I’ve completed the first week of the songwriting course and it’s already been really interesting. The first assignment–to write out the structure of a song’s lyrics based on the idea of boxes that fit into boxes until we reach the ultimate, overarching message or the largest box that contains the others–is based on first deciding on a song’s title. That…   …read more.

I’ve joined the online course with Pat Pattison of Berklee School of Music through The Songwriters Association of Canada. I have a musician friend, Jess Meider, who also lives here in Beijing and she was a student of Pat’s at Berklee. She has often passed on his songwriting wisdom in casual conversation. I decided I should see for myself! What’s…   …read more.

    Today is Valentine’s Day, at least in Western countries. It always falls on February 14th and so the marketing machines only take a few weeks to rest from Christmas before they gear up for the holiday of hearts, flowers, chocolates and lingerie. The colour red is ever-present. Everyone from children to old married couples celebrate this festival in…   …read more.

Today is “Chinese New Year’s Eve” day and the red decorations are everywhere. I happen to be in the same city where we had our most formal wedding celebration (Zibo 淄博) and, thus, I have been thinking back to the wedding day decor. Like Chinese New Year, red is an important colour at Chinese weddings. Red lanterns are hung and,…   …read more.

This weekend, we leave for Shandong, Guo Jian’s home province, to “guònián 过年”or (literally) “to pass the new year.” 2013’s lunar new year (also called “spring festival”) falls on Sunday February 10th, so it’s time to go home for the holidays. It will be my fifth Chinese New Year in China. I found myself on a horoscope site today that…   …read more.

DRY SMILES I still haven’t finished telling you about the first (and main) wedding. It alone could be a novel. Where did we leave off? Oh yes, the noodle ceremony. If you haven’t read about it yet, here’s the link to that spectacle. After the noodle ceremony, we were whisked back downstairs for photo after photo that made our teeth…   …read more.

In a Chinese dining experience, dishes are served communally. They are placed in the center of the table and everyone reaches their chopsticks forward to partake. Each person generally has a small bowl of rice in their hands, which serves to complement the savory dishes as a staple food but also serves as a handy drip catcher before the food…   …read more.

It’s coming up on Christmas and I have left the land of the non-celebrators behind, finally. You see, since moving to China, this is the first year I’ve come home for the holidays. I had to. I had to get away from their absence. People don’t celebrate Christmas in China. There’s a small Christian minority that probably celebrates it privately,…   …read more.

“What the hell is your problem?” “I’m not the one with the problem! You are!” >SLAM< >SLAM<   Ever had a fight like that with the person you are supposed to be in love with? I never knew how closely culture was linked to how a person handles verbal conflict. That is, I never knew until I was in a…   …read more.

Last year, I had a fairly significant conflict with a friend of mine (who is also queer) and we proceeded to “talk about it” for what became a torturous couple of months. We’re good friends, so we wanted to make sure the other was understood and that all aspects were discussed. Through in-person conversations and emails and phone calls, we…   …read more.