From the Desk of Lela Lee

2 Years ago I had a public beef with an Asian male blogger who used to say I inspired his work. I'd always been cool with his voice that helped other Asians find a voice. But as his blog grew, he started to omit this fact of origin.  He began to consistently...

Well, the #election didn't go the way I'd hoped. But instead of ranting about the results, I'd like to rant about the way we do it. I think the way we vote is a bit wonky. The electoral college voting system is really archaic to me. I think the popular...

Here I go again. I finished a book manuscript and I'm finding myself doing what I did before, collecting rejections. Ack.
Ok I exaggerate. I got 2 rejections over a year and I haven't been really trying hard, but still, when I got the second rejection from a book agent, it felt disappointing. At dinner I was totally bummed out. My kids asked me what was wrong and I told...

     Every once in a while, I get asked by young artists to look over their work. Or I get asked to talk to young students in high school. I'm always hesitant about this because who am I to give a review or to guide one's artistic journey?
But I think back to when I was starting out, how I sought approval or permission to be an artist, namely from my parents. But they never gave it. (And the world may never give it). There were many closed doors, derogatory emails, polite passes, and outright...