The stage was set: CUPSI 2013, College National Poetry Slam Finals, Barnard College, April 6th.
Rachel Rostad performed her piece “To J.K. Rowling, From Cho Chang,” which addresses the stereotyping of Asian women in Western art: “Let me cry over boys more than I speak. Let me fulfill your diversity quota. Just one more brown girl mourning her white hero.” Such a charged topic has since inspired fierce responses–some supportive, some critical, others just uninformed. Rostad has sparked a conversation that is still continuing; check out her video response and the ongoing discussion on her blog.
When he left me I told myself I should have seen it coming. I wasn’t sure I was sad, but I cried anyway. Girls who look like me are supposed to cry over boys who look like him. I’d seen all the movies and read all the books. We were just following the plot.
