ADVOCATE

A Bay Area activist recounts roads taken and not in this graphic memoir.

Ahn’s grandfather, displaced from his home by civil war in Korea, was never quite at ease again—and, “in service to his own dreams and lacking acumen, he failed to take care of his own family.” The author admits to feeling discomfited by that assessment, fearing that the same could be said for him. Lacking the entrepreneurial drive of his own parents, he earned a law degree but then went into nonprofit work in the Bay Area, even as his classmates took more lucrative jobs. At the same time, he developed skills as an artist that he puts to good use in this book. One of Ahn’s principal concerns as an advocate is the ever-growing specter of climate change—which, ironically, set him on a work schedule that could take him to half a dozen states in a single week, planting his carbon footprint meters deep. At least as a commissioner of the Bay Area’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Ahn has been able to make contributions to lessen that carbon footprint. The narrative ranges from the intensely personal, such as the author’s complicated relationship with his parents, to the universal, including the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on so many people in need and the extraordinary demands it placed on frontline workers. Ahn’s work as an advocate was also tested, putting him to the task of “thinking through the next step: how to work together and emerge from the crisis.” Humane and sensitive, Ahn makes clear that the work of a nonprofit is endless and far from easy, but, as he toasts himself over dumplings, “Here’s to hoping a lot of work can lead to something worthwhile.”

Inspirational reading for progressives seeking to make a difference in the world.