Amy Zou
Zou’s bio:
Amy Zou is a sophomore at John Jay majoring in Law and Society. She takes part in the Mock Trial Association and is particularly passionate about studying law and writing. She joined and volunteers for the production team of the Life Out Loud podcast, a nonfiction series that works to diversify the stories we share.
Her English 101 research project entitled, “Is This Really About COVID? Discrimination Against Asian Americans Amid the Pandemic: An Analysis of Historical Roots” was published in John Jay’s Finest 2021. Inspired by personal experience with Anti-Asian sentiment during the pandemic, Amy discovered through research that there's nothing novel about this sentiment; COVID-19 wasn't the catalyst. So, what was? As with the best research, Amy’s findings unearthed more and more questions and, in this impressive work, she faces those questions head on.
In English 201, she wrote a memoir entitled “Century Egg” which navigates the conventions of memoir where she uses detail and dialog to recreate the past while highlighting the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the context of educational settings and learning experiences.
Here is an excerpt from the memoir:
As groups of fourth graders rushed into the large cafeteria, sounds of chatter filled the room. Ms. Bella had left us at our assigned lunch table with the strict cafeteria supervisor, Ms. Wendy. I could hear her hoarse and scratchy voice from across the noisy cafeteria, yelling at our class to sit down. Most of the students lined up when Ms. Wendy called my class for lunch. I caught a glimpse of the boy eating at the table across from me. The crust of the pizza he had stuffed in his mouth looked like cardboard, the cheese looked like glue, and the lumpy tomato sauce looked like goo. Lucky for me, my mother prepared lunch for me today. My food thermos rested on the greasy, whitetopped lunch table. I placed my hands on the lid of the thermos and twisted, but it wouldn’t budge. My classmates came back to the table with their lunch trays, one by one, and I asked them if they could help me open the container. After a few tries, the lid was off; I was ready to enjoy my lunch.
Read the complete memoir here as published in John Jay’s Finest 2022 (pp. 68-70).