All Student Success Letters
Minyong Cho
Dear Gotham,
Having immigrated from Korea in high school, I was forever branded on my forehead with “ESL.” Despite my interest in the humanities, I went to MIT mainly because my English wasn’t up to par. Eventually, I pursued a PhD in Islamic art history at the University of Michigan, but writing a dissertation didn’t come easy. I never dreamt of creative writing.
While living in Palestine in 2008, I experienced a turning point in my life. Overnight, I stopped thinking about my childhood trauma that had been haunting me for over a decade. Ever since, I’d wanted to write about it, but I didn’t dare because I thought I was bad at writing. It wasn’t until 2024 when my desire took over and made me look for a writing class that I found you.
In the beginning, I dreaded writing in class; then, one day it just clicked, and words flowed. “My father wore a wig every day in Korea.” When I read it out loud, my classmates praised it, and it became the first paragraphs of my memoir, Wall Down Ramallah, available to purchase wherever you buy books.
Without you, Wall Down Ramallah might have stayed jumbled in my head forever. Your Zoom classes gave me the fundamentals I needed, and the doctoring by Alice Martin helped me see my piece holistically. You also taught me I have a unique voice as a Korean immigrant with the knowledge of the Middle Eastern languages and cultures and as an adult survivor of child abuse.
Your kind words and support gave me the courage to continue. I’m now writing a novel about a troubled Lebanese American man, who fails to get his first job and falls deeper into derealization after engaging in a relationship with his former professor, an aging Korean woman pursuing a double life to break free from her public image.
I’m thankful for all the help you gave me, and I hope to keep in touch.
Sincerely,
Minyong Cho
