Lead Story

Named After a Street

Girl Runs Away

San Francisco, Chinatown 1960- It has been reported that Waverley Jong is becoming very popular she has been winning a lot of tournaments recently and she's getting a lot of fame, recognition, and attention because of this. Last year in 1959 at the annual Christmas party held at the first Chinese Baptist Church her older brother Vincent got a chess set. She played against her brother and she always questioned the rules of the game. She started to do some research and got very knowledgeable about chess she became very good and she started to beat her two brothers. One day she was walking home from school and she saw a group of old men with folding tables playing the game of chess smoking pipes, eating peanuts and watching them. She ran home and got Vincent's chess board. She had asked an old man if you wanted to play he replied with “Little sister, been a long time since I play with dolls. “Lao Po turned out to be a much better than my brothers.” She said. At the end of summer Lao Po had taught her all he knew and she became better chess player. She would play outdoor exhibition games and would defeat her opponents one by one. A man at the park suggested that her mother should allow her to play in a local chess tournament. She played in the tournament she beat them. She says and I quote “By my ninth birthday I was in National chess champion I was still some 429 points away from Grandmaster status but I was touted as a great American Hope a child prodigy and a girl to boot.” She became the front cover of Life magazine. She got more and more attention around her neighborhood. One Saturday she accompanied her mother to the market her mother would walk visiting many shops buying very little. She would say to everyone looking her way “This is my daughter Waverley Jong.”  One day after she left the shop she said “I wish you wouldn't do that to me tell everybody I am your daughter.” she told her mom. “It’s not that it's just so obvious is just so embarrassing.” “Why do you have to use me to show off?” As soon as she said that she took off and ran away. She came back home now but she told us that she sees her mom as an opponent on the chessboard now.

Interview: Waverley Jong

Was it necessary for you to run away?

No because it didn’t solve anything.

Did you not like the fame?

No because it was embarrassing.

How is it embarrassing to have fame?

It’s embarrassing because my mom kept showing me of for that and i didn’t like that.

This happened in 1960 in San Francisco, Chinatown. Between Waverley and her mother. Her mom kept showing her off and she ran away because she was was embarrassed of the attention.

Editorial

The advantages of reading this book is that it teaches you life lessons and you get to see different traditions throughout the book. The disadvantages of reading this book is that it’s kinda confusing because the chapters all focus on different characters and their problems. One theme is tradition because in one of the stories it talks about how they would find the person the will marry at such a young age. Another theme is motherly love because when the mom tells her children superstitions, they are preventing bad things to happen to their children. This novel should be required for middle schoolers to read because it’s a very interesting book and we learn a little bit about Chinese culture.

Delightful Reviews: Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Book Review

The “Joy Luck Club” illustrates the difficulty between a mother and daughter relationship. The novel does not solve all problems in the story, but brings hope to the characters as they work through their problems, learning from their relationship. Mothers and daughters of all ethnicity will appreciate the heartache, miscommunication, and unconditional love that flows within the novel.

Honestly this book was fun to read. The book goes in depth of the four ladies and their struggle. The four ladies pour out the sorrow of their lives they left behind, due to the war. It shows how the daughters must figure out how to navigate their own lives, drawing on what the have learned from the Old World mothers and their American childhood. I would recommend this book to read, since many people can relate to Amy Tan’s fictionalized characters. Most of our families are immigrants, who left behind their loved ones in order for their future generation to have a better life. Along the way many old costumes were lost, but others were gained. I know plenty of people who haven’t seen their families for around 30 years, both experience heartache and the yearning to be back home. This book just shows you the difficulty of their lives, who everyone has experience.

Joy Luck Club and China Town

Old Gold Mountain

Chinatown is centered on Grant Avenue and Stockton Street in San Francisco, California. It is the oldest and the largest Chinese community outside of Asia. It is highly important and influential piece in history and cultural ethnic of Chinese immigrants in North America. It is the Chinatown that continues to keep its own languages, costumes, and identity. Since Chinatown was a haven within an isolated country, receiving the first wave of immigrants, the experiences of Amy Tan’s fictional daughters differentiate from their mothers’ generation, which was displaced by war. The new generation of children had adopted the American ways of living life. However, this Chinatown allowed families to thrive, with familiar Chinese customs, food, etc. Nine years, after diplomatic ties were reestablished Chinese-American families reunited, yet this Chinatown was the closes thing to home. As of now, it’s an alluring tourist destination, where tourist are able to experience life in China.

Mother Always knows.....

      Brief description: Waverly Jong is at her mother's home once again, after thinking her mom is lying dead on the sofa, Waverly decides it's the best time to tell her mom about her wedding, little does she know mother always knows.

All About Child Prodigy Waverly Jong

Waverly Jong

Description:

Waverly Jong is a child chess prodigy, even at a young age Waverly is seen to be really smart.. Despite  being smart Waverly is very snobby and she appears to be really competitive in nature.Just like her mother Lindo Jong, she is fiercely independent, stubborn, and mischievous. Waverly in many ways reflects her mother's selfish characteristics, which are undisturbed by any duty or obligation she has.However at times she can be affectionate and loving as displayed by her relationship with her daughter Shoshana.    

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Quote:
"I am my own person"- Waverly Jong

(Tang, 254)

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What has she done? 

Waverly Jong is a child chess prodigy, she went from being the relatively unknown child of a Chinese immigrant into a chess star. This was very important in Waverly's life because she first started playing games with her brother, which later took her to local parks, and eventually led her into many championships, which she's won. This event changed her life because she now incorporated chess into her daily life.
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Waverly acts competitive and snobby because throughout her childhood she has always been a winner, she has even received a lot of praise, which kind of added to her ego. She mimics her mother in many ways such as inheriting her selflessness and mischievousness, and this is due to her very strong connection with her mother.

Q &A: Waverly Jong

Q: How did you get to where you are now? Did anyone help you?

A:Well if I had to be honest my success was a self effort, it came from hours upon hours of playing chess with my brother, I practically taught myself how to play chess.

Q: How do you feel like being constantly acknowledge by the public and being showered with praise?

A: At times it can be flustering, I never really liked it when my mom shows me off.

Q: Do you Identify with your Chinese heritage?

A: Despite me mastering chess which is an American game, I have to say that I do deeply connect with my Chinese roots. Even though I find it hard sometimes to connect with my family that does come from a predominantly Chinese background, I myself identify as a Chinese woman at heart.