The post Talking Taiwan’s Top 5 of 2020 End of Year Review Ep 109 appeared first on Talking Taiwan Podcast.

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

On this episode of Talking Taiwan I speak with Jason Chew about being a filmmaker. We talked about how he veered away from his traditional Taiwanese upbringing and parents’ expectations that he become a lawyer.

As a filmmaker, he’s worked with several different clients in both Taiwan (a funeral home and cosmetics company) and the U.S. He shared how one project with the NYPD required him to wear a bulletproof vest while cruising around with the NYPD to the scene of a crime.

When I asked him what inspires his creativity, Jason responded by asking “where don’t you find inspiration… everything could be inspiration.”

Check out the show notes on the Talking Taiwan website for some of the great film directors that have inspired Jason and a few of the classic films about Taiwan that he recommends.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

• Jason’s connection to musician Treya, who we interviewed in episode 55
• Jason’s “traditional Taiwanese upbringing” and what a “traditional Taiwanese upbringing” means to him
• How he went from being on the path to attend law school to applying for film school
• What it was like attending NYU Film School in Singapore
• What Jason’s film career has been like so far
• The difference between film editing, shooting, and directing
• What sets someone apart as a director
• What is cinematography
• Jason’s short films
• The music video he worked on for Treya’s song Magic
• The work that Jason did on the NYPD’s Domain Awareness System (DAS) which is a sort of monitoring service
• How Jason and his colleagues rode around in an NYPD police car to crime scenes in response to alerts from the Shot Spotter, which is a series of microphones that listen for shots fired
• Jason’s thoughts on Black Lives Matter
• Jason’s work with Taiwanese companies
• Jason’s parents’ reaction to his choice to pursue a career as a filmmaker instead of law
• What inspires him as a cinematographer
• The crowdfunding campaigns on student films that he’s worked on
• Jason’s favorite films about Taiwan
• Films that he recommends for people who would like to know more about Taiwan
• Jason’s work on the short film A Father’s Son – A 90s Chinatown Noir Thriller, which is based on the characters from Henry Chang’s NYPD Detective Jack Yu crime series novels
• What Jason enjoys the most about filmmaking
• How the pandemic has affected Jason
• What Jason is currently working on
• Jason’s advice for people interested in pursuing filmmaking
• Jason’s advice on how to push through tough challenging times

Related Links:

Jason Chew’s website: https://www.jasonchew.com

Jason Chew on Instagram: @chewchomp

Roaming Dogs of Taiwan (short film): https://www.jasonchew.com/#/roaming-dogs/

The music video for Treya’s song Magic: https://www.jasonchew.com/#/treya-lam-magic/

Treya’s Talking Taiwan interview (episode 55): https://staging.talkingtaiwan.com/treya-lam-talking-taiwan-ep-55/

Apartment Therapy: https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/

Film Director Tsai Ming-liang https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsai_Ming-liang

Film Shop: https://www.thefilmshop.org/

Ava Duvernay (Film Director): http://www.avaduvernay.com/

The short film project: A Father’s Son – A 90s Chinatown Noir Thriller, which is based on the characters from Henry Chang’s NYPD Detective Jack Yu crime series novels: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chenxihao/a-fathers-son-a-90s-chinatown-noir-thriller

Stanley Kubrick (Film Director):  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Kubrick

Akira Kurosawa (Film Director): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_Kurosawa

Cohen Brothers (Film Directors): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coen_brothers

Bong Joon-ho (Film Director): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bong_Joon-ho

Classic Films about Taiwan that Jason recommends:

Eat Drink Man Woman (Ang Lee film): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111797/

Yi Yi (Edward Yang film): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0244316/

The post Jason Chew Talks About Being a Filmmaker Ep 105 appeared first on Talking Taiwan Podcast.

The post Raising Blasian Kids Part 2: A Conversation with Rolla Chng and Eileen Lin-Goutier Ep 95 appeared first on Talking Taiwan Podcast.

The post Raising Blasian Kids Part 1: A Conversation with Rolla Chng and Eileen Lin-Goutier Ep 94 appeared first on Talking Taiwan Podcast.

