Sowing Ti Leaves gathers together personal narratives, poems, essays, and a scholarly study which were produced during the Multi-Cultural Women Writers (MCWW) of Orange County\u27s nine-year existence. Coeditor Mitsuye Yamada states in her introduction that the writing group was formed to provide a common reference point and a forum for expression. While MCWW\u27s ancestral ties are diverse (Argentinian, Chinese, East Indian, Hawaiian, Italian, Japanese, Jewish, Lebanese, Okinawan), its members share experiences as women living within the  majority  culture. The writing process is used to enable  minority  women to understand their culture(s) and to proclaim their identities. MCWW provides a space for mutual support, criticism, and growth, and recollections or personal anecdotes shared with the group are often the initial inspiration for the pieces collected here

Motoyama, Kate

English

VCU Scholars Compass

and Asian American studies literature. Before Maxine Hong Kingston, Amy Tan and, now, Gish Jen were writing (or perhaps even born), Jade Snow Wong gave us a representation of the Chinese American female experience that is at once simple and profound. While she may not have the literary and philosophical sophistication of Hong Kingston, Tan and Jen, she was a keen observer of customs and behavior-and sometimes motiva­tion. Her voice was certainly authentic, while often moving in the acknowl­edgment and acceptance of contradictions within the Chinese American family and community. She can be just as insightful in her observations on Anglo American culture, the relationship between Chinese and Anglos in America, and white America's ambivalent but ultimately patronizing atti­tude towards Asian Americans during the pre-War years . Making for especially pleasurable reading is her great sense of humor and irony, which infuses the book throughout. I don't know if literary critics would consider Fifth Chinese Daughter "great literature." But I do think it is great material for ethnic studies and Asian American studies courses. It should be read as a period piece, and should certainly not be held accountable for reflecting Asian American consciousness as we know it in the last quarter century. But for anyone wanting to know more about growing up "American-Chinese" and female in the pre-World War II era, I cannot think of a more valuable work. And as a historian, I can certainly vouch for Jade Snow Wonffs memoirs as a credible historical document. -Evelyn Hu-DeHart University of Colorado at Boulder Mitsuye Yamada and Sarie Sachie Hylkema, eds. Sowing Ti Leaves: Writings by Multi-Cultural Women. (Irvine: Multi-Cultural Women Writers of Orange County, 1990) $7.95 paper. "I was made of rainbow ribbons streaming from the mouths of five different women locking hands and singing at a midnight supper party." - Kelli Arakaki-Bond Sowing Ti Leaves gathers together personal narratives,  poems, essays, and a scholarly study which were produced during the Multi-Cultural Women Writers (MCWW) of Orange County's nine-year existence. Co­editor Mitsuye Yamada states in her introduction that the writing group was formed to provide a common reference point and a forum for expres­sion. While MCWW's ancestral ties are diverse (Argentinian, Chinese, East 70 Explorations in Sights and Sounds No. 11 (Summer 1991) Indian, Hawaiian, Italian, Japanese, Jewish, Lebanese, Okinawan), its members share experiences as women living within the "majority" culture. The writing process is used to enable "minority" women to understand their culture(s) and to proclaim their identities.  MCWW provides a space for mutual support, criticism, and growth, and recollections or personal anec­dotes shared with the group are often the initial inspiration for the pieces collected here. Some of the toughest writing speaks of discrimination and disenfran­chisement faced by women who wear their "otherness" on their faces or who give away their difference as non-native speakers of English, such as Susana Saldini's "The Smell of Magic" and Kanwal Yodh's "A Brown Woman's Struggles." An unsentimentalized, nearly matter-of-fact telling only serves to heighten unspoken feelings of injustice in these narratives . Several poems, such as those by Janet Jue, Florinda Mintz, and co-editors Yamada and Hylkema, are presented bilingually. The act of writing, of reappropriating one's language, is a stay against monolingualism and a stand against silence. In the eighteenth short poem in her translated work, "Casualidad no es una mujer," Mintz writes :  T o  g o  out into the world although it seems merciless To make silences bleed with cries of alarm, and agitate the birds of the forest. "I was confident," she says in the twentieth and final poem, "and began the monologue." Finally, three essays contribute a sustained analysis of issues reiterated throughout the collection. Hylkema's critique of leveling influences in "Victim of Nice" and Yamada's related piece "The Cult of the 'Perfect' Language : Censorship by Class, Gender and Race," as well as Jaskoski's more focused study of Owl Woman, retain a cultural integrity and an accessibility rarely found in academic writing. Sowing Ti Leaves, published by the writing group, reveals thoughts and feelings that refuse to be scripted by others . As Yamada states, "The most valuable lesson we have learned is that our experiences are valid and that they are worth sharing . . . .  " The wide-ranging writings of these multi­cultural women acknowledge their struggles, explore their diverse back­grounds, and celebrate their faith in the Word so as to inspire compassionate answers for our common future. - Kate Motoyama College of San Mateo Explorations in Sights and Sounds No. 1 1  (Summer 1991) 71 

