JOSEPH LITTAUA WRITES – It was a year ago when I was getting ready to go to mass on a Sunday morning when the news broke on Twitter about Kobe Bryant and a helicopter ride that seemed very ill-advised. I still remember it vividly, looking angrily at news outlets and…
DANICA CREAHAN WRITES — On Wednesday, Dec. 2, New Zealand’s government symbolically declared climate change an emergency through a motion tabled in parliament which recognized “the devastating impact that volatile and extreme weather will have on New Zealand and the wellbeing of New Zealanders, on our primary industries, water availability,…
MARK SCHREIBER OF THE JAPAN TIMES WRITES — Four years ago, Japan’s tabloids and weeklies reported on the contest between Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential election with unrestrained gusto. By this writer’s count, the volume of U.S. election coverage in Japan’s weeklies…
ELLA KELLEHER WRITES — Lust, Caution (2007) made by the visionary director, Ang Lee, is an erotic espionage film1 that begins in 1938, during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The story of this film has been believed by many to be inspired by true events and the life of a Chinese…
TOM PLATE WRITES — Change will come, it has to. But America’s hyper-confident commentariat has convinced itself that China-U.S. policy Democrat Joseph Biden, on track to become the 46th president of the United States, will be stuck in the cement of the New Coldness and would differ little from Trump’s.…
ROBERT SONG WRITES (courtesy the Korea Times, Seoul) — As the world grapples with the virus originated in China, an ominous dark cloud of worsening U.S.-China relations looms over the global arena. From human rights abuses, to unfair trade practices, to unlawful militarization of the South China Sea to thousands of…
From News Service Reports — No sooner had after China signaled it would impose new national-security laws on Hong Kong than markets throughout the world trembled. By early afternoon Friday in Hong Kong (22 May), the Hang Seng Index had lost 5.6%, with property, financial and infrastructure stocks retreating between…
While spring semester study abroad and global immersion trips have been canceled due to the ongoing pandemic, Tom Plate, clinical professor and Distinguished Scholar of Asian and Pacific studies, is continuing to facilitate cross-cultural learning experiences for Loyola Marymount University students. From opposite sides of the Pacific, LMU students collaborate with Yonsei University students…
BELLARMINE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS DEAN ROBBIN CRABTREE WROTE THIS TO OUR BCLA COMMUNITY AT LMU — At this time of Passover and Easter, made more poignant by our current circumstances, it’s appropriate to reflect on the meanings of these two most sacred of holy days. I’ve been reading articles in…
FIONNA ANGELICA WIJAYA WRITES – The ongoing epidemic that is currently spreading across the globe becomes more threatening every single day. The government policy that requires us to be inside the house or apartment has become more challenging for me personally. This is my first time being quarantined during a…
MANAAL ALI WRITES – During the current outbreak of COVID-19, many lives have been affected, from families not able to buy essentials such as hand sanitizer, water, and toilet paper to small businesses able to provide only limited services- or else closing down. My family has had almost no customers…
DANICA CREAHAN WRITES- In the new Blumhouse horror film “The Invisible Man,” released on February 28, 2020, the Australian-American filmmaker (best known for co-creating Saw and Insidious) Leigh Whannell, proves that in the #MeToo era, men can do right by female characters, and maybe could have been doing better all…
EXCERPTED FROM THE ‘BUSINESS INSIDER’ — Medical workers in Wuhan, China, removed their masks after the city closed the last temporary hospital, which was panic-built to accommodate the overflow patients from the coronavirus outbreak. The viral video, which has been viewed more than three million times, showed a number of workers…
OTHMAN ALOTHMAN WRITES- Nike-sponsored Kuwaiti athlete Yaqoub Alyouha brought back a gold medal in the World Athletics Indoor Championships on February 4, 2020 in Dusseldorf, Germany. His time, 7.54s in the 60m hurdle, makes him the second- fastest Asian ever to run it. This came as a shock to the…
STUART MULJADI WRITES–Earlier this year, it was announced that megastars Jay Z and Serena Williams would be investors in Kopi Kenangan (translation: “Coffee memories”), an ambitious, Jakarta- based, non-franchise coffee chain founded by CEO Edward Tirtanata in 2017. According to a local article profiling the CEO, Tirtanata was asked the…
SULAIMAN AL-ADSANI WRITES- Ever since the establishment of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) in 1993, mixed martial arts has become one of the fastest growing and most popular sports worldwide. It started in the 1920’s, when Brazilian jiu jitsu founder Helio Gracie and his brother, Carlos Gracie, issued the “Gracie…
