I was born in a land of English speakers,where parents believed speaking Englishwas the key to success. My father was … More
Tag: #Education
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 … 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
NaNoWriMo: More About That Later, Chapter 14, A Petty Pace
I know this may be hard to believe, but there was a time once, many moons ago, when English majors … More
NaNoWriMo: More About That Later, Chapter 8, To Read or Not To Read
I’ve always felt that there are some books I love so much that I keep coming back to them despite … More
NaNoWriMo: More About That Later, Chapter 7, The Good Old Summertime
If I’d been the right age to have experienced those long summer breaks of my childhood, where I’d have two-and-a-half … More
NaNoWriMo: More About That Later, Chapter 6, Like Riding a Bike
One October when I was living in Madison, I agreed to housesit for some friends who were headed out of … More
On the Edge
We approach the Russian Border traveling from Kirkenes, Norway by boat. In order to come right to the borderline, we … More