(One of the most engaging chapters in Kamens book concerns Changs unlikelybut successfulbid to become a homecoming princess.) I was not alone in eating Iris dust, Kamen noted ruefully in an essay she wrote for Salon shortly after Changs death. There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Iris Shun-Ru Chang (March 28, 1968 - November 9, 2004) was an American journalist, author of historical books and political activist. But, her father said, "In spite of many sessions, Iris did not tell the therapist her deepest thoughts. ", Iris connected so well with these veterans because each of their stories mattered to her. At the time of her death, she had been taking the medications Depakote and Risperdal to stabilize her mood.[19]. She touched her fingertips to her forehead, then waved her hand to the heavens: "It's because Iris is a dreamer." At 11:56 a.m., Iris presented her driver's license and counted out $517 in cash -- she was carrying nearly $4,000 -- and left the store with an ivory-handled Ruger "Old Army" .45 replica revolver. He framed it and hung it on a wall in his home. About the suicide of her own daughter, Chang believed it was probably the side effects of psychiatric medication that led Iris to end her life. . ", Her mother added, "She was in therapy all the time, but it didn't help, and she took the medicine on and off. Open sky surrounds broad, rolling lawns at the crest of a hill. Your Privacy Choices (Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads). You have a young kid. Iris Chang's coffin was carried to a waiting hearse to be brought to the grave site at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Los Altos. HANDOUT PHOTO/VERIFY RIGHTS AND USEAGE, memorial20_099_el.jpg ", Seeing how the survivors lived was as harrowing as hearing their stories. Then she got back up again. She found the diaries of a pair of Westerners who were among the heroes of Nanking. ", The book rocketed Iris into the pantheon of American intellectuals. That essay, How Iris Chang Became a Verb, serves as a graceful and insightful eulogy for the best-selling author, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on a lonely stretch of road outside San Jose, California, in November 2004. Scope and Contents note One compact sound cassette. [20], On November 9, 2004, at about 9 a.m., Chang was found dead in the driver's seat of her Oldsmobile Alero car by a Santa Clara Valley Water District employee on a rural road south of Los Gatos, California and west of State Route 17, in Santa Clara County. "Iris was very sensitive. box 314, folder 4 . The debate it provoked -- between those Japanese who deny the atrocities and the Chinese who seek an official apology and reparations -- continues. This is for the biographers., Suicide, Kamen observes, is in a lot of ways the ultimate act of control. 36 year-old Iris Chang, the prominent Chinese American author and journalist who wrote the best-selling . Then, a larger-than-life video image of Iris appeared on a wide-screen monitor: She was speaking as an expert witness in a mock grand jury trial of Emperor Hirohito, filmed at the 2003 Youth Conference at San Francisco City College, which the Nanking Redress Coalition sponsored. Iris discovered this group of Chinese American activists after she and Brett moved to Northern California when he got a job with Cisco Systems. In 1997, Iris Changs The Rape of Nanking was published to great critical acclaim and quickly became a national bestseller. Instead it offers the same meticulous attention to detail and thorough immersion in primary sources that distinguishes Changs exhaustively researched books, Thread of the Silkworm (1995), about an accused Chinese spy; The Rape of Nanking, published in 1997 to mark the massacres 60th anniversary; and the 2003 narrative history The Chinese in America. Iris Chang was the daughter of two university professors, Ying-Ying Chang and Dr. Shau-Jin Chang, who moved from mainland China to Taiwan and eventually emigrated to the United States. At 14, Iris was studying advanced math and decided to join an all-boys computer club called Submit. Ran on: 11-20-2004 () Province, and she is survived by her husband Bretton Lee Douglas and her only son Christopher. [2] Contents [hide] 1 Early life 2 Works 3 Public notability 4 Depression . His daughter recalled that in telling Iris this story, he got terribly worked up. On Saturday night they went to dinner at Fresh Choice and out to the movies. "You didn't always feel she was talking to you --, it was as if she had to talk. He was misled by Iris. She said she had never thought she would write a book unrelated to science, and in English, her second language, but she did. Among other things, the compulsively well-organized Chang began losing credit cards every couple of weeks, according to Douglas, and in her last year she became paranoid about everything from viruses attacking her computer to attempts by the government to recruit her, a la The Manchurian Candidate. Every suicide is the tragic terminus of a tangle of roads, a route unique as a thumbprint. NANKING-02/B/19JULY98/SC/TK=IRIS