He framed it and hung it on a wall in his home. Her husband, Shau-Jin, is a theoretical physicist. Rabiner recalled telling Iris, " 'You're young, but take a flyer.' Just do it!" [5] She then embarked on her career as an author and lectured and wrote magazine articles. Though her work life was not without controversy, she seemed to be a very successful woman, driven by the need to share the dark corners of history with the world. Such harsh logic, symptomatic of the disease, rendered her unable to extend her own magnificent compassion to herself. She just seemed to be more driven and to have more zest for life than anyone I'd ever met. We arranged for her to come down and stay with me soon," she said. We need people to be covering atrocities and mental illness and genocide. Dean Baker, a 33-year veteran, took over the investigation. At 10, she entered a young- author competition and won first place. It is far better that you remember me as I was -- in my heyday as a best-selling author -- than the wild-eyed wreck who returned from Louisville . One speaker called Iris "a hero for those muffled by injustice." But lunch lasted through dinner. John Rylands Research Institute and Library. Iris Shun-Ru Chang (March 28, 1968 - November 9, 2004) was an American author and journalist. Best of Chicago 2021About the Chicago ReaderReader Staff Reader CareersFreelance InformationContact UsBecome a memberDonate, AdvertiseSubmit/promote your eventFind the PaperSubscribeShop the Reader StoreContests/Giveaways/Promotions. "A lack of sleep is one of the hallmark symptoms of mania," Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison, author of "Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide," told The Chronicle. Iris Chang rang the doorbell on Ed Martel's front porch in Kenosha, Wis., on Dec. 4, 2003. ", Smith had been Iris' liaison in Wisconsin; another Proviso High teacher was to be her guide in Kentucky. When they were both journalism students in the late 80s at the University of Illinois in Urbana, it was Chang who won the prized internships. The whole process, how she planned everything, is very, very methodical., Kamen says Chang never understood how her drive pissed people off. This bustling city of 6 million glimmers. "Iris is sensitive, but she got charged up," he recalled. "She was very tired," her mother said. Iris Chang. "Twice I broke down and had to leave the room.". She is best known for her best-selling 1997 account of the Nanking Massacre, The Rape of Nanking. Iris Shun-Ru Chang (March 28, 1968 - November 9, 2004) was an American journalist, author of historical books and political activist. Confirmed cities for the rest of this year include Menlo Park, Chicago, Washington D.C., and Boston. Johns Hopkins University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Children: Christopher: Spouse: Bretton Douglas Related Document. She asked if Iris had any friends there she could call for help. Her international best-seller, The Rape of Nanking, examined the slaughter, rape and torture of hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians by Japanese soldiers during World War II. Iris Shun-Ru Chang was a Chinese-American historian and journalist. And she believed her research produced irrevocable proof of Japanese atrocities. She also focused on human rights. She went to the Chicago Tribune instead, but didn't enjoy "politicking for assignments," Brett said. ", Brett voiced a similar conclusion. On a cloudy Monday morning in early November, author Iris Chang, 36, drove her white 1999 Oldsmobile Alero down Alum Rock Avenue toward the green foothills of East San Jose. Title Type Publication date Author(s) Description; Document:The Mysterious Deaths of Ernest Hemingway and Iris Chang: article: 1 August 2011: We always had to argue all the exceptions she could think of. THEY ARE AT THE CHINESE AMERICAN MENTAL HEALTH NETWORK SCHOLARSHIP FUNDRAISER / CULTURE TO CULTURE FOUNDATION. She worked briefly as a reporter for the Associated Press and the Chicago Tribune before completing a graduate degree in writing from the Johns Hopkins University and launching her career as a full-time author and lecturer. It seemed like a lot of odd behavior started around that time, Kamen says. I promise not to hurt myself. (Photo/Robert Spencer)on 5/5/03 in New York. I know that my actions will transfer some of this pain to others, indeed those who love me the most. Brett set up a home gym in the basement and coached her through hourlong workouts with hand weights. Newsweek ran an excerpt, and soon Iris was a familiar face on TV news shows. They told of the time in grade school when Iris decided "if Dear Abby can do it -- I can do it," and she started her own advice column, writing questions and answers. As a teacher's assistant, she taught a class in creative writing. from dust we come to dust we return quran. ", Rabiner said Iris "found her voice" in promoting "Rape of Nanking." The conference had been sponsored by the