Dreams Can Be Deceiving: Asian American Identities

Where is the boundary between a dream and a lie? The award-winning authors of this panel write about the elusive and deceptive dreams—of assimilation, of youth, of success— that impact their Asian American communities. In Laura Lee’s American Han, the Kim family dutifully embodies the model minority myth in 1980s San Francisco, until their son goes missing, and they are forced to confront the facade of the American Dream as their lives unravel in a country that isn’t all it promised it would be. For Jin Chang from Vanessa Hua’s Coyoteland, moving his family to the privileged community of El Nido after years of scraping by is a great achievement, but he decides to bend the rules for one final deceitful scheme to make it big in real estate. As fire season escalates and coyote attacks plague the town, the characters become embroiled in scandals and secrets that unflinchingly reveal our current moment. Definitions for success vary greatly, and Kelly Yang explores the ways that society shapes women’s ideals in The Take, a fast-paced novel about a young writer and an older producer who undergo an age-reversal treatment. What starts as a professional transaction of exchanging blood quickly becomes a complex psychological dance, leaving both women questioning what they’re willing to sacrifice to rewrite their stories of success. Where Are You Really From also features complex and flawed AAPI characters, from a mail order bride from Taiwan who is packed up in a cardboard box and sent via express shipping to California, to two teenage girls who meticulously plan how to kill and cook their downstairs neighbor. This surreal multi-genre collection of stories by Elaine Hsieh Chou confronts the ways storytelling enables our capacity for self-deception and cruelty. In search of the truth behind the headlines is Emmy-winning journalist and author of Amplify! My Fight for Asian America Dion Lim, who will draw on her experience reporting on AAPI issues to moderate this panel that honors the depth and diversity of Asian American identities.