Boen Wang

I visit the campus library and find physical copies of my parents' PhD dissertations. My mom's is titled Formation and Characterization of Anchored Polymer Coatings on Alumina. There's a Cheetos bag sandwiched between the front cover and first page. No idea why. I ask my mom about this later. Did you leave a Cheetos bag in your dissertation? Maybe as some sort of message to future readers?

I visit the campus library and find physical copies of my parents' PhD dissertations. My mom's is titled Formation and Characterization of Anchored Polymer Coatings on Alumina. There's a Cheetos bag sandwiched between the front cover and first page. No idea why. I ask my mom about this later. Did you leave a Cheetos bag in your dissertation? Maybe as some sort of message to future readers?

She's like, what? No. In the Acknowledgements, which is the only section I can understand, she writes, I shall give all glory and honor to God, all caps. He, all caps, is my strength. I throw away the Cheetos bag on my way out. The first person I talked to in Oklahoma is Dave, the nice gentleman with the warm smile who took my dad in and brought him to Christ.

She's like, what? No. In the Acknowledgements, which is the only section I can understand, she writes, I shall give all glory and honor to God, all caps. He, all caps, is my strength. I throw away the Cheetos bag on my way out. The first person I talked to in Oklahoma is Dave, the nice gentleman with the warm smile who took my dad in and brought him to Christ.

Dave knew me as an infant and visited us in Philly, which I have no memory of. My parents always referred to him as my ye-ye, my grandfather, perhaps in place of the ye-ye in China I never met. This would probably be my first and only chance to talk to him, at least since I gained consciousness and the power of speech. I wanted to know, who is this man?

Dave knew me as an infant and visited us in Philly, which I have no memory of. My parents always referred to him as my ye-ye, my grandfather, perhaps in place of the ye-ye in China I never met. This would probably be my first and only chance to talk to him, at least since I gained consciousness and the power of speech. I wanted to know, who is this man?

How did he end up in charge of this Chinese ministry that changed the fate of my parents' lives and my life? Hello?

How did he end up in charge of this Chinese ministry that changed the fate of my parents' lives and my life? Hello?

Hi, nice to finally talk with you. How are you?

Hi, nice to finally talk with you. How are you?

Oh, wow. You're okay with me recording this?

Oh, wow. You're okay with me recording this?

Yeah, is that okay?

Yeah, is that okay?

The way I understand what Dave is saying here is that since I'm publicizing my parents' story, I need to make sure not to dishonor or slander them, because the devil is lying in wait. Dave worked as a campus minister in colleges across the U.S. and the world, in Nebraska and Maryland and Nairobi, Kenya.

The way I understand what Dave is saying here is that since I'm publicizing my parents' story, I need to make sure not to dishonor or slander them, because the devil is lying in wait. Dave worked as a campus minister in colleges across the U.S. and the world, in Nebraska and Maryland and Nairobi, Kenya.

But he spent the bulk of his career ministering to Chinese international students at OU, as the University of Oklahoma is confusingly nicknamed, starting in 1987, two years before my parents arrived. Did you have any sort of prior knowledge of China or Chinese culture or the language or anything like that?

But he spent the bulk of his career ministering to Chinese international students at OU, as the University of Oklahoma is confusingly nicknamed, starting in 1987, two years before my parents arrived. Did you have any sort of prior knowledge of China or Chinese culture or the language or anything like that?

It sounded like he almost stumbled into this role. He saw a new population at OU, many of whom were already curious about Western culture and Christianity, and he was happy to oblige. It was clarifying for me to learn that Dave had been a missionary in Kenya. I've come to think of him as a sort of domestic missionary, serving people from outside the U.S., within the U.S.

It sounded like he almost stumbled into this role. He saw a new population at OU, many of whom were already curious about Western culture and Christianity, and he was happy to oblige. It was clarifying for me to learn that Dave had been a missionary in Kenya. I've come to think of him as a sort of domestic missionary, serving people from outside the U.S., within the U.S.