Miko Dai interview

I love animals. My favorite animals are penguins. I am also mother of a 4 year old shih-tzu- his name is Moe.

As for preference, I am more of a dog person in real life, but a cat person when I'm on the interwebz, I'm not sure if that made sense... Basically, I prefer dogs as pets, but I am also an avid fan of cat memes, cat gifs, and cute cat videos on youtube.

Wow. I'm not even sure how to tackle this question. 

I was a generally happy, loved, sheltered, confused, weird  and (and in late childhood/early adolescence) horny child.

I immigrated with my parents from China to Knoxville, TN when I was one and lived on campus at the University of Tennessee for ten years.  UT was also apparently located in an affluent school district, thus I attended a predominantly white, upper class elementary school. I distinctly remember constantly being self conscious about myself and longing to fit in. Even though I was raised in the U.S and had assimilated to Western culture, there was still a part of me that felt like an outsider. Maybe it was because I was only 1 of a handful of non-white kids at the school. Or perhaps it was because I was in an apparent constant state of cognitive dissonance-- always trying to reconcile eastern and western values and somewhere along the way, losing touch with my own sense of self and what I valued. 

Overall, I feel extremely blessed that I had my parents' discipline, love, and support-- my mother and father both went to school, worked, and sacrificed sweat and tears to give me and my brother a life- one much different than their own upbringings. Aside from monetary support, my parents- specifically my father- invested a great deal of his time and energy in being an active, integral part of my life- talking to me, teaching me how to read, and interacting with me. I spent a lot of time with my dad because my mother, as the primary financial provider in the family, worked as a waitress at a local Chinese restaurant. Thus, my father took over the domestic responsibilities, which included looking after me. Up until he found out about my career, my dad and I were especially close.