Virtual Conversation with Author Wendy Bashant on Teaching in China during COVID
Hosted by Madison Retiree Hangouts
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We have the unique opportunity to sit down with author and writer Wendy Bashant from La Jolla, California.
We all know the story of how the pandemic unfolded in the West. But what was going on in China? In the new book, The Same Bright Moon: Teaching China’s New Generation During Covid, Wendy Bashant tells the story that hasn’t yet been told.
In 2019, Bashant, a burned-out college dean quits her job to teach two hundred students in the ancient, walled city of Xi’an, China.
The year turns extraordinary when tensions between China and the U.S. escalate: first tit-for-tat tariffs. Then a worldwide pandemic. Finally lockdowns, closed consulates, and expelled journalists. All the while, accusations are lobbed back and forth, like medieval arrows launched over the Pacific.
Against this background of aggression, Wendy is expected to run a class on American culture. Instead, her students teach her the realities of growing up in an emerging global power. Through their experiences and compelling perspectives, the students debate various issues such as environmentalism, gender, healthcare, and democracy.
About the Author
Wendy Bashant taught and served as a dean and professor of English for thirty years at schools as diverse as UC-San Diego, Coe College, New College of Florida, Eastman School of Music, and California Western School of Law. Her writing includes scholarly articles, book chapters, poetry, and travel articles. She was a finalist for both the Peter Taylor Prize for Literature and the Gival Press Novel Award. Her memoir, The Same Bright Moon, was a 2023 New York Book Festival winner.
A graduate of Middlebury College (BA) and the University of Rochester (Ph.D.), she currently lives in San Diego with her husband and two cats. She teaches adult literacy through the public library system and volunteers at the San Diego Zoo. She also plays the harp and tries to practice her Mandarin with as much regularity and discipline as she can muster.