Article,
Straddling the East-West Divide
The Translation Journal, (2005)
Abstract
Two moments of epiphany determined my career as a translator. To start at the very beginning, or maybe not quite, when I was in kindergarten I liked to draw black abstract lines on white paper and finish my creations with a single red dot. This of course caused the teacher to write my mother a note announcing that I was deeply disturbed. My mother, an individualist herself, protected me from psychological intervention on the part of the Los Angeles public school system, and I was allowed to continue my education. Later, when I was in college, I saw an exhibit of Chinese calligraphy for the first time and said, 'Ah, that's what I was trying for.' I promptly signed up for calligraphy classes, discovered I had no talent, and began learning Chinese instead.
