapters and fact checked parts (particularly the opening chapters about my father) but I havent shown them the whole book cover to cover. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. HOME| For me growing up, the library was my second home. Detailing her familys experience as immigrants, Wangs first book vibrates with nuance and rhapsodic prose. Watching Moment Magazine wonderful moderator Sarah Berger interview of Qian Julie Wang was a welcome & sad experience. The act of writing was transformative and incredibly healing. In each of the scenes, I was able to be back there and also as an adult in the background. Writing really forced me to do to relive my traumas. There were all these emotions that I couldnt acknowledge as a child because I didnt have the resources to deal with it. Do I want to go down this path, which is just following the momentum of what Id done with my adult life, or do I want to listen to little Qian and do what she would want me to do? WebQIAN JULIE WANG (pronounced Chien Joolee Wong) is a New York Times bestselling author and civil rights litigator. CONTACT US. WebQian Julie Wang is a litigator and a graduate of Yale Law School and Swarthmore College. Qian Julie Wang grew up in libraries. But in late September 2019, on our flight to our honeymoon, I realized that the break had allowed me to subconsciously process everything else that needed to go into my book. There have been many times in the publication process when I have wondered whether I was crazy to go through with putting this book out into the world. Rarely are we able able to attend services without receiving at least some inappropriate, offensive remark. During my undocumented childhood, a period of extreme poverty that I never dared speak of during my time on campus, I arrived at elementary school every day starving, stomach churning toward the free meal that would be slopped onto my tray at lunchtime. My parents have read parts of it, and I have fact-checked certain memories with them, but they have not read the whole thing! Thank you so much for being with us. So help us understand how you navigated through that world. There is universality in humanity and in the childhood experience in particular. Now as an adult, stepping back and having looked at everything in my childhood that led me to interact with work that way, I am now very consciously teaching myself boundaries that my work is indeed intellectual; it does not need to be physical. Most of all, though, I am really looking forward to getting together with family at the seder. So when she started acting uncomfortable in her body - she would put her hand over her stomach. Please try again later. There was probably no better way to discover kindred spirits with whom I share my passion for activism, racial justice, immigrants rights and spirituality. What inspired you to share your tale of being an undocumented child?. Qian Julie Wangs incandescent memoir, Beautiful Country, puts readers in the shoes of an undocumented child living in poverty in the richest country in the world. This is where youll see your current point status and your earned rewards. QIAN JULIE WANG is a graduate of Yale Law School and Swarthmore College. In New York City, and Im most familiar with New York City because I practice law here and I grew up here, theres so much segregation based on the wealth of zip codes and where children are just slotted in based on who theyre born to and how much they make. Whats your favorite part about being Jewish? Its a voyage into the love, pain and secrets of family, a train ride through the confusion, resilience and delight of coming of age. I gave myself permission then to stop working on the book, not knowing if I would ever find my way back. As a child who felt lonely and lost most of the time, the Chatham Square public library branch in Chinatown was my anchor in my American life. It was the thing that commanded me to binge whenever I came upon a buffet, that whispered that the only way to stave off the hunger of my past was to eat all of the free food that ever came before me. The Best Books to Get Your Finances in Order, Books Based on Your Favorite Taylor Swift Era, Cook a Soul Food Holiday Meal With Rosie Mayes. I realized she meant that all of us have these powerful secrets that we ascribe so much shame to but that really are very universal at its core. We spoke to Wang (who went to Yale and is now a managing partner of a law firm dedicated to advocating for education and discrimination rights) to ask her more: The book is very moving and feels extremely personal. Balance is a concept that I think few litigators know (I certainly dont!). I was damaged in some way; I was not normal. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Wang, 32, is known as Julie. They can be found on Twitter @sarahmariewrote. Qian Julie Wang, who is a Yale Law graduate, now an attorney, has written a memoir, "Beautiful Country." It was always drilled into me that literacy was my way out, and that was because I had a dad who was a literature professor, who had read Mark Twain and Dickens, and it was part of why he came here. QJW: Its deeply problematic to me when people try to frame my story as the American dream because there were profound privileges that I came into these years of being undocumented with, with the primary privilege being that my parents were able to get a good education in China, however you may define it. How did they react? Her new memoir, Beautiful Country, surveys the impact of hunger in undocumented children in the United States. The Shadow of Hunger. The story of Qian Julie Wang, as she explains, begins before she was born. Its a human need to do that. They are both books seen from the childs perspective. It was my biggest and wildest ambition to write a book that might allow