I have never read anything written by Pearl S. Buck. But a few years ago, I came across something she once said that I have been unable to forget. In a 1958 interview on the American TV show The Mike Wallace Interview, the eponymous Wallace (pausing every now and then to plug Parliament-brand … [Read more...]

Affan Kurniawan, a twenty-one-year-old motorcycle taxi rider, was working in Jakarta when he was struck by an armoured vehicle belonging to the Mobile Brigade Corps, an elite unit of the Indonesian National Police. The vehicle, weighing several tons, didn’t even try to avoid him; footage that … [Read more...]

This essay is based on a Master’s lecture delivered at the Conrad Award Gala, Conrad Festival, October 29, 2023. Gloria Anzaldúa, a queer Mexican American author with indigenous heritage, tells us about why she writes: “I write to record what others erase when I speak, to rewrite the stories … [Read more...]

Gossip and care in the Indo American community in Queens. Awang Kitchen is an Indonesian restaurant along Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst, a half mile away from Queens Center Mall. This rumah makan, named after its founder and chef, Siliwanga, is known for large group get-togethers and big portions … [Read more...]