Generation Connie

May 12, 2023 10:08 AM

Growing up, I thought being named after Connie Chung made me unique... (SLNYT)
posted by praemunire (30 comments total)

I teared up reading this article last night. I remember a lot of racist, sexist crap that was Chung was subjected to publicly. It's really nice to see a WOC pioneer in her field get to hear what an impact she made, while she's still alive and can appreciate it. And OMG the photographer's name was also Connie!
posted by creepygirl at 10:33 AM on May 12, 2023 [15 favorites]

What a delightful article. I went in assuming it would about be people annoyed or embarrassed that their name had been a trend. But it was just the opposite. Everyone in the story seemed glad and grateful about names attesting to what Connie Chung had meant to their generation.
posted by straight at 10:44 AM on May 12, 2023 [3 favorites]

I thought this was very sweet.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:45 AM on May 12, 2023 [3 favorites]

I've had a crush on Connie Chung for as long as I can remember. And it has not faded one bit.
posted by spilon at 10:58 AM on May 12, 2023 [7 favorites]

The photos in that are delightful--the baby photos, the mother and child photos, all the Connies surrounding the original! And how wonderful that Connie Chung got to hear about her impact on these Asian-American women.
posted by carrioncomfort at 10:58 AM on May 12, 2023 [11 favorites]

yeah, it got kind of dusty in the room at the end...

“Meeting Connie Chung felt like a miracle,” Ms. Koh wrote to me in an email.

At the photo shoot, the photographer, Connie Aramaki, 46, told Ms. Chung that she’d originally thought her parents had chosen the name Connie because they wanted their daughter to become a journalist like Ms. Chung. Now, she’d come to appreciate what they actually intended: “What it means is your parents want you to work hard, and be brave, and take chances."

Ms. Chung’s voice, normally clear and confident, was barely audible on the tape I’d been sent: “I did do that,” she said quietly, and I felt something unfasten in my chest.
posted by chavenet at 11:13 AM on May 12, 2023 [21 favorites]

I was thinking of posting this! To borrow an expression, it's so lovely Chung was given her flowers - it sounds like she was genuinely surprised to discover her impact. I appreciate that they took the time to look at the diversity as well as similarity of the womens' experiences.
posted by BlueBlueElectricBlue at 11:22 AM on May 12, 2023 [10 favorites]

This is marvelous. My given name is actually Constance and I am not Asian, and I have almost never met anyone with my name who is younger than me (I'm in my 50s). For me, it was a family name, and I was the only Connie I knew for my entire childhood. It's fascinating to learn there are a ton of other Connies out there, and why!
posted by suelac at 11:53 AM on May 12, 2023 [4 favorites]

I was initially thrown aback when Connie Chung had no idea that so many Asian girls have been named after her (I have known at least half a dozen Asian-Canadian Connies over the years, I'm in the age bracket where they were most common), but then I thought about it and it makes sense: unless you're a raging narcissist, why would you expect people to name their kids after you? So it's really nice that she got to see how much she meant to all these people.
posted by mightygodking at 12:08 PM on May 12, 2023 [21 favorites]

This is the best thing. Now I know what a meaningful life looks like to me.
posted by amtho at 12:34 PM on May 12, 2023 [9 favorites]

This was really wonderful. Connie Chung always seemed to be so intelligent and so together. I can see why so many Asian parents chose that name for their baby girls. She is very inspiring.
posted by ceejaytee at 12:47 PM on May 12, 2023 [1 favorite]

Can she still do the cracking nuts with her bare hands thing that put me 100% on Team Connie when I saw her do it on Letterman?
posted by Sphinx at 12:49 PM on May 12, 2023 [4 favorites]

I was once in a band called The Connie Chungs. We had someone show up to one of our gigs who thought we were all going to be Connie Chung impersonators, and was very disappointed when they found out we were just a bunch of scruffy grunge dudes.
posted by vibrotronica at 12:53 PM on May 12, 2023 [15 favorites]

