What happens when a young educator meets her match in a challenging student? Christina Shon’s short story, “Closure,” explores the ambiguity of a relationship between a teacher and her student. We love this piece of writing and are excited to perform it TONIGHT in San Jose’s St. James Park.

Christina is an amateur writer. She grew up in Southern California and moved to the Bay Area in 2012 after a 5-year layover in New York City. She enjoys writing stories about twins and hopes to someday record all the stories that her grandmother used to tell her about their family life in Korea.

Upcoming projects:

I am interested in starting a local Writing Club. If anyone is interested, please send me an email at christinashon@gmail.com

What inspired you to participate in Play On Words?

I have enjoyed attending “Play on Words” events in the past. I was initially a bit intimidated about handing over my writing to another artist to read and interpret, but it’s not any more intimidating than having your work published. Once it’s out there, it belongs to the reader (or the audience) to do what they want with it. I’m actually very excited to see how my story is going to be performed.

Which writers or performers inspire you?

My friend Julia. She is not only a beautiful writer, but also a truly grounded person. She inspires me to believe in myself as a writer and to sit down and actually do some writing instead of just dreaming about it.

Name a book or performance that fundamentally affected you.

Amy Tan has a collection of essays called The Opposite of Fate. In one of the essays, she talks about an experience she has as a child. She is sitting under a tree, and a peach falls from the sky and lands in her hand. Her mother later tells her that it was not a peach, but an apricot, and it fell from the tree and not the sky. But in her mind’s eye, in her memory of the event, of that piece of fruit in her tiny hand, she remembers that it was peach. So which is the truth, and does it matter? This story helped to shape me as a writer, because as writers, we want to write something that is truthful, even if it’s not necessarily factual. A lot of what I write about comes from what I remember.

Tonight’s show is made possible through the generosity of The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, in partnership with the San Jose Downtown Association.