Interviews

An Interview with Justina Chen Headley

Q: As the mother of teen boys who don't often see an Asian-American as the "it" guy in pop culture, I'm grateful that you created such a hunk in Jacob. A: One of my missions as a writer was to create a hunk who happened to be Asian! That was a gift for my two brothers and my son…and all the Asian-American dudes out there who need to see guys like themselves as cool. Heartdroppingly cool. Devastatingly cool. It makes me feel great that readers of all ages are emailing me: "I. Am. So. In. Love. With. Jacob." Mission accomplished!

Q: Could you describe one of the most interesting or unusual experiences you had during research for North of Beautiful?

A: To get the port-wine stain information correct, I interviewed one of the top pediatric dermatologists in the Northwest, Dr. Julie Francis. She invited me to her operating room so that I could see all the equipment for myself. I wasn't expecting her to tell me to hop onto the operating table. I started crying when I got on the table. Then Dr. Francis and her nurse actually zapped the back of my hand with the laser. The sick thing is that I asked them to zap it TWICE so that I could really remember the sting, the sound of the laser, everything. What we writers suffer to document the truth.

Q: From your blogging (www.justinachenheadley.blogspot.com) and tweeting (www.twitter.com/justinaheadley), it's clear that you're into geocaching. Did you start geocaching before it became one of Jacob's hobbies, or did it move from the book into the rest of your life?

A: Years ago, I had read about geocaching -- high tech treasure hunting using a GPS -- in an article. It later occurred to me that geocaching could be symbolic of Terra's controlling mapmaker of a father who tries to box her into a grid and the boy who uses maps to break open her world. So in the name of research, I bought a GPS, created an account at www.geocaching.com, and hauled my kids on an expedition. We were hooked!

One of my favorite geocaching adventures happened over the summer with the readergirlz, Jackie Parker, and Nancy Pearl. Check out www.youtube.com/northofbeautiful for the footage!

Q: While in Shanghai, Jacob says that "real Chinese culture" is "anything to do with money...Everything in China is tied to making a buck." Do you agree with this character's assessment of modern China?

A: Let's just say that when I was living in Shanghai for the last couple of months, it was seen as completely acceptable for everyone and anyone -- even taxi drivers -- to ask point blank how much money you made, how much your house cost, how much your friends earned. One of the sad, unwitting victims in China's mad dash to modernize are its historic neighborhoods, razed without thought to preservation. These old neighborhoods (hutongs in Beijing and lilongs in Shanghai) won't be around for much longer.

An Excerpt from An Open Letter to Phenomenal Girls Everywhere

A few weeks ago, a good friend of mine called me up in tears. An acquaintance had commented on a photo my friend had uploaded on Facebook: "You must have turned heads in your heyday."

"What does she mean, in my heyday? Is she saying that I'm ugly now?" my 44-year-old friend wailed. "Am I ugly?"

"Sweetie," I said. "You're gorgeous! Forget about it."

Right.

I remember the first time I was called ugly. I was eight and arguing with my father who sneered that I was acting like a stepmother -- you know, the ugly, mean ones who populate fairy tales. The second time I was called ugly, I was spat upon by the racist in my high school. And the third time? I had just moved to Australia and was in a bush pub when a drunkard eyed me over his cavalry line of empty beer steins and slurred, "God, you're really ugly."

Luckily, three times isn't the charm. I'm not dragging myself through life, the poster child for All Things Ugly. What saved me from seeing myself as ugly wasn't being shortlisted as the cover model for a magazine or being named princess at many a high school ball. It was Maya Angelou's poem, PHENOMENAL WOMAN.

I'd rather be The Most Phenomenal Me in my life than The Most Beautiful Girl in the room. One will sustain me forever, the other will fade and leave me yearning for my glory days. I don't want to live in memories of my past prime when I have the beauty of now. --Justina Chen Headley