Ongoing Moments: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department respond to a photograph of their choice. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] . One of the songs that has been adopted by the protesters in Hong Kong during the Umbrella Revolution is “Do You Hear the People Sing,” from…
Category: Tammy Ho Lai-Ming
Ongoing Moments: Douglas Robinson
Ongoing Moments: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department respond to a photograph of their choice. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] This photograph, taken by Tammy Ho in Venice in 2013, is titled “Caption”. I recently visited my childhood home, shown here, looking far better than I fondly remember…
“So Much Depends Upon A Pretty Heroine” by Tammy Ho Lai-Ming
Everyone knows the story of Snow White. A wicked stepmother,1 upon finding out from her magic mirror that her stepdaughter, Snow White (who is ‘as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as the wood in the window frame’), is fairer than herself, orders a huntsman to kill the girl. The man, influenced by…
“How Honest Are You In Your Diary?” by Tammy Ho Lai-Ming
Someone once told me a story from Greg Egan‘s Axiomatic. The story, titled “The Hundred Light-Year Diary”, is about a future invention that allows people to send messages to themselves from the future. Every person can send about 100 words every day. The protagonist of the story is a guy who has been writing a diary…
“A Wintry Hypothesis” by Tammy Ho Lai-Ming
On 9th January 2015, I became an aunt for the first time. My youngest sister, Ying, gave birth to a baby girl having been in labour for over fifteen hours. On 9th January 2015, I gained a new identity—I am now my little niece’s “Big Aunt Mother” (大姨媽). It sounds so old. When I first…
“Intersection Collaborative Learning Project” — A Showcase of the Best Works (with an introduction by Heidi Huang and Holden Liang Qichao)
This month, students from the English Department’s Master’s programme in Literary and Comparative Studies (MALCS) joined the students from the undergraduate course Hong Kong Stories (taught by Heidi Huang) in an “Intersection Collaborative Learning Project”. The collaborative field trip which they undertook throughout Hong Kong was inspired by local modernist writer Liu Yichang’s short story…
“Bamboo in Repose” by Tammy Ho Lai-Ming
Photo by Sammy Wan These pictures, taken by Sammy Wan and posted by Real Hong Kong News on Facebook, show a group of construction workers building a bamboo ‘matrix’ at Admiralty, replacing the iron barricades that the police had cleared earlier this morning (Monday 13 October 2014). Hong Kong has long been known as a forest…
Umbrella Uprising — What We Think
. I have run out of umbrellas to lend to my students, braving all weathers, all scorn, for a future they no longer have any option but to believe in. Now it is my heart I would shelter them with. I do so happily, without reservation. They were the first, and will be the last,…
The Interrogative Mood: Questions with Suying Yang
The following questions are taken from Padgett Powell’s The Interrogative Mood. Was there ever enough time? . No. There was never enough time for what I wanted to do. . What are the top three things in your life you wish you had not done, or done differently from the way you did them? . I…
The Interrogative Mood: Questions with Jason Eng Hun Lee
The following questions are taken from Padgett Powell’s The Interrogative Mood. What are the top three things in your life you wish you had not done, or done differently from the way you did them? Probably I wish I had not been so stubborn, and clung to some of my ideals so much, as they prevented…
The Interrogative Mood: Questions with Vinton Poon
The following questions are taken from Padgett Powell’s The Interrogative Mood. What for you are the characteristics that make a person extremely likable? For me, extremely likeable people are those who know who they are and are happy with who they are. These people have nothing to hide or be ashamed of, and they will not…
“De-seats” by Tammy Ho Lai-Ming
Seats that I have seen but never sat on. . . ::::: Tammy Ho Lai-Ming is Assistant Professor at the Department of English Language and Literature. She is the administrator of Agora. [Click here to read all entries by or about Tammy.]
