Ep 304 | Our Conversation on The Translator's Daughter A Debut Memoir by Author Grace Loh Prasad

Grace Loh Prasad’s debut memoir, is The Translator’s Daughter. I spoke with her about how she started off writing it and how it evolved over the two decades it took to write it. Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/a-conversation-on-the-translators-daughter-a-debut-memoir-by-author-grace-loh-prasad-ep-304/ A lot can happen in two decades. One by one Grace started losing her family members- her brother, mother and father. Her memoir is very much about loss, not just the loss that Grace experienced of her family members, but also her lost connection to Taiwan. When Grace was just two years old her family left Taiwan and moved to the U.S. and then Hong Kong. Her parents didn’t return to Taiwan until Grace was in college in California. I found the book moving and appreciated how Grace was able to take her grief and personal experiences and put them into this beautifully written book. If you’d like to hear Grace reading an excerpt from The Translator’s Daughter, check out the episode right before this one, episode 303.   Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode: ·   What motivated Grace to start writing her memoir ·   How the memoir evolved and changed over the twenty years it took to write and complete it ·   What changed in her life during those two decades ·   How Grace lost her brother to cancer, her mother to Alzheimer’s and father to Parkinson’s ·   The challenge of maintaining a connection with Taiwan and relatives there due to language barriers ·   The unconventional style of the book which is a mix of narrative chapters and essays ·   Grace’s writing process and how she put the book together ·   What Grace learned in the process of writing the book ·   How her family’s migrations due to her father’s work affected Grace and her brother Ted ·   How to find belonging in a place that you don’t intend to stay ·   How Grace feels about being a third culture kid ·   How much of the writing in the book comes from Grace’s diary entries ·   What Grace left out of the book ·   People who have reached out to Grace about her book because they knew her father and his work translating the Bible ·   Grace reflects on her father’s education and career compared to her own ·   How Grace’s family’s story doesn’t fit the typical immigrant or model minority story ·   The op ed Grace wrote about Taiwan’s 2000 presidential election ·   How important Taiwanese Americans have been in highlighting issues in Taiwan ·   How Taiwan is excluded from international organizations and events like the UN, WHO, Olympics ·   The authors and books that have influenced Grace ·   How her book touches on mythology, film, music, and art ·   Her family’s connection to the Thornberries and Milo Thornberry who wrote Fireproof Moth: A Missionary in Taiwan’s White Terror ·   Grace’s advice for someone struggling with writing their first book ·   Feedback and reactions that Grace has gotten to the book ·   How it’s worthwhile to make the effort to pass on specific things from one’s culture or family to children or the next generation   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/a-conversation-on-the-translators-daughter-a-debut-memoir-by-author-grace-loh-prasad-ep-304/

For the first episode of 2025, we’ve decided to share an excerpt from The Translator’s Daughter, a personal memoir written by Grace Loh Prasad. Related Links:  https://talkingtaiwan.com/an-excerpt-from-the-translators-daughter-by-grace-loh-prasad-ep-303/ The book opens on the eve of the Lunar New Year in February of 2000 and so it seems like the right time of year to be sharing this as we approach another Lunar New, the Year of the Snake. Here’s a taste of The Translator’s Daughter read by its author, Grace Loh Prasad, to pique your interest before we release our interview with Grace in the next episode of Talking Taiwan.   Related Links:  https://talkingtaiwan.com/an-excerpt-from-the-translators-daughter-by-grace-loh-prasad-ep-303/

