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Politically Correct
Shortly after the US elections, Chinese-American writer Amy Tan posted this on her Facebook page: We are now determining different ways we can support what matters to the country, our world, and our planet. One of those decisions is to cut out of our lives those people who were friends who voted for Trump or…
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The Good Immigrant
All across the country, people felt it was the wrong thing. All across the country, people felt it was the right thing. All across the country, people felt they’d really won. All across the country, people felt they’d done the right thing and other people had done the wrong thing.” This quote comes from Ali…
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A New Progressive Narrative
There has been a lot of talk lately on the liberal left about the need for a new political narrative. We need a statement of what we stand for rather than protest against. A way forward rather than a look back. To be progressive in the broadest sense of the word. I’m a storyteller and narrative…
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Chicken Shit
Tammy Ho Lai-Ming is a woman of many talents. She’s an academic, poet, short story writer and translator as well as founding co-editor of Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, the first on-line English language literary journal in Hong Kong. Since 13 November 2016, Tammy Ho also sits on the Executive Committee of the Hong Kong…
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These Boots Are Made for Walking
A wise man once told me: don’t quit the soccer club because you dislike the coach. He was talking about Pope Benedict XVI and the Catholic Church. I’m thinking of Donald Trump and my US citizenship. Throughout this election season from hell, I’ve promised myself to turn in my passport if Trump becomes president. Maybe it…
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The Politics of Pain
A writer friend recently asked: why do you always write about female suffering? My first novel, The Dancing Girl and the Turtle, is about a woman who turns to self-harm out of shame for having been raped. My short story, Moon Cakes, looks at a girl sold into sex slavery. These women all suffer in silence.…