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Culturally appropriate Mother’s Day: an update
I’ve gotten some great responses to my post earlier this week about finding a culturally appropriate Mother’s Day gift. Grace suggests that all that is needed is “your undying gratitude”–definitely...
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The dishwasher and the garbage disposal
Every night I spend at least half an hour washing and drying dishes by hand. There’s a dishwasher in my apartment, but the instinct to wash all of my dishes by hand is too strong. Even though I know I...
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One man’s profanity is another man’s good eats
Yesterday I was heading home from my job in Chinatown and decided to stop by Won Kok Restaurant (旺角酒家) on Alpine Street for a baked barbecue pork bun (叉燒包). I have been going here with my family for...
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New blog! migrantography
Since I joined the smartphone-owning masses in May I’ve been taking a lot of photos of immigrant life in Los Angeles and editing them with Instagram. I’ve amassed so many that I decided to start a new...
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Looking for international contributors
The goal of this blog is to foster connections between diasporic Asian people around the world. One American blogger cannot do this alone! My perspective is limited by my experience, my location, and...
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Chinese Thanksgiving
It always surprises me how gung-ho my family is about American Thanksgiving. We insist on doing it as “authentically” as possible. We don’t do sugary vegetable casseroles, and my mom always makes a...
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Happy International Migrants Day!
In recognition of International Migrants Day, here is a round-up of some of the migration-related posts from the past year. A lukewarm welcome The stigma of immigrant languages “Welcome to the Great...
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Asian businesses, Latino labor
Happy holidays from Silicon Valley! I’ve been visiting family, stuffing my face full of fantastic Vietnamese food, and generally having a good time away from all the writing I have to do. Today my...
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Lunar new year nomenclature and the multicultural metropolis
On Sunday I stopped by the Monterey Park Lunar New Year Festival with my family. For two days, the organizers blocked off several blocks of bustling Garvey Avenue to make room for street food vendors,...
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Chinese students, safe spaces, and the Tiananmen Square massacre
Yesterday was the last day of the academic Chinese writing class I was taking. Nearly all of the other students in the nine-person class had immigrated from China as teens, so they spoke Mandarin...
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Foreign care workers in Taiwan
I’m in Taiwan doing fieldwork at the moment and am staying near one of Taipei’s major hospitals. In the early morning and early evening, when the stifling North Taiwan heat isn’t as intense, I pass by...
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Where is home?
I just returned from a brief research trip in Taiwan, where I met a number of second generation Taiwanese American students of a wide range of ages who had come to their ethnic homeland for summer...
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How does the “rude Chinese tourist” stereotype affect those of us who “look...
A few weeks ago in Taipei, a Taiwanese American friend and I had finished dinner and hailed a cab to take us back to her apartment. We told the driver in Mandarin where we wanted to go. Upon hearing...
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Immigrant small businesses facing gentrification
Earlier today, I had the privilege of touring the Sydney suburb of Cabramatta with one of the area’s biggest boosters, Anna of the blog I Heart Cabramatta. Cabramatta has a huge population of refugees...
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Accents, foreign-ness, and social distance
As an American traveling around Australia, I haven’t encountered any difficulty being understood. Pronounced Rs at the end of syllables and odd Californian vowel sounds don’t faze anyone. Australians...
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Melbourne: Chinese Museum and Immigration Museum
Melbourne is a city of many, many museums. I’ve only been here for a few days, but I’ve already been to seven different museums, from art museums to cultural and natural history museums. Of most...
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