1 in 2000: Andy Hou ’18
February 3, 2016
With the mindset of being minimal about his activities outside of school and extracurriculars, Andy Hou ’18 mainly focuses on video games and writing. He is a part of the debate team, even though he just started here at West this trimester. Debate is a part of what brought him here, since his old school did not have a well-organized debate program.
While Hou is originally from Roosevelt High School, his mother’s job was another contributing factor in his decision to move to Iowa City. She co-owns a business called Community CPA and a non-profit organization called Immigrant Entrepreneur Summit. Through this business she helps immigrants get a start in America and make a living. Hou helps the family business by working at the front desk, which includes him keeping track of who comes from where and welcoming the people.
Besides helping at his mom’s job, Hou enjoys taking some time to write. Hou has always had an interest in writing, but it sparked this year when he started taking creative writing classes here at West.
“I’m working on a novel, but right now I have one short story … If I write something it’s going to be [a novel or short story],” Hou said. “[I like to write] whatever the heck comes to mind.”
With his current novel, Hou is writing it in a way to avoid the reader knowing whether or not they agree with the outcome of his novel. To do this, he is writing the novel so there are two main characters and one is on each side of the conflict. The conflict includes a war, and at the end of the story, he aims for the reader to be confused about whether they agree with the side of the conflict that wins.
“I always hated the happy ending type stories. If someone dies, they should stay dead. Like Harry Potter should be dead. I think it would have been nice if there was a sacrifice for the greater good to defeat Voldemort, but maybe that’s just me,” Hou said.
Now whether or not Hou is intending to leave the reader unhappy with the ending, his novel is still a work in progress and plans for the ending to be the main attraction of it.
Photo by Abby Jans.
