Victor Tan Chen's Blog, page 3

Cold Peace

Twelfth of July, Donegall Street, Belfast, 2013. Dominic Bryan, via Flickr

A few years ago, I found myself in a very Protestant part of Belfast trying to convince neighborhood kids that they should be nice to Catholics. I was working for anonprofit, drivingall over Northern Irelandto direct sports programs that bussed groups of children back and forth between Protestant and Catholic enclaves. Americans would probably describe the work we did as “peace-building,” but locals in Belfast called i...

Futures for the Middle Class

Chicago Board of Trade corn pit, 1993. Jeremy Kemp, via Wikimedia

This week, after 167 years, the futures trading pitsin Chicago closed down. Computers now handle the work that shouting traders flashing hand signals used to do. I was struck by this partof the story:

What’s also disappearing is a rich culture of brazen bets, flashy trading jackets and kids just out of high school getting a shot at making it big. The pits were a ruthless place, but they were also a proving ground where educatio...

Strays: Street People and Their Dogs

I first noticed them in Paris: dogs accompanying homeless street people. I saw a man in a heavy winter coat sitting on the stone ground of a bridge while his dog—a rust-colored lab puppy—rested, curled up, on a blanket beside him. A sign said the dog was for sale. It hit me hard: he was obviously caring for this animal, but it was mid-October, and there was a chill in the air. Surviving the winter can be a challenge for human beings, let alone animals.

A year later, I visited Europe again wi...

America: A Country without a Cuisine

A cornfield in Nebraska. Jan Tik, via Flickr

I celebrated every birthday under my mother’s roof with a bowl of miyeokguk, or seaweed soup. I ate it for breakfast and had the leftovers for dinner the rest of the week. When I was old enough to understand, my mother explained that it was a Korean tradition to eat this soup on one’s birthday. It was also a tradition for women to eat nothing but miyeokguk for several weeks after giving birth. That sounded great to me; I love miyeokguk.

Records of...

Send These, the Homeless, Tempest-Tost

Daniel Okator lives on the streets of Athens. Fearful of Boko Haram, he left Nigeria in 2013 and crossed the Mediterranean on a rickety boat. Two of his fellow migrants drowned when the boat capsized.

Me? No, I have papers!” the man yells when I ask him his name.

He is young, tall, and stout, dressed in a worn black bomber jacket and a pair of baggy corduroys, his hands covered by the scruffy grey gloves he uses to root through garbage bags.

I have run into him in Plato’s Academy, the vicinit...

Debunking the Myth of Self-Made Success

Image by Libby Levi, via opensource.com

Here is a short piece I wrote recently foraZócalo Public Square discussionon the question “Is Rising Inequality Slowly Poisoning Our Democracy?” The discussion included experts from the Brennan Center for Justice, Cato Institute, Economic Policy Institute, and Georgetown University Center on Poverty and Inequality.

When Michael Young coined the term “meritocracy” half a century ago, he meant it to be an insult, not an ideal. In his view, a society where...

The Big Picture of Baltimore, Ferguson, and North Charleston

“Seasons Greetings, from Ferguson,” November 29, 2014.Mike Tigas, via Flickr

Richard Rothstein of the Economic Policy Institute says we need to remember the big picture of race relations in Baltimore:

The police behavior is something that should be remedied. It’s a terrible criminal operation on the part of the police departments. But it doesn’t start with police departments. When you have a low-income population concentrated in the area, little hope, unemployment rates in places like inner c...

Best of In The Fray 2014

The following are the best pieces published in In The Fray this year, as chosen bythe editors:

Commentary:Unearthing Another War, by Michael Long

News: The White Death, Revived, by Octavio Raygoza

Photo Essay: Photographer without Borders, by Jo Magpie and Onnik Krikorian

Culture: The Gateway Author: A Conversation with Novelist Sherman Alexie,bySusan M. Lee

If you like original stories like these—stories thatfurther our understanding of other people and encourage empathy and compassion—pleas...

The Lethal Snows of Everest

Today, twelve Sherpas died in an avalanche on Mount Everest, the worst accident in the mountain’s history. (Four are still missing.) The Sherpa community, an ethnic group in Nepal renowned for their mountaineering skills, has long guided foreign visitors up the world’s tallest peak. “Sherpas bear the real burden of climbing Mount Everest,” American mountaineer Conrad Anker told National Geographic. “They’re the ones who take the biggest risks.”

Last year we published a story by Stephanie Lowe...

Best of In The Fray 2013

Out of everything we published this year, our editors chose the following pieces from each section for being standouts among their peers. As we see it, they best represent whatIn The Frayis all about: stories thatfurther our understanding of other people and encourage empathy and compassion.

Commentary:How to Say ‘Divorced’ in Spanish, by Alexandra Levine

News:All I Know Is Here, by Scott Winter and Shelby Wolfe

Photo Essay:Rough Guides: Sherpas for Hire in the Himalayas, by Stephanie Lowe

Cu...