Wong is the literary heroine of Chinese Americans, who are often astonished that her autobiography could be published in such a prejudiced society. About 20 years ago, my wife and I embarked on a Picasso Summer style adventure to find her. It took three years. She was sick or on vacation everytime we went to San Francisco.
We finally did catch up to her. She was an elegant lady in her 70's, stylishly dressed in black, liked to smoke and every time the conversation drifted she steered it back to herself. I don' think she was egocentric, but realized she was the reason we were there and made sure we stayed on subject.
I absentmindedly snapped a photo of the two of them while they talked. They paused, turned to the camera, and smiled. Snap. Now the Museum of Chinese Americans in New York wants to use that photo for display. I asked my wife "Are they going to credit me as the photographer?" and she barked back "No! Just forget it!"
