Expressing Motherhood show, September/October in Los Angeles
In January 2011 I had the honor of performing a personal essay I’d written in the Expressing Motherhood show in Los Angeles. I’m happy to announce that I will be performing again in the upcoming September and October Expressing Motherhood show. The Expressing Motherhood team has recently launched a blog featuring mothers and creativity, and ...
It was 15 years ago today
The following reminiscence is brought to you by my upcoming anniversary. I’ve just finished writing a draft of a memoir, including some drama from 1997, and remembering that it was (for me, in the end) a very good year: The artists’ residency is nearing the end. With horses and panoramic views outside my writing studio ...
Viva La Scene
This is a photo I snapped on a recent trip to New York. I was staying a few blocks away from the venerable Chelsea Hotel. At the time it seemed too cliché to photograph the Dylan Thomas plaque, but now I wish I had. Coincidentally, I was also reading Just Kids by Patti Smith, which ...
Fight Club of One
Last month I learned how to ski in Canada, at the same place where 12 years earlier I learned to snowboard. In those days, at 30, I suspected I was too old to learn how to do something like ski or snowboard. Still, I put on my helmet and hoped no one would guess my ...
Tales of Marriage and Baggage
Last week I was lucky enough to tell a story at The Moth ”Marriage” show in Santa Monica. I’m not someone who moved to Los Angeles to be an actor, although I love my actor and comedian friends and go to as many of their shows as I can. I don’t really want to be ...
To Live and Drive in LA
I read an article on “mindful eating” the other day in the New York Times. It’s about applying the principles of mindfulness and meditation, being in the moment while eating. I couldn’t figure out whether to laugh or cry, since I practice the exact opposite of mindful eating. This practice of mine is not ...
The Meek Squawk of the Chicken Mother
Much has been written about The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, the book by Yale Law School professor Amy Chua. If you are not a parent, or are not Asian, perhaps you have not heard of it, except possibly from your friends with kids. They probably either hate the book and wish ill to ...
The Big Move (B.M.)
My husband and I lived in the same townhouse for over a decade. The place suited us beautifully for about seven of those years and was too small for the last three, but we loved it. Last fall we moved into a new home, and though we are perpetually nesting (think Hobbits, but less hairy), ...
Of all the dim sum joints in all the world
This weekend we’re taking my mom out for dumplings at a wonderful Taiwanese restaurant in the San Gabriel Valley. It’s quite a schlep out there from West Los Angeles, so we don’t go as often as we would like to. But it’s my mom’s birthday, and she loves Chinese food, so that’s our destination. My ...
Expressing (wanna-be Chinese) motherhood
Since I’ve been on the road a lot this summer, I haven’t had enough time to write. So, in the mean time, here’s a personal story I read at the “Expressing Motherhood” spoken word shows at the Lillian Theatre in Hollywood in January 2011. I told a story about my lame attempt at instilling ...
