Justin Chen ‘11

“Emperors of Self-Control”

Justin Chen’s independent writing project was one of the recipients of the 2011 Shansi Prize. His work was a memoir focusing on his passion for long-distance running intertwined with growing up as the son of a Taiwanese immigrant father. Throughout the memoir he covers a range of seemingly disparate subjects–from philosophical meditations on long distance running, to honest and often bemused observations of the dissonances between Taiwanese village culture and American urban culture, to the experience of being a stranger in one’s parents’ language – and unifies them all in a larger sense of longing. Justin was nominated by Associate Professor Sylvia Watanabe.