Rocky Balboa was inspired by the true story of my mother growing up in rural Taiwan in the 1950s. Well, I’d like to think so at least... My mom lost her father at three, and grinded through hunger and poverty for most of her formative years. She didn’t know a dress could be new, and it wasn’t until she was a teenager that she stopped wearing second hand clothes. She was fortunate to have government sponsored free education, but depended on ONLY one pencil and notebook that wa