Global Alliance for Preserving the History of World War II in Asia. He had only recently retired from the family farm in central Illinois that had been in the family for five generations. It had been one week since their daughter's death. Chang wrote three books documenting the experiences of Chinese and Chinese Americans in history. She knew that in California, she could purchase a relic immediately and avoid the 10-day waiting period necessary with other guns. Chang also experienced several miscarriages all said to influence the onset of bipolar disorder. They are the ones who brought her up." When the American general surrendered on April 9, the Japanese forced the troops to walk 65 miles through sweltering jungle. Home Deep Cleaning - Standard; Home Deep Cleaning - Premium; Home Deep Cleaning - Supreme She committed suicide on November 9, 2004, when she was just 36 years old. ", Rabiner became worried, too. At Johns Hopkins, Iris studied playwriting, fiction, poetry and science writing. Those who survived spent the rest of the war in a bleak prison camp; some were shipped to Japan as slave laborers. For the Wisconsin trip, she had hooked up with people from the Bataan Commemorative Research Project, a historical archive and Web site created by faculty and students at Proviso East High School in Maywood, Ill. "World War II hit the town of Maywood really hard," said Ian Smith, chair of the school's history department. Iris told her mother that working on it was a vacation after "Rape of Nanking. We don't work that way," Rabiner insisted. It caused an international scandal because the Japanese to this day have not conceded the extent of the wartime atrocities perpetrated against the Chinese and others. "She was like a battalion commander," Meldahl said. . She helped Iris write a proposal and the project was quickly put under contract. By now, Brett had taken a job with a Santa Barbara engineering firm. But soon she found herself drawn to a subject just as dark. But soon Iris would write one of the most controversial books of the decade. They lived on a leafy country road. As a youngster, Iris had sought books on the subject in her school library. Iris Chang is best known for two things: writing the explosive bestseller "The Rape of Nanking," and then killing herself. Ultimately, three notes were found, all dated Monday, Nov. 8, 2004. Some became overwrought with emotion during the interviews and broke down into tears. Douglas, who is raising the couple's five-year-old son, Christopher, told Cheng the same thing he'd told every filmmaker who approached him for his late wife's story - to go through her things at the institute where she worked, talk to the people she'd interviewed, then get back to him if still interested. It became a surprise best-seller. "But Iris herself did not believe she was sick." Want to post on Patch? Their second child, Michael, was born in 1970. The lack of sleep can exacerbate the illness and vice versa. The small, academically elite school has produced many Nobel laureates. Home; Features; Services; About; Contact; Login; Get Free Demo; christopher douglas iris chang She was easily hurt, though sometimes she didn't show it. Iris insisted she had already passed. "It is a scary, dangerous and terrifyingly confusing time. The Nanking book had "made Iris sad. The book signing will be held at Cupertino Community Hall on Saturday, Aug. 27 from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Well known since its 1997 publication is the global best seller,The Rape of Nanking. Hundreds gathered for the memorial service and burial. I sensed suddenly threats to my own life: an eerie feeling that I was being followed in the streets, the white van parked outside my house, damaged mail arriving at my P.O. The Police Department drafted a missing person's report. I told her that I wanted her to call me the next night and every night after that until she worked out the details. In the month after her death, the image would be the central icon at each of three Bay Area memorials. Services; Expertise; Our Clients; Book Deep Cleaning . Iris Chang interview, Barbara Simpson show, KSFO radio, San Francisco, California 1998 November 8. [20], On November 9, 2004, at about 9 a.m., Chang was found dead in the driver's seat of her Oldsmobile Alero car by a Santa Clara Valley Water District employee on a rural road south of Los Gatos, California and west of State Route 17, in Santa Clara County. Overwhelming response to the piece convinced Kamen to expand her meditation on Changs phenomenal life and her shocking death. Iris Shun-Ru Chang born March 28, 1968 Princeton, New Jersey died by suicide on a road south of San Francisco, near Los Gatos, November 9, 2004 father Shau-Jin Chang, a physics professor at the University of Illinois mother Ying-Ying Chang, a microbiology professor at the University of Illinois brother Michael Chang turkey club sandwich nutrition Uncovering hot babes since 1919.. christopher douglas