Virginia Center for the Creative Arts fellowship
Recently I learned that I’d been selected for a fellowship at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. I’m thrilled but still in disbelief. But ever since I heard that I would have two weeks this summer to do nothing but write, I’ve been on a writing roll. Amazing what a little encouragement does for ...
Fight Club of One
Last month I learned how to ski in Canada, at the same place where 12 years earlier I learned to snowboard. In those days, at 30, I suspected I was too old to learn how to do something like ski or snowboard. Still, I put on my helmet and hoped no one would guess my ...
Tales of Marriage and Baggage
Last week I was lucky enough to tell a story at The Moth ”Marriage” show in Santa Monica. I’m not someone who moved to Los Angeles to be an actor, although I love my actor and comedian friends and go to as many of their shows as I can. I don’t really want to be ...
Free to be (crazy) you and me
This week I am starting a class and working on a deadline. So far in 2012 I’ve been meeting all my deadlines, but I don’t want to gloat lest I start missing them! Instead of a new post, I am re-posting the following entry from June 3, 2011. Thank you for reading, friends. A New ...
Happy Year of the Dragon!
Happy Chinese New Year! I must be honest: I haven’t done a thing yet to celebrate the Dragon Year. But our dear friend and Chinese teacher has given my kids hong bao (red envelopes), so at least that’s something. And just as soon as my mom — the Caucasian who’s more Asian than me — ...
The Meek Squawk of the Chicken Mother
Much has been written about The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, the book by Yale Law School professor Amy Chua. If you are not a parent, or are not Asian, perhaps you have not heard of it, except possibly from your friends with kids. They probably either hate the book and wish ill to ...
Of all the dim sum joints in all the world
This weekend we’re taking my mom out for dumplings at a wonderful Taiwanese restaurant in the San Gabriel Valley. It’s quite a schlep out there from West Los Angeles, so we don’t go as often as we would like to. But it’s my mom’s birthday, and she loves Chinese food, so that’s our destination. My ...
Christmas carol
Warning: mournful post ahead. Tonight after dinner, my mom played some Christmas carols on the piano as my kids read the new books I bought them at their school book fair. My husband read too, flipping through the picture books when the kids were finished. It was pretty idyllic, just what you might hope for ...
Liminal spaces
As long as I’m doing the re-run thing, here’s another story I read at “Spark Off Rose,” last October for the “Supernatural” spoken word show. Thank you to the producers of the show, particularly Mark Betancourt for working long-distance from New York on my story, and to Jessica Tuck and Karin Gutman for their encouragement ...
The Dad Thing
Those of you who know me well know that my father was not a daily figure in my life. But he played a bigger role than his monthly visits for most of my life would suggest. He’s been gone just over ten years now. And my thoughts on Father’s Day are now almost completely about ...
