Bodies, Covid-19, and Cancer
I live in my head, as do many writers, but I’ve been thinking about bodies lately. This is partly because this month I am in a writing workshop where we are writing essays on what the body remembers. Not much, if I ask mine. My head knows that there were triumphs and...
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Off to a Ratty Start
I’m a bit late with this greeting, but Gung Hei Fat Choy! This is a Golden Rat year, and although it has started out with bad politics and a public health crisis, I’m holding out hope. Rats are often considered sly and dangerous, but in the Chinese zodiac, the rat is...
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Travel Re-Entry and the Seige of CUHK
Returning home from international traveling, I often wish for an airlock between coming and going. I envision a decompression chamber that looks something like the double sets of doors on fancy hotels. There would be a comfy sofa for the in-between, no transit rush,...
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Patching the Past Together in Eureka Springs, Arkansas
Finding the bigger story requires always requires you to let go of the small one in your head. To open up to the messy realities, the uncertainties, the multiple interpretations.
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Hong Kong Week 10: Is There a Mediator in the House?
Headed into a 10th week of protests, Hong Kong is a mess right now. What started as peaceful demonstrations has escalated into confrontations between mostly young protesters and police in full riot gear who are shooting tear gas, rubber bullets, and beanbags (the last...
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What I Wish I Had Said in my Essay About Abortion: an addendum
When “Waterbabies” was accepted for publication by Memoir Magazine last year, I was elated. It was my first “yes” from a literary magazine. The editor asked only for a slight reorganization to emphasize my focus on healing, to not end on the word “blood.” I made the...
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