Eating Bitter

In college, I was lucky to study with a well-respected design professor.

On the day before Thanksgiving break, I was up in the design studio gathering things to take home.

He was also in the studio, organizing before the break. The large empty space amplified every piece of paper shuffling, every foot step. It had a lonely feeling.

I tried to sneak out but he stepped in front of me, “Aren’t you going to ask me to join your family for Thanksgiving dinner?”

Taken aback, I stuttered, “Nn-no.”

A slow smile spread across his face, “I wouldn’t want to eat dinner with a bunch of yellow people anyway.”

There is a Chinese saying, “吃苦”, literally translated, “eat bitter”.
As a young person, I understood it as, “Shut up and deal with it”. This was one of the times that eating bitter felt safer than saying anything. So I left without responding.

Isn’t life funny, that I learned so much from this person in terms of conceptual development and design. And then have taken those skills and the bad taste in my mouth to create Fake Chinese Sounds, my graphic novel for middle-grade readers.

I hope Mei Ying’s story in Fake Chinese Sounds will encourage young readers to feel safe having conversations with family, friends and teachers about racism and bullying.

Click here to see the final cover of Fake Chinese Sounds and a few sample images!