Category: Weekly Wanderings
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Weekly Wanderings: October 30, 2024
Thanks for joining me this week. #AsiaNow Author Interview Recommendations China Stories Emily Feng, “An opera troupe in Taiwan is preparing a lavish performance for the gods” The journalist’s report centered on the Franklin County Jail, a three-story, brick structure with six steel cells that had been “properly condemned” by the state commissioner of prisons…
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Weekly Wanderings: October 20, 2024
When I turned 39 in October 2021, I decided that I would celebrate my 40th birthday the following year by finishing the Detroit Half-Marathon. I had done a large number of 5K and 10K races by that point, and practiced yoga since moving to Ann Arbor in 2016, so I felt like a race of…
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Weekly Wanderings: October 13, 2024
What a week. I try to think of everything that’s happened around the world in the past seven days and it feels like a grim verse from “We Didn’t Start the Fire (2024 Version).” I can barely keep up with the news, let alone read in-depth stories about it. And, in some ways, I just…
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Weekly Wanderings: October 6, 2024
In case you missed them, here are the three posts I published last week, covering my September trip to Montana and Yellowstone National Park: Bookshelf: Yellowstone and the West Wanderings: Bozeman and Livingston, Montana Wanderings: Yellowstone National Park I hope October is getting off to a nice start for everyone—go Phils! Thanks for joining me…
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Weekly Wanderings: September 29, 2024
September 28, 2014 marked the start of Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement. While these protests were by no means the first mass activism in Hong Kong agains Beijing’s rule, they captured worldwide attention in a way that previous demonstrations had not. Student movement leaders like Joshua Wong and Nathan Law became media celebrities; photographers and journalists…
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Weekly Wanderings: September 22, 2024
Happy Sunday and happy fall—allegedly, as I am writing this with a fan trained on my face and a glass of ice water at hand. Despite the continuing summer temperatures, there are hints of the season’s impending change: a touch of red and gold on the trees, pumpkin spice everything in stores, the beginning of…
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Weekly Wanderings: September 16, 2024
Keeping it short and simple as I continue catching up after my trip west. Thanks for joining me this week. Recommendations China Stories Laurie Chen, “China wants academic exchange but historians say increased censorship makes research hard” Dalia Parete, “A New Shade of Chinese Feminism” — interview with Ohio University scholar Eva Liu about the…
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Weekly Wanderings: September 11, 2024
I’m heading home from Montana today after more than a week of vacation in the Gallatin Valley and Yellowstone National Park. I’ve posted some photos on Instagram and am working on a write-up of my trip to share here at some point. For the moment, here’s a snippet that I wrote while taking a rest…
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Weekly Wanderings: September 1, 2024
The final train departed Detroit’s Michigan Central Station on January 5, 1988. The Beaux Arts building had been an architectural marvel when it opened 75 years prior—designed by the same firms that had collaborated on Grand Central Terminal and, at 18 stories, the tallest train station in the world at the time. At its peak…
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Weekly Wanderings: August 25, 2024
At 4:00pm this past Friday, I shut down the computer in my office at the Association for Asian Studies and officially started a month-long sabbatical. I like my job very much—I’m fortunate to have found a position that keeps me tied in to academia while also devoting my days to reading, writing, and editing. After…
Maura Elizabeth Cunningham 