Not too many people can categorize themselves this way. But I can try…
I am the oddball in my family, who are minorities in Kuomingtang, who are minorities of Taiwanese, who are a minority group of Asian minorities in the United States.
Further explanation: I am a Taiwan-born Chinese-raised female human whose parents’ families were members of the KMT, held public offices in the Republic of China, which, after the Chinese Communist Party took over Mainland, went on exile in 1949, migrated to Formosa, where the Japanese relinquished control. And, while living on the beautiful island, my family felt they did not fit in or were discriminated against by the people and decided to leave the island and fled to a safer place called the United States; I was 13. In short, I was raised in a prominent family who have been minorities everywhere they lived…
That’s my family background. Personally, I am just a normal human who has a lifelong passion for visual arts, design, and I play with music and writings during my spare time.
Back to my teenage years, in America, our prominence had disappeared immediately upon arrival, and we lived like other human beings around us––Pride could not sustain a living — And that’s a very good thing for everyone in my family to learn to live with. I started working part-time after school when I was 14, been a babysitter for a neighbor, sold loaves of bread, pastries, and birthday cakes, worked as a cashier at retail stores and supermarkets, been folding clothes at The Limited (fashion clothing,) sold jewelry and pierced people’s earlobes… My brothers, however, just went to school, my family paid for their college tuition by buying and selling houses we lived in, until I got accepted to a full-tuition scholarship college.
Years later, 911 happened. Donald Trump was elected. Gun violence has been on the rise. Nowhere is completely safe, is there? So forget it, I just want to live the rest of my life at a place where I can die comfortably!
Eventually, in 2017, I discovered that my recurring dreams over the years were scenes from my hometown. (The dreams scenes also appear in the lyric of “Carnation Dreams”) Consequently, after much consideration, I packed and reduced 32 years' worth of things, artwork and sentiments into 4 luggage and 12 boxes, then moved back home to New Taipei City, Taiwan, at last.
I am comfortable here.
