Sunday Panel-Feel Good Inside and Out

By: Amy Lee

The panel on Sunday, “feel good inside and out” featured panelists Ruth Hsueh, Alice Liang, Alice Tong, and Nancy Yu. The panel started with moderator Christine Leu’s introduction of the topic. She mentioned her grandmother in Taiwan who is almost 100 years old who is still feeling good inside and out. While the Canadian accent of “out” intrigued most of the audience, each panelist’s interesting career caught everyone’s attention.

Ruth Hsueh clears up some of the stereotypes people have for her profession as a dietician. People usually think of a dietician as someone who helps others lose weight, but helping to balance, moderating, and create variety in nutrition for people for a good, healthy style is what she really does for her profession. Alice Liang is an architect who helped designed the mental health hospital in Toronto. The traditional view for mental hospitals is a place to “hide” the people. The residential accommodation Alice and her team designed is really a community that can make the people become a segment of the community in the city. Alice Tong works at a mental wellness center, but she is also a vocalist who focuses on music such as jazz, indie folk, and country music. Her career combines all her passions where she practices as a licensed social worker using music that helps to keep the body and mind good. Nancy Yu is a freelance human rights worker base in India. She found peace in yoga, and she went to India to learn yoga and stayed there for her career to fight against human trafficking.

The panelists were asked to sort the differences in the perceptions and ideas of the good health between the first and second generation of Taiwanese Americans and Canadians. Ruth pointed out the first generation’s fondness for the traditional Taiwanese sauces such as soy sauce and salty spices. The second generation adapts to the western flavors and variety in food that helps to adapt to healthy lifestyle. Alice Tong said the difference is really in the resources that the second generation reaches—the opportunities, for her, were music, higher education learning, and what the first generation, her parents, provided her. Alice Liang and Nancy think the open mind the first generation had in exploring to new countries also brought the second generation more perspectives and the adventurous mind to explore the many ways to improve lifestyle.

The panel concluded with the question on balancing work and life—all panelists agreed that family support is the most effective and the most crucial in the process. Nancy pointed out the support the community also has that gave her the flexibility to balance her life style.