"OPEN: One Woman's Journey" Provides New Insights into Race, Gender, and Spirituality from Asian American Perspective

Attorney Angela E. Oh, Esq., one of the nation's leading commentators on race relations, has written "OPEN: ONE WOMAN'S JOURNEY" published by the UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press. OPEN is a personal narrative on race, gender, and spirituality from an Asian American perspective. The book reflects Ms. Oh's 20-year work as a teacher, public lecturer, and lawyer--and more recently, as an ordained Priest, Zen Buddhist Rinzai Sect.

The book, according to editor and UCLA Prof. Russell C. Leong, "is an intimate portrait of a 20th and 2lst century activist, scholar, and priest from a perspective of humanism that includes, but goes beyond, racial identity. OPEN is unique in its candor, humour, and deft portraits of ordinary, and not-so-ordinary, people Angela Oh has met on her journey."

Ms. Oh, commenting about her life and writing, states: "My perspective is a product of who I am--a second generation Korean woman, and first generation new American, born and raised in Los Angeles at the historical moment when Civil Rights, Women's Rights, and the Free Speech Movement were emerging in the collective consciousness of a nation. Gender, class, history, and culture have required me to forge a different path than others. Walking that path has given rise to these writings."

The book also includes a series of black and white photographs by noted photographer Sae Bhang Lee, that chronicle Ms.Oh's spiritual journey inspired by the ever-changing and passionate landscape of wind, sand, sun, and desert of Southern California.

Ms. Oh was appointed by President William Clinton to the President's Initiative on Race. She spent three years between 1998 and 2002 on examining race relations, building community, and leadership development. She graduated from UCLA where she earned her Bachelor's and Master's degrees; her Juris Doctorate is from King Hall, the UC Davis School of Law. Ms. Oh has her own law firm, Oh & Barrera, LLP, and is a board member of the Korean American Bar Association of Southern California.

The limited-edition book is available for purchase through the UCLA AASC Press Publications. Please click here for more information and ordering information.