Throughout my childhood, my mother told stories of growing up in her father’s Detroit laundry business during the infancy of the auto industry, and later in a Cantonese village on the eve of the Sino-Japanese War. She also spoke of what it was like to survive as a live-in domestic worker and teen waitress in …
Continue reading Breathing New Life into My Book Publishing Journey
‘My China Roots’ Helps Me Realize the Dream of a Lifetime Throughout my childhood, my mother told stories of living and working in her parents’ Chinese laundry business in Detroit during the early years of the automobile industry. There, she dreamed of a real home and the elegance of her Jane Arden paper dolls. But …
Continue reading A Mother’s Powerful Story Returns to the Ancestral Village
Today, I bought a book for myself and a book for the Prisoners Literature Project (PLP). PLP is a grassroots nonprofit that encourages reading, the pursuit of knowledge, and self-determination among incarcerated people. This all started with Charles Dickens. My husband and I annually volunteer as part of Mr. Fezziwig’s Dance Crew at the Great …
Continue reading How Dickens Inspired Me to Buy Books for Prisoners
The Strength of Water, An Asian American Coming of Age Memoir is an immigrant daughter’s record of her transpacific odyssey, rich in exquisite details of early 20th century Chinese immigrant and village life and exploring first-generation and women’s issues. The Strength of Water is especially for those interested in history from a woman’s perspective and tales …
Continue reading The Strength of Water, An Asian American Coming of Age Memoir: Book Club Guide
Happy Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month! This month we recognize the historical and cultural contributions of people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent to the United States. I’ve been celebrating by launching my book, The Strength of Water, an Asian American Coming of Age Memoir. This is my mother’s memoir, as told to me, …
Continue reading It’s Here! Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month With ‘The Strength of Water’
Inside: Reflections on how my Chinese American mother taught me fundamentals of personal finance. With my daughters close to launching into the world – one a senior in high school and the other graduating from the local community college in the spring -- I sat down with them recently to have a heart-to-heart talk about …
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I am enjoying working with Balestier Press on my book's interior layout and with their contract artist, Andre D’Rozario, on the cover. The Strength of Water is starting to feel real! Here I share a bit about the process. The book is the story of my mother's Chinese American odyssey, so for the cover, I …
Continue reading The Strength of Water: Adventures in Book Cover Design and Interior Layout
This week's Asian American history adventure was to the Oakland Aviation Museum, a small gem of a museum near the Oakland Airport. In an age when flight is often undignified with body scans, cramped seats, and peanut snacks, the museum recalls the wonder and exhilaration of early flight. You sense the giddiness of first realizing …
This month's literary adventure was an afternoon of book shopping at Eastwind Books, a beacon of the Asian American literary community, where I picked up Cathy Park Hong’s bestselling memoir and work of cultural criticism, Minor Feelings. Eastwind Books is Beatrice and Harvey Dong’s labor of love for the Asian American and ethnic literary community. Founded in …
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Recently, I had the pleasure of watching the Oakland Ballet Company (OBC) rehearse for their production of Dancing Moons Festival at the studio where I teach. Dancing Moons was Oakland Ballet’s response to the rise in anti-Asian bigotry and violence, celebrating Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) choreographers and musicians. To create this program, OBC Artistic …
Continue reading How Can We Invite Everyone Into Our World? Review of Final Bow For Yellowface