With grinning faculty members holding up carefully crafted signs (or just as carefully arranged fruit in Mr. Melton’s case) and backed with cheerful tunes, “A Message for Our Pudong Seniors…” begins. Reminiscent of Love Actually‘s famous note card scene and … Continue reading SAS Pudong High School Faculty addresses senior class with touching video message
Children play on scooters in an empty plaza. April 19, 2020. Continue reading Re-emergence
There is little question that the COVID-19 pandemic has made people more distrustful of one another. In a time when anyone and anything could be a disease carrier, it is difficult to not be suspicious. A visceral manifestation of this distrust is violent xenophobia, expressed in public acts of brutality against Asians: a Singaporean University College London (UCL) student in the streets of London, and even an Asian-American family and child in a Texas supermarket. Such distrust shows when people dub COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus.” It shows when people inside China call it “Wuhan pneumonia” and panic at the … Continue reading A Pandemic’s Crisis of Trust
“Ayn Rand” is a name either avoided like the plague or tossed around in philosophy as a joke. She was introduced to me two years ago, hand in hand with the death throes of capitalism. Put off by her defense … Continue reading Review of “The Fountainhead” and “Anthem” by Ayn Rand
“Mental health-wise, I’m definitely doing well. By now it’s probably the opposite of my usual pre-coronavirus state, because I’m able to take more breaks.” Continue reading Quotidian reflections while in quarantine
With Japan shipping boxes of supplies bearing Chinese poems of harmony and collaboration to China, it is impossible to ignore the Japanese people’s efforts, turning the pandemic into an opportunity for the two countries to set aside their tensions since … Continue reading COVID-19 in the Eyes of Japan
Darcy Dixon, a Shanghai American School Pudong High School psychology teacher, arrived home with her husband Bret Drury, a physics teacher, mid-March after an exhausting return to Shanghai. Dixon found the process of returning to Shanghai daunting for herself and … Continue reading Operation Speed Dial: A Short-Lived, Yet Heartwarming Endeavor
“Another Day Passes” by Amy Huang Continue reading Another Day Passes – COVID-19
On paper, the SASPD’s Book Club no longer exists, but a few of its members continue to organizing meetings – and they are trying to reach out to new members. The Book Club’s last year of official recognition was the … Continue reading Book Club Continues to Meet Despite Reduced Membership