But, I ve learned the hard way that if I think I have some expert knowledge to relate to my parents about the Asian American experience, including my attempts to describe them as part of an Asian American experience, then I should think again. I m afraid I might be making a mess of things by raising all these questions about what it means to be an Asian American scholar, and I m not providing many answers. Instead of questions, I could tell stories. As a professor of literature, I m supposed to like telling, and then picking apart, stories. Students of Asian descent are supposed to pursue the physical sciences, computer sciences, or accounting.
Some rebellious ones go to law school.
I know that by smart work, she meant work that pays very, very well. She speaks for almost an entire generation of Asian immigrants entering the United States after an overhaul of immigration laws in 1965, and I know there are legitimate reasons why they feel this way and want this type of life for me. Nonetheless, I was offended. This makes sense to me, because, after all, South Asians in the U.S. remain relatively invisible. They emerge in the national consciousness only as motel and convenience store owners, but not as people who live as Americans.