Stay True: A Memoir

Chapter 5 describes Hua’s junior year at Berkeley. Hua moved into an off-campus condo with his roommate, in a neighborhood teeming with friends. He decorated the apartment with photocopies of 1960s newspapers and protest banners. His stereo, record collection, and scanner, which he used to create zines, received pride of place in the living room, as did the modernist clock Ken offered him as a housewarming gift. Although Ken moved to a different part of Berkeley, he and Hua remained close. Hua shifted his attention away from political science to ethnic and Asian American studies. He stopped reading fiction, focusing instead on untold histories, and volunteered alongside other Asian students with the Richmond Youth Project. Most of Hua’s mentees were seventh-grade Mien boys, an ethnic minority who fled persecution in Southeast Asia. Hua was lenient with his mentees, but he put his foot down when one of them flashed a gun at other students while in Hua’s car. As the children of middle-class immigrants, Hua and his fellow volunteers had little in common with their mentees, who were poor and disenfranchised. Beyond volunteering, Hua spent his free time interacting with strangers online using false personas and listening to music while cruising with friends.