Archive
風城印象
在八月中前往美國之前，我待在終年受海風吹拂的臺灣島上二十餘年。從大學入學到研究所畢業後的那段期間，我住在臺北城裡，花了三分之一的人生摸索與搏鬥。和生活搏鬥，也和自己。有時候覺得已經知道自己要的是什麼，但是困惑總是一而再再而三地回來。所以無論何時，我總是在包包裡放著一把傘。既然不知道什麼時候放晴，什麼時候會下雨，那麼確保能在雨滴落下時打傘撐著，總是不那麼狼狽一些。
Notes from a Sufi Shrine in Sindh, Pakistan
The heat of the day had receded as we walked into the shrine after ‘isha, the final evening prayers. The marble ground felt cool to our bare feet when we took off our sandals and went in. There was no guard at the gate, no shoe-keeping stand, and people
Conversations: Names, Mingling, and Speaking Up
When I first arrived here in the United States to pursue graduate studies, I not only noticed the language difference, but also the unfamiliar conversation conventions. I realized that many conversations here operate according to a different communication style than what I was used to back home. Here
My Reflections
Taiwan is a welcoming, multicultural environment offering wonderful opportunities to international scholars. I have known Taiwan for 30 years, having first come at age 28 to teach English for a summer at the Tainan YMCA, and returning a year later for Chinese language study at the Stanford Center
On Shamanism, Positivism, and Shifting One’s Frame of Reference
An important skill that I have adopted for living overseas in a different culture is shifting my frame of reference to accommodate new experiences or ideas. Living in Taiwan for the last six months has certainly challenged me to do so in refreshingly unexpected ways. Since new
Seeing the Coral for the Reef
According to research by the Kenting National Park (KNP), more than 80% of Taiwanese people will visit the park at some point in their life, and of those, 70% will go to one of the park’s coral areas. Over 400,000 international and domestic tourists visit the area each
Mathematical Modeling: The Formosan Landlocked Salmon
In recent decades, dam removal has become a frequently-used strategy for restoring natural stream habitats because dams deteriorate river channels and often lead to decreased diversity of species. Taiwan has many short and steep rivers in the high mountains, where strong rainfall creates high water velocity. As a result, the
Robert Anthony Siegel: An American Novelist in Taiwan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7p2201fvRI Robert Anthony Siegel is an associate professor in the Department of Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. He is the author of two novels, All the Money in the World and All Will Be Revealed. His awards include O. Henry and Pushcart Prizes, and fellowships from the
This Invitation
“It began with an invitation from the Fulbright Program to spend a year in Taiwan and now an invitation for the audience to enter into the choreographer’s world: an invitation to dream, to wonder, to be innocent, to feel pain…to sacrifice, learn, re-learn, let go…to die, to live…” Created as
Smart Sensors for Safer Bridges: An International Collaborative Effort
Bridge Scour The erosion of soil, sand, and riverbed materials near bridge foundations due to flowing water (or wind in some cases) is a phenomenon known as bridge scour. Despite our awareness of its occurrence, bridge scour remains one of the deadliest causes of overwater bridge failures worldwide,