Chang autographing "Rape of Nanking" Sunday at the Treasure Island exhibit. She did, and, starting in November 2003, would make four trips to meet with Bataan vets -- in Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio and Kentucky. One of Iris' best friends, Barbara Masin, came up from Santa Barbara for a long weekend visit. Beautiful as always, she was dressed in an indigo blue suit, identical in color and hue to the dress in the photograph. And then there's the issue of the model minority. "There were up and down periods," he said. Questions hung in the air: -- How could someone with such success, surrounded by loving family and friends, take her own life? Kamen, the author of three previous books (Feminist Fatale, on Third Wave feminism; Her Way, a study of womens sexuality in the 1990s; and All in My Head, about her years-long struggle with chronic pain), says with Chang as her subject she wanted to focus on the dark side, the complexities and tensions we had with each other.. To me, it was part of that whole intensity that made Iris able to do what she went on to do. Iris Chang rang the doorbell on Ed Martel's front porch in Kenosha, Wis., on Dec. 4, 2003. "We had our lives so structured. "Christopher sensed that something was going wrong with Iris," Brett said. "She couldn't eat or drink. I would tell her, 'You can care too much about what people say about you.' Her last, widely-acclaimed book focused on Chinese immigrants and t heir descendents in the United States their sacrifices, their achievements and their contributions to the fabric of American culture, an epic journey spanning more than 150 years. Iris Shun-Ru Chang was born March 28, 1968, in Princeton Hospital, on the university campus in New Jersey where her parents were doing postdoctoral work. The number of calls to Asian Community Mental Health Services spiked in the days after Iris Chang's death. She went back to bed. She had suffered from years of depression and constant sleep deprivation since her bestseller - full title The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War Two - was published in 1997. Either she was watching Christopher or I was watching Christopher, or she was working or I was working. Her head rested against the window. Meldahl was now urging Iris to join his oral-history project. After brief stints at the Associated Press and the Chicago Tribune, she pursued a master's degree in Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University. Thu 11/8, 7:30 PM, Women & Children First, 5233 N. Clark, 773-769-9299. He is an actor, known for The Young and the Restless (1973), Playing Mona Lisa (2000) and Cyber Bandits (1995). "Days before I left for Louisville I had a deep foreboding about my safety. The first draft said: "When you believe you have a future, you think in terms of generations and years. She is best known for her best-selling 1997 account of the Nanking Massacre, The Rape of Nanking. Chang, 36 . According to the police report, Iris phoned a local gunsmith, an antique firearms specialist who did business from his home. Investigators concluded that Chang had shot herself through the mouth with a revolver. "The Man Who Ended History", a story in The Paper Managerie by Ken Liu about uncovering the history of Unit 731, is dedicated to the memory of Chang. It became a surprise best-seller. "Civilization is tissue thin," Iris wrote. Iris told her mother that working on it was a vacation after "Rape of Nanking. After eloquent eulogies by family and friends, a tribute written by U. S. Rep. Michael Honda was recited, which he had read into the Congressional Record earlier that week: "Her fierce pride of her Chinese American heritage empowered others with the certainty that they were truly Americans Our community has lost a role model and close friend; the world has lost one of its finest and most passionate advocates of social and historical justice. "She appeared to have done research." The medicine made her feel sluggish. Iris dubbed him the "Oskar Schindler of Nanking.". Iris Chang received several other awards, including the Woman of the Year award from the Organization of Chinese Americans, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's Program on Peace and International Cooperation Award. I sensed suddenly threats to my own life: an eerie feeling that I was being followed in the streets, the white van parked outside my house, damaged mail arriving at my P.O. One speaker called Iris "a hero for those muffled by injustice." 