Here’s our 2024 Top 5 Award Winners. 2024 was an eventful year! Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/talking-taiwan-2024-top-5-award-winners-end-of-year-end-of-year-review-ep-302/ In January we headed to Taiwan to cover the Presidential election, thanks to the generous support of donors. While we were there, we covered the election from Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung. We were also able to hold two in-person podcast events where we met several of our Taiwan-based podcast guests in person for the very first time. In May we were shortlisted in the International Women’s Podcast Awards Moment of Visionary Leadership category.   Then in July we brought Talking Taiwan to the 53rd annual Taiwanese American Conference East Coast (TAC-EC) where we created an on-location podcast studio and conducted 12 interviews in 3 days. We are grateful to have interviewed many of TAC-EC’s wonderful speakers. And it we had the honor of interviewing Taiwan’s former Vice President Dr. Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) who is best known for his excellent handling of the COVID pandemic in Taiwan. After speaking with him I came away thinking that the world would be a much better place if we had more politicians like Dr. Chen. We’ll be giving first listening access to this and other select interviews to anyone donating $50 or more to Talking Taiwan.   We never know what episodes are going to make the top 5 of the year and in this episode you’ll hear the story behind number 1 episode of 2024.   2024 marked a big change in the way we do things. Previously nearly all of our interviews were done remotely, but in 2024, we did a number of interviews in person, most notably the one with Dr. Linda Gail Arrigo that got shortlisted in the International Women’s Podcast Awards Moment of Visionary Leadership category.   We will be incorporating more in person interviews in 2025, and Talking Taiwan will be embarking on a North American Tour taking the podcast to communities on the East Coast, West Coast and Canada. In July we will be returning to the Taiwanese American Conference East Coast, and then heading to the Taiwanese American Conference on the West Coast in San Francisco. Later on in the year we will also head north to Taiwanfest in Toronto, Canada.   Your donation can help make all of this happen. Right now It’s a great time to make a contribution because all contributions made will be doubled. The first $11k we raise will be doubled thanks to our generous matching donors. To support Talking Taiwan you can make donation by PayPal or Zelle using our email address [email protected] or Venmo @talkingtaiwan. You can also send us a check at our PO box that you’ll find on our website talkingtaiwan.com/support.    Thank you for listening. Wishing you a Happy New Year in 2025 and beyond!   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/talking-taiwan-2024-top-5-award-winners-end-of-year-end-of-year-review-ep-302/

In this episode of Talking Taiwan, I started off speaking with Taiwanese American documentary filmmaker Hsuan Yu Pan about how she got interested in documentary filmmaking. As we talked about her films, we covered a broad range of topics from the COVID-19 pandemic to parallels between the 2017 travel bans that barred people from seven Muslim majority countries from entering the U.S. and internment of Japanese Americans in the1940s. Time and time again entire groups of people have been targeted and blamed groups.   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/documentary-films-on-the-pandemic-immigration-and-human-rights-issues-our-talk-with-taiwanese-american-filmmaker-hsuan-yu-pan-ep-301/   This led us back to the pandemic and recalling the high incidence of Asian hate that happened at that time. Her current film project Hear, Eat, Home touches on many of these topics including the Syrian Revolution and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. After speaking to Hsuan Yu I get the sense that through her documentary filmmaking she wishes to create understanding so that history doesn’t repeat itself and to foster more empathy in the world.  Below in the Related Links section is a link where you can support and watch a work in progress version of Hsuan Yu’s film Hear, Eat, Home.   Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode: Hsuan Yu’s upbringing and how she initially had aspirations to be a visual artist How Hsuan Yu got interested in documentary filmmaking How Hsuan Yu’s early experiences editing wedding videos taught her how to use video footage to tell a story How her work at Bric TV taught her how to find stories How she came up with the concept for her documentary film Alone Together that was shot during the pandemic How footage for Alone Together was gathered and planned How Alone Together featured footage from 11 different countries What Hsuan Yu learned from making the film Alone Together Hsuan Yu views her filmmaking as being about telling people’s stories How she met the Taiwanese puppeteer, Mr. Tsai who is the subject of her documentary film project I, Puppet How Hsuan Yu was able to encourage Mr. Tsai to do some