Stay True: A Memoir

Chapter 9 focuses on Hua’s life after college. Hua visited a record store on the first anniversary of Ken’s death and was shocked when the owner showed him the soundtrack to The Last Dragon. That night, Hua worked on a zine that touched on ideas of identity, gift giving, and incarceration, incorporating the op-ed on sports fandom Ken wrote sophomore year. Hua describes his romantic relationship with Joie, a Korean American woman he started seeing at the end of his senior year. Joie attended graduate school in New York, while Hua went to Harvard after being rejected by NYU, but the two stayed together. Shortly after the 9/11 terror attacks, Hua traveled to New York to spend time with old friends from Berkeley, one of whom asked if he and Ken were “really that close” (170). The question disturbed Hua and made him question his friendship with Ken.

Hua often thought about the past. His interest in memories and dashed dreams translated into a love of archival work. Hua kept objects related to Ken in a padded envelope, which he took out when he needed a distraction from his studies.