There are people, who come in and out of your Twitter feed for a reason, and change your life for good. And one of those people, for me, is Jonny Sun. I don’t know how I first stumbled upon his words – it was probably because Lin-Manuel Miranda had retweeted a brilliant string of syllables that Jonny came up with. He’s a voice of reason, light, hope, and creativity on the internet. 
And now his book is available in bookstores across the country! (And online, too.)
I’m so happy to have been able to chat with him for our Authors Q&A Series, and I know you all will fall in love with his words and message as much as I have.
Write Teacher(s) Readers – meet Jonny Sun!
MM: Growing up, did you always want to be a writer?
JS: I had no idea. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a comic book writer. I loved Shel Silverstein, and Calvin and Hobbes, and Winnie the Pooh! Illustrated contemplative things were in my wheelhouse. When I was kid I was doing all these drawings all the time, and in the back of my head I think that was the dream – to be an illustrator, comic book writer, graphic novelist. But I never thought that’s where my life would actually go! Growing up as an Asian kid, I didn’t know that was a path I could take. You don’t really see many Asian people in the entertainment field (or at least when I was growing up). I thought I needed to stick to STEM, but decided to do art on the side, cause that was what fulfilled me.
MM: If you were on a desert island, what television shows would you want available to you? (Assuming, of course, that there was a television device and WiFi.)
JS: Two of my all-time favorite movies are Children of Men, and In Bruges. They’re both dark, but there’s a dry humor that I love. Those two movies I can watch again and again. Another movie I love re-watching is Where The Wild Things Are – it’s a weird combo of these giant monster costumes and it’s also sad and devastating. As far as television – I would need The Muppet Show – there are so many levels to it, it’s wonderful and brilliant!
MM: Which character in musical theatre are you most like? Least like?
JS: Most like me is a lot easier to do, because I spend a lot of time dream casting myself into certain roles. This would never work out, but, I spend a lot of time listening to The Last Five Years, and when I start listening, I first think that I’m Jamie, but by the end of it, I feel like I’m a Kathy. I think it speaks to the brilliance of the show and how complex the story is.
I think my dream role is Seymour from Little Shop of Horrors. And Usnavi, from In The Heights.
The first musical I was ever in was in Guys and Dolls, my best friend played Skye Masterson, and when doing the show, I realized that I could never be Skye Masterson. So I suppose I’m least like Skye.
MM: What came first, the Twitter or the book?
JS: The twitter absolutely came first – I’ve been tweeting for four years now, which is crazy to think about. Twitter came about when I made my move from Toronto to the US for school, it was this outlet for me to continue writing sketch comedy and humor. Again, one of my original dreams was to be a comic writer, and even before Twitter I wanted to be a web comic artist. Eventually I went back through my tweets and saw that there were a lot of themes coming up throughout the years – the cool thing about Twitter is it’s kind of like a diary, and you can see where your thoughts were in that time and day.
I realized that it was much more cohesive than I thought when I started looking back through my work on Twitter and began seeing recurring themes and elements.
And then it clicked and I had the idea of how I could do it, and from then on I was filled with this pure creative desire to create this book. It had to happen.
MM: What do you hope people take with them after reading this book?
JS: I want them to find a comfort – a feeling that it’s ok. That life is OK. I feel like I want them to close the book and have them feel a little more at ease with themselves and with life. I feel like comfort is a really hard thing to get right – and I hope it does that. I always imagined that someone is going to read the book for themselves, tucked in the corner away from the world. I have always hoped that it would create a personal connection, that these words would become personal for any reader who needs it. Because of that, I wanted it to speak directly to that one reader at that moment. I hope they walk away with a feeling of ease. Life is going to be OK, and it’s OK to feel like an outsider. Those things that make you feel like an outsider make you awesome and cool and interesting.
MM: What’s the best of advice you could offer to creatives?
JS: I think the piece of advice I could give is to embrace your creativity. Don’t let people shut your creative desires or urges out – that’s going to be what drives you as a person and makes you who you are and gives you a unique voice in the world.
