Around the time of the devastating Maui wildfires, my kids and I were 5,000 miles away to the west exploring the history and culture of the ancient ancestors of Native Hawaiians. …

Forgotten influences that mapped out the contours of my life — It has been years since I tuned in to Mandarin pop, new releases, and oldies. Visiting the Taipei and Kaohsiung Music Centers this summer with my children brought back long-forgotten lyrics, melodies, memories, and sentiments associated with an earlier age of innocence. …

Civic participation as a sign of belonging — Election season is here; yard signs are everywhere. Candidates swarm about school gates, dispensing cheap favors here and there. As a result of the successful budget advocacy I co-led in the spring to promote equity and student achievement in our school district, a group of colleagues and community partners have…

The acoustic guitar was the instrument I minored in while attending my childhood music academy. (My preferred second instrument would have been the violin or flute, but that’s a vexing story for another day.) My guitar teacher happened to be the nephew of a famous Chinese TV personality. …

Musicals, galleries, street performances, and more — This summer, my children and I arrived in Taiwan right at the start of Taipei Children’s Art Festival. The selections are varied and ticket prices affordable. Last time my family planned a visit to the theater was for a musical earlier this year in Texas. …

A few stolen moments — As a result of my children’s diverse camp schedules and dispersed locations, my summer in Taipei has been highly fragmented in the daytime. The downside is the attendant difficulty of getting much work done in my preferred “flow” state. …

As a classically trained pianist throughout my elementary years, I kept frequent company with melodies arranged by dead, white, German composers. It didn’t start out this way, for I produced my first few notes on the keyboard to popular Chinese and Japanese folk tunes. After about a year of formal…

Same difference or la Résistance? — My first post in this series touched on the subject of language, in particular the different accents of Mandarin across the Taiwan Strait. A more politicized language battle is still fought daily, after decades of inconclusive debate about the merit and inferiority of the respective written forms, i.e. traditional vs…

The Arrival — My First visit to Ilha Formosa occurred about twenty years ago when both sides across the Taiwan Strait favored a rapprochement. Back then, few people who had my kind of connection to the Chinese mainland — by winning the birth lottery, regardless of subsequent migration history — let alone its…