{"id":1554,"date":"2019-01-31T00:49:02","date_gmt":"2019-01-31T00:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/160-the-words\/?page_id=1554"},"modified":"2024-08-05T17:57:01","modified_gmt":"2024-08-05T17:57:01","slug":"wordplay","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/february-2019\/wordplay\/","title":{"rendered":"Wordplay"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Alex Harrington&nbsp;\u201919<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"242\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2019\/01\/IMG_2328-242x300.jpg\" alt=\"Cole Chang '19\" class=\"wp-image-1564\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2019\/01\/IMG_2328-242x300.jpg 242w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2019\/01\/IMG_2328-768x954.jpg 768w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2019\/01\/IMG_2328-824x1024.jpg 824w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2019\/01\/IMG_2328.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 242px) 100vw, 242px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We are thrilled to have the work of creative writing major Cole Chang \u201919 opening a frosty spring semester\u2019s \u201cWordplay.\u201d Cole grew up in New York and tends to write about his family, in particular his father with regard to race, cultural heritage and what it means to be a biracial Chinese-American. In addition to creative writing, Cole is also a studio art major and likes to work in painting and photography. He is a big fan of hats, Li-Young Lee, and socialism.<br><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Please enjoy Cole\u2019s poetry!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cMan of the West\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">You wanted to play Cowboys and Indians with your father cause the white kids on your&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">block wouldn\u2019t let you. But he was too busy studying Buddhist texts upstairs. Dust on the&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">rug. His fingers playing the Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa. You couldn\u2019t&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">understand? What was in those books that wasn\u2019t inside of you? Gave up on Buddha, he&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">took your father away. Turned to John Wayne instead. You watched The Plainsman over&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">and over, watching Gary Cooper killing Indians. Cheered every gunshot. Staring at the&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">screen eating your TV dinner: chicken nuggets and mac\u2019n\u2019cheese. The white kids chased you&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">up and down the street, forced your head down in the dirt. Washed your face in the sink.&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The brown dripping off your face, disappearing down the drain. You realized you were the&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Indian. Only American you could be was the one with long black hair. Grew a ponytail. Cut&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">it off with a pocketknife. Graduated early. Went to law school. Moved to the city. Married a&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">white woman. Am I your American dream?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">My father never taught me how to use chopsticks.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u7b77\u5b50:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">thin like<br><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">color of sand<br><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">when I try<br><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">to pick them up<br><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">they just slip<br><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">through spaces<br><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">in my fingers<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alex Harrington&nbsp;\u201919 We are thrilled to have the work of creative writing major Cole Chang \u201919 opening a frosty spring semester\u2019s \u201cWordplay.\u201d Cole grew up in New York and tends to write about his family, in particular his father with regard to race, cultural heritage and what it means to be a biracial Chinese-American. In [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":913,"featured_media":0,"parent":1552,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1554","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/913"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1554"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7579,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1554\/revisions\/7579"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}