2006. She helped Iris write a proposal and the project was quickly put under contract. Iris Chang wrote those lines in 1978, when she was 10, and 19 years before her harrowing book, The Rape of Nanking, brought her worldwide acclaim. She worked briefly as a reporter for the Associated Press and the Chicago Tribune before completing a graduate degree in writing from the Johns Hopkins University and launching her career as a full-time author and lecturer. Reporter Richard Rongstad eulogized her as "Iris Chang lit a flame and passed it to others and we should not allow that flame to be extinguished.". The war she lost raged withinby Heidi Benson. John Rylands Research Institute and Library. -- Did she suffer a fatal reaction to powerful drugs that she refused to take as prescribed? "Iris was impatient. Iris would be working solo. [13], Chang's visibility as a public figure increased with her final work, The Chinese in America. ", Three days before Iris' death, Brett dreamed up a special weekend, just for her. Reader's Digest devoted a cover story to her. theguardian.com. The Rape of Nanking remained on the New York Times Bestseller list for 10 weeks. She was best known for her best-selling 1997 account of the Nanking . "Yes!" "During the massacre some had received physical injuries so severe they had been prevented from making a decent living for decades. I sensed suddenly threats to my own life: an eerie feeling that I was being followed in the streets, the white van parked outside my house, damaged mail arriving at my P.O. Mo Hayder dedicated a novel to her. I will follow the doctor's orders for medications. . She had worn herself out on a book tour for the paperback release of The Chinese in America and spent some time in a mental health ward in Kentucky in August 2004. This bustling city of 6 million glimmers. I told her, 'Take a break.' "We wondered what we did with all of our time before we had a son," Brett said, "because of the amount of time that a little one involves. They kept in touch every day by e-mail. much beloved author of the books: "The Chinese in America" and "The Rape of Nanking" Winning that prize led to dreams of becoming a writer, her father said. Among her many television appearances was a memorable evening on "Nightline," where she was the only Asian and the only woman among a panel of China experts. Others wondered if Changs choice of subject matter was somehow to blame. From the terrace, the view was peaceful -- broad green fields and golden poplars. (The book has yet to be translated for publication in Japan.) Iris Shun-Ru Chang was born March 28, 1968, in Princeton Hospital, on the university campus in New Jersey where her parents were doing postdoctoral work. After leaving Reed's Sport Shop at noon on Monday, Nov. 8, Iris tried to load the revolver she had just purchased. Neither did they know she had been bent on suicide. The Police Department drafted a missing person's report. "We bought this house when we knew he was on the way. She finally agreed that she would talk to me. By now, Brett was living in Santa Barbara, working toward a doctorate in electrical engineering at the University of California. "We weren't really prepared for the success of the book," Brett said. Dive into our most recent stories and exclusive insights from our editors and staff. "It was family lore. Pearl Harbor was still smoldering when Japanese planes bombed the Philippines' Bataan Peninsula, where Martel was stationed with a National Guard tank battalion. The air was still, heavy with grief. But not so well known is that the idea for the book came to author Iris Chang while she was in Cupertino at the in December 1994. She's very much a perfectionist. After he and his fellow soldiers had been starved and beaten for months, a Japanese guard knocked him to the ground, piercing his chest with his bayonet. Culliton was sufficiently impressed by Iris' talent to recommend her to Susan Rabiner, editorial director of Basic Books, the "serious nonfiction" division of HarperCollins Publishers. By the time her plane landed in Louisville, she was overwhelmed by exhaustion and anxiety. Tech Greater Vancouver Metropolitan. Married 41 years, the Changs are a handsome, gracious couple. A red tricycle and a jogging stroller flanked the front door. She planned to visit Harrodsburg, Ky., where several survivors lived and where an old Bataan-era tank stood sentry in the town square. It has a terrible reverberating effect. "A lot of people -- depending on how disturbed they are -- feel that people are plotting against them." In 1937, Vautrin was a missionary and teacher at the Nanking Women's College when its campus became part of the Safety Zone. She committed suicide on November 9, 2004. Then, in high school, Iris became determined to revive the school's literary magazine, and quickly enlisted a staff and a sponsor. I knew immediately I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her.". "Iris wanted to talk, and I said, 'You should go to bed, it's 2 in the morning.' One of the veterans -- a colonel she had planned to meet in Louisville -- came to the hotel. Brett devised a "20-Point Plan to Make Iris Well," listing such remedies as going to the beach; calling friends; eating well (on her desk, she kept a book titled "How Food Affects Your Mood" next to her Franklin Planner); and getting exercise. A reassuring presence, he stood at the kitchen counter, fixing a sandwich for lunch. Confirmed cities for the rest of this year include Menlo Park, Chicago, Washington D.C., and Boston. After a breakdown five months ago, Chang had been. Chang's son, Christopher (born with the help of a surrogate mother), has been diagnosed as autistic specifically Asperger's disorder, a