Choosing the Road Less Traveled
From the start, Barbie Wu was determined to forge her own path. Born in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1986, she comes from a family of scientists.
Category: Immigrant
Art and Life: Trusting the Process
Mauricio Villarreal, co-founder of the design firm PLACE, takes a pragmatic approach to daily existence. “Life just happens,” he reasons
A Lifetime of Listening
One of Margaret Stewart Clark’s earliest memories is of sitting, at age two or three, with her sister, who was blind, as the older girl taught Clark how to
To Bear Witness: Even in Chaos
Teenagers when they met and fell in love, Abdullah and Hatidza did not let war stop them. After Abdullah joined the Bosnian army to fight for his country,
Finding Identity in Resilience
Looking back on the many changes in her life, Sara Houranpay likes to quote her father’s advice: “When life throws you down, you get up,
Past Passions, New Horizons
For Ningshu Fang, the lessons that her grandmother taught her as a child are an invaluable part of who she has been, and who she has become. “She was a […]
Spreading Love Through Coffee
When Hector Mejia Zamora lost his father, he made a bargain with God. “I was only fourteen,” he says, “But I told God that if he gave me my dad […]
Portland Ukrainians’ Plea
Fighting back tears at a rally she organized a few days after the Feb. 24 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Tatiana Terdal still managed to draw laughs from the 300
Opera Was Never on the Radar
When Priti Gandhi was six years old, her mother noticed that she liked to hum along with the radio. She also observed that her daughter
Opera Was Never on the Radar
Growing up in the bohemian beach town of Encinitas, near San Diego, California, Priti Gandhi showed early interest in music and performance.
A Musician’s Education
As he was relaxing on the beach at sunset, beer in hand, Gerardo Calderon Garcia was startled when a stranger approached. After a short conversation, the stranger
Evading Stigmas and Stereotypes
“One day, I looked around, and everyone looked the same,” says Emery Thanathiti, describing her reaction to moving to Hong Kong as a teenager. “But I wanted to
Exploring Heritage Through Music
From her childhood, Keiko Araki knew what Taiko drums were. But it wasn’t until she moved to Portland, Oregon, in 2004 and became involved with Portland Taiko that
Pushing Boundaries Through Music
Raúl Gómez Rojas spent his youth learning the violin. Almost every day, he practiced the instrument in his hometown in Costa Rica. Then, at age 24, he found himself
Embracing and exploring identity
When Qasim Syed arrived in the United States in 2001, he didn’t realize that a simple decision to reorder his name would one day define his immigrant experience.