Book 2 post reupload try 2

 The other American Like Me stories that I read after the 1st post have continued to resonate with me and my experience as an Asian American. Joy Cho for instance listed a variety of very relatable comments and stories to what I have experienced with my family. I really appreciated hearing the perspective of another Asian American woman who had a similar experience to my family in that her parents came to the United States to study at an American university and stayed for a better life. It was similarly interesting to hear her stories about having more “American” meals. I especially related to her comment about eating duck that her family had bought hanging in some window because I know it can be a controversial dish for some Americans who have not seen or eaten duck before. Another part of her story that resonated with me was her comment about we’re going to justify her grades and the fact that a minus is still good. In many Asian households including my own, any grade aside from an A or A+ falls into the Asian F grading category. Even in elementary school, I had to work very hard to justify any exam grades that were below an A when I showed my family and would have to work on a plan on how I would work to bring my grades up again.

Another story that I really appreciated was Jeremy Lin’s. In his section he told a similar story of his parents coming to the US from Taiwan and working hard to provide for their family and kids. It was nice to hear that his family similarly supported his pursuit of his passions as long as it didn’t get in the way of schoolwork, which I know is a blessing that not all people have. As a kid I used to wonder why my parents didn’t put more pressure on me to constantly work on school or academic extracurriculars to improve my applications in the future like my other Asian friends. In fact, as a kid I put more pressure on myself because I felt like I was the odd one out because I was not getting the same constant pressure from my parents in the way that my Asian American friends were. As a result of my experience, I really enjoyed and related to Mr. Lin‘s narrative. In my case, I was really fortunate in that my family could financially support my passions and were willing to as well, whether it be something sports related such as basketball, soccer, and volleyball or something like balloon art, pastel/sketching, or cooking camps and classes. While I am admittedly still in the process of reading the book, all the narratives I have read so far have made me feel a lot less alone in many of my experiences. Overall I am very grateful that this book was introduced as an option for this assignment. Thank you!