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Myself in a Nutshell

Joanna Yau

Hello! My name is Joanna Yau and I was born in New York City in 1989. I graduated from the Bronx High School of Science and am now currently a freshman in the Macaulay Honors Program at CUNY Baruch College. I used to live in an apartment located in the Lower East Side until we decided to move to a bigger house in Bayside, Queens three years ago. Both communities had at least two other Asian families living within the vicinity.

My Parents <3

The three Yau offspring during my first blizzard in NYC.

My father was the first to immigrate to the United States from Madagascar in 1974. My mother later immigrated in 1978 from Taiwan. They met each other here through a friend they had in common. By ‘’’1981’’’ they were married and one year later, my older sister was born. Then in 1983, my parents gave birth to my older brother. Realizing that their first two children were not going to turn out so well, they decided to try to have a third child, and like they say, “Third time’s the charm!”

The Rest of the Yau/Lin Clan

My mother's side of the family.

Both of them were the first ones in their family to immigrate to America. After they arrived, their respective brothers and sisters immigrated here as well. When they arrived, most resided in the Lower East Side as well and after several years, slowly upgraded to a house in Queens. During the holidays, we all reunite and have family dinners together.

The Yaus Now

My father's side of the family, but I am MIA.

I would say that my family is Americanized, but we still are ultimately Chinese and try to keep the Chinese culture alive. My siblings and I basically watch almost every trashy television show aired, whilst my parents watch their Chinese programs on a separate television. We are all Roman Catholics, but we still follow Chinese rituals such as paying tribute to our ancestors. At home my parents speak Mandarin and Cantonese to us, but we respond back in English. However, we do know how to speak both dialects, we just prefer English, our main language.

e-mail: joanna.yau@baruchmail.cuny.edu