Connections/Abnormal

My name is Peggy Hebard and I'm a financial manager in the Director's office at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. My topic is, "Abnormal."

My mother was a really outspoken and proud Chinese woman. She didn't understand why I wasn't proud of being different.

I'm sure I was not the only child who grew up feeling abnormal, but it sure felt like it, being the only Asian student in my grade school and high school classes.

When I look at this, I'm really reminded of Scranton. It's a beautiful, scenic area of the country, lots of lakes and mountains, but it's hard to throw someone into an environment, and expect that they thrive, when everything is not equal.

My family wore western clothes, but we didn't quite fit in. Kind of like how I imagine

these people in this painting didn't fit in. We not only looked different, but my parents spoke a different language. We ate different foods.

We practiced a different religion and we celebrated different holidays. In some ways I felt like I grew up in two different worlds.

People might not have stared at us like Cindy Sherman looking askance in this photo, but I really felt we stood out in a crowd.

I always wanted to wear clothing that didn't have bright colors. That may have kept me in the shadows but

at least, I could never say I was spat on like the girl in this drawing. Our house was egged a few times

by neighborhood boys, and I remember this one awful time where a racial slur was soaped onto our windows.

I feel for this cat and I remember how I felt and how I felt helpless to change what I was being teased about.

At times, I felt like the woman in this painting, isolated, ashamed and exposed.

My parents would take me and my brothers on a monthly pilgrimage to Chinatown to buy our special ethnic foods.

My favorite food growing up was raw fish. Back in the '70s, it's not like sushi was the trendiest item on the menu.

This painting reminds me of my grandfather. He continued to live in Taiwan, but he would visit us on occasion. He was our connection to our heritage and our homeland.

I love this photo of this woman in a Chinese headdress. Although it's in black and white, I try to imagine what colors are in the photo. It kind of reminds me of

being a little girl rummaging through my mother's jewelry box and finding cool pieces of jade.

When I was growing up, I wanted to be like everybody else. It wasn't until I got to college, I started

to study Japanese and Mandarin languages, traveled throughout Asia

that I kind of started to appreciate that these are things that are unique about me. I think

a lot of great works of art are a result of an artist in an abnormal situation or having an abnormal

state of mind. I've realized that being normal is actually overrated.

I'm proud of my life, I think about the hardships my parents had coming here

and my unique upbringing was a gift

and I'm proud to share the story with my children.