Recently I explained to a good friend of mine why I consider erotic love a basic human necessity, and why I dare to say that without it, life is incomplete. While one could argue with me by undoing the notion of love with a genealogy or archaeology of the concept, I say, in the widest … Continue reading
Young at Heart
It was a simple dish. Roasted baby corn in husks, with salt and pepper on the side for dipping. I had this dish in a small seafood restaurant tucked away between two residential buildings in an alley off Yanji Street in Taipei’s East District. That evening my friends, partner, and I had far more tastier … Continue reading
Pride and Prejudice: A Reflection on Marching in Chicago Pride 2012
[This essay has been commissioned by the elements blog. Affiliated with the Boys and Girls Club Association of Hong Kong, elements is the only LGBT Youth center in Hong Kong.] Across America, gay and lesbian pride parades in different cities are traditionally celebrated in the last Sunday of June to commemorate the Stonewall riots in … Continue reading
Happy Second Anniversary!
So it was two years ago today my sister and brother-in-law got hitched! Since then, together they have gone through the Great Recession, two major earthquakes, a nuclear scare, and an international move. But life is supposed to be uneventful. It is about the routine, domesticity, everyday, and indeed, what meanings would the inscriptions on … Continue reading
Partir, c’est mourir un peu; J’ai failli mourir, en pensant à toi…
My friend Jeff once alerted me to this excellent commercial spot by All Nippon Airways of Japan. The voice of an apparently jetlagged narrator accompanies us in a visually beautiful exploration of Tokyo at dawn. Devoid of people and vehicles, the familiar streets and neighborhood become uncanny. Since coming back to Hong Kong last week, … Continue reading
Honoris Causa
In Du bon usage de la Francophonie, Beninese scholar Guy Ossito Midiohouan tells us he habitually corrects people when they refer him as a Professor of French. Professor of literature, he insists. I understand his plight, as in my case, I was often asked, if not challenged, by people in Hong Kong why I would … Continue reading
Voix
During this long absence, I finally got my act together. I discuss a lot of things in my dissertation, but one of those, and by far the most satisfactory one, remains my critical engagement with this Franco-Vietnamese novelist Linda Lê’s work entitled Voix. In French phonetics, la voix is indistinguishable from la voie. The two … Continue reading
Book of the Dead
Occasionally, my father took me to the electronics factory where he worked (and co-owned with a couple business partners) on weekend, when I was about eight or ten. I hated it. I never told him, but my grumpy early morning was partly redeemed by the ferry ride. I enjoyed the cool sea breeze in an … Continue reading
The Romance of Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo
Fearlessness may be a gift but perhaps more precious is the courage acquired through endeavour, courage that comes from cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one’s actions, courage that could be described as “grace under pressure”—grace which is renewed repeatedly in the face of harsh, unremitting pressure. Within a system which denies … Continue reading
Un petit homme et son grand voyage
Il est venu. —Je suis actuellement au Station Morse! —Alors, je vais te chercher tout de suite! On avait échangé quelques messages vagues et Rich m’a dit qu’il est français, et pas très organisé, après tout. Mais on s’est finalement rencontrés et il s’est bien installé chez moi, Tylay, mon premier hôte de couchsufing. Rich … Continue reading
On the Ridge of Pratt 