Davis High grad, author Alexandra Chang visits Mr. Achimore’s class

PHOTO:  Author Alexandra Chang speaks to AP Lit students

By Juna Brothers

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

Touring the West Coast to publicize her new short story collection “Tomb Sweeping,” writer Alexandra Chang stopped by her alma mater on Sept. 6 to speak to David Achimore’s AP Lit students. 

Chang and Achimore both graduated from Davis High in 2006. Chang was a notorious procrastinator. The term “pulling an Alexandra” was invented by her friends after observing her many lunches spent in the library writing essays due the next period. 

Despite this, Achimore admired Chang in high school. When he was absent from his calculus class for water polo games, Alexandra would help him understand the material. 

“I was one of those people where I felt like I had to study really hard, where…(Alexandra) was one of those people who seemed like…she just kind of got it,” he said.

Speaking to Achimore’s classes, Chang stressed how little she thought of writing as a career option in college. 

“I didn’t have a plan in college. I didn’t consider writing (as) something I could do…I had never met anyone who had written a book,” she said. 

The classroom meeting started with each student sharing media that they had recently consumed and enjoyed. For Chang, it was the television series “The Bear.”

“I’ve been thinking…about how (the term) ‘write what you know’ is also what we consume: the books that we’re reading, the TV shows that we’re watching, the stories that we’re hearing…these are all things that we ‘know’ because we’re living,” she said.

Chang’s first book, “Days of Distraction,” started with memories of her time spent working in tech journalism in Silicon Valley in the early 2010s. The novelty of reporting each new company and gadget quickly wore off. 

“I didn’t find it rewarding just writing about products and startups getting millions of dollars just to make what I thought were ‘silly little apps.’ It just felt pointless,” Chang said. 

Though the novel contains certain autobiographical elements, these came second to the fictional story it served. 

“Even by shaping something from the past, even if it’s…from lived experience, it becomes something else, it becomes its own form, it becomes its own reality…There’s a lot in there that is ‘not real’ to my lived life, but feels like… it’s getting at some other kinds of truths,” Chang said. 

For Chang, writing fiction allows her to be honest with herself, pursuing what feels right to her.  

“I’m gonna follow the line that I want to follow, or go in circles, or whatever. Really, it’s just about discovering and the pleasure of discovery…The hard part is trying to take that and getting it (closer) to the thing in your head, but that’s something that just takes time,” she said.