From Writer to Writer

It's my birthday week--I have resolved to start on the day before (especially here in North America, because I was born in Malaysia, so my birthday is always 12 hours behind here!) and celebrate it all the way to the end of the week. This started sometime in my late 20s, because the surprise that I am still alive past the age of 21 somehow doesn't lift. I'm always a little outside my body at this time of year: how did I make it this far? In my teens I was convinced I would be dead by now, because at that age I simply couldn't see past 21. 

Yet here I am. Part of a small family of writers and readers, with friends who are delightful and creative and kind and sweet. Among this family's ranks is S. Qiouyi Lu, who I met on the Tumblr, and who has since blossomed into a wonderful poet! Their poem "Meat Bone Tea," based on the legendary bak kut teh soup I've made for the both of us on the occasion of their being back in California, was recently published by Uncanny Magazine. It is a wonderful meditation on the landscapes of food, its visual delight and the emotional weight that feeding another person carries. Cooking for someone else, a sit-down meal, a beloved recipe, a kind of comfort food borne of generations of experimenting with handy herbs, is one of the best acts in the world. 

I'm so happy for Qiouyi on their latest publication! Perfect addition to my birthday week celebrations! They are so talented and I look forward to more of their work, and you should, too. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Race in Cartoons

So I was moseying on to work this morning when I started hearing the theme song to 6teen in my head, and I was reminiscing on the time I used to have cable TV and I watched cartoons and the SciFi channel just about incessantly (okay, I also watched TLC). 6teen was an interesting show to me. The basic premise is that of six teens who hang out at a fancy lemonade stall one of them works at, and it follows their trials and travails as they figure out how to get by on their own, holding their jobs (or not) and how they work through their problems. It also happens to follow a very smart comedy formula, with multiple storyarcs within a single episode. The creators did a good job realizing that yes, a younger audience could indeed appreciate smart shows. The characters, being cartoon characters in themselves, are not exactly what one might call nuanced, but the creators certainly did try to explore different aspects of their characters. Jen, for example, works in the sporting goods store. She
Read more

My Pidgin Does Not Signify Lack Of Intellect

I recently received in my inbox an email from my father, who likes to forward me a lot of things that he thinks will interest me. Except of course, he never really realizes just how easily antsy I can get, and how willing I am to pick apart an article. (I used to hit Reply to All whenever he'd send me an email to let all and sundry know what I thought and all the problems with whatever he sent me, so now he wisely BCCs people instead.) This article was about Miss Singapore, and I can't find the original article, but hree's another one about the same issue . While at the Miss World pageant in South Africa, she inadvertently slipped into speaking Singlish, the Singaporean creole that mixes English, Malay, Chinese and god knows what else. And this was a huge fucking deal because apparently, all beauty queens must be able to speak perfect English, the standard of which is probably set by the English-speaking world that is the UK and North America, I guess. And because Miss S
Read more

May 13 Blogswarm Links Post

This is where all Malaysians and residents of Malaysia are welcome to leave links to their participation in the May 13 Blogswarm. For more information, check out LiveJournal and Facebook . Comments Policy:  Please note that moderation is turned on for comments older than 7 days. I try to check in regularly, but this may be hard as I will be traveling. Do not use this place to debate what others have said. If you do and you crash my site in due process, I'll get very irritated at you. That shit is rude. Don't do it. 
Read more