Ep 242 | Ed Lin: Our Interview LIVE at Passport to Taiwan

Author Ed Lin stopped by to chat with me in the Talking Taiwan podcasting booth at Passport to Taiwan. This is the first of several live interviews we recorded at our outdoor on-location podcasting booth. We touched upon a broad range of topics, many that we’ve covered here in the past on Talking Taiwan. In fact, this gives us a good excuse to share some of our past episodes in the related links section for this episode on our website. On the other hand, my conversation with Ed brought up a few good ideas for future topics and guests that we should have on Talking Taiwan.

As Ed and I were talking, you’ll hear us talking to some of the people who walked by and stopped by to say hello, among them were of some of our supporters, mutual friends and a previous Talking Taiwan guest another Lin, Peter Lin who’s band the Asian American Jazz Collective performed at Passport to Taiwan that day. That’s the thing about Passport to Taiwan, when you’re there you never know who you’ll run into. We were also thrilled to meet and talk to some of our listeners who stopped by our booth.

For those of you in New York City, you can catch Ed Lin performing in Short Stack 2 at the Ma-Yi Theatre from June 15-18. We’ll include a link to purchase tickets online on the Talking Taiwan website.

CORRECTION: The restaurant that Ed refers to in the interview as 688 is actually the 886 Restaurant. The film that Ed mentions as Taipei Au Revoir is Au Revoir Taipei.

This episode of Talking Taiwan has been sponsored by NATWA, the North America Taiwanese Women's Association.

NATWA was founded in 1988, and its mission is:

1. to evoke a sense of self-esteem and enhance women's dignity,

2. to oppose gender discrimination and promote gender equality,

3. to fully develop women's potential and encourage their participation in public affairs,

4. to contribute to the advancement of human rights and democratic development in Taiwan,

5. to reach out and work with women's organizations worldwide to promote peace for all.

To learn more about NATWA visit their website: www.natwa.com

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

· What Ed’s been working on lately

· How Ed will be performing in Short Stack 2 at the Ma-Yi Theater from June 15-18 to benefit Heart of Dinner, a community organization aiding and feeding working-class AAPI seniors throughout the city

· Ed will be speaking at the TANG (Taiwanese American Next Generation)/TAC (Taiwanese American Conference), which will be at West Chester University from July 1-4

· Taiwanese soft power and how it compares to that of other island nations like Ireland or Jamaica’s

· People who will be stopping by to be interviewed in the Talking Taiwan podcasting booth at Passport to Taiwan

· The upcoming movie adaptation of the novel Loveboat Taipei

· Things to do in the first 24 hours upon arriving in Taiwan

· Ximending Red House in Taipei

· The bells of Kaohsiung Harbor public art project (Echo Across the Harbor)

· The band Chthonic and how their song Supreme Pain for the Tyrant makes reference to Peter Huang, who tried to assassinate Chiang

· How activist Yuri Kochiyama encouraged Ed when he was a student at Columbia University working on bringing Asian studies to the campus

· How the Taiwanese and Taiwanese diaspora are becoming more outspoken and proud of their identity

· How the Famous Porkchop House on Doyers Street in New York City’s Chinatown was renamed Taiwan’s Porkchop House

· Cannabis use in Taiwan