Jaleea Price, spoke with me about a broad range of topics beginning with her arrival and time in Taiwan. While in Taiwan she worked on the ICRT morning news show, co-founded D.A.P. (Descendants of African Peoples) with Elissa Russell (who was a guest on episode 88), and had two daughters. Now an arts educator based in Thailand, Jaleea she had recently gone through quarantine in Thailand and the U.K. when we spoke. She also spoke to me about TCKs, the racism that she’s experienced in the U.S. and Taiwan as a biracial woman and her thoughts on the Black Lives Matter movement.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

• Jaleea talks briefly about quarantining in Thailand and the U.K.
• What brought her to Taiwan
• Her connection to the Cloud Gate Dance Theater of Taiwan
• Arriving in Taiwan alone without a cell phone and going to Internet cafes to communicate with her friends and family
• What it was like working on the ICRT morning show
• What it was like having young children in Taiwan
• People’s reactions when they asked where she was from and she said that she was American
• Her involvement with D.A.P. The Descendants of African Peoples group
• The different ways that Black people from other parts of the world (e.g. Canada, France) identify themselves vs. American
• The racism and discrimination that she’s experienced in the U.S. and Taiwan
• Her thoughts on the murder of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter
• Her experience of the Black Lives Matter movement in the U.K. and Thailand
• Her privilege as a light-skinned woman of color
• K-pop group BTS’s support of Black Lives Matter and takeover of #whitelivesmatter
• What a TCK is
• The Eastern and Western cultural differences in the birthing process
• What she misses most about Taiwan

Related Links:

Jaleea on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jaleea-price

Jaleea on Instagram: instagram.com/jaluthegreat

Jaleea on Facebook: www.facebook.com/jaleeajoie

Taipei Times article about D.A.P. (Descendants of African Peoples): https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2004/07/12/2003178672

BBC New article about the K-pop group BTS that donated $1m to the Black Lives Matter movement and took over the hashtag #whitelivesmatter: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-52960617

The post Jaleea Price Talks About Living in Taiwan Ep 90 appeared first on Talking Taiwan Podcast.

The post Being Black in Taiwan and Racism in the United States: Ep 88 appeared first on Talking Taiwan Podcast.

Stefanie Davis and Patrick Springer are the founders of the Black Lives Solidarity Global Initiative, which organized a rally in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement on June 13th in Taipei’s 228 Peace Park. I spoke to Stefanie and Patrick about their experiences living as people of color in Taiwan and the U.S., the activities planned for the rally and their personal views of Black Lives Matter.

Here’s a description of the Black Lives Solidarity Global Initiative rally from their Facebook event page:

We cannot sit around as the stories of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Iyanna Dior, Sandra Bland, Philando Castile, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown Jr., Pamela Turner, Atatiana Jefferson, and countless others become common occurrences- background noise to the daily news, their lives summarized as sound bites between the weather and sports updates.

We cannot sit idly by and watch as police brutality against innocent black and brown bodies continues to go unchecked around the world.

It is time for us to take a stand and make our voices known that we demand action against racism both abroad and at home. That injustice against one of us, is an injustice to all.

Join us in a legal and peaceful rally Saturday, June 13th, at 228 Peace Memorial Park in Taipei as we come together to lend our support and our voices to those around the world fighting for equality and for others right to simply breathe.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

• What brought Stefanie and Patrick to Taiwan and how long they have been here
• The racism that they have experienced in Taiwan and how it compares to what they’ve experienced in the U.S.
• How they talk to their students about race and nationality
• Patrick’s bar Arts & Crafts (in Taichung)
• How the Black Lives Solidarity Global Initiative (BLSGI) came about
• The events and activities planned at the June 13 BLSGI rally
• The Taipei Is Listening Forum
• How the BLSGI rally has put Taiwan on the map as one of the countries that has had a rally about the injustices happening to Black people in the U.S.
• The feedback they’ve received about the rally
• What Stefanie and Patrick hope that people take away from the experience of being at the rally or what they learned at the rally
• Common stereotypes that people have about Black people
• Facts and statistics that demonstrate some of the discrimination that Blacks in the U.S. experience
• The shooting of Atatiana Jefferson and arrest of Sandra Bland
• Where the funds raised at the rally went
• Patrick and Stefanie’s personal experiences with Black Lives Matter
• What advice Stefanie or Patrick have for non-Black people who want to understand the Black experience or who want to be allies
• What Black Lives Matter means to Stefanie and Patrick
• Facts and statistics based on US data and research that were shared at the BLSGI rally:

