Standridge, Dana 1967-

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Standridge, Dana 1967-

PERSONAL:

Born 1967, in AL; married Christopher Roberts; children: Eli.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Bellingham, WA.

CAREER:

International Community Radio Taipei (ICRT), former news anchor. Also worked at Metro News in Hong Kong.

WRITINGS:

Lessons in Essence (novel), Shoemaker & Hoard (Emeryville, CA), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Dana Standridge spent many years living in Taiwan between 1985 and 2006, including several years as a news anchor at International Community Radio Taipei. Her life was significantly influenced by her experiences in Taiwan; among other important events, she met her husband, Christopher, in Taipei. Standridge draws upon her experiences in Taiwan for her debut novel, Lessons in Essence. Her main character, Teacher Li, is an arts master, scholar, and educator from Taiwan who is feeling the physical effects of aging as well as the generational divide between himself and younger Taiwanese. A master of traditional Chinese arts such as calligraphy and scroll painting, Li is content with the comfort and stability that the ancient ways provide. However, he is also drawn to another culture in America, and he faces the inevitable changes of modernity in his homeland. Alone in Taiwan while his wife and children work to secure the family's immigration to New York, he has a brief affair with a younger woman, Cai Mong Hei. This affair, which seemed effortless and almost an unconscious decision, drives Li to retire from his work and seek a simpler life in the mountains. Physical hardships and a harsh environment, as well as a chance meeting with another intellectual named Dr. Gao, prompt Teacher Li to carefully reconsider his life and the choices he has made. Standridge "effectively depicts the artistic reveries of Teacher Li," who discusses arts and artisanship "with affectless clarity," attested a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Her "prose is lucid and her dialog lively, and she has a hawk eye for personality quirks and vivid detail," remarked Laurie Sullivan in Library Journal.