listen to me!

Around the time of my election depression (which I admit I still struggle with),  the awesome Matthew Winner of All the Wonders published a lovely episode with yours truly. In this episode, we talked about how my readers' reactions effected the writing of When the Sea Turned to Silver, thinking in English and more! Listen HERE!

I was also thrilled to be interviewed by Hillary Frank at the Longest Shortest Time! In that episode we talk about how I rejected my culture as a child, how I try to incorporate that same culture into my own daughter's life and more! Listen HERE.

A Girl Scouts StoryTeller

All the way in December, which seems like years ago,  a videographer came to film me for a little movie for the Girl Scouts. When they first requested the filming, I was completely honored however I was also in a bit of a quandary about where to shoot. Should I wait until the studio was set up in the new house? (Good thing I didn't as it's still not set up yet). Would we be able to clean the studio to a degree of decency in the apartment? In the end, Lexan, the understanding videographer filmed me strategically in the living room so that we would only have to straighten up a few shelves.
Here's how the video turned out:



Thank you, Lexan! Thank you, Girl Scouts!

places for peace

CNN interviewed me for their Thanksgiving story, "Special Places to Find Gratitude."  I had to really think of what places I found most peaceful. In the end, I told the author about my experience of seeing the Big Buddha during my trip to Hong Kong. I'm not sure if that is really my most zen place but looking over my old Hong Kong blog posts did make me a bit wistful for overseas travels and adventure. Maybe when Rain Dragon gets a little older!

interview

Last summer (pre-baby bulge!), I participated in an Asian American Author Series of interviews for Primary Source. Other authors in the series include the lovely Mitali Perkins, Jean Kwok and GB Tran. Here is a excerpt of one of my interview (you can see more here):




I actually had forgotten what I had said about the "Little House" books until recently. But even though "Ma hating Indians" made me feel insecure about my own racial identity, I wouldn't have them censor out Ma's hatred, now. I didn't like it, but it was true sentiment and one that showed how even good people could believe/feel things that weren't right. When I began to witness different kinds of racism--Asians against Blacks, Chinese against Japanese, Asian-Americans against Asians-- that sometimes originated from people I trusted and loved,  books like "Little House" set the groundwork for me to realize that what the adults around me thought weren't always the right things to think, especially when it came to things like race.