others out there to see themselves reflected in literature, and have them know that it is possible to survive similar circumstances. . Qian and her husband Marc exchanged vows in a lovely book-themed wedding in September 2019. It was then that I realized that what I had long thought of as singularly mine was no longer my secret to keep. WebFrom ages 7 to 12, Qian Julie Wang lived as an undocumented immigrant in Brooklyn, New York. It was where I learned English, discovered my favorite books and learned what it meant to feel comfortable in my new land. Which books inspired you to write your memoir and which have inspired you most recently? He sees on the dirt ground a single character written in blood: . Wrongly accused. And that was how our days in America started. Around twice a year, publishing houses used to hold informal drinks parties where journalists could meet authors and chat about their forthcoming books. After we finished most of the substantive edits, I made partner, and then it was a fork in the road. QIAN JULIE WANG: Thank you so much for having me, Scott. She graduated from Swarthmore and received a law As such, our groups mission is first and foremost to build a safe space for Jews of Color to connect and engage in their religion shelter for when we feel utterly unwanted in all other Jewish spaces. Wang is also an active member of a synagogue and its Jews of Color community. Soon, she was spending all her free time in her local Chinatown library, soaking up as much English as possible. All of us are stared at and assumed to be new converts or gentile. Reading Qian Julie Wangs debut memoir, Beautiful Country, you wouldnt know its her first book. Qian Julie Wang: I had always dreamed about writing this book because while I grew up learning English on library books, I never found a book that depicted characters who looked like me and lived in the way my parents and I did. And Julie represents the pre-teen, teen, and woman who was determined to survive no matter the cost, even if it meant hiding or obliterating her origin story and her authentic self. Kathryn Monaco:Thank you for sharing your story! Coming to America at age 7, she was thrown into the brand new world of New York City. She responded with such empathy and understanding. I suspect that in many ways, my book feels to my father like history repeating itself: His childhood was marked by his brother writing a daring, honest and critical essay that had his entire family persecuted during the Cultural Revolution. And it was in that room that I first felt this sense of agency. In WebQian Julie Wang is blissfully married to her husband Marc Ari Gottlieb. My small hope is that if my parents don't read the full book until it's available to the public, they won't know the full scale of details shared, so they won't be sitting there, counting down the days to when ICE might be banging down their doors. She is managing partner of Gottlieb & Wang LLP, an educational civil rights law firm, and her writing has appeared in major publications such as the New York Times and the Washington Post. Learning English and surviving the harsh realities of being undocumented, Qian Julie eventually made her way to Swarthmore College and Yale Law School, marrying and converting to Judaism. By clicking Subscribe, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to PenguinRandomHouses, certain categories of personal information, discloses, sells, or shares certain personal information. We had to forgo one last year, so I know we will be more than making up for it this year around. When did you feel you could begin to talk more openly about all of this? And when I did, they expressed profound anxiety about the government coming after us, even though we are all on legal status now. i couldnt have done it otherwise. They could choose to do whatever they can for the world. It was there that I never had to question whether or not I belonged. First, it is the day my book comes out. He had to find some sense of control and power in his household and the two women that he lived with, and it drove him to do some things that were, I think, probably not even understandable from his point of view. I never left behind a single crumb, stuffing everything into my stomach before smuggling some more out the back door and across the field to Mertz. And that's why they think immigration should be strictly regulated, because undocumented people can be exploited. Are you writing another book about the second half of your life? It was a physical kind of labor, and that was especially taxing for my mother not just because of her health issues, but also because she was a woman, and the ways that manifested I think deeply, deeply affected her. Her uncle, a teen at the time, was arrested for criticizing Mao Zedong, and her father's family lived under a hail of rocks, pebbles, slurs and worse. It wasn't until the discourse of the 2016 election, which took place just six months after I became a naturalized U.S. citizen, that I discovered that I had a newfound power and thus responsibility to share my story, that at that juncture of my life, I was making an actual decision to stay quiet - a privilege that millions of undocumented immigrants do not have. Editors note: Swarthmore has committed to becoming a Zero Waste campus in efforts to reduce environmental harm and promote just and sustainable systems. That was all pre-covid. Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang is a New York Times best-seller list. Its described as the moving story of an undocumented child living in poverty in the richest country in the world. Start typing to see what you are looking for. That changed when I started gathering with my fellow Jews of Color. SIMON: Yeah. The public library is a cornerstone of our society and provides vital access to resources and knowledge to those who might not otherwise be able to afford it. WebWang converted to Judaism, founding and leading a Jews of Color group at Manhattan Central Synagogue; on the day her debut memoir was released, Wang delivered a lay For me at the sweatshop, it was kind of like play because it was physical. Or did you have to take a step back? 