impromptu puppetry in New York’s Washington Square Park How Mr. Tsai attended a Puppet Slam event in Coney Island, NY and brought the puppet slam concept back to his puppet museum in Taipei, Taiwan The relationship between Mr. Tsai and his father who is also a puppeteer How and why Mr. Tsai’s parents didn’t want him to become a puppeteer What Hsuan Yu loves about making documentaries Her documentary film project Hear, Eat, Home How two of the subjects of the film Hear, Eat, Home, Kinan Azmeh and Kevork Mourad are members of Yo-yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble How the internment of Japanese Americans and the travel bans of 2017 (aka Muslim bans) are examples of how the U.S. government has labeled certain groups of people as a threat and discriminated against them How Kinan Azmeh was affected by the travel bans of 2017 (aka Muslim bans) How different groups have been blamed such as the Japanese Americans, Muslim Americans and Asian American How as a documentary filmmaker Hsuan Yu feels that sne should document history so that people can learn from history Kevork Mourad’s background and family story What the film Hear, Eat, Home is about Hear Eat Home tells the story of Syrians, Japanese Americans and Ukrainians What Hsuan Yu believes makes a good documentary How Hsuan Yu was trying to finish working on Hear, Eat, Home in 2020, but she wasn’t satified with it When the Russian invasion of Ukraine happened in 2022 Hsuan Yu felt that she should include stories of her Ukrainian friends in to the film Hear, Eat, Home Hsuan Yu plans to complete Hear, Eat, Home me next year Hear Eat Home is available for view as a work in progress until January 5th Anyone wishing to support the completion of Hsuan Yu’s film Hear, Eat, Home can make a donation on the link provided on TalkingTaiwan.com for this episode   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/documentary-films-on-the-pandemic-immigration-and-human-rights-issues-our-talk-with-taiwanese-american-filmmaker-hsuan-yu-pan-ep-301/

NATWA (the North America Taiwanese Women's Association) has been around since 1988 and for this episode about NATWA I interviewed Elena Ling, one of NATWA’s founding members, Hui-Na Lin, a past NATWA national president, Susan Liao, two-time president of NATWA’s Toronto chapter, and Sue Kuo NATWA’s current vice president and president elect for 2025. It is impossible to properly acknowledge the unique contributions of each NATWA national president, or all of NATWA’s board and committee members, NATWA’s supporters, donors, and countless others who have made NATWA what it is. Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/the-history-of-natwa-unique-contributions-by-three-national-presidents-ep-300/     As I reflect on this, I’d like to share a poetic analogy that Hui-Na Lin, 2022-2023 NATWA national president shared with me to describe the essence of NATWA. It’s from a short story she wrote “Fly Together Over Mountains” which she told me was inspired by the Canadian geese’s migration down south for the winter each year. A single goose could not make the trip as efficiently alone. Several geese fly together as a group in a V formation. There is one bird that leads the group initially, but when the lead bird gets tired, it moves to the back for a rest, and another bird takes the lead. The birds all take turns leading the group to their final destination. Like the Canadian geese NATWA’s members work together to support each other in turn. It’s not about one single leader.     As you listen to this episode you’ll learn more about how NATWA meets its five point mission statement which is: 1. to evoke a sense of self-esteem and enhance women's dignity, 2. to oppose gender discrimination and promote gender equality, 3. to fully develop women's potential and encourage their participation in public affairs, 4. to contribute to the advancement of human rights and democratic development in Taiwan, 5. to reach out and work with women's organizations worldwide to promote peace for all.   Special Thanks to Elena Ling and Alvina Ling for providing useful details about NATWA’s formation and history for this episode. And a very special thank you to NATWA and its members for all of the encouragement and support that you’ve given to our two-person team here at Talking Taiwan. Thank you for making our work possible.   Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:   How and why NATWA (the North America Taiwanese Women's Association) was founded Annette Lu’s (former Vice President of Taiwan) connection to NATWA How Annette Lu was one of the Kaohsiung Eight (one of eight people arrested as a result of the Kaohsiung aka Formosa incident) The first meeting with the 30 founding members of NATWA How NATWA has a President-elect who serves as Vice President the year before becoming President How NATWA started off as a national organization The early formation of NATWA How progressive it was at the time to form NATWA How NATWA has grown from 30 to 1,000 members How NATWA became a 501(c)(3) organization How NATWA has 2 major events a year, an annual convention (in April) and a mid-year leadership meeting (in October) The impact that NATWA has made in the lives of its members How Hui-Na Lin and Susan Liao got involved in NATWA initially and later took on leadership roles in the organization NATWA’s early struggles in attracting members due to pressure from Taiwan’s Kuomintang (KMT) government at the time NATWA’s early successful fundraising efforts Why NATWA avoided accepting any government funding NATWA’s early successful projects NATWA’s charitable fundraising efforts How NATWA’s members are aging How NATWA’s membership and programs grew during the pandemic What made NATWA’s WebEx programs during the pandemic successful What types of WebEx programs NATWA offered during the pandemic Major activities organized by NATWA Toronto The first NATWA event that Felicia Lin, the host of Talking Taiwan was invited to attend How Hui-Na and her team got NATWA’s members to attend the first in-person mid-year meeting and annual conventions that took place after restrictions on COVID were eased How NATWA addresses women’s issues and promotes women’s dignity The formation of NATWA II an organization for second generation Taiwanese American women Questions about the future direction of NATWA What Elena, Hui-Na and Susan have each gotten out of their involvement with NATWA   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/the-history-of-natwa-unique-contributions-by-three-national-presidents-ep-300/

After hearing about Team Taiwan’s historic gold medal baseball win at the Premier 12 on November 24th I reached out to Richard Wang who I previously interviewed in 2020 about how Taiwan was the only place on the planet where professional baseball was being played during the COVID pandemic and since the entire world was watching, it led to English broadcasts of Taiwan’s baseball games. Related Link: https://talkingtaiwan.com/team-taiwans-historic-gold-medal-baseball-win-our-conversation-with-richard-wang-ep-299/ Well, it turns out that Richard was at the Tokyo Dome for Premier 12 and even had the honor of calling out all the names of Team Taiwan’s players as they were awarded their gold medals. In the spirit of Giving Tuesday, which was on December 3rd, I thought it would be fun to celebrate Team Taiwan’s win by inviting others to be “in the audience” during my online interview with Richard, so I put out the word on social media. Special thanks to all those who attended the online event on such short notice. Related Link: https://talkingtaiwan.com/team-taiwans-historic-gold-medal-baseball-win-our-conversation-with-richard-wang-ep-299/

In July we brought Talking Taiwan to the 53rd annual Taiwanese American Conference, East Coast (aka TAC-EC) at West Chester University where we set up an on-location podcast studio and I interviewed 12 people in 3 days. It was pretty nonstop but it was well worth it. One thing we strive to do with Talking Taiwan is to record oral histories, so it was my pleasure to sit down with several of TAC-EC’s past organizers to talk about the conference’s history.   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/oral-histories-by-three-tac-ec-past-organizers-talking-with-terry-tsao-sue-mei-kao-and-powen-wang-ep-298/   First, I spoke with Powen Wang aka Ong Po-bun (王博文), who told me about how TAC started out as a summer retreat for Christian families in 1970 and later evolved into a conference for the entire Taiwanese American community. At the time Taiwan was under Chiang Kai-shek’s Chinese Nationalists authoritarian regime, and Pok-wen recounts how the Chinese Nationalists (KMT) tried to interfere with TAC in those early years.   I also spoke with past TAC organizers Su-Mei Kao, and Shih-Chieh or Terry Tsao.   TAC is a conference with a 50 year plus long history and its programs have covered diverse issues impacting Taiwanese Americans, including human rights in Taiwan, and momentous social, historical, political events related to Taiwan and their implications.   