It was not easy being a young Chinese girl growing up in California during the 1920s and 30s. Kathleen not only had to survive the prevailing hostility of the times, she also had to endure being a "worthless female" working in her fmaily's laundry and her mother's suspicion of anything not Chinese. 
 Because Kathleen wanted her family to enjoy the benefits of American life, she chose to violate certain expectations of filial obedience. This brought on her mother's wrath, but her father's gentle understanding. 
 Her search for worth, the struggle for acceptance, the awkwardness of growing into womanhood, and her gracious acceptance of those ugly aspects of life which can transform us into people of dignity, character, and grace are captured here Inside the Oy Quong Laundry. 
 From the Introduction by Carolyn Wing Greenlee: For years my mother had been telling me little vignettes of her childhood -- the sweltering Merced summers made hotter by eight-pound irons and endless baskets of other peoples' laundry, the gorgeous iridescent rooster gallantly defending his harem, the slobbering ghostly visitations in the night. For these stories, I have a fierce love. I carried them all my life. But would she let me commit them to print? At first she was dismayed. "Sounds like a bitter old woman," she said. "Can't you make it more smooth? The writing is terrible." But later she acquiesced, saying "I tried to rewrite some and it came out stuffed shirt." This book is not stuffed shirt. My cousin Susan said Primary Documents speak for themselves in a way that's more powerful than if we had analyzed and synthesized them. As I worked on this book, I kept that in mind. There is no editorializing on my part. I edited only the repetitions and some of the grammar--trying, at the same time, to preserve my mother's inflections and energy. I hope you will sense in it her spirit, her heart, her own unique beauty. Most of all, I hope you will hear her voice and, in the process, perhaps you will hear, more clearly, your own.

Inside the Oy Quong Laundry

Biographies & Memoirs

Carolyn Wing Greenlee

Kathleen Kong Wing

Community & Culture

Earthen Vessel Productions

The gentle title and cover of this book belie its fierce heart and ten years of struggling to find a voice after generations of fear and silence. Speaking through the voices of her ancestors and the Chinese who labored to build this country, wresting through issues of womanhood, aging, ailing parents, difficult relationships, seeking and questioning God, discovering the blessings of adversity, celebrating the joys of grandchildren and creative gifts, Carolyn explores identity, life, and voice, not just for the Chinese, but for all who pioneer new lands, sacrificing to make a better place for those who are yet to come.

Wildflowers in the Snow

Literature & Fiction

Poetry

Eternal River - Volume I - The Early Years is the family histories of Tom & Kathleen Wing revealed in a unique and compelling format. Overcoming adversities within Confucian culture, and the era when Chinese Americans were not welcome in White neighborhoods, Tom and Kathleen forged their way with ingenuity and grit, and the support of loyal friends who opened doors for them that society had locked. This book is a celebration of their endurance, creative contributions to American life, and the individuals who joined with them along the way.  Eternal River - Volume II - The Claremont Years is also available. Eternal River - Volume III is due to be released early 2010. Also part of the Eternal River series are  Inside The Oy Quong Laundry, Kathleen Kong's early life within her family's Chinese laundry in Merced, CA, and Son of South Mountain & Dust, Tom Wing's childhood as the son of a Chinese doctor and herbalist in Modesto, CA.

Eternal River - Volume I - The Early Years

Things were vastly different in 1951 when Tom and Kay Wing moved their family to Claremont, California. At age 4, their daughter Carolyn was about to spend the next 13 years experiencing life from the inside of their custom house, being reared in the combination of old Chinese and new American ideas that her parents chose from navigating their own difficult pasts. With brilliant, dynamic, powerful parents, and an older sister who excelled at everything; through the rigors of childhood, the brutality of junior high and the awkwardness of high school, Carolyn must fight for a place of her own. With great insight and humor, Carolyn Wing Greenlee tells of these years in a way that is poignant, captivating and deeply touching. Eternal River - Volume I - The Early Years is also available. Eternal River - Volume III is due to be released early 2010. Also part of the Eternal River series are  Inside The Oy Quong Laundry, Kathleen Kong's early life within her family's Chinese laundry in Merced, CA, and Son of South Mountain & Dust, Tom Wing's childhood as the son of a Chinese doctor and herbalist in Modesto, CA.

Eternal River - Volume II - The Claremont Years

In this raw, intimate and honest memoir, Greenlee shares the surprising lessons and adventures she encountered after the devastation of her sudden and profound loss of vision. She takes the reader past the gates of Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael, California, and into the 28 days of intensive training required to graduate with a guide dog. Surrounded by supportive community of staff and students, Greenlee faces the bondage of her Confucian upbringing and finds freedom far beyond mobility with a guide dog.

Steady Hedy: A Journey through Blindness & Guide Dog School

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Pets & Animal Care