An American in Hong Kong
Enough with the Suspense. Tell Me When it’s Over.
I want to know how it all turns out. Do we conquer the virus? Does democracy survive? Do we get on with our lives together? Does love outweigh hate? I want to be prepared.
Stepping into Silence
I don’t know about you, but for me, this not going anywhere is getting strange. As if life in 2020 could get any stranger. I returned to Hong Kong at the tail end of July, and it’s now mid-October. While I was away, COVID-19 cases dwindled, and the protests died down...
Wherever I go, there’s another me.
I woke up in the middle of the night last night thinking about authenticity. That thought came on the tail of a dream in which I was in a pink kitchen telling someone about why it wasn’t ok for a white woman to dress up in Chinese clothes and be part of a Chinese...
The Mask Divide
Yesterday Hong Kong recorded no new Covid 19 cases for the third time in a week while the United States was rocketing toward a million reported cases. Hong Kong people continue to go about their business while in the USA, many businesses are closed and people are...
The Absence of Color
I hope you are all staying safe and sane. I am fortunate to be holed up on beautiful Whidbey Island. I'm here with my 94-year-old mother and my sister who is going through chemo, and while peeling myself away from the news and finding time and energy to write is...
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...