Sprouting seeds of hope: How a garden united Montreal’s Chinese diaspora

Communautés Asiatiques, Diaspora

Creating a community environment of sharing and increasing awareness of food security and urban sustainability are the aims of Green Chinatown Montreal (GCM). Founded in 2011 in Montreal’s Chinatown the GDM brought together multiple generations of Chinese-Canadians and helped them reconnect with nature and their agricultural roots. Today it finds itself in whatever space is available, their original location lost, as it seeks to return to Chinatown and as several members hope to build solidarity with the Indigenous community that lives in Chinatown.

This article is published in The Monitor.

Racism led to a rise in anti-Asian hate in the pandemic. What the community wants to see in Canada’s next leader

Communautés Asiatiques, Diaspora, Justice sociale

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about many challenges and disruptions and among them was a spike in anti-Asian racism. Asian-Canadians seniors faced a surge of attacks and many Asian-Canadian businesses were the victim of vandalism. In this article we hear from members of the Chinese-Canadian community on their concerns regarding this issue, access to health-care, and what members of the community want to see in Canada’s next leader.

This article is published in the Toronto Star in the GTA column.

Vegetarianism Has Deep Spiritual Roots in Asian Cultures – Yet Many Asian Vegetarians Report Feeling Judged, Attacked, and Dismissed

Communautés Asiatiques, Diaspora

Vegetarianism runs deep in many Asian cultures and adopting a vegetarian lifestyle is on the rise worldwide. Yet, alongside this rise there has also been a disturbing rise in racist and xenophobic behaviour among vegetarian communities. I talked to multiple Asians about their experiences relating to their vegetarian diets and challenges from their own communities and society as a whole.

This article is published in the Vegetarian Times, which is dedicated to vegetarian topics and issues.

De l’adoption à l’immigration, les défis de santé mentale dans la communauté asiatique

Communautés Asiatiques, Diaspora

Pour beaucoup des asiatiques, il peut être difficile de discuter de santé mentale pour de multiples raisons. Mais à cause de racisme souffert pendant la pandémie, cet enjeu a été mis en lumière. L’adoption, l’immigration et l’adaptation à la société d’accueil sont tous des réalités qui affectée la santé mentale des asiatiques.

Cet article a été publié dans La Converse, un nouveau média d’actualités numériques qui un journalisme de dialogue pour servir les communautés marginalisées. Si vous avez d’autres histoires que vous voulez que je couvre, vous pouvez m’écrire. Et si vous voulez plus de nouvelles de ce genre, abonnez-vous à l’info-lettre de La Converse ici.

Sauver les femmes afghanes : une instrumentalisation occidentale

Diaspora, Justice sociale

Face à la crise du logement qui sévit à Montréal, des citoyens redoublent d’efforts pour changer la donne et faire valoir leurs droits. Ici on voir ce qui se passe à Avec les états-unis ont déclaré le retrait complet des troupes américaines de l’Afghanistan pour le 31 août 2021, et que les talibans maintenant contrôlent le pays, des questions sur la réalité et le statut des femmes afghanes se fait omniprésente. Dans ce contexte, des Afghanes nous ont fait part de leurs inquiétudes et de leurs expériences.Parc-Extension et Pointe-Saint-Charles, le budget insuffisant pour le logement social, et des mouvements qui ont réussi.

Cet article a été publié dans La Converse, un nouveau média d’actualités numériques qui un journalisme de dialogue pour servir les communautés marginalisées. Si vous avez d’autres histoires que vous voulez que je couvre, vous pouvez m’écrire. Et si vous voulez plus de nouvelles de ce genre, abonnez-vous à l’info-lettre de La Converse ici.


Dialogue avec la communauté sino-montréalaise

Communautés Asiatiques, Diaspora

Dans le cadre de l’exposition Dialogue avec la communauté sino-montréalaise, j’ai écrit une série de textes qui abordent des thèmes majeurs qui touchent notre communauté – les nouveaux arrivants, l’art sino-montréalais, l’aménagement urbain du Quartier chinois, et la résistance de notre communauté contre l’adversité. J’ai consulté beaucoup de gens issus de la communauté qui ont eu un rôle à jouer dans son développement. L’exposition sera au Quartier chinois du 26 mai jusqu’au 15 octobre 2021.

Ces articles ont été publié sur le site Mémoires des Montréalais, un site sur l’histoire de Montréal et de ses habitants.

The Revolutionary Anger of Asian Women

Communautés Asiatiques, Diaspora

For Asian women in the diaspora, the denial of our anger exists at the toxic intersection of sexism and the model minority stereotype, enforced on two fronts by white Western culture and from within our own communities. The prohibition of our rage actively endangers us. But attempts to suppress our anger also reveal its power: it poses a threat. Our anger can be a tool of resistance in a post-pandemic world. Instead of burying or relinquishing it, we should learn to use it.

For Ro White’s series “How To Survive A Post(?)-COVID World”, I wrote about what Asian female angry resistance would look like in a post pandemic world.

This article is published in Autostraddle, a digital publication and real life community for multiple generations of LGBTQIA+ humans (and their friends). 

Plan A Presents: The Rebel Minority

Communautés Asiatiques, Diaspora

My millionth sincere attempt to become “the worst minority ot all time”, The Rebel Minority is my monthly column. Published on the first Wednesday of every month, I perform countercultural analyses of various societal and lifestyle phenomena in a sometimes light, sometimes serious tone. The goal of this column is to break the veneer of respectability that has long surrounded the existence of Asians in the West and bring my own honest intersectional diasporic Asian perspective to various issues of our chaotic Burning 20s.

Got an idea you want me to write about? Send them to me here with the subject line “The Rebel Minority: Column Idea”. I look forward to hearing from you!

This column is published in Plan A Magazine, a political Asian American publication that focuses on exploring issues relevant to the Asian diaspora from around the world and on radical movement building for justice.

Navigating Capitalist Mandates of Happiness and Collectivist Fears of Shame

Diaspora

Using some of my own experiences with university applications, I analyze North American and Asian cultural frameworks with regards to dealing with failure. I perform an intersectional societal analysis to explore how failure is dealt with in a capitalist society that relies on exploitation to function and compare it to a collectivist society that requires absolute uniformity of expression in all its members to function. Then I conclude with how both approaches have shortcomings, and how the only way out is through claiming a staple of immigrant life: agency.

This article was featured in Plan A Magazine, a political Asian American publication that focuses on exploring issues relevant to the Asian diaspora from around the world and on radical movement building for justice.

Raving Asians Make the Bass Drop: The New Rave Culture

Communautés Asiatiques, Diaspora

As part of an investigation into the cultural phenomenon of raves within the Asian diaspora, I talked to Asians in the United States, Canada and Australia to learn about their experiences in the subculture and investigate the reasons behind their popularity. Young Asian ravers, experienced Asian ravers who have been in the scene for decades and industry insiders have shared with me their rave memories, their reasons for being involved, the sense of community they have found and their ways of resisting.

This article was featured in Plan A Magazine, a political Asian American publication that focuses on exploring issues relevant to the Asian diaspora from around the world and on radical movement building for justice.