About TAC-EC:   The first Taiwanese American Conference East Coast (TACEC) was held in 1970 in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. It was a summer retreat for the area's Christian families but has turned into an event for the entire Taiwanese American community. Over the years, the conference has expanded its programs to encompass diverse issues impacting Taiwanese Americans, including human rights in Taiwan, and momentous social, historical, political events and their implications. TACEC invites Taiwanese and Taiwanese Americans from diverse professional backgrounds to share their experiences. The number of participants has steadily grown, numbering over 2,000 in the late 80s and 90s.   TAC-EC is hosted by Taiwanese Communities in four different regions: New York, New Jersey, Washington and Philadelphia (including south Jersey and Delaware). Each region is currently on a four-year rotation and takes turns chairing the TACEC board that oversees the operation of TAC-EC.   The conference today draws about 600 - 800 participants annually, with the majority being first generation Taiwanese Americans. Many second generation Taiwanese Americans who now have children have eagerly expressed interests in developing TAC-EC programs for their children and re-engage their peers who were past participants.     TAC-EC’s MISSION:   To stimulate public interest in the cultural, religious, educational, socioeconomic and other activities of Taiwanese/Taiwanese Americans To pass down Taiwanese cultural and religious heritage in the Taiwanese Americans community To facilitate exchanges among Taiwanese Americans organizations, and to foster exchange, mutual support and collaboration between Taiwanese American organizations and Taiwanese or other ethnic groups’ organizations To organize an annual conference or workshops of various topics about current affairs and future development of the United States and Taiwan   This episode is sponsored in part by the Taiwanese American Council of Greater New York.   Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode: Powen Wang aka Ong Po-bun (王博文), an early participant and organizer of TAC-EC talks about how he got involved in TAC-EC, the formation of TAC-EC, and its early years How the conference started as a Christian summer camp and then the Formosan Club (aka Taiwanese Association) joined What caused a split between the Christians and Formosan Club The year Powen Wang aka Ong Po-bun (王博文) organized the conference (1989) How TAC-EC has evolved from the 1970s to 2013 The formation of TANG (Taiwanese American Next Generation) Su-Mei Kao, organizer of TAC-EC in 2015 talked about her experiences organizing the conferences and how changes were made to create more interaction and shared events between TAC-EC and TANG attendees The speakers and topics covered at TAC-EC 2015 How Su-Mei Kao had attended TAC in the southern region before TAC on the East Coast and how the conferences in these regions differ Shih-Chieh (Terry) Tsao, organizer of TAC-EC 2023 talked about how he got involved in TAC-EC Shih-Chieh (Terry) talked about the theme of TAC-EC How China reacted to Nancy Pelosi’s (former speaker of the United States House of Representatives) visit to Taiwan in August of 2022 Some of the most memorable speakers that were invited to speak at TAC-EC 2023 How FAPA (Formosan Association for Public Affairs and GTI (Global Taiwan Institute) and WUFI (World United Formosans for Independence) were instrumental in helping to organize TAC-EC 2023 How Shih-Chieh (Terry) hopes that TAC-EC can welcome more participants with a wider spectrum of political leanings on Taiwan Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/oral-histories-by-three-tac-ec-past-organizers-talking-with-terry-tsao-sue-mei-kao-and-powen-wang-ep-298/

Last year in August of 2023 I interviewed Dr. Jung Tsai about the medical mission to Ukraine that he had organized. If you haven’t already had a chance to hear my first interview with Dr. Tsai about his medical mission to Ukraine, check out Episode 251: Dr. Jung Tsai: On His Courageous Medical Mission to Ukraine for Taiwan.   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/aftermath-of-his-medical-mission-to-ukraine-one-year-later-dr-jung-tsai-ep-297/   This past July we took Talking Taiwan on the road to the 53rd annual Taiwanese American Conference, East Coast that was held at Westchester University. And we set up an on-location podcast studio there. Dr. Tsai was one of the speakers at TAC, so nearly a year after his return, we sat down with him to hear how his medical mission went.   This episode is sponsored in part by the Taiwanese American Council of Greater New York.   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/aftermath-of-his-medical-mission-to-ukraine-one-year-later-dr-jung-tsai-ep-297/

