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LISTEN TO FIRST EPISODE HERE
Songs to my Ancestors PART II
Audio Script
And welcome back to Songs to my Ancestors, a show where radio and sound waves can carry your voice and thoughts to the ancestors you never met in person. With a cup of hot tea in hand, let’s get back to our regular programming.
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I grew up on the unceded Coast Salish Territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh, Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh peoples, colonially known as Vancouver, BC. But, I found out recently from my mom (specifically December 22, 2018 according to my Notes app), that when my parents first immigrated here, someone tried to convince my dad to buy their fish and chips business when they were in Victoria. So you might be thinking “why is she not currently the fish and chip witch running a delicious franchise and instead is trying to complete her second year of an MFA at Concordia (which is supposedly THE highlight year of this program) during a global pandemic? Well, it’s because my dad thought Victoria was too boring. This is pretty funny to me and anyone who knows my dad well. He was (and still is I guess) a bit of a party animal, always looking to have a good time. I used to think we had nothing in common. He was exceptional at math and was good at chemistry. I on the other hand, struggled immensely and had to go to a tutor throughout high school. I loved art class, but I can’t really remember my parents, especially my dad, ever bringing me to a museum or art gallery. I think my mom once said to her older sister, “I actually don’t know where she gets her creative tendencies or interest in making and seeing art from…” My aunt apparently said to my mom “Really?? You used to draw so often when you were younger… And they were nice!” My mom was surprised - she didn’t remember this about herself either.
I was going through old family photo albums and documents and came across my parent’s immigration application. In it were several different papers, images, scans of things that documented various periods of time. The thing that immediately caught my eye: my dad’s high school and college report cards. I thought to myself: “GOLDMINE!!! All these years of being scared of that moment which came around 3 times a year, when my dad asked the dreaded question: “where’s your report card?” NOW IT WAS MY TURN. MY TURN TO ASK, “why’d you get a B here, why’s this a C+”. Anyways, snoopy me finds out that my dad actually took an architecture class. And to my surprise - based on the letter grades and feedback, my dad was doing well in the class. Apparently he just wasn’t pushing himself? This comment made me laugh cause knowing my dad, he probably took this drafting/drawing course cause he thought it would be an easy A. But I’m gonna give him the benefit of the doubt and say he was just busy getting those A’s in math and Chemistry.
I wonder what it would have been like if my sister and I grew up in Victoria. I wonder how different we would be from the people we are now. I wonder how different my parents would be from the people they are now.
I could have been a fish and chips witch.
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Our next song request, 但願人長久 by 王菲, Wishing we last forever by Faye Wong, is from 張紫慧, Wallis Cheung. Fun fact about this song courtesy of Wallis: the lyrics are from the poem 水調歌頭 by 蘇軾. They would like to “dedicate this song to their grandmother”.
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Play 但願人長久 by 王菲, Wishing we last forever by Faye Wong
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My great grandfather (my mom’s grandfather on her dad’s side) went to the States soon after marrying my great grandmother. Our 鄉下, which I think is equivalent to our village in English, was very poor and my great grandfather had the opportunity to take a boat to San Francisco to work and send money back. My mom tells me even if you are working the lowest paid, laborious jobs, the foreign exchange rate made it worth travelling across the ocean for. He worked at a laundromat and would send money back with a letter to my great grandmother. My great grandparents didn’t have a child before my great grandfather left. At the time someone in the 鄉下 told great grandmother that there was a child who didn’t have anyone to take care of him. She adopted him - and he is my 公公, my grandpa on my mom’s side. They were able to leave their 鄉下 to go to 香港 Hong Kong to find their own opportunities.
Mom never met her grandfather. He passed away around ‘69, when my uncle was born. Great grandmother didn’t go to see him. She never told them where or if he was buried. We don’t know where he is or where those letters are.
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I’ll be ending today’s show with this song: 幸福摩天輪 performed by 陳奕迅 Eason Chan. I’d like to dedicate this song to my mom and dad - to all those early morning drives to English and Chinese school, frantic ones to the YMCA with a homemade ham and cheese sandwich in my mouth before swim class, and the ones past midnight to get home.
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Play 幸福摩天輪 performed by 陳奕迅 Eason Chan
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Thank you for tuning in to the first and second episode of Songs to my Ancestors. Perhaps we’ll have the chance to stumble upon one another’s radio waves another time. Until then. Snack Witch out.
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~Bloopers~
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About Joni Cheung:
Joni Cheung is a grateful, uninvited guest on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh, Stó:lō, Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh, and Kanien’kehá:ka peoples. She is currently working towards her Masters of Fine Arts in Sculpture and Ceramics at Concordia University and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Distinction in Visual Art (2018) from the School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University. She has exhibited and curated shows at Centre A: the Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Vancouver; the Capture Photography Festival in both 2017 and 2018; the Audain Gallery, Vancouver; and has been featured in CBC Arts; LotusLand; Canada Line Transit BC Public Art Program; and the Vancouver Art Book Fair, among other spaces and platform.
