American Sweetheart

In 1999, Chiufang Hwang tried out for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders on a whim, and the experience was an epiphany. "That day in Texas Stadium, I finally understood what I had missed out on in high school and college growing up as the eldest daughter of Taiwanese immigrants. I felt so special. I felt included. I felt more like a teenage girl than when I actually was one. But mostly, I felt so American." Since then Hwang has participated in more than ten Cowboys Cheerleader tryouts, becoming a fixture at the annual auditions. Besides loving competition, pushing her limits, and reveling in the camaraderie of those pursuing sideline glory, Hwang hopes to inspire others. "I want to empower women of all ages to pursue their own impossible dream. Maybe the novelty of a fifty-year-old Chinese-American psychiatrist-who has still never even seen a football game-trying out to be an NFL cheerleader will spark them to think: Why not?" American Sweetheart: Still Not Making the Team recounts Hwang's unique perspective of American pop culture and her place in it with humor, poignant insight, and unexpected candor.