Since 2020 Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense has been reporting the number of incursions China makes by sea and air into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone. These incursions now happen on a daily basis and already the tally for this year alone has surpassed the total number of occurrences that took place last year in 2023.   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/psychological-defense-and-practices-to-manage-stress-for-the-people-of-taiwan-a-talk-with-dr-hsiao-wen-lo-ep-296/   Recently, on October 14th, just days after President Lai Ching-te’s Double Ten Day speech, China’s military initiated the "Joint Sword-2024B" drills, a simulated blockade which took place in the Taiwan Strait and areas to the north, south and east of Taiwan. According to Taiwan’s MND, a record number of 153 Chinese military aircraft were detected around Taiwan within a 25-hour period.   We’ve previously discussed China’s gray zone military tactics and civil defense preparedness, on this podcast, but just as important is something called psychological defense.   In July we brought Talking Taiwan to the 53rd annual Taiwanese American Conference, East Coast that was held at West Chester University. I sat down with Dr. Hsiao-Wen Lo (駱筱雯) who spoke at the conference about Psychological Defense for the People of Taiwan.   We also got into a discussion about the related topics of trauma and practices to manage stress and maintain good mental health.   This episode is sponsored in part by the Taiwanese American Council of Greater New York.   Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode: ·   How Dr. Lo got interested in psychological defense ·   What is psychological defense ·   The importance of the mind-body connection ·   Types of trauma: psychological trauma, generational trauma, collective trauma ·   What is psychological warfare ·   The Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s psychological warfare tactics ·   The impact of long-term stress ·   Post traumatic growth ·   Fight or Flight states ·   Strategies to deal with stress ·   The erasure of Taiwan by China   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/psychological-defense-and-practices-to-manage-stress-for-the-people-of-taiwan-a-talk-with-dr-hsiao-wen-lo-ep-296/

In July we took the show on the road bringing Talking Taiwan to the 53rd annual Taiwanese American Conference, East Coast that was held at West Chester University. I sat down and spoke with New Taipei City Councilor Chen Nai-Yu (陳乃瑜市議員). We spoke about how she went from being a journalist to a politician, working on Lai Ching-te’s presidential campaign, and the controversial bills that got passed in Taiwan’s legislature in May and that led to massive protests and the Bluebird Movement.    Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/counselor-chen-of-new-taipei-city-talks-about-her-political-career-and-the-controversial-bills-passed-by-taiwans-legislature-ep-295/   Special thanks to Bill Wu who sat in on the interview to provide translation assistance to City Councilor Chen, and to Anmy Lee for additional research and translation assistance.   This episode is sponsored in part by the Taiwanese American Council of Greater New York.   Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode: ·          How Naiyu went from working as a journalist for 14 years to becoming a politician ·          Issues she’s focused on as a City Councilor ·          Anti-Han Kuo-yu rally in Kaohsiung ·          Naiyu’s work as a journalist ·          How her experience as a journalist prepared her to be a politician ·          The challenges she faced in working on Lai Ching-te’s presidential campaign ·          Cases of state-owned land on which people built personal mansions ·          The different communication styles and approaches to social media use of Lai Ching-te and Ko Wen-je ·          What Naiyu has to say about President Lai Ching-te’s personality and character ·          What could happen with the controversial bills that led to the Bluebird movement protests in Taiwan in May ·          Cases of ill-gotten assets and how the handling of ill-gotten assets could be reversed ·          Naiyu’s observations of the Bluebird movement ·          The most rewarding thing about being a City Councilor   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/counselor-chen-of-new-taipei-city-talks-about-her-political-career-and-the-controversial-bills-passed-by-taiwans-legislature-ep-295/