My grandfather (ah gong, or 外公, but we call him gong gong), driven by winds of Communist change, arrived in Taiwan in the 1940s. He was a Fuzhou businessman, 26 at the time. He was a businessman, relatively wealthy and educated, and fled from the incoming Communists. He met my grandmother (ah ma, or 外媽 […]
I smelled it coming last week, but it didn’t arrive until today. It smelled like autumn, it was warm rain, ticklish; it was musty with diamond dew and faded memories of running through these trees at our old church camp site, redwood trees tickling the clouds and the sweet fragrance of pine cones and the […]
It’s like the evenings I spent in Central Asia years ago, sprawled on a stiff hotel bed and journaling until darkness fell. In my headphones the refrain would play: in your presence, all fear is gone, in your presence… And it’s all I could cling to, because that month-or-so in that land was one of […]
A few cloudy Sundays ago I was watching Bruce play with Darren on the steps of our church. Screaming fire trucks were storming our street. Bruce ran down the steps, swept a wide-eyed Darren into his arms and ran down to watch the commotion fade down East 15th. Darren’s eyes were bright and mouth was agape. […]
