In My Own Backyard

San Francisco Bay Area. I am still endlessly amazed that I actually live here. Within the last week, several different friends have come and gone on their various Bay Area visits, and it’s been a great excuse for me to rediscover the sights that surround me. Berkeley. The view from Ho Chie’s roof deck at…

Shawna Yang Ryan

Shawna Yang Ryan

Shawna Yang Ryan is a talented hapa Taiwanese American writer whose debut novel, Water Ghosts, was just released on Thursday. This week, I met up with Shawna for a late-afternoon shoot on the UC Berkeley campus. Read the spotlight article we just posted on TaiwaneseAmerican.org and visit Shawna’s website at shawnayangryan.com to learn more. Last,…

Cynthia, Alanna, Alice: Singer-Songwriters

Three Taiwanese-American Female Singer-Songwriters It was an epic meeting as three Taiwanese American female singer-songwriters converged upon Berkeley and were introduced to each other for the first time. From left to right: Cynthia Lin from New York, Alanna Lin from Los Angeles, and Alice Tong from San Francisco. I was lucky enough to enjoy performances…

Ang Lee

ang lee defies categorization and baffles critics. the taiwanese/american filmmaker has created movies as divergent as sense and sensibility, eat drink man woman, the ice storm, and crouching tiger, hidden dragon, but he’s probably best known as the academy award-winning director of brokeback mountain. yesterday, i got to see ang lee in person as part…