The Interrogative Mood: Questions with Jason S Polley
The following questions are taken from Padgett Powell’s The Interrogative Mood. If you could be instantly fluent in a language you do not now speak, what language would it be? I have two answers. Cantonese, both as a means to develop a deeper solidarity with the majority of my fellow Hong Kong residents and as a…
The Interrogative Mood: Questions with Heidi Huang
The following questions are taken from Padgett Powell’s The Interrogative Mood. If you could emigrate to any country in the world and support yourself there, which country would it be? Germany – for the good beer and the way German children are taught. Is there a particular odour or situation guaranteed to nauseate you? People squabbling…
The Interrogative Mood: Questions with Douglas Robinson
The following questions are taken from Padgett Powell’s The Interrogative Mood. What are the top three things in your life you wish you had not done, or done differently from the way you did them? I wish I hadn’t had so many regrets. … let us say then on an island all by your own self…
The Interrogative Mood: Questions with John Wakefield
The following questions are taken from Padgett Powell’s The Interrogative Mood. Are boys meaner than girls, or vice versa? I think both sexes are equally capable of both good and evil. Are you more troubled by a lie or by a theft, or are they the same metaphysically? I don’t think they are the same metaphysically;…
“The Concave and Convex of the Lovers’ Bodies: A Reading of Three Paintings” by Tammy Ho Lai-Ming
“Mushrooms by the Sea” (1931) by Filippo de Paris. Oil on canvas, 53 x 63 cm. I spent a long time looking at this painting, which has been compared to works by Salvador Dali. I was particularly interested in the large sky and beach in comparison to the relatively small sandwiched sea — an ungenerous…
The Interrogative Mood: Questions with Lian-Hee Wee
The following questions are taken from Padgett Powell’s The Interrogative Mood. Can you list the things you are afraid of, or is it easier to list the things you are not afraid of, or are you afraid of nothing, or are you essentially afraid of everything? It’s hard to say. I can’t guarantee that I won’t…
“Don Yuan: A Review” by James Au
Don Juan is just as irresistible to writers as he is to women: both attractive and repulsive, courageous and honourable, yet entirely amoral and self-centred. We have all met someone like him, or at least someone who would like to be him. —Peter Gordon Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of joining Dr. Tammy Ho to see Don Yuan (presented…
“John Gave Rachel A Book” by Tammy Ho Lai-Ming
John gave Rachel a book, ten years ago John gave Rachel a book Of poetry— Western Wind: An Introduction to Poetry On the second page of the book John had written, in green: For Rachel, who doesn’t need An introduction to anything— Certainly not to poetry— With memories of all the Places we talked about…
“Macau Revisited” by Tammy Ho Lai-Ming
[Also see “Macau Impressions”.] Michael: I’ll bet you a dollar I’ve been to the place where you were born. Elsa: Chefoo. Michael: It’s on the China coast. Chefoo. It’s the second wickedest city in the world. Elsa: What’s the first? Michael: Macao. —The Lady from Shanghai (1947), dr. Orson Welles ::::: Tammy Ho Lai-Ming is…
“The Guess Who Quiz” by Heidi Huang
Click image to enlarge. From left to right: Florence Leung, Jason S Polley, Douglas Berman, Heidi Huang, Tammy Ho Lai-Ming, Jason Lee, Julia Wang, Ruth Hung and Stuart Christie. This “Guess Who Quiz” is actually ‘stolen’ from our students’ inspired descriptions of each teacher during our farewell dinner held on 2 May. When perusing the joyful photographs of that…
“Reading for What?” by Liu Yuwei
“That Streak of Sunlight on the Books” by Tammy Ho I once joined an English writing course because my English writing could not be any worse. If there is any way I can make it better, I would go for it. A way to improve writing, according to my writing adviser, is to read and…
“Macau Impressions” by Tammy Ho Lai-Ming
[Also see “Macau Revisited”.] Last month, I was invited to give a talk (“Betrayal, Mistrust and Contempt: Relationships Between Language and Identity”) and run a poetry workshop at The Script Road: Macau Literary Festival. The following are pictures taken before and during that short trip. ::::: Tammy Ho Lai-Ming is Assistant Professor at the Department of…
“45 Belgrave Square” by Jason Eng Hun Lee
“Nelson’s Column, 7th March, 2010” by Tammy Ho We waited under the buzz of a rotating fan, sheets neatly printed against palms, waiting for my annual summons to citizenship. Dad led the way, preceding me by thirty year’s toil under a hot tropical sun as we sat under the crescent gaze of a woman with…
Department of English, Hong Kong Baptist University 