During the last presidential primary campaign season, my friend Sue gave me a shout about this last minute campaign stop by Hillary near her home in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Since she had gone to Iowa and could actually see and hear Hillary up close, there was no reason for her to go again. I did go, … Continue reading
Get Really Close to Another Human Being This Life Time
Now I understand why Georges Bataille wrote about some sovereign moments between two people in love, and everybody would take it as an allegory of the bloody Spanish Civil War. Hong Kong cultural critic Leung Man-tao discusses love and marriage in a recent interview, and his main point, if you allow me for an intentional … Continue reading
Por ahora: Remembering Tiananmen, June 4, 1989
Red Shirt for Burma, and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in My Heart, originally uploaded by Taekwonweirdo. If you ask me which photo of me I like the most, I have to say this one. I was in front of the Chinese diplomatic mission in Chicago, supporting Burma’s failed Saffron revolution. Failed, to borrow Hugo … Continue reading
La Place des grands hommes
Ça fait si longtemps que je n’avais pas écrit en français, et je dois dire que ma mode d’expression et façon de pensée restent fondamentalement anglaises. Ici, il s’agit de mes anciens camarades de classe au lycée à Hong-Kong, et mes commentaires, parfois, ne sont pas du tout flatteurs. Et puisqu’ils ne comprennent pas le … Continue reading
Agriculture biologique
Earlier, the New York Times ran a story on Kopi Luwak, or coffee beans harvested in the form of civet cat dung. I greeted the story with a smile, not because I have ever tasted it, but because I have written about it. I wrote a thank you note to accompany my sister’s wedding souvenir, … Continue reading
The Queen in My Heart
I have some friends who are pretty oblivious to politics. Education cannot be a factor in deciding how they want to conduct their collective, social lives because I have seen extreme some cases of people seeking doctoral degrees from renowned research universities but do not even regularly read any news–in paper, online, mainstream, alternate, local, … Continue reading
Lettre morte
Since I have just finished a 40-page draft, and taken care of some housekeeping issues, I felt like I had earned some rights to goof around. What makes me feel incredible stupid is that every chapter of my dissertation revolves around a rather self-evident, if not at all silly, idea, that is, it appears self-evident … Continue reading
Mais stranger things have happened, non?
Yes, please click the above photo or link to play the picture show! Around this time last year, I had the privilege to share Alice and Jeff’s matrimonial joy, in my capacity of friend, witness, Best Man, self-appointed back up photographer… Such arrangement can be quite confusing, and hence the following comments from my friend … Continue reading
Dog Chow
I don’t even know where or how to begin. No matter how politically pungent or extreme some commentators are in this great country, as “opinion leaders,” they still have to submit to the marketplace of opinions. They either risk being sidelined and thus recede into total oblivion, or they lose all credibility and influence in … Continue reading
Cat Shelter = Public Nuisance: A District Councilor’s Shameful Tactics
Ever since I drew up a plan to return to Hong Kong, I have been looking around to see if a volunteer-driven no-kill cat shelter, one comparable to Tree House Humane Society, exists in the territory. Founded by concerned animal lovers in Chicago’s North Shore, Tree House has now become a highly successful cat shelter, … Continue reading
On the Ridge of Pratt 