by Nancy E Dollahite | Apr 7, 2018 | Book reviews, China
So which works better: memorization or discovery on your own, self-discipline or creativity? This, to vastly oversimplify, is the crux of the debate between models of education in Asia and the West. As an educator who has taught at every level from middle school to...
by Nancy E Dollahite | Feb 1, 2018 | China, North Korea
With the drumbeat of fear on both sides, it’s almost impossible for any of us in the U.S. to meet a North Korean, much less share insights and come to see them as people like ourselves. Yet in 1987, I was lucky enough to do just that. I was teaching English at the...
by Dennis Rea | Jan 4, 2017 | Dennis Rea, Live at the Forbidden City, Music
(* a nod to the tune of the same name by the late, brilliant songsmith Kevin Ayers) As the calendar advances to what is perhaps the most ominous new year of my lifetime to date, a look back at my musical activities over the past few years reveals a somewhat unsettling...
by Dennis Rea | Dec 7, 2016 | China, Commentary, Dennis Rea, Live at the Forbidden City, Music
A while back I released the album Views from Chicheng Precipice, a sort of audio counterpart to my Blue Ear Books title Live at the Forbidden City, both being end results of my experiences within Chinese culture. Hoping that Chinese listeners might take interest in my...
by Dennis Rea | Mar 2, 2016 | China, Dennis Rea, Live at the Forbidden City, Music
Greetings, readers – many thanks for visiting the Blue Ear Books author blogs! I’d like to begin my inaugural blog post by warmly thanking Blue Ear Books publisher Ethan Casey, first and foremost for graciously publishing the updated edition of my book Live at the...