The Monkey King 齐天大圣 (孫悟空)

I pound this point home to everyone and anyone who will listen: The library has some good stuff, guys. Pulitzer Prize winning books, movies, newly published manga written in both Japanese and English, up-to-date subscriptions of magazines, and even new books from the bookstore that they just can't sell (it's like a foster home for lost books). If you can just block out the weird smell, restrain yourself from using the public restroom that homeless people have used as public sanitation site, random burps and noises from sleeping homeless people just trying to get on some free internet, it's a very useful place! It was during one of my excursions to the Little Tokyo branch of the Los Angeles Public Library (very close to Skid Row, high chance of driftwood coming from that area) that I encountered a book called "American Born Chinese" (ABC!) that appealed to me because its title relates to my dodgeball team, but also resonates with me because I essentially am that, an American Born Chinese. It's not dramatized much in movies and written about as much as the struggles of other races, but Chinese and other Asians have it tough also growing up in schools where they are the minority, where the other kids can clearly tell that you are different from them and can single you out, and because there are culture gaps like the lunch that you bring from home, or the kind of haircut you get, or the dedication you show towards homework. The great thing about American Born Chinese is that it's a graphic novel, so reads like a comic book, but with more depth and character development and elements of an actual novel. Reads really quick, I personally took 30 minutes to read 200 pages, one of the best thrill rides I've ever had especially because the three story lines unexpectedly converge at the end. (SPOILER ALERT!) even though the book was published in 2006. 

Also, I have a sore spot for Pulitzer Prize / Newbury Award winning books in the young adult fiction genre, and can't stop reading one once I pick one up because they're short, easily understandable, and reminds me of my childhood reading books like Maniac Magee, The Giver, Huckleberry Finn, etc. 

American Born Chinese is ALSO about the Monkey King (孫悟空) , a pillar of Chinese folklore and my hero growing up. Before I even know how to do math, speak English, or throw a ball I knew who the Monkey King was........he was born out of a rock, he can go to any place in the world instantly on a cloud, he can change into 72 different things, he has a legendary stick/ rod that he uses a weapon against all enemies... basically an invincible monkey with awesome powers, I'm surprised the Western world hasn't picked up on the legend and made him into an avenger or something. American Born Chinese does a great job of analyzing the Monkey King's backstory, where he was shunned by the gods for being a monkey, but the defiant Monkey King (and I remember him being VERY defiant even from childhood) made himself a god figure and called himself 齐天大圣, or the Great Sage, Equal of Heaven because of his extraordinary powers, until he defied the Allmighty god who pinned him under a mountain for an ungodly long time (500 years or something). Not sure if the Chinese writer of the story was trying to instill the fear of god or some religious meaning, but it's a great lesson on being humble and there's always someone or something higher than you, don't try to play god. The universe has a funny way of knocking people who think they're high and mighty down a peg, even the great Monkey King. I like to think my personal story kind of plays like the Monkey King, thought I was hot stuff as a high school student and above everybody, got a rude awakening while being pinned down by intellectually superior people in college and law school, and eventually understood how to be humble and gain more powers and try to put those powers to good use (Monkey King helped a buddhist monk complete his travel to the West, I've already traveled West and want to put my lawyer skills/language skills to good use! 

Fantasize on, 

Robert Yan