An Evening with Curtis Chin: Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant
TUESDAY, JUNE 117:00—8:00 PM
Virtual through Cary Library of Lexington
Join us for an evening with author, filmmaker and activist, Curtis Chin. Curtis' memoir, "Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant" serves up life lessons from a childhood spent in a Chinese restaurant. The conversation will be moderated by Dr. Hua Wang, Co-President of the Chinese American Association of Lexington (CAAL).
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Detroit in the 1980's was a volatile place to live, but above the fray stood a safe haven: Chung’s Cantonese Cuisine, where anyone—from the city’s first Black mayor to the local drag queens, from a big-time Hollywood star to elderly Jewish couples—could sit down for a warm, home-cooked meal. Here was where, beneath a bright-red awning and surrounded by his multigenerational family, filmmaker and activist Curtis Chin came of age; where he learned to embrace his identity as a gay ABC, or American-born Chinese; where he navigated the divided city’s spiraling misfortunes; and where—between helpings of almond boneless chicken, sweet-and-sour pork, and some of his own, less-savory culinary concoctions—he realized just how much he had to offer to the world, to his beloved family, and to himself.
Served up by the cofounder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop and structured around the very menu that graced the tables of Chung’s, Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant is both a memoir and an invitation: to step inside one boy’s childhood oasis, scoot into a vinyl booth, and grow up with him—and perhaps even share something off the secret menu.