iris chang. "You didn't always feel she was talking to you --, it was as if she had to talk. On top of that, she wasn't sleeping. Iris arrived at the gunsmith's at about 2 p.m., carrying a Reed's Sport Shop Bag. "Depression is a silent epidemic among Asian Americans because we tend not to seek help soon enough," Hong said. HANDOUT PHOTO/VERIFY RIGHTS AND USEAGE, memorial20_099_el.jpg He explained that the gunpowder she had was unsafe to use indoors. Classical AF dissonance between pride in her culture and inability to integrate. I didn't know if I'd hear from her again." PLEASE VERIFY RIGHTS. "Iris always came to us to discuss her problems," her mother said. Iris Chang (Author, . Whoops! Then, in high school, Iris became determined to revive the school's literary magazine, and quickly enlisted a staff and a sponsor. "During the massacre some had received physical injuries so severe they had been prevented from making a decent living for decades. ", As Iris' good friend Barbara Masin said, "Those who are close to her did everything that they possibly could have done. And often, he added, "people think they've wronged everybody and can't possibly do anything to make up for what they think they've done wrong. "For three days they gave her medication, the first time in her life." Register for a user account. The Rape of Nanking, about the 1937 massacre of as many as 350,000 soldiers and civilians by Japans imperial army, had been denounced by the Japanese ambassador to the U.S., and caricatures of Chang appeared in right-wing Japanese newspapers. On a cloudy Monday morning in early November, author Iris Chang, 36, drove her white 1999 Oldsmobile Alero down Alum Rock Avenue toward the green foothills of East San Jose. "No, no! (The book has yet to be translated for publication in Japan.) But as she began to manifest symptoms of bipolar illness, she perceived them as a failure of will. It read: "I promise to get up and get out of the house every morning. They lived on a leafy country road named Einstein Drive. Born Iris Shun-Ru Chang, Mar 28, 1968, in Princeton, New Jersey; grew up in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois; committed suicide, Nov 9, 2004, near Los Gatos, California; dau. Speculation that she may have been killed by Japanese ultranationalists continued to turn up on Web logs and Internet chat rooms. This put her under enormous stress. Her maternal grandparents had escaped just weeks before the Japanese arrived. I will follow the doctor's orders for medications. "He could tell that she was a lot different after she came back from Louisville. "She couldn't eat or drink. It was just after nine on a November morning in 2004 and he had spotted a female driver who was either asleep or in trouble. LOS ALTOS, CA - NOVEMBER 19: (L-R) Brett Douglas, husband of Iris Chang, walks behind a hearse carrying her body with her brother Michael Chang, mother Ying-Ying Chang and father Shau-Jin Chang during funeral services November 19, 2004 at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Los Altos, California. Once the Allies won the war, the story was forgotten. It was as if he were back in Bataan. "We wondered what we did with all of our time before we had a son," Brett said, "because of the amount of time that a little one involves. At 11:56 a.m., Iris presented her driver's license and counted out $517 in cash -- she was carrying nearly $4,000 -- and left the store with an ivory-handled Ruger "Old Army" .45 replica revolver. "She would just say, matter-of-factly, 'Japan is lying and here's why.' Kamen says that despite her worldliness, Chang never developed the distancing filters that aid many journalists. "She talked almost obsessively. She used a post office box, never her home address, for mail. Rumors swirled in the early days after her suicide. "I spent several hours with each one, getting the details of their experiences on videotape. Soon they were both teaching and conducting research at the University of Illinois. It's a date he won't forget. "So they tried to make it harder and harder." Hundreds gathered for the memorial service and burial. Stories about Chang's grandparents' harrowing escape were part of her family legacy and prompted her to embark on this ambitious project, for which she interviewed elderly survivors of the massacre and discovered thousands of rare documents in four different languages. Dive into our most recent stories and exclusive insights from our editors and staff. A reassuring presence, he stood at the kitchen counter, fixing a sandwich for lunch. Like others, Kamen had wondered if postpartum depression might have played a role in her mental decline. But there were untold numbers of women she could not save from capture, torture or death at the hands of Japanese soldiers. She had suffered from years of depression and constant sleep deprivation since her bestseller - full title The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War Two - was published in 1997.