December 15, 2021

Waking up my Glutes (Part 2) - Yoga

Why write a long narrative history of my hip pain, going back to the beginning? Because I think it is an interesting case study in how difficult it

December 14, 2021

Waking up my Glutes (Part 1)

For about a week now I’ve been able to do two things that I haven’t been able to do in a very long time: sleep through the night without

December 12, 2021

Jai Bhim

Some thoughts on the 2021 Tamil film 《Jai Bhim》- available on Amazon Prime. Link to Twitter Thread The film is based on an actual court case from

December 4, 2021

The politics of cynicism

I’ve been thinking a lot about “trust.” Without trust we approach everything with cynicism. But it is not possible to have society if we approach

November 26, 2021

Five tips for managing pain

If you are over thirty five and spend a lot of your day sitting at a computer, it is a pretty safe bet that you are in pain. Maybe it is only when

November 22, 2021

Realistic Plans for Grad School

Yesterday I wrote about my conversations with students about academic careers. Today I wanted to share some of the advice I give them in an effort

November 21, 2021

Clear thinking about pursuing an academic career

I’m regularly contacted by random young scholars who want to chat with me about pursuing graduate study related to Taiwan: either studying in

November 8, 2021

On Indigenous Sovereignty and Human Origins

A common attack against Indigenous sovereignty claims is that Indigenous peoples themselves must have come from somewhere else in the past. (After

September 25, 2021

Seeing Seqalu through Outcasts of Empire

For today’s #TaiwanStudies thread I will be doing something a bit different. Rather than doing a book report on Paul Barclay’s 《Outcasts of Empire》,

September 6, 2021

Thoughts on Queer Kinship

Today’s #TaiwanStudies thread is about the book 《Queer Kinship and Family Change in Taiwan》 by Amy Brainer. (Link to Twitter thread.) This is not

September 2, 2021

Thoughts on Sajiao

Today’s #TaiwanStudies Twitter thread is a discussion of @sydney_yueh’s 《Identity Politics and Popular Culture in Taiwan: A Sajiao Generation》.

November 4, 2019

Online Banking, a One Act Play

Me: [Trying to do online banking] Citibank: We need to verify that you are you. Me: OK, here is my phone number Citibank: … Me: OK, that isn’t