Literary Northridge

I spoke an Asian American fiction class at Cal-State Northridge. I showed up and was surprised at the very warm welcome. They had a potluck with some incredible food. What I loved about going to this Asian Am. Fiction class was that it was very diverse--there were non-asians taking the class!

There was something personally uplifting about this for me. I read the spectrum: from John Irving to Toni Morrison. Seeing young people making an effort to read about other cultures other than their own was really inspiring. And isn't that the way it should be?

All of the students, probably born in the late 1980's, had never heard of Montgomery Clift or the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines. In that way, I'm glad my novel had educated them.

Here's a pic of the dignified author (in tan jacket) with a melee of students. Maria, the woman in front of me, teaches the class. They were really great.