Meet the 2012 Sharon Lustbader Scholar, Su Ting Wang! Her story, Running On and On..., a story of self-realization and learning to love in Brooklyn, was selected for this year's scholarship and publication in TBSR no. 5.
What are your plans for life after High School (Midwood High School)?
I plan to go to Hunter College and major in English. I plan to study abroad at some point in England for their literature. I don't plan to study only English Literature, but literatures and cultures around the world. I plan to become a novelist who writes something more than the crap that young adults read - something more true and fulfilling.
If you had to credit one writer, poet, novel or story as your inspiration, who or what would it be?
 |
| 2012 Sharon Lustbader Scholar Su Ting Wang with Mrs. Lustbader |
If I had to credit something that has inspired me to write it would have to be A tree grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith. I remember how captivating the very first page was to me. It was nostalgic, which appealed to me and made me think of my childhood and the time I stilled live in Brooklyn. Francie Nolan, it occurred to me, was the very definition of being a girl. She also had a strong sense of family. She dreamed like anyone else would. I liked how that could draw the reader into her thoughts. She was an acknowledging child who understood the circumstances of her family and demonstrated her strength. I wished I could somehow be as strong as Francie. Because the novel is based off of Betty Smith's childhood I felt a very personal and immediate connection with her. More than anything I loved her style of writing. I admit that I do not like to read Jane Austen because I can't understand a thing, but Smith's writing was just magically accessible. The text of the novel is not scholarly-level hard, but it's enriched by a profound emotional breadth and subtle wording.
