BooksBarbecue
Back Parachutes Save as PDF
Chapters (93)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. One
  4. Two
  5. Three
  6. Four
  7. Five
  8. Six
  9. Seven
  10. Eight
  11. Nine
  12. Ten
  13. Eleven
  14. Twelve
  15. Thirteen
  16. Fourteen
  17. Fifteen
  18. Sixteen
  19. Seventeen
  20. Eighteen
  21. Nineteen
  22. Twenty
  23. Twenty-One
  24. Twenty-Two
  25. Twenty-Three
  26. Twenty-Four
  27. Twenty-Five
  28. Twenty-Six
  29. Twenty-Seven
  30. Twenty-Eight
  31. Twenty-Nine
  32. Thirty
  33. Thirty-One
  34. Thirty-Two
  35. Thirty-Three
  36. Thirty-Four
  37. Thirty-Five
  38. Thirty-Six
  39. Thirty-Seven
  40. Thirty-Eight
  41. Thirty-Nine
  42. Forty
  43. Forty-One
  44. Forty-Two
  45. Forty-Three
  46. Forty-Four
  47. Forty-Five
  48. Forty-Six
  49. Forty-Seven
  50. Forty-Eight
  51. Forty-Nine
  52. Fifty
  53. Fifty-One
  54. Fifty-Two
  55. Fifty-Three
  56. Fifty-Four
  57. Fifty-Five
  58. Fifty-Six
  59. Fifty-Seven
  60. Fifty-Eight
  61. Fifty-Nine
  62. Sixty
  63. Sixty-One
  64. Sixty-Two
  65. Sixty-Three
  66. Sixty-Four
  67. Sixty-Five
  68. Sixty-Six
  69. Sixty-Seven
  70. Sixty-Eight
  71. Sixty-Nine
  72. Seventy
  73. Seventy-One
  74. Seventy-Two
  75. Seventy-Three
  76. Seventy-Four
  77. Seventy-Five
  78. Seventy-Six
  79. Seventy-Seven
  80. Seventy-Eight
  81. Seventy-Nine
  82. Eighty
  83. Eighty-One
  84. Eighty-Two
  85. Eighty-Three
  86. Eighty-Four
  87. Eighty-Five
  88. Author’s Note
  89. Acknowledgments
  90. About the Author
  91. Books by Kelly Yang
  92. Back Ad
  93. About the Publisher

And I did, sort of. After I graduated, I moved as far away from Boston and New York as I could, to Hong Kong. I moved away from law too. I started teaching kids. I started writing. I started having lunch at normal hours again, because I didn’t have to worry about bumping into him. I stopped looking over my shoulder. I got married, had kids. Before I knew it, a decade flew by and I didn’t think about my attack. I stuffed what happened to me in a box and buried it deep in my closet.

It remained peacefully buried until 2014, when I read the op-ed in the Boston Globe in which Harvard Law professors argued against Harvard’s stricter policy for sexual misconduct. Some of the professors who signed the op-ed were the same professors who ruled on my case. “We believe that [the stricter] sexual harassment policy adopted by Harvard will do more harm than good,” they wrote.6 Reading their words was like reopening a wound.

Then, later that year, the Department of Education found that Harvard Law School was “in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 for its response to sexual harassment, including sexual assault.”7 In response, Harvard Law School issued a statement: “Harvard recognized that we could and should do more.”8

Tears streamed down my face when I read these words: they are the closest to an apology that I’d ever gotten from the institution that I felt wronged me, an institution I had admired since I was a little girl.

While I can’t get back those three years of law school, I hope that through writing Parachutes, more schools will prioritize protecting the students, not the brand.

Acknowledgments

This book would not exist if it were not for the complete, unwavering love and support of my literary agent Tina Dubois. Tina, thank you for getting this book from the very beginning. Thank you so much for believing in me. This book took a colossal amount of courage for me to write; knowing that you were on the receiving end of each draft was the only way I could do it. I am enormously grateful to have you as my agent.

To my editor Ben Rosenthal, thank you for seeing the potential and pushing me with each draft. Your sharp editorial instincts and feedback transformed this book. Thanks for your bravery and willingness in allowing me to tackle hard topics and letting me take risks, and supporting me always. I treasure the trust you’ve placed in me; it is an honor being one of your authors.