June 25, 2013
Endings Are Always Bittersweet
Last week was my final week of teaching here in Suzhou. It marked the end…
June 12, 2013
Choosing China
I used to hate Chinese food. But my whines (or cries—ever dramatic, I often cried)…
June 5, 2013
Making New Friends at Liuyin Park
On a beautiful warm spring afternoon in Beijing, Liuyin Park is in full bloom. The…
May 25, 2013
How to be both American and Chinese
My father often delights in revisiting the impetuous statement I made as a four-year-old arriving…
May 23, 2013
An Outright Outlier Shines a Light in the Dark
Ma’s charisma is seductive. A fourth-year undergraduate at the prestigious Xiamen University, Ma struck me…
May 11, 2013
Spirituality in the Hub of China’s Export Economy
Enveloped in a jaundiced haze and sprawling Levittowns of storehouses, Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, China’s “small…
May 8, 2013
The Silent Gift-Exchange
About six months ago, in the fall of 2012, I moved neighborhoods in New York…
May 2, 2013
On a Selfish Career
"One of your more serious weaknesses is that you are selfish." "There's not much point…
April 29, 2013
My 15 Minutes of Fame
It’s Monday morning and as I’m walking down my school’s open-aired hallways, shouts of greeting…
April 24, 2013
An American Idea of Love
When I was seven or eight, I remember sitting at the dinner table, glowering at…
April 13, 2013
An ABC (Australian-Born Chinese) in China
Here’s a timeline of your typical ABC (Australian-Born Chinese): I was born in Sydney, and…
