Soon Hansel and Gretel came to a little cottage. When they got quite near, they saw that the little house was made of bread and roofed with cake. The windows were transparent sugar. As I was developing a Hansel and Gretel curriculum for my employer’s ballet camp this summer, I considered the dark original story …
Continue reading How One Fairytale Sugar Coats and Lays Bare the Painful Truth About Infanticide
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’
What if you could learn about an ancient tradition, enjoy a delicious dessert, and turn an ordinary evening into a fairytale? You can with the Autumn Moon Festival, a holiday born of legend. It traditionally falls on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month or mid-September to early October on the Gregorian calendar. In …
Maybe you're seeking respite from the summer heat. Maybe you'd like to pretend you're in the Halls of Moria in the Lord of the Rings. Or maybe you want to hike through miles of graffiti art. Whatever your reason for coming, the Donner Pass Train Tunnels near Truckee, California, offer a fascinating and sometimes heartbreaking …
Continue reading Hiking the Donner Pass Train Tunnels, a Triumph and Tragedy of Immigrant Grit