Perspectives

Recent Stories

Taiwan-China Tensions: Revisiting Family Heartbreak

I was in high school when I found my father sitting at the desk in my parents’ bedroom, face in his hands, sobbing. It was the only time I’d ever seen my father cry. He had been separated from his family for 40 years, when he became a teenage refugee, from China to Taiwan…

Self-Gratitude May Just Improve Your Performance Review

Many professionals undervalue their contributions because they think they’re not enough, but self-gratitude comes from our wholeness and allows us to recognize and own our contributions to our work, which will surely help with our performance reviews.

Separation Anxiety

Tomorrow my Alyssa leaves for NYC for 8 weeks. I sit next to her as she naps, excited for her adventure ahead, all the while

Covid Life – Recluse, Re-Emergence and Ritual

…The day finally arrived this Memorial Day weekend when the four of us and Popo dared to venture out together to visit my father and brother in New York, the first time in over a year. It was cold, windy and wet, but my 87 year old mother determinedly walked to her husband’s gravesite and read the poem she wrote for him that’s etched on the tombstone. We lit incense, bowed in respect and ran back to the car as lightning and thunder reverberated through the skies. After all the sadness, loss and separation, we returned to each other through this family ritual, marking the passing as well as the continuation of our shared journey.

A Candid Wake Up Call to Professionals of Color and Women — How You Must Care for Your Career in an Anti-DEI Context

From Judy’s Medium Page: For women and professionals of color (POCs), I hope you’re re-calibrating how you engage with your professional and career development. That is, more than ever, you’ll need to proactively advocate for your growth and development. If you want to advance equitably, you have to be committed to being in the driver’s seat of your career advancement. There

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Fierce Mother in Body and Spirit

I got to spend another Mother’s Day with my mother this year. It was the first year in my life that I realized this day wouldn’t always be a given. My mother is 90 years old. She almost didn’t make it out of the hospital last Fall. This tenuous reality makes one think broader than the muscle memory of Mother’s

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Mother's Loss

One Mother’s Loss is a Loss for Every Mother in the World

For the past several weeks, I’ve carried a deep sadness as violence and death have continued in Gaza and in too many geographies in our world. My experience of darkness is present at many levels but the deepest darkness envelopes me as a mother witnessing the irrelevance of the lived experiences of mothers in the midst of these conflicts. In

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New England Town

Why Am I So Anxious in a Charming New England Town?

Since the pandemic, I haven’t taken my annual 4-day retreat where I get to be a hermit, stocked with food and drink, books and journals and live 100% in my own space. I relish the freedom to just be. I sleep, read in bed, write, cry, re-watch my favorite movies or YouTube clips on meditation and serenity. I have no

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Lunar New Year – A Rootedness in Family Connections and Identity

I’ve come to see that holidays are a way for people and societies to reinforce what matters in their culture. Food and customs, passed from generation to generation express who we are; and, especially they forge connections to family, relatives and the lineage from which we come. Lunar New Year offers those very elements of life, people and purpose. It’s

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Taiwan-China Tensions: Revisiting Family Heartbreak

I was in high school when I found my father sitting at the desk in my parents’ bedroom, face in his hands, sobbing. It was the only time I’d ever seen my father cry. He had been separated from his family for 40 years, when he became a teenage refugee, from China to Taiwan…

Read More »

Separation Anxiety

Tomorrow my Alyssa leaves for NYC for 8 weeks. I sit next to her as she naps, excited for her adventure ahead, all the while my heart is breaking. Her presence is my joy. Her love spreads like sunshine. How I will miss my proximity to her loveliness. Parenthood is full of these paradoxes as our children venture forth on

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Covid Life – Recluse, Re-Emergence and Ritual

…The day finally arrived this Memorial Day weekend when the four of us and Popo dared to venture out together to visit my father and brother in New York, the first time in over a year. It was cold, windy and wet, but my 87 year old mother determinedly walked to her husband’s gravesite and read the poem she wrote for him that’s etched on the tombstone. We lit incense, bowed in respect and ran back to the car as lightning and thunder reverberated through the skies. After all the sadness, loss and separation, we returned to each other through this family ritual, marking the passing as well as the continuation of our shared journey.

Read More »

Catching My Breath in Drowning Waves of Death

  2020 Ahmaud Aubery Breonna Taylor George Floyd Protests Black Lives Matter Awakening of America  to what has always been for black people in America The waves of death keep coming, cresting and crashing I catch my breath  feel myself drowning in the intense waves of yet another unnecessary death of yet another person of color I swim up out

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