Copy of 12. TrooRa The San Francisco Issue ‘21

My great, great, grandparents crossed the Pacific from China to find gold in San Francisco, and then to build the railroad. They were coolie laborers. It’s nothing short of miraculous that I am even here, because of the anti-Asian laws of the late 19th century, Chinatown was essentially a bachelor society. But my great great grandmothers and grand aunties held it down. To be woman in white supremacist America and in the very patriarchal Chinese-American community, was nothing short of trying. I truly am a Frisco flower child. But seriously, my parents were straight up products of 1960s San Francisco; truly wavy individuals and actually high school sweethearts from Lowell High School. My dad first saw my mom at a school dance, kickin’ it in a daisy chain. And here I am!

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