I’m now feeding the blog I write for Orchestrall into this page on my site. If you click on any of the posts you’ll end up at the blog page within the Orchestrall site, and if you’d like to subscribe you can do it there. Different flavor, you’ll see!

So much more to say about the trip, but for now back to the book. In the last “book” post, I introduced “cultural models” in the context of a discussion about whether a hypothetical “Tom” should join a rock band or go to college. Here we’ll look at some actual linguistic data. An excerpt from [...]

We’re back. What an adventure. Much to share. At the moment I’m kicking myself a bit for not having my audio recorder running while out and about. Year after year one of the running jokes among China-weary expats I’ve known has been about the decibel level everywhere you go in China, or at least urban [...]

A year ago almost to the day I posted this to the blog. In it I describe some of the rewards of working with young people in a challenging intercultural context. Tomorrow I’m off to Beijing to rejoin the YingHua Summer Language and Leadership Institute for another go-round. What’s new this year is that my [...]

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c

Four years ago, while still living in Beijing, I began writing a book about my family’s experiences driving the Mazda around Beijing with California license plates for two and a half years without being pulled over. I have recently taken the project back up. In this blog over the coming months I’ll be posting pieces [...]

I am now blogging for Orchestrall. Here is the link. Different topics, different style, all in service of making those trans-Pacific ties ever stronger. I’d love your feedback. Please email me here.

A bit late coming, but here it is: I am now working full-time as VP, Communications & Marketing at Orchestrall, Inc. It’s an exciting new company, and for me a thrilling opportunity to help build something from the ground up — something that promises to bring the U.S. and China closer, which if you’ve followed [...]

My apologies to one and all for being absent for so long. I’ve been in a significant professional transition for a while now, which will continue through the Holidays. Early in the New Year I’ll have more about what’s coming next. Meanwhile Happy Holidays to all who celebrate them!

On some level I have no right to complain about what I complained about in yesterday’s post. When I first went to China at 23, I was a roiling mess of self-righteous “concern” for China in its failure to be exactly like the U.S. It’s taken almost 20 years of learning for me to nuance [...]