• More than 1/2 of young Black Americans know someone, including themselves, who has been harassed by the police.
• Black students are 3 times more likely to be suspended than white students for similar infractions.
• Black drivers are 30% more likely than white drivers to be pulled over by the police.
• For every $100 earned by white families -> Black families earn $57.30.
• Blacks Americans make up 13% of the nation’s population.
• Blacks Americans make 40% of prison populations.

Related Links:

Black Lives Solidarity Global Initiative Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/BLSGlobal/

Brothas & Sistas of Taiwan Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1728788584038273/

Taipei Is Listening Forum: https://www.facebook.com/events/2570056726428424/

An article about the Taipei Is Listening Forum: https://ketagalanmedia.com/2020/06/11/is-taipei-listening-black-lives-matter-taiwan-gears-up-for-weekend-rally/

Patrick’s bar Arts & Crafts’ Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ArtsAndCraftsBar/

To follow Patrick’s bartending recipes, videos, photos and his Virtual Happy Hour booking information visit: https://www.inhousebartender.com/

Photos by:  Sofia Kuan

Our Talking Taiwan listeners may be interested in these other related posts:

The post Black Lives Solidarity Global Initiative: Founders Stefanie Davis and Patrick Springer Ep 84 appeared first on Talking Taiwan Podcast.

After the murder of George Floyd sparked protests in Minneapolis, here in New York, across the country, and around the world, I wanted to have a conversation on Talking Taiwan about what precipitated all of this social unrest, the Black Lives Matter movement and what we, especially non-Black people can do at this time.

This led me to invite Jalesa Tucker to be a guest on Talking Taiwan. I met Jalesa when I did some work for a nonprofit that educates young people about healthy relationships.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

• Who was George Floyd and why his death has led to massive protests across the U.S. and globally
• Recent incidents in the U.S. that led up to the protests over the murder of George Floyd (May 25 in Minneapolis, Minnesota): the killing of Ahmaud Arbery (February 23 in Brunswick, Georgia), Breonna Taylor (March 13 in Louisville, Kentucky), a dispute between Chris Cooper and Amy Cooper in New York City’s Central Park (May 25)
• The death of Trayvon Martin (February 26, 2012 in Sanford, Florida) that led to the Black Lives Matter movement
• The start of the hashtag Black Lives Matter
• What is taught about Black history or the lack thereof in U.S. high schools
• The Black Lives Matter movement’s call to defund the police and what that means
• Resources to learn more about racial inequality in the U.S.
• Why Black Lives Matter is about humanity and how we treat each other

Related and Recommended Links:

Netflix documentary film, directed by Ava DuVernay 13^th: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krfcq5pF8u8&t=210s

Malcom X: https://www.malcolmx.com/biography/

James Baldwin: https://www.biography.com/writer/james-baldwin

My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem: https://www.resmaa.com/books

Emmanuel Acho’s YouTube channel video series, Uncomfortable Conversations With A Black Man: https://www.youtube.com/user/Eacho18/videos

The post Black Lives Matter: A Conversation with Jalesa Tucker Ep 81 appeared first on Talking Taiwan Podcast.

Gary Reloj is Co-founder of the PPE Relief Initiative, an entrepreneur in the tech startup and restaurant industry, a founding board member of The Promise Society, and a COVID-19 survivor.

In late March, Gary shared a public Facebook post, that was a very well-documented account of COVID-19 symptoms he’d experienced, the toll it took on his body, and specific things that he did to cope with the physical discomfort, and anxiety that it brought on. He had come down with symptoms early on, even before New York City went on lockdown and when testing was still not widely available. It was clear that he had written his post as a way to help others who had also contracted COVID-19 or were worried about possibly contracting it. In the early days of the Coronavirus pandemic, every little cough, sniffle or bit of malaise sent a lot of us into a panic.

