In Memory of Anita Mui 梅艳芳 October 10, 1963 – December 30, 2003 What is a life written in water? Meaningful or empty? If it had a melody, would it sound happy or sad, or something else? Anita Mui sang the evocative “A Life Written in Water” in a 1984 Hong Kong movie called “Homecoming.” Anita was a superstar [...]
Teresa Teng, Deng Lijun, 邓丽君 When I arrived in Harbin, China in 2004 to teach English, I wanted to learn at least a little Mandarin. Since music helps me a lot with other languages, I asked my friend Liyi for help. "Who can I listen to who sings Mandarin clearly and also [...]
To my present and future friends the world over Xīn Nián Kuài Lè (新年快乐), Happy New Year! May 2014 be a year of many blessings for you all, and may the dreams of your heart come true! "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the [...]
Photo by Steve Jurvetson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/6976736114) “The light that shone off her eyes was a place I could have stayed forever. In that moment we weren't our American selves. We weren't our Chinese selves. We were just mortals sitting together in that light that keeps us here. I want to dwell in that light [...]
Music plays a central role in my story—songs I was introduced to in China that helped me in my healing journey. Some of the songs were popular at their respective times; some of the other Chinese music features traditional Chinese instruments and folk melodies. Some Western songs, too, played their part in my healing, classics [...]
