{"id":467,"date":"2012-05-26T20:14:18","date_gmt":"2012-05-27T00:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.sherryquanlee.com\/?p=467"},"modified":"2012-05-26T20:14:18","modified_gmt":"2012-05-27T00:14:18","slug":"love-imagined-memoir-in-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.sherryquanlee.com\/?p=467","title":{"rendered":"LOVE IMAGINED memoir in progress"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOVE IMAGINED:\u00a0 memoir of a Chinese Black Girl Passing for White in South Scandinavian Minneapolis<\/strong><\/p>\n

When we talk about the witness in our verse,
\nwe talk about you.
\nA pure heart and a noble demeanor
\ncannot compete with your radiant face.
\nThey will ask you
\nwhat you have produced.
\nSay to them,
\nexcept for Love,
\nwhat else can a Lover produce?<\/p>\n

Shahram Shiva’s book
\nHush Don’t Say Anything to God: Passionate Poems of Rumi<\/em> <\/a>
\n(Jain Publishing)<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have been writing LOVE IMAGINED for four or five years now or maybe a lifetime.\u00a0 I thought it was a book of love poems, poems that took love beyond a clich\u00e9 and extended it into a global more meaningful perspective.\u00a0 Alas, I failed to write more than a few poems, lousy ones at that.\u00a0 However, at some juncture, a meeting of crisis and determination, I realized the \u201cwitness in [my] verse\u201d can only be what it is and it is what it has always been the story of a Black Chinese Girl Passing for White in South Scandinavian Minneapolis in the sixties!<\/p>\n

However, writing prose instead of poetry has given me space to be more specific, my experience and understanding of it less metaphorical and more boldly outright.\u00a0 Yes, I think that\u2019s possible.<\/p>\n

A few things happened recently that have challenged me to post the process and the progress of writing LOVE IMAGINED.\u00a0 One, an emotional outburst led me to sharing the draft of my\u00a0 memoir to select friends, most who read the very rough draft and encouraged me to keep writing (indeed, my publisher hired an editor and said write the book).\u00a0 Two, I missed a workshop on \u201cblogging\u201d sponsored by Springboard for the Arts<\/a>.\u00a0 The instructor allowed me to make up the class one on one.\u00a0\u00a0 I said I didn\u2019t know what to write about, did I need to have a theme, or what?\u00a0 He suggested a scrapbook type of blog, one which shared the process of writing the book that I was researching and writing.\u00a0 Aha!\u00a0 Third push-I was asked to join two other\u00a0Modern History Press<\/a> writers to read at\u00a0Homewood Studio<\/a> Studio in North Minneapolis.\u00a0 Preparing for the reading led me to re-member my connections to North Minneapolis which led me to my aunt-her writing, and her stories that are deeply connected to my story!<\/p>\n

Although LOVE IMAGINED has been in progress as a prose memoir since August 2011 (it gave me something to do after having been laid off from an almost ten year job-almost the key word here and the difference between healthcare until I am eligible for Medicare AND having to go without healthcare for five or six months) I will start where I am in the process just to get started.\u00a0 This will be one of the longer posts as way of introduction, but just so you know I will try to remain less wordy.<\/p>\n

Where the book is now.\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>Although I\u2019ve been told to just keep writing, I felt I didn\u2019t have anything else to say. I felt I had written all of the stories that I know that are important to LOVE IMAGINED.\u00a0 So today, instead of continuing to do nothing because stories weren\u2019t revealing themselves to me and I wanted to move forward, I decided to divide the manuscript into sections, sections that I gave titles to, titles that will now, hopefully, help me see what is missing, what more I should write or what I need to delete whether because it\u2019s not relevant or I\u2019ve said it too many times.<\/p>\n

Here are the categories:<\/p>\n

LOVE IMAGINED:\u00a0\u00a0 memoir of a Chinese Black Girl Passing for White in South Scandinavian Minneapolis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Table of Contents<\/strong><\/p>\n