Well, now that you mention it, there should be a grunge band of Connie Chung impersonators.
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:04 PM on May 12, 2023 [13 favorites]

Such a fantastic piece.
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 3:19 PM on May 12, 2023

I heard about this article, and even the discussion of it got to me on a deep, fundamental level. It's such a perfect example of how important representation is, and the effect it can have on the world. As amazing as Connie Chung is and was, it's hard to ignore that the reason for the Connie Boom is that she was, essentially, the only visible Asian woman visible on the national stage at such a high level. The closest I can ever come to understanding that is my excitement at having a Jewish pro-wrestling champion, but even then, I had hundreds of white Jewish men to look at for role models. The weight of all those hopes, dreams, and expectations on a single person, even if, as the writer mentions, Chung was largely unaware of it until recently, is mind-boggling. Add to it the increasing levels of "never meet your idols" realization of just how many who rise to fame and fortune turning out to be utter garbage human beings, yet Chung seems to live up to the hopes of all those mothers naming their children after her.

And damn, the black and white photo of Chung at 25. I honestly don't have the words for just how great of a photo it is.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:39 PM on May 12, 2023 [10 favorites]

A reminder that sometimes Facebook can facilitate good things!
posted by coffeecat at 5:15 PM on May 12, 2023

Heh suelac, I'm 53 and my very first girlfriend back when I was 16 was a Constance (Connie) and vaguely Italian heritage so the last name rhymed and just flew off the tongue. T'was only a long week, she picked me up and then dumped me just as quick because I was too meek.
posted by zengargoyle at 6:33 PM on May 12, 2023 [2 favorites]

When I got up this morning with an entire day ahead of me with no obligations whatsoever, I pondered what I might do. I could not have imagined that by sundown, I’d be daubing my eyes over a story of a bunch of people named after a newscaster.

That was an amazing read.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:45 PM on May 12, 2023 [3 favorites]

I wish the author had been able to make it to the ConnieFest! However, I appreciate that the story went forward anyway, and under her byline.
posted by carmicha at 7:09 PM on May 12, 2023 [1 favorite]

This was beautiful! I never knew there was a Connie boom. I'm so glad she decided to write this piece. Ms. Chung's surprise was so sweet and I'm so glad she got to hear these stories and meet some of her namesakes.
posted by Emmy Rae at 8:29 PM on May 12, 2023 [1 favorite]

I met my new doctor, Dr. Chung, for the first time in person yesterday and discovered that she goes by Connie. They really are everywhere. And it's awesome.
posted by hydropsyche at 3:22 AM on May 13, 2023 [4 favorites]

Such a lovely read, I read it in a cafe yesterday and was trying not to tear up!
posted by ellieBOA at 3:54 AM on May 13, 2023

That was unexpectedly lovely.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:48 AM on May 13, 2023

Fuck yes representation matters.

I feel like "notice if an AA woman is named 'Connie'" is going to be added to my list of those things where once I know it I see it everywhere and can't NOT notice it.
posted by rmd1023 at 6:01 AM on May 13, 2023 [1 favorite]

I know a Connie, many years ago she told me the story that she was named after the newscaster... So without reading it, I sent her this article 2 days ago (assuming I was the the 1000th person to do so)

She was like, "Look at the picture"...
I was like, "OMG!"
posted by Stu-Pendous at 6:51 AM on May 13, 2023 [13 favorites]

This was so beautiful and nuanced. A wonderful thing to read. Thank you for posting it. I got a bit teary at the end too!
posted by EllaEm at 9:26 AM on May 13, 2023 [2 favorites]

What a beautiful article, and I especially love the little video at the end. Thank you for posting this, I wouldn’t have seen it otherwise, and I’m so glad I did!
posted by maleficent at 9:53 AM on May 13, 2023 [2 favorites]

Sometimes it's awesome to meet your heroes.
posted by wenestvedt at 7:32 PM on May 13, 2023 [1 favorite]

An excellent article. Thank you for posting this.
posted by TrishaU at 10:22 AM on May 15, 2023