[Review of] Mitsuye Yamada and Sarie Sachie Hylkema, eds. Sowing Ti Leaves: Writings by Multi-Cultural Women

and Asian American studies literature. Before Maxine Hong Kingston, 
Amy Tan and, now, Gish Jen were writing (or perhaps even born), Jade 
Snow Wong gave us a representation of the Chinese American female 
experience that is at once simple and profound. While she may not have the 
literary and philosophical sophistication of Hong Kingston, Tan and Jen, 
she was a keen observer of customs and behavior-and sometimes motiva­
tion. Her voice was certainly authentic, while often moving in the acknowl­
edgment and acceptance of contradictions within the Chinese American 
family and community. She can be just as insightful in her observations on 
Anglo American culture, the relationship between Chinese and Anglos in 
America, and white America's ambivalent but ultimately patronizing atti­
tude towards Asian Americans during the pre-War years . Making for 
especially pleasurable reading is her great sense of humor and irony, which 
infuses the book throughout. 
I don't know if literary critics would consider Fifth Chinese Daughter 
"great literature." But I do think it is great material for ethnic studies and 
Asian American studies courses. It should be read as a period piece, and 
should certainly not be held accountable for reflecting Asian American 
consciousness as we know it in the last quarter century. But for anyone 
wanting to know more about growing up "American-Chinese" and female in 
the pre-World War II era, I cannot think of a more valuable work. And as a 
historian, I can certainly vouch for Jade Snow Wonffs memoirs as a credible 
historical document. 
-Evelyn Hu-DeHart 
University of Colorado at Boulder 
Mitsuye Yamada and Sarie Sachie Hylkema, eds. Sowing Ti Leaves: 
Writings by Multi-Cultural Women. (Irvine: Multi-Cultural Women 
Writers of Orange County, 1990) $7.95 paper. 
"I was made 
of rainbow ribbons 
streaming from the mouths 
of five different women 
locking hands and singing 
at a midnight supper party." 
- Kelli Arakaki-Bond 
Sowing Ti Leaves gathers together personal narratives,  poems, essays, 
and a scholarly study which were produced during the Multi-Cultural 
Women Writers (MCWW) of Orange County's nine-year existence. Co­
editor Mitsuye Yamada states in her introduction that the writing group 
was formed to provide a common reference point and a forum for expres­
sion. While MCWW's ancestral ties are diverse (Argentinian, Chinese, East 
70 Explorations in Sights and Sounds No. 11 (Summer 1991) 
Indian, Hawaiian, Italian, Japanese, Jewish, Lebanese, Okinawan), its 
members share experiences as women living within the "majority" culture. 
The writing process is used to enable "minority" women to understand their 
culture(s) and to proclaim their identities.  MCWW provides a space for 
mutual support, criticism, and growth, and recollections or personal anec­
dotes shared with the group are often the initial inspiration for the pieces 
collected here. 
Some of the toughest writing speaks of discrimination and disenfran­
chisement faced by women who wear their "otherness" on their faces or who 
give away their difference as non-native speakers of English, such as 
Susana Saldini's "The Smell of Magic" and Kanwal Yodh's "A Brown 
Woman's Struggles." An unsentimentalized, nearly matter-of-fact telling 
only serves to heighten unspoken feelings of injustice in these narratives . 
Several poems, such as those by Janet Jue, Florinda Mintz, and co-editors 
Yamada and Hylkema, are presented bilingually. The act of writing, of 
reappropriating one's language, is a stay against monolingualism and a 
stand against silence. In the eighteenth short poem in her translated work, 
"Casualidad no es una mujer," Mintz writes :  
T o  g o  out into the world 
although it seems merciless 
To make silences bleed 
with cries of alarm, 
and agitate the birds of the forest. 
"I was confident," she says in the twentieth and final poem, "and began 
the monologue." Finally, three essays contribute a sustained analysis of 
issues reiterated throughout the collection. Hylkema's critique of leveling 
influences in "Victim of Nice" and Yamada's related piece "The Cult of the 
'Perfect' Language : Censorship by Class, Gender and Race," as well as 
Jaskoski's more focused study of Owl Woman, retain a cultural integrity 
and an accessibility rarely found in academic writing. 
Sowing Ti Leaves, published by the writing group, reveals thoughts and 
feelings that refuse to be scripted by others . As Yamada states, "The most 
valuable lesson we have learned is that our experiences are valid and that 
they are worth sharing . . . .  " The wide-ranging writings of these multi­
cultural women acknowledge their struggles, explore their diverse back­
grounds, and celebrate their faith in the Word so as to inspire compassionate 
answers for our common future. 
- Kate Motoyama 
College of San Mateo 
Explorations in Sights and Sounds No. 1 1  (Summer 1991) 71 


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[Review of] Mitsuye Yamada and Sarie Sachie Hylkema, eds. Sowing Ti Leaves: Writings by Multi-Cultural Women

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