painting by Nicki Chen I understood why my kids liked Sesame Street when they were young. Sesame Street was fun. But why were they so entranced with “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood”? Why did they sit for thirty minutes five days a week watching a soft-spoken man in a...
A Little Story about Dogs, and Cats … and Bombs
They wake up to the sound of bombs. Jump out of bed. They should huddle inside the bathtub, right? Or in the hallway. But, no. The bombs are close, and they’re enormous, large enough to destroy the entire building. We'll go into the subway tunnels, they decide. We can...
Cats and Feng Shui, a Guest Post by Ruth Silbermayr
batik by Nicki Chen Ruth Silbermayr started her blog chinaelevatorstories after moving to China in 2012. Currently she lives and writes in Austria. Below you can read an example of one of her recent posts: Chinese Feng Shui and Cats by Ruth Silbermayr I am not very...
Hearing again from Ruth
I’m talking about Ruth Silbermayr of the blog, China Elevator Stories. She’s a writer and blogger I met online in about 2014. I started my blog in August of 2013 when I was getting ready to publish my first novel, Tiger Tail Soup, a novel of China at War. My blog...
Courage–A Virtue for 2025
"Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others."- Robert Louis Stevenson climbing wall I didn’t make any New Year’s resolutions this year. I didn’t resolve to eat fewer sweets and more veggies or to exercise more or clean out the cupboard--although...
A Time for Everything
One of President John F. Kennedy’s favorite bible verses was from the Book of Ecclesiastes. It begins like this: “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and a...
Old Friendships & Christmas Cards
Movin’ On: When Lee, my fifth-grade boyfriend, moved, we didn’t think to exchange addresses. He was gone. That was that. When I graduated from high school, I assumed I’d see my high school friends again—as long as they came back home for the summer or attended our...
Satisfying Story Endings, Fictional & Real
In the evening, I often watch a drama on TV. Yesterday it was Law & Order--not for the violence. No. I watched it, because I knew that by the end of the hour, the mystery of who committed the crime would be solved. They would be caught and found guilty and Justice...
