- Amy Chua, "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother"
Can Online Social Networks Replace Real Socializing? - Wired
Don't Write What You Know - Why fiction's narrative and emotional integrity will always transcend the literal truth by Bret Anthony Johnston - The Atlantic
Book excerpt from "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" by Amy Chua:
"Looking back, I think things started to turn when Lulu was in six
grade - I just didn't realize it. One of the things Lulu hated most was my insistence on pulling her out of school to get in some extra violin practicing. I felt they wasted a lot of time at Lulu's school, so several times a week I'd write a note to her teacher explaining that she had a recital or an audition coming up and requesting permission to take her out of school during lunch period or gym class. Sometimes I'd be able to cobble together a two-hour block by combining lunch, two recesses, and say, music class, where they'd be playing cowbells, or art class, where they'd be decorating booths for the Halloween Fair. I could see that Lulu dreaded the sight of me every time I appeared at her school, and her classmates always looked at me oddly, but she was only eleven then, and I still could still impose my will on her. And I'm sure it was because of the extra practicing that Lulu won all those music awards."
How can one resist eye-opening moments like the one above? One last note, I did lambaste her in a previous post, based upon the immediately viral Wall Street Journal article that lit everyone's fire. Yet, after reading the book, I didn't feel quite as vitriolic. Actually, I didn't feel
that way at all. She had a Lucille Ball quality to her incredible antics.
- CJW