FAIRY TALE PRINCESS LIVING IN SOUTH SCANDINAVIAN MINNEAPOLIS<\/p>\n

LOOKING FOR LOVE UNDER THE SHEETS<\/p>\n

THE PRINCESS LEARNS ABOUT CAPITALISM, SEXISM, RACISM and HYPOCRISY<\/p>\n

AN EXTRAORDINARY POST SECONDARY EDUCATION or \u201cbecause she was a nigger\u201d<\/p>\n

FROM THE DAY I WAS BORN:\u00a0 ONCE A PRINCESS ALWAYS A PRINCESS\/HOW TO LOOK LIKE THE PRINCESS YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE<\/p>\n

HER BODY BOUND WITH JIM CROW, KKK, and RACE RIOTS-IT\u2019S ALL ABOUT IMAGE<\/p>\n

SHAME FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION FROM MOTHER TO DAUGHTER<\/p>\n

A HOUSE IN THE SUBURBS AND A TWO CAR GARAGE HALLELUJA PRAISE THE LORD<\/p>\n

GREAT GRANDMOTHER WAS A SLAVE COURTED BY THE PLANTATION OWNER\u2019S SON<\/p>\n

SHE KISSED TOO MANY FROGS NONE OF THEM PRINCES<\/p>\n

BINGING: DRINKING, GAMBLING, SHOPPPING, EATING<\/p>\n

IF IT WALKS LIKE A DUCK IT CAN\u2019T BE A FROG<\/p>\n

THE PRINCESS GOES A-TENTING AND THEN THERE WERE WORMS<\/p>\n

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS AND THE MORTGAGE IS CHEAP<\/p>\n

LOVE IMAGINED<\/p>\n

I DIDN\u2019T LEAVE YOUR MOTHER SHE KICKED ME OUT<\/p>\n

FATHER\u2019S RACE CHINESE MOTHER\u2019S RACE NEGRO<\/p>\n

A LITTLE MIXED UP<\/p>\n

LOVE SEES NO COLOR\/YOU BETCHA IT DOES<\/p>\n

I believe titles are so important. Not only to engage readers, but to move the story forward, to show there is a story!\u00a0 For now, these titles are just place markers helping me, the writer, to organize a book that is now merely a long long stream of consciousness.\u00a0 These titles, for now, are my map to where I\u2019ve been and where I\u2019m going (reference BLACK GIRL IN PARIS by Shay Youngblood)<\/a> .<\/p>\n

But what about the overall theme?\u00a0 I think the theme has to do with how the historical events of the fifties and sixties, events I wasn\u2019t much aware of, affected who I am.\u00a0\u00a0 Although I had learned that identity is complex and the intersections of class, race, gender, age, and ability all contribute to one\u2019s identity, it is only recently that the lightbulb went on and\u00a0 knew what was missing:\u00a0 history!\u00a0 How to integrate history into my story? How to connect all the events of the fifties and sixties to who I am?\u00a0 Did I really not know about the Civil Rights Movement as it was happening?<\/p>\n

I welcome comments regarding process or theme, anything to help me finish LOVE IMAGINED.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How do I understand any relevant connections between the Civil Rights Movement, The Viet Nam War,\u00a0 the Hippie Movement, etc. and me?<\/p>\n

WOODSTOCK Country Joe’s Anti Vietnam War Song<\/a><\/p>\n

March on Washinton August 28, 1963<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright Sherry Quan Lee May 26, 2012<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOVE IMAGINED:\u00a0 memoir of a Chinese Black Girl Passing for White in South Scandinavian Minneapolis When we talk about the witness in our verse, we talk about you. A pure heart and a noble demeanor cannot compete with your radiant face. They will ask you what you have produced. Say …<\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/span><\/i><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,7],"tags":[30,31,32,28,34,29,33],"class_list":["post-467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-love-imagined","category-the-art-of-writing","tag-1960s","tag-civil-rights-movement","tag-hippies","tag-memoir","tag-mixed-race","tag-process-of-writing","tag-woodstock"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sherryquanlee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sherryquanlee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sherryquanlee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sherryquanlee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sherryquanlee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=467"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sherryquanlee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":570,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sherryquanlee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467\/revisions\/570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sherryquanlee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sherryquanlee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sherryquanlee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}