Livingston Teen Pens Harsh, But Hopeful, Reflection On Bigotry

LIVINGSTON, NJ — When Livingston High School senior Jeffrey Liao submitted his writing portfolio for the 97th annual Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, he used his own experiences as the son of Asian American immigrants to weave together centuries of familial history into a narrative of oppression and resilience.

And ultimately, it’s a message of hope for a better future, he says.

Liao recently captured a top honor in this year’s Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, one of the nation’s longest running scholarship programs for creative teens. With his portfolio, “From Salt and Memory,” Liao became one of just 16 students selected, winning a $10,000 scholarship and joining the ranks of luminaries such as Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates and Andy Warhol.

Liao’s writing doesn’t pull punches, offering a bitter taste of what it’s like to be stigmatized because of your race or cultural identity (see full examples below):

• “It wasn’t until today, when Nathan from school squinted his eyes at me and told me to go back to my dirty country, that I realized how it felt to be ashamed of my own skin.”
• “I still wear the misshapen syllables of my parents’ broken English like a second name. When I was ten, I butchered my own throat and tossed out the mangled organs of my old language, swallowing my accent to baptize my tongue clean.”
• “In eighth grade, I waged a war with the boy in the mirror. I was a reckless arsonist, dousing the almond-slant of my eyes in gasoline, setting fire to the constellation of pimples strung along my face. I became of the scorched earth, wasting futile hours attempting to destroy every cell of my being, aching for all-American blue eyes the size of saucers, for the sunflower-blonde hair and porcelain skin I saw in magazines.”

POSITIVE ASIAN AMERICAN ROLE MODELS

There’s good news, however: pop culture is beginning to change.

Patch asked Liao to offer some positive examples of Asian American voices in mainstream society. He replied:

“For Asian-American role models, I would say, in terms of literature/writing, I'm a big fan of Ocean Vuong. The way he navigates identity as a queer Vietnamese-American refugee, turning to language--specifically poetry--as a vessel of reclamation of one's selfhood is super cool to me, and I admire how he's been able to enter the mainstream literary canon as someone who doesn't fit the traditional mold of what an American/western author looks like/identifies as.”

Here's another positive role model, Liao said:

“I also admire Helen Zia, a Chinese-American activist and journalist who advocated for civil rights, Asian-American visibility, and LGBTQ rights during a time period when vocalism on such issues was either suppressed or unheard of.”

There are also good examples in film and comedy, he added:

“Asian-American actors such as Sandra Oh, Steven Yeun, and Constance Wu (not to mention non-East-Asian Asian actors/comedians such as Mindy Kaling, Hasan Minhaj, etc.), by breaking into a Eurocentric-dominated media/cultural sphere, are paving the way in terms of giving visibility to the Asian diaspora and humanizing Asian-Americans as multifaceted people with unique perspectives and experiences, rather than as a perpetually foreign monolith.”

‘MUSEUM OF MY OWN HISTORY’

The following excerpts, written by Jeffrey Liao, come courtesy of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

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