Self Isolation is All I Can Do to Help

Once we figured out how to order vegetables, fruit, and other supplies using online delivery services, life under self-imposed “isolation” has become far less anxious. Indeed, I have long been partial to staying at home and avoiding public spaces, though I confess that I miss the bookstore. Just yesterday I was wishing I could go out to see if any new titles have come in.

It actually feels good to avoid going out (shopping, or even strolling the neighborhood) because I can tell myself I’m contributing to the nation’s struggle against the ongoing pandemic. Even though I am just one person, I’ve removed myself from any possible chains of transmission. Meanwhile, the days continue to fly by.

The government this week extended the “Level 3” pandemic containment measures to July 12, meaning we must wear a mask when outdoors, restaurants cannot offer indoor seating, movie theaters and other recreational places are closed, and there are limits on the number of people who can enter supermarkets or events.

The most frightening news this week is that the “Delta Variant” which caused so much suffering in India is trying to make its way into Taiwan. The strain was found in a Taiwanese citizen who was returning to Taiwan after living in India for four months, the period through which this highly transmissible version of the Wuhan Coronavirus began ravaging India.

The traveler had to take a test in Macau, and it was there he was diagnosed. In response the government may now require testing for all arriving passengers, whereas prior to this incident only those who displayed symptoms before and during their two-week quarantine were required to be tested.

Apparently the airport sees a daily average of about 1,000 citizens coming home. The real worry we all face is the “domestic spread,” which in mid-May began to spread from a red light (ahem, “tea house”) district of Taipei City has seen over 13,000 “local” infections and almost 600 deaths. Those are not massive numbers in comparison to global figures, but Taiwan doesn't have an enormous population, so every loss is a sadness felt by all.

Comments

"Invisible Nation" and the Indivisibility Difference

Invisible Nation will probably disappoint Taiwan audiences, largely because the documentary was produced for is intended for international audiences, though the film is pragmatically “for Taiwan.” Completed in 2023 and made available to the global documentary film circuit last year, Invisible Nation finally found its way to movie screens throughout Taiwan on June 13, 2025 — a Friday the 13 th release, to be precise. Produced and directed by Vanessa Hope , Invisible Nation was filmed with the cooperation and encouragement of Taiwan’s first democratically elected female president, Tsai Ying-wen (whose Administration of the Republic of China spanned two terms, 2016-2024). Hope could easily be understood as something of a “China hand,” though she would probably not be comfortable with the label. Prior to becoming a filmmaker, Hope had been a scholar of international studies for the Council on Foreign Relations in her hometown of New York City. She also earned a doctorate from C...

Trauma, Silence, and "Woman Islands"

Here’s a selection of excerpts from the 2011 English translation (by C.J. Anderson-Wu) of Chung Wenyin’s 1998 novel, Woman Islands ( 女島紀行 ). I provide it here in the hope that it might entice students and scholars, especially those with an interest in Women’s Studies and Feminist Literature, to consider taking up this book as a subject for literary criticism. I have straightened up the grammatical style of the original translation that had attempted to portray the “untranslatable” style of the Chinese text and the author’s insistence upon “maintaining the awkwardness of her writing instead of smoothing it out for English readers.” Although I can appreciate that desire, I chose instead to alter some of the sentence constructions that might come across as more a result of poor proofreading than of conscious choice by the translator. I’m going to hope this won’t be a problem, and I apologize in advance if anyone is offended by my editing choices. But then again, if you want to see...

Moonscape in Kaohsiung

The view of some rock formations that the locals refer to as "the moon," as seen from the window of a passing car on the Second Southern Highway. The Moon Worlds of Kaohsiung County China Post Article Speeding along a serpentine country road through the unexceptional, low rolling countryside of Kaohsiung County, our scooters round a corner when abruptly the mixed woodland bordering the lane ends, the ground on the left falls away steeply, and an extraordinary ravine of crumbly, light brown earth unfolds to the left. The Americans call this type of landscape “badlands,” but to the Taiwanese they’re more like the surface of the moon: “Lunar World,” as they call them. These strange landscapes of barren clay soil eroded into bizarre knife-edge ridges, sharp pinnacles and graceful, curved arcs are a strangely beautiful if surreal element of the landscape in parts of northern Kaohsiung and southern Tainan Counties. Badlands landscapes are by no means unique to this region of Taiwan...

My Life as Adoga

Search This Blog