At our photo shoot, Connie Chung met some of the Connies she inspired.
 | By Tenzin Tsagong Editorial Assistant, Special Projects, Opinion |
I've spent the last six weeks as something of an unofficial Connie handler. |
While we were working with the writer Connie Wang on a piece about the generation of Asian American women named after the news anchor Connie Chung, The New York Times invited Connie Chung to a studio for a photo shoot with some of the Connies who share her name. The problem? Connie Chung was on a tight schedule. We had five days to round up the New York-based Connies. |
I had spent the previous weeks helping Wang report her story, find Connie candidates and verify that they were indeed named after Connie Chung. While we had assembled a vast spreadsheet of Connies across the country, we were looking to find more who lived in the tristate area. I knew, with a little extra work, we could find them. |
Finally, it was time to pick up the Connies in the lobby of the Times building. They seemed nervous. Shy. Unsure what to expect from this strange experiment they had consented to. But it didn't take long for them to connect, marveling that there were so many other Asian American women who were all named after the same person. By the end of the day, this newfound sisterhood of Connies had made plans to stay in touch. They even created a WhatsApp group they called "The Connies" and promised to reunite when the article was published. |
For Connie Wang, this story is a personal one. Her mother, Qing Li, a book editor in China, found immigrating to America alienating and daunting. Watching Connie Chung on the evening news gave her some comfort, and so when her daughter, picking an English name, said she wanted to go by "Connie" in America, she readily agreed. |
What Wang discovered years later was that her story was not unlike those of the scores of Connies across the country: born of ambitious mothers who, upon immigrating to America, had to adjust their expectations for what life would look like and who'd seen a familiar face on TV and thought: Maybe my daughter can succeed here like Connie Chung did. |
When Chung herself finally walked into the studio that day, she squealed as she took in the sorority that eagerly awaited her arrival. She shook every Connie's hand. She asked them all questions about their families and where they were from. She made sure to give each person her moment. In one emotional exchange, Chung teared up when she learned that one of the Connies had chosen the name for herself after college. |
She also led a chorus of Connies to sing the famous Sister Sledge chorus: "We are family / I got all my sisters with me." When capturing the portraits, the photographer, Connie Aramaki, also named after Connie Chung, remarked, "It looks like a nice family." |
What our readers are saying: |
For those of us immigrant kids growing up in N.Y.C. in the '80s, Connie and Kaity Tong (Channel 7 News) were our inspiration. They showed us that there are possible futures outside the textile factories and restaurants that our parents' generation were bonded to. They were the trailblazers on top of the hill, beckoning us to find our paths out of our gulleys. Thank you, Connie. Thank you, Kaity. — Technite, Michigan |
In my household, Connie Chung was, like Gwen Ifill (may she rest in power), basically a hero. Fearless, poised and confident — that's what Connie Chung looked like to me when I was growing up. I'm not of Asian descent, but Chung was an inspiration to me growing up in a sea of whiteness. — Philippe Egalité, Le Monde |
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