Library Book Talk

First of all I was nervous. Not so much about the lion dance section of this little demo. That was Noah's area, and he did a great job. In fact I was so nervous I forgot to bring his stick and sword. But Noah did great. I was nervous about doing my reading. But I sold some books and I learned a lot, thanks to a friend who was sitting in the audience. Also there was a rapid fire of questions from one guy who was like, "What are Chinese people? Do they have Geisha's like Japan? What's the difference? Why do I see a lot of Chinese Take Out but not a lot of Japanese Take Out? Why did China become  Communist in 1949?"

I made a big mistake and backed off the last question with a "They became Communist for a lot of the same reasons other countries did." because I thought that to answer that question required several books and none of this was quite related to my book, "Kung Fu and Love." But it is related. I just should have started my answer with, "Most Chinese Americans especially from he older generation are staunchly anti- Communist. And the relationship to any of the traditional arts and the cultural revolution is a bad one since the aim of that movement, or mess was to wipe all those things out. But the Feudal Society wasn't fair or balanced and Communism promised something better. Of course it ended up delivering 80 million dead. But now as China has become an economic powerhouse who knows what the future will bring? But my book is mostly about Chinese in America. A lot of people coming to the U.S. from China now either to immigrate or just to visit might have a different opinion than say my father's or my Sifu's generation. First of all, a lot of the new visitors might be filthy rich, or at least wealthy." Anyway I could have gone on and one like that. But instead I wanted to move forward.

That instinct may not have been wrong, after all I had answered all his other questions already, but I ended up finishing up way early. Partly because we didn't do the stick and sword form, partly because I didn't do Kung Fu myself, but mostly because I didn't adequately introduce myself or explain why this book "Kung Fu and Love" is so important to me. I didn't really SELL it. And that was what I was there to do.

I will devote my next entry to why this book is like Gospel to me. I mean yeah it's not perfect, but I did put my soul into it.. and I should talk about that and also explain what Kung Fu is and why that's important to me, and even why Kung Fu and Love are both disciplines. I figured the book has all that. But the thing is, nobody read the book yet.  I have to tell them what's in it, how I wrote it, what writing it was like. How it contains my essence as a person even if it is fiction. How BECAUSE it is fiction it contains more of my essence, of my inner being, than it would have if it was completely real. After all, it is the inner workings of my mind, forged sharpened and honed to a blade. Now the quality of the blade may not be the best in the world. But nonetheless it is my work.