Mock Trial

In Phoenix Wright's immortal words, "Objection!" *points accusing finger at dumbstruck attorney*

I've been on the mock trial team for my school since tenth grade, first as a witness, and then as an attorney for the most recent two years. I've had to learn to slow down my speaking, which tends to break the sound barrier if I get nervous. I've gotten used to speaking out of turn, as long as it's immediately followed by, "Your honor." And I realize why attorneys are such disagreeable people in the courtroom; those outfits are stuffy and uncomfortable.

I'm the one on the far left for the prosecution, all dressed up in penguin colors and ready to deliver a killer cross of the defendant. I'm sure our ethnic diversity is incredibly intimidating. I proudly assert that I am Chinese, unlike my two Taiwanese teammates. (Nothing against them, but my friend called us the Great Wall of China, so I felt obligated to specify.)

Incidentally, my father was born in a rural part of China on the borders of Tibet and was one of the few people in his county to ever attend college. My mother was born in Beijing but was forced to the same province as part of a movement of the Great Cultural Revolution. But the turmoil goes back even further; my grandmother on my dad's side was the daughter of a landlord who was killed during the Cultural Revolution, and my grandfather risked his status and respect as a soldier in marrying her. My mother's mother had sisters in Taiwan who were hidden until it was certain that their non-Party ties would not affect her father, who was in the Army, or her mother, who worked as a lab technician.
My father met my mother in college, where he was a teaching assistant after getting a bachelors and on his way to a doctorate. He had entered his class in last place due to being admitted from affirmative action (his Tibetan background, and the fact that his English grade was dismal compared to those of students from larger cities), but by his senior year, he had become first in his class and majored in nuclear chemistry, ignoring his friends decisions to go into the hot field of IT. My mother entered college when my dad was a senior, and she majored in literature and language. My father subsequently took the initiative to speak with a professor after a seminar and was invited to study in Germany for two years. My mother joined him after one year, and they eventually made it to the University of Arkansas, where my dad did his postdoctorate and where I was born. Coincidentally, it snowed for the first winter in a long time that day. I like to think it's a sign, though of what, I don't know.
I'm the product of human daring, political games, and a dash of chance. Even though I'm thoroughly American homegrown, my past has taught me the importance of resilience, acceptance, hard work, taking chances, the bigger picture, the tradition. My parents took advantage of the opportunities presented to them by their parents and surroundings in order to bring my brother and me into this world with full possibilities, and the least I can do is take advantage of what they have provided for me.