Latest
02
Apr
An invitation to engage
Poetry was never a big part of my reading upbringing. For Chinese class, we had to memorize classic Tang dynasty
3 min read
31
Mar
The cost of our attention
My attention has been splintered and frayed, like the smashed up bristles of a very old paintbrush that does not
2 min read
16
Feb
The wild & gentle female energy of horses
I was never a horse girl. I did not relate, when, in the 1980s, most young girls seemed to go
4 min read
05
Feb
Magic beans – an invitation to try this poetry prompt
The pantoum is an old Malay poetic form that was brought to the west by the French and in recent
3 min read
21
Jan
Hermit crabs
While renters are unburdened by the weight of home maintenance, they must succumb to the whims of their landlords, which
5 min read
29
Dec
How a terrible physics student attempts to understand block time
In my Asian Literature class, I used to teach a unit on my favorite writer, Jhumpa Lahiri, combining some of
5 min read
16
Dec
What teenagers can teach us about sincerity and gift-giving
The second unit of my Creative Writing class, the one that brings us to winter break, is poetry. For eight
4 min read
12
Dec
Divided attention
This Monday was a tough day at school. We are nearing the end of the semester and I had several
3 min read
28
Nov
How translation can save us / Is translation even possible?
Earlier this month, I attended a week-long translation workshop in Tainan, co-hosted by the British Center for Literary Translation and
4 min read
05
Nov
A mouth at the door - an invitation
When writing fiction, I ask students to begin with a question – what does your main character want? And what is
3 min read