Around that time, I also learned that Gary was spearheading an effort to get PPE (personal protective equipment) to health care workers. That effort became the PPE Relief Initiative (PRI) with a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe to raise $30,000 to give PPE kits to 400 healthcare workers.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

• How Gary dealt with and recovered from having COVID-19
• The Facebook post that Gary wrote and publicly shared detailing his COVID-19 symptoms and the regime he followed in dealing with his symptoms
• What motivated Gary to start looking for a way to deliver PPE to healthcare workers
• Gary’s PPE Relief Initiative Co-founder Dr. Joanne Kwan
• How they determined what to include in the PPE Relief Initiative supply kit that they were going to give health care workers
• The challenges they encountered in obtaining high quality PPE
• The PRI team
• Why the PRI supply kits are delivered directly to health care workers rather than to hospitals
• The GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign for PRI to raise $30,000 to support 400 healthcare workers
• There is still room for around 200 for healthcare workers that live or work in the New Jersey/New York metropolitan area and are dealing with COVID-19 patients to apply for the PRI supply kits
• How they prioritize which healthcare workers will receive the PRI supply kits first
• The partnership with The Promise Society on the PRI’s GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign
• PRI’s support for Black Lives Matter protesters and tips for how protestors should protect themselves and be safe while protesting during this pandemic
• Being prepared for a possible second wave of COVID-19 cases
• What’s next for PRI after the GoFundMe campaign
• How having COVID-19 has affected Gary’s outlook on life

Related Links:

PPE Relief Initiative’s GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign: http://pperelief.org/donate

or https://bit.ly/2Y7JguX

Eligible healthcare workers can apply for the PRI supply kits here: www.pperelief.org/apply

PPE Relief Initiative’s website: https://pperelief.org/

PRI’s social media accounts:

PRI on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ppe.relief/

PRI’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ppe.relief.initiative/

Gary’s Facebook post detailing how he dealt with COVID-19:

Cuomo’s words really resonated with me and I used the phrase “New York Tough” to help get my mind right and out of the negative mental trench I was in. If you have Covid-19 or someone you know has it, and you’re looking for someone to talk to about the experience, please don’t hesitate to reach out. When I was at my worst, I was partly in a bad place mentally because I felt so helpless and clueless as to how long my symptoms were going to last. I seriously wish I had someone I could talk to at a human level that could relate to what I was experiencing so if I could do that for you, please let me know.

That said, here is the full list of symptoms I experienced…
-Fever (ranged between 100 and 102). My fever lasted for four days.
-Chronic dry coughing. It came from deep within my chest and at times, would have bad coughing fits. One coughing session was so bad, my core stomach muscles cramped up and I started to gag because I just couldn’t breathe…. That really sucked!
-Difficulty breathing. This was the big one. Any form of simple physical activity would make it hard to breathe; you almost feel like you’re drowning it’s like an asthma attack. If I got out of bed to go to the bathroom, or if I would try to eat food, I would be gasping for air with short, shallow, quick breaths. It was extremely difficult to take deep breaths (still is to an extent). The only way I’d be able to breath normally would be to lay down in bed on my side.
-Dehydration. This was especially bad when I was on my 2nd day of my fever and was coughing up a storm.
-Chills. This also occurred on the 2nd and 3rd day of my fever.
-Loss of appetite. Not only was I not hungry, but when I did eat, it was actually hard to breathe while eating, so that contributed to my loss of appetite.
-Confusion. This again was on the 2nd day, early in the morning. I just woke up and I felt like I was still in dream mode, and I kept trying to tell my body move, but it felt like I was stuck and was confused to where I was.
-Diarrhea.
-Fatigue
-Loss of smell. My taste was also a bit dulled, especially with sweets.
-Body aches. This was actually my first symptom. It first started with body aches like sciatica. I then had back pains, lower and upper back.
-Anxiety. There were moments where my mind was in a very bad place, especially when it was very hard to breathe. I started to get anxiety thinking about every breathe and as a result, it would disrupt my breathing cycle. When I would have major anxiety, I would try to calm myself by playing meditation music and do my best to have my mind escape reality for a minute to help regulate my breathing again. Eventually, as a way to combat future anxiety, I would create structure around me to keep me busy and help me cope. For example, I documented all my symptoms under a certain timeline, I documented my medication and tried to create a set schedule, and I made sure to reach out to friends for support.

