Mercela Serrano

Beth Fowler

“Listening to stories gives you many lives, telling them dims loneliness." —Marcela Serrano Nine Chilean women from vastly different backgrounds have been brought together by their beloved therapist, Natasha, to talk about their lives and help each other heal. From a teenage computer whiz confronting her sexual identity, to a middle-aged recluse who prefers the company of her dog over that of most humans, the women don't have much in common on the surface. And yet as they tell their stories, unlikely common threads are discovered, bonds are formed, and lives are transformed. The women represent the many cultural, racial, and social groups that modern Chile is composed of—from housekeeper to celebrity television personality—and together their stories form a pastiche that is at times achingly sad, and at other times funny and inspiring. This is an intricately woven, beautifully rendered tale of the universal bonds between women from one of Latin America's most celebrated novelists.

Ten Women

What Readers and Reviewers say about Half Baked in Taiwan: "Entertaining, also very educational." Troy Henley, Columbus, Ohio. "Half Baked in Taiwan is worth reading. Fowler writes wellshe hits the nail on the head." Mat Matich, Topics, (American Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan magazine.) "Well-paced, funny and all-around excellent." Francesca Kelly, Editor-in-Chief, Tales from a Small Planet "One of the few elite authors who covers Taiwan with insight and intelligence." Jeremy Teigen, University of Texas political science grad student, & former Taiwan resident "I read it in one sit...laughed myself achy." Karen Schmitt, editor New Views Southern Taiwan "Professional and highly readable." Jack Barker, editor www.travelmag.co.uk "Fowler, a world traveler and accomplished observer of human nature, has written a book that is more than just a travelogue." Joan Viener, Amazon reviewer "A humorous blend of travelogue, culture clash and fish-out-of-water tales." Chris Mautner, reviewer Harrisburg Patriot News, USA "Fowlers description is a wry take on Taiwan." John Bugbee, journalist, York Sunday News, USA "Fowler writes about her two-and-a-half years in Taiwan in a witty new book she calls Half Baked in Taiwan." Ann Diviney, Evening Sun Style Editor, USA In Half Baked in TaiwanBeth Fowler invites readers to saddle up, mount a beast called culture shock and hang on for a jolting ride. Filled with anecdotes of an Americans experience of life in Taiwan, the episodes are about everything from the seemingly mundane task of mailing a letter in a foreign land to the fated moment when Fowler concludes that the so-called Westernization of Asia is a terribly misleading exaggeration. "The overall experience of being a Westerner living in Taiwan can cause one to feel a vast range of emotions. From the very start Half Baked in Taiwan is exceedingly humorous, insightful, and easy to relate to. I found myself laughing so much that my co-workers took notice," says Steven Aukstakalnis, expatriate and editor based in Taiwan. Hear that noise? Thats the crunch of two cultures clashing. Taiwans culture is quintessentially Chinese. Saving face, Chinese Lunar New Year, Chinese cuisine and the exacting social art of gift-giving are just a few of the Asian customs to which visiting Westerners must adapt themselves, for if they dont, they risk constantly being at odds with their hosts, hosts like Jane Lan, a Taiwan native with strong opinions. Jane provides an Oriental counterpoint to Fowlers Yankee perspective. Mr. and Mrs. Tsai, who are so Asian theyve shunned adopting Western first names, introduce Fowler and her husband to the Taiwan that tourists usually skim over. Taiwan, a republic whose leaders proclaim it is Asias leading democracy while fearing military attack from Mainland China, is home to unique cultural quirks unparalleled in any other Asian country. Millions of stray dogs patrol the streets and the betel nut industry wreaks environmental, human and social damage. On the aesthetic front, Taiwanese puppet theater endures as a cultural heritage handed down from generation to generation. With Fowler as a guide, readers will meet aboriginal children, attend a wedding, meet a sexy woman with prescient knowledge, and zip around the Republic on an "iron horse." Even supposedly simple tasks like buying a bunch of broccoli at the local "wet market" become, for the half-baked foreigner, a mind-shifting experience worth writing home about. Learning to be a foreigner entails making mistakes. Constantly. Some people emerge out the other end of the cross-cultural gauntlet with a broader, more tolerant view of the world and its inhabitants. Other people come off the expatriate experience with jingoistic bitterness. And yet others "go native." People wanting

Half Baked in Taiwan

The rock and roll music that dominated airwaves across the country during the 1950s and early 1960s is often described as a triumph for integration. Black and white musicians alike, including Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee Lewis, scored hit records with young audiences from different racial groups, blending sonic traditions from R&B, country, and pop. This so-called "desegregation of the charts" seemed particularly resonant since major civil rights groups were waging major battles for desegregation in public places at the same time. And yet the centering of integration, as well as the supposition that democratic rights largely based in consumerism should be available to everyone regardless of race, has resulted in very distinct responses to both music and movement among Black and white listeners who grew up during this period. Rock and Roll, Desegregation Movements, and Racism in the Post-Civil Rights Era: An "Integrated Effort" traces these distinctions using archival research, musical performances, and original oral histories to determine the uncertain legacies of the civil rights movement and early rock and roll music in a supposedly post-civil rights era.

Beth Fowler

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