It’s been a rough 6 weeks in the midst of a tough year. Mostly, rough on my heart. About 6 weeks ago, my resting heart rate, which has been relatively similar for the first 47 years of my life, jumped and kept jumping. It is still very high, and exercise prompts my heart rate to […]
Holding Space and Holding Still for Humanity
I am a runner. In my past, this was literal. I ran cross-country and track in high school and half marathons for several years as an adult before it became more harmful than helpful for my body. What I loved most about running that distance was that, after running for a while, I couldn’t think […]
Unwellness & Opportunities for Unlearning
I’ve been reading mimi khúc’s dear elia and thinking a lot about unwellness in this new year (by the western/ solar calendar). Many things have struck me from the book, but particularly the idea of systemic or structural unwellness which reproduces different forms of unwellness among us all, and diverse types of suffering. Systems (and societies) […]
When It Rains…Final Reflection Fall Quarter 2025
It’s rainy and windy in Seattle right now. I try to take the opportunity at the end of every academic term, particularly those during which I teach, to engage in reflection. When I was younger and stuck inside during occasional heavy rains, watching the rain fall on the world outside, I would also reflect. So, […]
Gratitude & Mourning
Yesterday was Thanksgiving in the US, which is also, for many indigenous communities, a day of mourning. As someone who knows both grief and gratitude (especially in this time of the year) and who is working to better come alongside my indigenous siblings, as a migrant settler, I have spent the last few days holding […]
Heavenly Birthdays & Earthly Moments
Today is my mother’s 87th birthday. It’s been 31 years since we celebrated her birthday together, 30 years that she has been celebrating in heaven. Thirty birthdays (and nearly 31 years) that, I believe, she continues to watch over and guide me, standing behind me like she is in the picture above, through all of […]
Checking In
I don’t remember why I took the picture above, but I did, some time in the last month, at a moment when I look happy and it looks sunny. The picture tells me that it hadn’t quite turned fully fall, or at least, the leaves hadn’t fallen completely down and it wasn’t before daylight’s savings […]
The Power of Reflection
It’s been a bit over a month since I’ve written an entry on this blog. While that, in and of itself, may not seem particularly significant (I’ve gone longer without writing here and I’ve been writing in other ways and working on other projects), I can feel the difference in my heart and mind. This […]
Tea, Time & Carrying On
Two weeks ago, at this time, I was sleeping after a day spent traveling to my father’s ancestral village to add my generation’s names to our family genealogy book. When I awoke after this sleep, I would travel to a different historic village, one preserved for tourists as well as cultural heritage where I would […]
The Ties that Bind Across Diaspora
It is nearly the end of the second half of my 3-week trip in East Asia. It has been the longest I’ve been out of the United States in over 20 years. It has been a time that has been impactful in ways that I haven’t been able to fully articulate. But, perhaps the articulation […]