Schema Magazine

Before last year, Matthew had been dedicated to pursue a career in Law to fulfill what he thought was his mother's wish for him. Ideally, it wasn't the best career for him. He didn't like knowing that his future might involve getting up in front of an entire room of people and pointing a finger at someone and telling the entire room that this person he hardly knows "deserves to be imprisoned because ..." It wasn't his ideal. He's not excited by the thought of trying to figure out what comes after "because". However, he did enjoy going home and telling his family the story of how he decided that he didn't want to be a lawyer anymore. He had always had a passion to tell stories, whether they be made up or from experience.

All this has led to many aiyah's and "what are you going to do with your life" lectures from his mother. However, despite all this supposed "change", Matthew was not just an angry child rebelling against all Chinese tradition, nor was he the stereotypical conservative Asian math whiz of the past. Because although to others he may have been just that "Canadian Born Chinese kid", to himself, he knew he was, as always, just being Matthew Tsang. And Matthew Tsang never fit into just one category.

Matthew believes stories provide not only life lessons, but life itself. It gives the ability of an audience to be consumed by another person and driven into a world one could only imagine. Stories teach about love, empathy, imagination, and most importantly, it teaches us who we truly are. A story breathes the breath of a person we have never met and may never meet, but whatever we take from each story shapes our identity. A story gave Matthew life by telling him who he wanted to be, and more importantly, it taught him who he really is. And, to him, stories are selfless and generous, they only give and teach, and he doesn't mind dedicating his life to that. Oh yeah, and his mother doesn't mind either.