What my good friend Russell Jeung and I have in common:
- Not only our first but also our middle names: we’re both “Russell Mark” (see also crazy update #13 below)
- Being American-born Chinese (though he’s Hakka and I’m Cantonese)
- Growing up in conservative, Protestant, independent, bilingual, Chinese American churches (we first met in a summer church camp), his church in S.F. and mine in Oakland
- Being born (six months apart) and raised in the Bay Area, and now living in Oakland (though he’s a longtime transplant from S.F. while I’m a multi-generational native)
- Marrying Asian American primary care physicians (though his Joan is a Pediatrician and my Lisa is Family Practice) who both worked for several years at the same community health clinic (Asian Health Services)
- Earning PhDs then teaching and writing (though he vastly more successfully and prolifically than me)
- U.C. Berkeley (my undergrad and his doctorate) and Stanford (his undergrad and master’s, my wife’s undergrad [they overlapped])
- Being present/former longtime members of New Hope Covenant Church, Oakland; serving as board chair from time to time
- Being involved in Asian American academic and ministry circles
- For many concurrent years, owning mid-90s white Dodge Caravans (though his the Grand and mine the short model)
- Running marathons (including the Oakland several times together, here’s 2018)
- A mutual friendship with Russell Glen Moy
Mark, Glen, Mark
Six “S”s and six “L”s please
13. And if all that were not enough, in 2023 we were astonished to learn we ALSO HAVE THE SAME “MIDDLE” NAME IN CHINESE! How freaky is that? Our families did not know each other at all. I think he has well fulfilled his destiny as “Chinese Glory” whereas I am surely found vastly wanting (but for the saving grace of Jesus) as “Heavenly Glory.”
But here are some ways you can tell us apart:
1. He can go to the hoop
2. I can play some piano
3. I had a Chevy Bolt EV and he has a Chevy Volt
2025 update: the Jeungs are now driving a Chevy Bolt EV, haha!
4. He’s been in Time magazine and I am simply a subscriber
Russell Yee 