mild form. "I thought it would be inspirational. I believe my detention at Norton Hospital was the government's attempt to discredit me. Opting for a master's degree, she was accepted by the Graduate Writing Seminar at Johns Hopkins University and moved to Baltimore in 1990. Success as an author made Iris Chang a public figure. Iris Chang, a best-selling author who chronicled the Japanese occupation of China and the history of Chinese immigrants in the United . But Douglas finally told Kamen that Christopher had been born with the help of a surrogate mother. That is, successful and invulnerable. Iris was "shocked and depressed" to see their living conditions in Nanking. "I spent several hours with each one, getting the details of their experiences on videotape. "There was a time earlier, in September, when we were worried, but she seemed to come out of that. ", When Zia and Iris met for the first time, they planned a quick lunch. [19], When you believe you have a future, you think in terms of generations and years. But the gun jammed. (Another of Changs unfinished projects was a book on defeating the biological clock.) Chang said she's very grateful to her husband for being extremely supportive in her writing process. Iris Chang (), before her untimely death, was one of America's leading young historians. Classical AF dissonance between pride in her culture and inability to integrate. and Cal Tech, Tsien became a professor at both universities and a brilliant space age pioneer. The whole process, how she planned everything, is very, very methodical., Kamen says Chang never understood how her drive pissed people off. iris during college years with mr and mrs chang and brother michael courtesy chang family, Event on 11/16/04 in San Jose. Chang is the subject of the 2007 biography, Finding Iris Chang, and the 2007 documentary film Iris Chang: The Rape of Nanking. I can never shake my belief that I was being recruited, and later persecuted, by forces more powerful than I could have imagined. [4] During her time in college she also worked as a New York Times stringer from Urbana-Champaign, and wrote six front-page articles over the course of one year. Iris Shun-Ru Chang (Hanzi tradisional: . During her research, Kamen uncovered secrets that the seemingly always-in-control Chang kept close until near the very end. It read: "I promise to get up and get out of the house every morning. We didn't see each other as much as we did in the past. Photos for a profile of Iris chang, a prominenet author and historian, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Andrew Nickolds obituary. It's a shame these atrocities had to be happened in the hands of Japanese. So she went back to bed and I watched her until she fell asleep.". On the day of Iris Chang's death, word spread quickly over news wires and the Internet. Each time, Iris swept into town and conducted four or five intensive interviews in as many days. "For anybody who experiences mental illness for the first time, it's very hard to accept that it is your biology that is making it happen. This post was contributed by a community member. ", Christopher was born Aug. 31 that year. Please forgive me.[21]. She easily passed the 20 exams necessary to qualify, only to be told that she must take five more. A report from the San Francisco Chronicle stated that news of her suicide had a strong impact on survivors of the Nanking Massacre and the Chinese community in general.[20]. Liz Mangelsdorf / The Chronicle, iris chang at Bataan tank in wisconsin courtesy of the bataan commenorative research project, Iris Chang at 7 years old courtesy the chang family, iris changs senior picture from university high The book signing will be held at Cupertino Community Hall on Saturday, Aug. 27 from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Well known since its 1997 publication is the global best seller,The Rape of Nanking. ", Between trips to the Midwest, Iris conducted yet another book tour. ', "Much of the conversation was upbeat. Doctors at Norton Hospital had diagnosed "brief reactive psychosis," her father said. For Asian Americans to write nonfiction about Asia or Asian America was relatively new. Best of Chicago 2021About the Chicago ReaderReader Staff Reader CareersFreelance InformationContact UsBecome a memberDonate, AdvertiseSubmit/promote your eventFind the PaperSubscribeShop the Reader StoreContests/Giveaways/Promotions. There is always free will. December 8-9, 2007, The Weekend Australian. She told him she had not asked for instructions when she bought the gun. . [10] Based on the book, an American documentary film, Nanking, was released in 2007. "Richard was Iris' friend," said Chang. The newlyweds settled in Santa Barbara, and Iris began writing the book about Tsien. I know that my actions will transfer some of this pain to others, indeed those who love me the most. The acclaimed author of The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II, who committed suicide on November 9, "felt other people's suffering so intensely, to the point that it made her suffer," said her friend Barbara Masin in a eulogy delivered at a memorial prior to Chang's burial in Los Altos, California. 