Tzu Chi, having its origins in Taiwan and having spread mainly through Taiwanese- or Chinese-speaking social networks and immigrant communities, has had very poor materials, publications, and documents in English. This gap has persisted for many years, particularly in the US where I am most familiar.
It was and still is in the context of this gaping hole in English communications for Tzu Chi that I began writing through the Tzu Chi USA journal in 2002. That year, I had just returned from Taiwan after living in Hualien (where I volunteered for Tzu Chi for year and which served as the basis of a rough manuscript of my experiences) to start my freshman year in college in Boston. That year, Tzu Chi USA journal, led by my mother, was transformed from more of a newspaper to more of a magazine. (The journal was only put onto the web later years, following incredible changes from the internet in how we read.)
Now, approaching 30 years of age, because of this blog, I am looking back to some of these pieces in Tzu Chi USA journal -- and also the 100-or-so page manuscript that I wrote while I was in living in my one year in Hualien, Taiwan.
Returning to some of the pieces I wrote (some more than 11 years old), though, I am frankly a bit embarrassed by some of my own essays. The language, the style -- it all seems a bit juvenile -- which I guess was expected, as I was still, at that time, a "teenager", at 19 years old.
In 2011, I shared one of these pieces from my 100-page reflections with one of my academic colleagues in economics and public health, and much to my surprise, he was so moved by the piece that he cried (see here). The piece was on comparative experiences in Taiwan and Thailand in hospice care, which I had worked on in a writing class in college and somehow -- accidentally really -- published in a medical journal.
Though my colleague encouraged me to finish my book (Thanks, Professor Jamison!) and though I have been meaning to do so, I have never had time to finish that manuscript that I had started in 2001-2002 (first college and then graduate school got in the way, you could say!). Now, I've got a bit more time (I am totally finished with school and I have a real job now), and so, it is with this live blog that I hope to eventually turn my writings, both past and new, into an "open book" on Tzu Chi. I am taking a page from my colleague at my day job, David Roodman, who wrote an "open book" on microfinance through blogging. (One of his posts on an NGO working on microfinance even today gets about 1000 hits a month.)
If I may entice you, here are some of the topics for forthcoming posts. Whenever I see the activities of Tzu Chi volunteers and all that has happened from its beginnings in 1966, I feel that I have unlimited content to work with. So this list is not comprehensive, and I very much welcome your suggestions on what topics I should prioritize and write/edit first!
It was and still is in the context of this gaping hole in English communications for Tzu Chi that I began writing through the Tzu Chi USA journal in 2002. That year, I had just returned from Taiwan after living in Hualien (where I volunteered for Tzu Chi for year and which served as the basis of a rough manuscript of my experiences) to start my freshman year in college in Boston. That year, Tzu Chi USA journal, led by my mother, was transformed from more of a newspaper to more of a magazine. (The journal was only put onto the web later years, following incredible changes from the internet in how we read.)
Now, approaching 30 years of age, because of this blog, I am looking back to some of these pieces in Tzu Chi USA journal -- and also the 100-or-so page manuscript that I wrote while I was in living in my one year in Hualien, Taiwan.
Returning to some of the pieces I wrote (some more than 11 years old), though, I am frankly a bit embarrassed by some of my own essays. The language, the style -- it all seems a bit juvenile -- which I guess was expected, as I was still, at that time, a "teenager", at 19 years old.
In 2011, I shared one of these pieces from my 100-page reflections with one of my academic colleagues in economics and public health, and much to my surprise, he was so moved by the piece that he cried (see here). The piece was on comparative experiences in Taiwan and Thailand in hospice care, which I had worked on in a writing class in college and somehow -- accidentally really -- published in a medical journal.
Though my colleague encouraged me to finish my book (Thanks, Professor Jamison!) and though I have been meaning to do so, I have never had time to finish that manuscript that I had started in 2001-2002 (first college and then graduate school got in the way, you could say!). Now, I've got a bit more time (I am totally finished with school and I have a real job now), and so, it is with this live blog that I hope to eventually turn my writings, both past and new, into an "open book" on Tzu Chi. I am taking a page from my colleague at my day job, David Roodman, who wrote an "open book" on microfinance through blogging. (One of his posts on an NGO working on microfinance even today gets about 1000 hits a month.)
If I may entice you, here are some of the topics for forthcoming posts. Whenever I see the activities of Tzu Chi volunteers and all that has happened from its beginnings in 1966, I feel that I have unlimited content to work with. So this list is not comprehensive, and I very much welcome your suggestions on what topics I should prioritize and write/edit first!
- My essays from Tzu Chi USA journal
- New Beginnings
- Bridging Gaps
- The Innovative Origins of Tzu Chi
- I’m Talkin’ ‘Bout My Generation in Tzu Chi
- A Word on Tzu Chi’s Uniforms
- Chapters from my manuscript
- mental preparations 4
- 1 to follow in their footsteps 5
- 2 go away, worries! just do it! 8
- 3 the meaning of spiritual practice 10
- the education of being human 14
- 4 great love has no strangers 15
- 5 busy body, not busy mind 22
- 6 the peace project camp 26
- 7 teaching english at the outreach school 29
- 8 high school angst, relived 32
- the thousand arms of avalokiteshvara 33
- 9 typhoon toraji: relief and rebuilding 34
- 10 dear thailand tzu chi: chronicles of love 37
- 11 between living and dying: the world of hospice 63
- 12 body donation, silent teachers 78
- 13 happy volunteer in indonesia 80
- the culture of great love 87
- 14 making xiang shi bao 88
- 15 the abode of still thoughts 89
- 16 disaster after disaster – the awakenings 95
- 17 the movement to spread the seeds of love 100
- 18 the simplicity and joy of monastic life 105
- 19 leaving hualien 108
- My other essays with different outlets
- Why am I here? (speech)
- To enter someone's mind
No comments:
Post a Comment