A revered professor. From our days of college pressures and living free, before the world you know tries its level … More
Category: Education
The Filmmaker
He’d switched from champagne to beer. He’d disappeared from the reception down in the main ballroom, and I’d decided to … More
Example
“So, I read your papers,” said Mr. Yang. “How many times do I have to tell you, folks, never to … More
Recognition
Dreaming, he recollected the building as his old high school.Floating on air, he was transported into a classroom there.On the … More
Traditional Change
It’s billed as A Match Made in Heaven, a revered traditional Korean love storycarried down from a bygone age to … More
Haven’t you learned anything? she says
What is it you see out there? What do you hear? My woman standing at the window staring out into the … More
Land of English Only
I was born in a land of English speakers,where parents believed speaking Englishwas the key to success. My father was … More
Learning This Right Now
No need to save anything on a board anymore, black or white, ephemeral chalk or marker. I’ve seen it in … More
Wrong
I stared at the block of numbers on the board. I recognized all of them; I could count. I did … More
After All
I teach composition at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.I choose to spend as little time in my office as … More
Race
In Hawai‘i, my Korean half dominates my look, so I blendin with the majority, no one can even tell I’m … More
Mind Your Frickin Manners
Lots of times you don’t know if it’s a joke with Dave or not. If you survey all us folks … More
The Sharpest Knife
Never mind the bloody footprint track his right boot made for the first few steps. Nobody is 100% perfect. But truly, … More
Strong Women
She was having a hard time going to sleep, maybe fear of the dark and all those kinds of trauma … More
NaNoWriMo: More About That Later, Chapter 24, All’s Well That Ends
1977. It’s mostly a blur. Sometimes when I try to recall the events of that year, it seems as if it were … More
NaNoWriMo: More About That Later, Chapter 23, A Tale of Mad City
My first semester at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, definitely had its best of times and worst of times split … More
NaNoWriMo: More About That Later, Chapter 20, I Draw the Line
I was maybe 15 minutes late. I ran up the stairs to the 3rd floor of George Hall and popped in the … More
NaNoWriMo: More About That Later, Chapter 19, Ah yes, I remember it well
The line was incredibly long. We stood in the dark, many of us smoking because none of us knew about secondhand … More
NaNoWriMo: More About That Later, Chapter 17, The Man from Maui
Ho! I bet you thought when I said I’d write about that other important 11th-Grade teacher later, you were wondering how … More
NaNoWriMo: More About That Later, Chapter 16, The Man from the North
My junior year in high-school was one of those amazing years, the kind of year that does not come around … More