Today, Veterans Day in the US and Armistice Day elsewhere, is a day to remember and share war experiences
By Gary Borders
Veterans Day in the US began life on Nov. 11, 1919 as Armistice Day, to mark the end of World War I - the "war to end all wars." In 1954 the name was changed to Veterans Day to honor all living veterans of our armed forces. In 1968, the holiday joined other floating days to allow three-day weekends for federal employees, but understandable umbrage from veterans forced the US Congress to revert back to the original observance date a decade later.

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Lin Wen-chung’s path to a career as a choreographer has been anything but conventional
By Diane Baker
Taiwan has produced dozens of fine dancers over the years. Some have been able to carve out a professional life at home; some have gone abroad to pursue their dreams. A very talented few have gained fame dancing with internationally renowned companies. Lin Wen-chung (林文中), now 34, was about as unlikely a candidate for that last category as one could meet, at least as a child.

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Lebanon may be more forward-thinking than neighboring countries where homosexuality is punishable by death, but equal rights group Helem feels it's still less than ideal
By Ines Bel Aiba
In some countries in the Arab world homosexuals can face the death penalty, but in Lebanon an association battles openly for the rights of gays who may live freely but are still ostracized socially.

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A Jesuit missionary writes about his experiences working with Aboriginal groups in Taiwan’s mountains in a book that may be of interest to a select few
By Bradley Winterton
The history of Christian missionaries in Taiwan is intriguing. It's really unnecessary to say "Christian" because no other religion engages in proselytizing activity in quite the way Christians have done, and continue to do. And certainly "the conversion of the heathen" went hand in hand with trade throughout the colonial period. What is interesting about the Taiwan experience, however, is that it was the Aboriginals who bore the brunt of the Christianization effort. To this day almost all of Taiwan's half a million Aboriginal people remain Christians of one denomination or another.

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Peter Sagal's newest tome, with cleverly named chapters on prostitutes, scam artists and more, looks at society's naughty, sometimes ridiculous, aspects
By Colette Bancroft
Although my husband is a fan of Peter Sagal, host of NPR's weekly news quiz show, Wait Wait … Don't Tell Me, he won't need to spend much time reading Sagal's The Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things (And How to Do Them). I've already read most of it to him out loud.

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FICTION

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