(Illustration courtesy of esplanade.com) When I was a kid, my mother often resorted to emotional blackmail. She had a stockpile, her all-time favorite was the story: The Rock That Swallows Mothers. Once there was a huge rock on the side of a mountain, in the middle of...

I grew up in Malaysia and spoke Malay, an island language related to Hawaiian. Malaysia was a British colony and became independent in 1957. Everyone born before 1957, I was born in 56,’ went to British schools. We were on the equator, 90 degrees all day, every day,...

(image courtesy of Vintage Everyday) When my mother discovered my father had another woman, her world ended and she howled and cried. A shaman was called. The shaman burned frankincense and bitter-sweet acrid smoke filled the house. She sprinkled rose petals and...

My brother Jo was circumcised at home when he was nine. I was thirteen. It was not unusual for three- to five-year-old boys to be circumcised at home in the 60’s in Malaysia. But to wait till your child was nine was almost irresponsible, and maybe even dangerous....

(some language may be off-putting) In the 30s my father’s father built two houses at the edge of town. He lived in one and rented the other. By the 60s, the houses were in the middle of town and the mile-long street was a bustling hodgepodge of enterprises and homes....

Allaaah, hoo-akhbar Allah, hoo-akhbar Allaaah, hoo-akhbar. Laaaa illah, ha-ill- lallaah, hoo-wallah, hoo-akbar Allaah,  hoowalah walillah, ill-hamd   I grew to hate all things religion but the Eid adhan, the call to Eid prayer endured for many years. With its...