Lee - Be everything at once: tales of a cartoonist lady person

For my family Copyright 2018 by Dami Lee All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Lee, Dami, illustrator, author. Title: Be everything at once : tales of a cartoonist lady person / by Dami Lee.
Description: San Francisco : Chronicle Books, [2018]
Identifiers: LCCN 2017061274 | ISBN 9781452167657 (pbk. : alk. | CartoonistsUnited StatesBiographyComic books, strips, etc. | Graphic novels.
Classification: LCC PN6727.L3797 Z46 2018 | DDC 741.5/973 [B]dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017061274 Design by Spencer Vandergrift Chronicle Books LLC
680 Second Street
San Francisco, CA 94107 www.chroniclebooks.com Hello and welcome to my book! Here you will find heartfelt stories of love and loss, like loving tater tots so much you dont know where the tots end and your face begins, and losing your appetite for the actual dinner you had reservations for because you ate too many Tater Tots. | Graphic novels.
Classification: LCC PN6727.L3797 Z46 2018 | DDC 741.5/973 [B]dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017061274 Design by Spencer Vandergrift Chronicle Books LLC
680 Second Street
San Francisco, CA 94107 www.chroniclebooks.com Hello and welcome to my book! Here you will find heartfelt stories of love and loss, like loving tater tots so much you dont know where the tots end and your face begins, and losing your appetite for the actual dinner you had reservations for because you ate too many Tater Tots.

Well start from the very beginning, with my uplifting story as an immigrant child overcoming adversity by inadvertently making my peers cry. This same language barrier will come back to haunt me when I return to Korea as an adult, and realize I should have saved some space in my brain for remembering how to speak Korean instead of filling it up with all 150 Pokmon names. Then itll all come full circle when I make my triumphant return back to the U.S., so I can live my truth as a Cartoonist Lady Person. Theres lots of good stuff in here about the joys of being a girl, plus some fun and flirty dating tips (... heres a freebie from me to you: stay away from eating any hard-shelled crustaceans on the first date). Besides all this timeless shellfish advice, youll find invaluable wisdoms, all based on my real and true experiences.

These are the things Iove learned from being good at some things and being unbelievably horrible at others. But how else would I have found out what Im okay at and what I should never, ever attempt to do again, unless I tried? Ive moved to the U.S. three times in my lifetwice with my family when I was six and ten, and then alone at 25. Like many things that get better with practice, you get a little bit better at America every time. I was just a small, confused immigrant child that didnt speak English at first, but now look at me! A tall, confused lady with bad posture, who only speaks English when she feels like it. The first two times we moved when I was a kid were because of my dads job, which took us from Seoul to Texas, back to Seoul, and then to California.

And with my parents never-ending quest to find a house to turn into a home, it felt like we were moving constantly. I changed schools almost every year and missed part of fourth grade while I was in Korea, which I will forever use as a convenient excuse for not knowing basic U.S. geography. There were lots of little things that got lost in translation in the beginning, as well as small misunderstandings, but I wouldnt categorize our immigrant experience as a struggle. Instead, I look back on those times fondly as moments when my family was closest. These were the times when we all lived under one roof and watched rented VHS tapes of Korean variety shows.

We were just trying to figure things out together, and struggled collectively to understand the weird customs of whichever new world we had just entered. Its easier to pick up new languages when youre little, but looking back, I cant imagine how much harder it must have been for my older brother, who was 13 when we first moved to America. I also never really stopped to think about the immense sacrifice my parents made, and what a crazy privilege it was to grow up with two cultures. Every day, Im grateful for the experienceespecially the fact that I now possess the ability to shop online from both American and Korean sites.