Author encourages people to ‘lighten up’ about multi-culturalism

Author Cathy Bao Bean wants people to lighten up about being multi-racial.\nBean, author of “The Chopsticks-Fork Principle: A Memoir and Manual,” shared her humorous experience of growing up in the United States with a traditional Chinese family Friday in the Ernie Pyle Auditorium in front of about \n40 people.\nShe said the two worlds contradicted each other, which led to some confusion in her life.\nBean said people in the United States have a lot more choices as far as who they choose to have in their families and can change their standard of living.\n“In this world you can be the last person in this world to know who you are,” Bean said.\nBean said this is both good and bad. She said people do have more choices, but she also joked about people only liking others who are interesting. \nIn the traditional Asian world, people have a limited amount of choices because their role is already made, Bean said. \nShe compared both worlds by explaining how dining tables would look in each world. In the United States, the dining table would be complicated because of all the utensils that are used. Bean said the important people sit next to the host.\nIn the Asian world, the dining setup is simple and consists of a bowl, chopsticks and a napkin. Bean said the seating chart does not matter because everyone already knows who the most important people are. \nGraduate student Fancy Zhao, who is originally from China, said she thought the dining analogy was interesting\nand humorous. \nBean said it was difficult for her to choose which culture she wanted to be part of because it was impossible for her to be part of both. \n“You don’t have to choose; learn to be pleased with yourself,” Bean said. \nOverall, Bean told audience members to embrace as many cultures as they can and have some fun while doing it.\nShe advised all the students in the crowd to try to study overseas and said it is “a little like not getting a joke when everyone else does.”\nBean said although it is difficult, multi-racial people should not try to limit themselves to just one culture.\n“When you have to choose, try to choose the one that will keep the least doors closed,” Bean said. \nKevin Jones, an assistant faculty member at IU Purdue University-Columbus, said he liked how she presented her experience in a “lighter” way.\n“Learn to adopt and understand others,” Jones said. \nBean’s lecture was part of the Asian Cultural Center and IU School of Journalism’s celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.\n“Basics of culture do influence our day,” said Brad Hamm, dean of the School \nof Journalism.\nDean of Students Dick McKaig agreed with Hamm about the importance of culture being in our lives.\n“One of the important things about college is to expose students to the world,” \nMcKaig said.