Here’s the lineup of meds I took and how often:
-Tylenol Extra Strength, 3000mg daily, or 2 pills 3x a day. This was probably the most important thing I was taking.
-Mucinex DM, 1 tablet every 12 hours. This helped act as a cough suppressant.
-Cepacol Extra Strength. Take as needed. This helped numb my throat. While I know my coughing originated more from my chest and not my throat, it gave me peace of mind to take Cepacol before I slept.
-Pedialyte. Unfortunately I didn’t have any, but my friend who also had Covid-19 was using it to help with dehydration and if I could do it all over again, I would have included it in my rotation.
-Ton of water. I can’t stress how important it is to have available water by your side. I would have a big pitcher of water by my bed at all times and when I could manage to get out of bed, I always made sure to re-fill my pitcher even if it’s 70% full.

Here’s the timeline of everything (this was the diary I kept).

03/11: Suspected date of exposure
03/14: Noticed body aches, like sciatica.
03/15: Back aches, lower and upper back. Mild diarrhea.
03/16: Experience slight fatigue. Back pain and sciatica pain increases. Start to have mild cough.
03/18: Lose sense of smell. Fatigue increases big time. Cough starts to become more frequent. Start to feel warm under eyelids at night. Mild diarrhea continues. Appetite still normal.
03/19: Cough and fatigue becomes worse. Headaches occur.
03/20: Chronic coughing begins. Fever occurs 101 degrees. Loss of appetite begins.
03/21: Very bad coughing fits, difficulty breathing. Fever still at 101 degrees. Extremely fatigued. Experienced cold chills as well. Further loss of appetite. Difficulty sleeping.
03/22: Coughing is still terrible, at times difficult to breathe. Energy and appetite was okay in the morning, decreased as day progressed. Difficulty sleeping. Breathing is still bad.
03/23: Becoming more thirsty. Woke up and fever wasn’t so bad. Early evening suffered worst coughing fit. Night fever is back, 101. Worst night of sleep. Breathing is still bad.
03/24: Lower back really hurts, but could be due to uncomfortable bed. Felt better for most of the day, around 3:30pm start to feel worse. Managed to get myself under control after taking Tylenol and shower around 3:40pm. Improved appetite and energy. No fever. Breathing ability hasn’t improved.
03/25: Breathing is still effected. The simplest form of physical activity creates shallow breathing, elevated breathing rates.
03/26: Energy and appetite continues to improve. Coughing slightly improved; starting to produce some phlegm. Breathing is still the same. 3rd day of no fever. Spoke with Doctor, said plateau of symptoms is a good sign, as Covid-19 is progressive in nature. Still have diarrhea.
03/27: Feel exponentially better. Breathing is much improved, although still can’t take deep breaths without coughing. Coughing overall is down. Again, no fever. Energy is up, able to sit up without trouble, was able to walk and spend time outside.
03/28: Diarrhea seems improved. Still coughing a little. Breathing still improved. Still no fever.

Anyway, I hope all this helps! AND STAY THE FUCK HOME!!

Gary Reloj’s social media accounts:

Gary on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/garyreloj

Gary on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/garyreloj/

Gary on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GaryReloj

The Promise Society’s website: http://www.thepromisesociety.org/

The post Gary Reloj: Coronavirus Survivor Delivers PPE Ep 79 appeared first on Talking Taiwan Podcast.

As protests and civil unrest arise across the U.S., and tension has mounted, Talking Taiwan’s host Felicia Lin was reminded of a time in which she found herself in the midst of intense protests in 2014,  in Taipei, Taiwan, after the occupation of the Legislative Yuan in what has become known as the Sunflower Movement.

The post Sunflower Movement: Reflecting Back from the Civil Unrest of 2020 Ep 78 appeared first on Talking Taiwan Podcast.