1968 - 2004 . Whether it was the CIA or some other organization I will never know. Minnie Vautrin, also an alum of U. of I. in Urbana-Champaign, was a missionary and educator who saved thousands of Chinese lives during the Japanese occupation. "Rape of Nanking" became an immediate best-seller and established her as an outspoken advocate for victims of Japanese war crimes. She wrote, "The America of today would not be the same America without the achievements of its ethnic Chinese," and that "scratch the surface of every American celebrity of Chinese heritage and you will find that, no matter how stellar their achievements, no matter how great their contribution to US society, virtually all of them have had their identities questioned at one point or another."[12]. He was a happy baby, with his mother's jet-black hair. Title Type Publication date Author(s) Description; Document:The Mysterious Deaths of Ernest Hemingway and Iris Chang: article: 1 August 2011: THEY ARE AT THE CHINESE AMERICAN MENTAL HEALTH NETWORK SCHOLARSHIP FUNDRAISER / CULTURE TO CULTURE FOUNDATION. She hadn't ever heard much of Ray Charles' music before, and when we got home, she went upstairs and was browsing all kinds of information on Ray Charles on the Internet.". Chang had used her diary as a source, and Vautrins story figures prominently in her book. I told her that I wanted her to call me the next night and every night after that until she worked out the details. Iris was first and foremost an advocate. Iris called to say she had found Tsien's son and had interviewed him in Mandarin. She was mad. Home Deep Cleaning - Standard; Home Deep Cleaning - Premium; Home Deep Cleaning - Supreme She would have a team of three vets and their children and their wives. "My dad was so excited that she was doing this, and so honored.". Contents Hundreds gathered for the memorial service and burial. "She had never seen anyone for depression or anything before," her mother said. The lack of sleep can exacerbate the illness and vice versa. PLEASE VERIFY RIGHTS. Some 8,000 died on the notorious "death march." On a cloudy Monday morning in early November, author Iris Chang, 36, drove her white 1999 Oldsmobile Alero down Alum Rock Avenue toward the green foothills of East San Jose. She went to the Chicago Tribune instead, but didn't enjoy "politicking for assignments," Brett said. Comedy writer who worked on Maureen Lipman's Agony, The Lenny Henry Show, Ed Reardon's Week and Dave Podmore. It showed that at times history has to be written by a member of the community, out of a passion the author shares with the community. turkey club sandwich nutrition Uncovering hot babes since 1919.. christopher douglas iris chang. "The boys came together to say, 'Crisis! "But he spoke to her mother on the phone and told Iris, 'Your mom is on the phone, so it's OK.' ". Iris would be interviewing them, somebody else would be filming them, somebody else would be photocopying records, and somebody would be sending documents down to UPS. She harbored hundreds of Chinese women and children there during the occupation. It also showed publishing houses that there is a market for books about the Chinese experience. The result, Finding Iris Chang: Friendship, Ambition, and the Loss of an Extraordinary Mind, out this month from Da Capo Press, details Changs celebrated and controversial career as a journalist and historical author as well as Kamens relationship with her. Looking back, Chang said she thinks Iris was just a workaholic who needed a break, and should have slept and eaten more, instead of taking psychiatric drugs. Through a third party, the colonel declined to be interviewed. Iris Chang always outdid Paula Kamen. Liz Mangelsdorf / The Chronicle. "I had to write it, if it was the last thing I ever did in my life. "The doctors wanted her to continue in therapy, so sometimes they would go along with her. of a professor of physics (father) and a microbiologist (mother); graduated in journalist from University of Illinois, 1989; attended Johns Hopkins University; m. She promised to buy less volatile powder. Event on 11/19/04 in Los Altos Hills Eric Luse / The Chronicle Ran on: 11-20-2004 Christopher Douglas Retweeted. ", Rabiner believes that neither the subject matter of her work nor the intensity of her work habits precipitated Iris' manic-depressive symptoms. Consistent with the style of her earlier works, the book relies heavily on personal accounts, drawing its strong emotional content from their stories. These were considered her finest traits. ", The book's popularity meant a lengthy book tour. The manager knew her as a customer and an author -- Iris and Brett ate there often. It's a date he won't forget. News of her suicide brought forth a chorus of disbelief. After the ambassador spoke of events in Nanking, Iris turned to the moderator and said: "I didn't hear an apology. Iris Chang found the inspiration for her new book in 1994 when she came face-to-face with poster-size photographs of Nanking war crimes at a conference in Cupertino.