Vanessa Hua
Last week, esteemed author Vanessa Hua came to speak at Poly. She is a prolific writer and has written many essays on global challenges as well as multiple books. She read some excerpts from some of her short stories and one of her books, and they were very powerful and provided different perspectives on minorities in America and the world at large.
Instead of giving an archetypal reflection of Mrs. Hua and her presentation, I am going to start by listing some of the main themes she covered in her presentation, and afterward, and I will give my thoughts on them.
Here are some of the main themes of her presentation:
1. Mrs. Hua explained to us that, "because I was an outsider, I tried to get to the inside of things."
2. In college, Mrs. Hua believed that "if [she] wanted to be a 'real author,' all [her] characters had to be white."
3. Mrs. Hua said that "writing is a solitary act," and she explained how it is important to have other people (authors or other) to discuss with and to share your thoughts with.
4. For Mrs. Hua, creative writing was about finding a way back to the freedom she had as a child when her imagination roamed free and was not tied down by the logic of society.
I think all of these comments are extremely interesting and extremely enlightening. Her comments about getting to the inside of things explains why she interviewed so many interesting people to find short stories and books to write. Her comment about being a "real author" sheds some light onto what it must be like to be a non-white, female writer in a white and male-dominated profession. I had never thought about how solitary writing can be, and after Mrs. Hua mentioned it, I began to understand why some incredible famous writers in the past have either gone crazy or committed suicide. They are so wrapped up in their thoughts all of the time, and sometimes they drown in them. Finally, I totally related to Mrs. Hua's comment on harkening back to the freedom of childhood. Growing up, I was a very imaginative person, and I feel that I have lost much of that through finding out unavoidable truths about life. I used to read a lot and gained much of my imagination from fantasy and fiction, but as I've developed as a student and have leaned towards realistic fiction or non-fiction, my imagination has petered out.
Although I didn't realize analyze the details of Mrs. Hua's presentation, I feel like it isn't my place to. Mrs. Hua and the people she has written about have distinctly different lives and distinctly different experiences than I do, so while I definitely got a lot out of the presentation, I feel like it is not my place to really form thoughts of my own on these matters.
Thank you so much, Mrs. Hua!
Instead of giving an archetypal reflection of Mrs. Hua and her presentation, I am going to start by listing some of the main themes she covered in her presentation, and afterward, and I will give my thoughts on them.
Here are some of the main themes of her presentation:
1. Mrs. Hua explained to us that, "because I was an outsider, I tried to get to the inside of things."
2. In college, Mrs. Hua believed that "if [she] wanted to be a 'real author,' all [her] characters had to be white."
3. Mrs. Hua said that "writing is a solitary act," and she explained how it is important to have other people (authors or other) to discuss with and to share your thoughts with.
4. For Mrs. Hua, creative writing was about finding a way back to the freedom she had as a child when her imagination roamed free and was not tied down by the logic of society.
I think all of these comments are extremely interesting and extremely enlightening. Her comments about getting to the inside of things explains why she interviewed so many interesting people to find short stories and books to write. Her comment about being a "real author" sheds some light onto what it must be like to be a non-white, female writer in a white and male-dominated profession. I had never thought about how solitary writing can be, and after Mrs. Hua mentioned it, I began to understand why some incredible famous writers in the past have either gone crazy or committed suicide. They are so wrapped up in their thoughts all of the time, and sometimes they drown in them. Finally, I totally related to Mrs. Hua's comment on harkening back to the freedom of childhood. Growing up, I was a very imaginative person, and I feel that I have lost much of that through finding out unavoidable truths about life. I used to read a lot and gained much of my imagination from fantasy and fiction, but as I've developed as a student and have leaned towards realistic fiction or non-fiction, my imagination has petered out.
Although I didn't realize analyze the details of Mrs. Hua's presentation, I feel like it isn't my place to. Mrs. Hua and the people she has written about have distinctly different lives and distinctly different experiences than I do, so while I definitely got a lot out of the presentation, I feel like it is not my place to really form thoughts of my own on these matters.
Thank you so much, Mrs. Hua!
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