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First, it is the day my book comes out. After immigrating to America, I was never able to feel fully at home in a public space. As we approach the Jewish New Year, any Rosh Hashanah plans you are looking forward to? Sign up for Moments upcoming Zoominarsand watch all our past eventshere! Daily, I fought the urge to rescue perfectly edible meals from the garbage. A cinematic biography of Julia Wang is a few movies. All of them are known. The debut work of the actress is a Comedy project TNT the best film-2. Later she starred in episodes of Day watch and Dolls, played the girl Andrew in one of the series Balzac age, or All men are bast. There was this constant fear and constant messaging that we could be sent home. QJW: Im just so grateful for that, to have had that as a child and to still have that. There was probably no better way to discover kindred spirits with whom I share my passion for activism, racial justice, immigrants' rights and spirituality. Before I read it, I never complained because I thought black Americans had it worse but to see somebody older than me writing about the same feelings that shaped her growing up, it really opened my eyes to how valid my feelings were and that there was something very real about the oppression we face. SIGN UP TO OUR NEWSLETTER TO STAY IN-THE-NOW. For me, being Jewish cannot be separated from tikkun olam, the concept that calls upon us to repair the world. Minor Feelings gave me the permission I didnt know I needed, and it helped me dig up more of my voice, my compassionand in the wake of anti-Asian hate and Atlanta, this is a change Ive seen in not just myself but younger Asian Americans across the nation. The only thing that astounded me more than Sharpless offerings was the sheer amount of food my fellow students dumped into nearby trash cans. Having been professors in China, their work was mostly intellectual through the use of their ideas and concepts and thought, and we came here, and work became very much physical. As this mimicry went on, the pounds fell off, but the weight of shame on my shoulders grew. She joins us now from Brooklyn, N.Y. Something was wrong with my relationship to the food, I figured. Do you agree? I suspect that in many ways, my book feels to my father like history repeating itself: His childhood was marked by his brother writing a daring, honest and critical essay that had his entire family persecuted during the Cultural Revolution. Lauded by clients as "exceptionally talented" and "exemplary," Qian Julie has represented Fortune 500 corporations, governmental entities, and individuals in ONLY LANDING IN YOUR INBOX ON THURSDAY MORNINGS AT 11AM. What inspired you to share your tale of being an undocumented child? For decades thereafter, the shadow of hunger lived in my stomach. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. We speak to the author to hear more about her life and the book. Judaism is the religion of the enslaved, the uprooted, the marginalized, and the other, and we are dedicated to making sure that its American community lives up to its roots. Nowadays, we are sent a link to a video where authors have recorded a short blurb about their book. personal reflection by Qian Julie Wang 09. It became her second home, a place of safety. Once I opened the floodgates and really let myself feel everything, it came back fairly quickly. And sometimes even fourths. But if you look outside America, and specifically to Mexico and China, which are the two sources of major immigration to the United States, you see that if those people are not able to leave and find refuge, they are under lifelong - lifelong - persecution for their religious and political beliefs in a way that is far worse than what my parents and I went through. As such, one could argue, perhaps, that it is none of our business, our responsibility. Qian Julie Wang moved to Mei Guo (Beautiful Country in Mandarin the name her family gave America) when she was seven. Coming to America at age 7, she was thrown into the brand new world of New York City. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou was a North Star in this project. It was then that I realized that what I had long thought of as singularly mine was no longer my secret to keep. Our childhood experiences comprise the hidden force that continues to wield power over our adult selves. I mean, they were in their early 30s at the time. If readers can take away anything from the experience, I hope it is that, beyond the external labels and divides, we are all not that different from each other. Im an Israeli Ashkenazi Jew whose children are also Asian, on mothers side. It also means standing up and speaking out even when it might be uncomfortable to do so to be rooted first and foremost in our faith in equality. On this front, Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes" and Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings"were my north stars in crafting my own book. SIMON: I'm sure you know there are people who will hear your story and say that what happened, what your family had to live through was sad and outrageous. The public library is a cornerstone of our society and provides vital access to resources and knowledge to those who might not otherwise be able to afford it. Most of all, though, I am really looking forward to getting together with family at the seder.
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