Get out and explore the world, and get an understanding of what you like, and also what you don’t like. Knowing what you like and what you find interesting is important – figure out what ideas and themes are important to you, what you’re drawn to, and what types of mediums that you love. I end up falling in love with so many different types of work and mediums all the time – the point is to fall in love as much as possible until you’re compelled to create so you can speak back and have a conversation with what you love. Whether it’s plays or musicals or illustration or writing or visual art – I think it’s important to fall in love with the work and people within those mediums. It’s important to have a huge library of influences – that helps shape you into the creative person you aspire to be.
Once you have that, listen to the voice that says “I have to create this thing.” Especially if you have no idea how to publish it or get it out into the world – go with that feeling. If you have that spark, you need to go with it – and listen to it. The rest will follow.
And find collaborators, people you love to work with who make a great team, that’s important too!
MM: What reasons would you give school boards and/or politicians for preserving arts education programming?
I think there’s this false idea that art and creativity are separate from the rest of what everyone does. I’ve occupied both the STEM and arts sides, and it’s frustrating that these two fields feel the need to be in opposition, or to fight against each other. Or that people pit them against the other or define them as opposing sides. They’re both part of the same thing. They are the same.
To cut arts education is to cut education. There’s no separation in my head. There’s no separation at all.
The world is moving in a direction where creative people are in demand more and more — even my favorite tech people and researchers and academics have really strong and diverse backgrounds in the creative arts. You wouldn’t know it from seeing it on paper, but then you talk to them and you see that they might be doing engineering at MIT, but they also perform in musicals — that they’re drama kids at heart. The more you get to know people, the more you understand how really smart and creative people operate, you realize the arts is part of everything, and it’s made these people who they are.
It’s really sad when people think that arts educations only breeds people working in the arts. Arts education also breeds people who don’t work in the arts, but that education has become an integral part of how they think and how they’ve succeed and how far they’ve come.
I’d advocate for a greater understanding of how these things are not separate but all part of the same thing.
MM: What sound do you love and what sound do you hate?
JS: I hate the sounds of a buzzing fly, but I do like the sound of bees buzzing. I find the bee buzzes calming, for whatever reason. Obviously not an angry swarm of bees, but one bee sounds kind of nice in my head.
Sounds I love – something hitting a hot pan – that sizzle is great. I like the sound of hitting a hollow pumpkin with your hand, and the sound of leaves and snow crunching beneath your feet.
MM: How do you deal with the negativity on the internet, when you’re trying to use social media for good?
JS: Find your people. Find the ones who are doing good things. It can feel like it’s always happening to you, but when you’re friends with people, you can realize that it’s not just you. It’s not a solution to know that it happens to other people, but it can feel less overwhelming. That you’re not alone in this. And remember it’s your space – so you have every right to block anyone, mute anyone, not engage with that person. My dear friend Sarah Kay always says “Don’t let someone take up emotional real estate if they aren’t paying rent.” I think about that a lot and it helps.
MM: What is/was your greatest teacher?
JS: Definitely my greatest teachers were my two drama teachers in high school. I don’t think I’d be the person I am without them, I learned the most from them. I never did drama before ninth grade, I signed up for drama class as a dare to myself – because I knew I was terrified of performing, and yet I was obsessed with the idea of being onstage and performing. It’s a weird thing that still stays with me, where I’m compelled to be in front of people, but still terrified. I can’t put into words what my drama teachers meant to me, and what drama class and playwriting class meant to me. It was the only place in high school where you were allowed to love people in a pure and honest way. We made friends and created things together. It was life changing. My playwriting teacher, Victoria Dawe, was the first person who told me I could be a writer. It was the first time someone said I could do that. It was the first time someone believed that I could do that, and she was so generous with her time and encouragement – without that I don’t think I would have the confidence to imagine that I’d be able to write something.
Write Teacher(s) Reader(s), be sure to get your copy of Everyone’s a Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too: A Book