KIANA KARIMI WRITES – « Vous dépendez du pouvoir russe et vous dépendez de Monsieur Poutine…Vous avez contracté un prêt auprès d’une banque russe… Vous ne parlez pas à d’autres dirigeants, vous parlez à votre banquier Madame Le Pen…Vos intérêts sont liés au pouvoir Russe. » “You depend on Russian…
Full Article EUROPE: SELFIES FROM LE PEN AND THE FAR-RIGHT
GABY RUSLI WRITES (in her ongoing series on classic Indonesian literature) — Through versatility and natural eloquence, Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s, The Girl From The Coast (1987), took a seemingly simple story based on the author’s grandmother’s life into a complex metaphor that simultaneously represents female oppression and the exploitative dynamics between the ruling class…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: THE GIRL FROM THE COAST (1987) BY PRAMOEDYA ANANTA TOER — A PEASANT GIRL TURNED AN ARISTOCRATIC WIFE
TOM PLATE WRITES – Ever since my initial meeting with Lee Kuan Yew a quarter century ago, Singapore remained in my mind as special. By the time of the brilliant founding prime minister’s passing at 91 in 2015, that assessment was not so novel and was going global; even in…
Full Article SINGAPORE: CALIBRATING A ROLE BETWEEN CHINA AND THE U.S.
ETHAN PATRICK WRITES – Can recently elected Mayor Eric Adams stop hate crimes against Asian American New Yorkers? Such crimes have spiked since the pandemic began, causing Assembly member Ron Kim to call on the governor to declare a state of emergency: “The community feels a lot of anger, as…
Full Article CAN NEW YORK CITY’S NEW MAYOR CURB ASIAN HATE CRIMES?
BOOK REVIEW EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ELLA KELLEHER WRITES – “The sky is about to fall. Where do you go?” To be a child is to imagine a world made of glass. All your romanticized beliefs about your country and its people are contained within one fragile crystal sphere that can fracture at…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: THE COLOR OF THE SKY IS THE SHAPE OF THE HEART (2022) BY CHESIL – A BEAUTIFUL AND HEARTBREAKING COMING-OF-AGE STORY
GUEST ANALYST LYRIC HUGHES HALE WRITES — Most Russian experts and military strategists I follow doubted Putin would invade Ukraine. I agreed with their rational arguments, but here we are. I’m reminded of the Haruki Murakami novel 1Q84. The heroine alights from her taxi and gradually discovers that she is…
Full Article MEDIA BEAM THE MESSAGE: MURAKAMI’S MOONS FOR THE MISINFORMED
ALEC FARMER WRITES – The Cultural Revolution was a notorious period of China’s history that has been analyzed time and time again worldwide. The strict policies of Mao Zedong shattered the livelihoods of China’s citizens. Few people remain who can tell their stories of that dark and turbulent period. In the eyes of Chinese…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: FLOWING WITH THE PEARL RIVER, MEMOIR OF A RED CHINA GIRL (2022) – WHAT HISTORY LOOKS LIKE FOR THOSE WHO LIVED IT.
KEZIA LAKSMONO WRITES – I never thought that leaving my home country would make me more aware of food’s importance in my life story or identity. I see now, though, that the food which brings us back to our childhood represents more than just a taste. It is an extension…
Full Article INDONESIA: A HUNGER FOR THE TASTE OF HOME
GENEVIEVE KAMINSKI WRITES – Recently I took a birthday trip to San Diego. I tried new coffee shops, went to Balboa Park, and visited the zoo. I have never been a fan of San Diego due to the lack of entertainment and excessive quiet for this city kid. For my…
Full Article RESTAURANT REVIEW: SUSHI OTA IN SAN DIEGO
GABY RUSLI WRITES (in a series of reviews on Indonesian classics) — Is it not ironic to witness a person of faith advocating for love and understanding yet punishing a man for loving another man? For Indonesian author Norman Erikson Pasaribu, growing up as a gay man of Batak descent (an ethnic group…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: SERGIUS SEEKS BACCHUS BY NORMAN ERIKSON PASARIBU (2019) – THE POWERFUL POEMS OF A QUEER INDONESIAN
ARYANA KHALILZADEH WRITES – The major headline out of Iran the past week was not about the ongoing nuclear talks, but the continued struggle of Iranian women fighting for gender equality. The final match of the World Cup qualification between Iran and Lebanon was held in the holy city of…
Full Article IRAN: LET FEMALE SOCCER FANS HAVE FUN
SERENA GONZALEZ WRITES – To celebrate the Year of the Tiger, Italian high-end luxury brand and fashion powerhouse Gucci has come under fire for using live tigers in its latest advertising campaign – a move that has shocked animal welfare organizations, conservationists, and consumers alike. The campaign, branded #GucciTiger, portrays…
Full Article THE YEAR OF THE TIGER: ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS ROAR BACK AT GUCCI FOR ITS NEWEST AD CAMPAIGN
CLINICAL PROFESSOR TOM PLATE WRITES – I submit for your consideration an American political figure named Jerry Brown. He turns 84 this week but is somehow still flamboyant and relevant, if sometimes slightly annoying. I have not only grown to admire him but come to feel this lifelong politician is…
Full Article US-CHINA RELATIONS: NEED ‘PLANETARY REALISM’ TO AVOID GEOPOLITICAL AND ECOLOGICAL APOCALYPSE
CIERRA BYRD WRITES— Many Asian Americans gathered on March 15th to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the lives lost in the Georgia spa shootings, in which eight people were killed, six of them Asian women. The family of the victims spoke at the March 15th protest alongside many other people,…
Full Article IN MEMORIAM: THE GEORGIA SPA SHOOTINGS, ONE YEAR AGO
BOOK REVIEW EDITOR ELLA KELLEHER WRITES – Society’s rejection of Takiko is not solely because of her sudden pregnancy at the tender age of twenty-one. It is Takiko’s unfettered commitment to herself and her happiness that causes her family and Japanese society to ostracize and condemn her. Takiko’s self-conviction is…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: WOMAN RUNNING IN THE MOUNTAINS (2022) BY YŪKO TSUSHIMA – WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A SINGLE PARENT?
RACHEL KAUFMAN WRITES – The end of March brought the 94th annual Academy Awards and with it came more historic nominations, wins, and…happenings, one being the small country of Bhutan’s first Oscar nomination in the category of Best International Feature Film, titled Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, which was…
Full Article BHUTAN: NOTHING LIKE THAT ALL ‘ROUND HAPPINESS FEELIN’!