Weeks after deadly floods, many Amis Indigenous residents of Hualien held a rally outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei to protest disaster recovery measures currently being discussed by KMT lawmakers that they worry could force them to relocate from their homes.

8/8 When schools like Dahan close, Taiwan's ministry of education finds alternative places for students to finish their degrees further away from home. But as more schools shut their doors, communities like the Truku student Chen's village may be left with fewer educational opportunities.

6/8 An alum of Shih Hsin, and the executive secretary of Taiwan's higher education union Zhang Zhi-lun argues some private universities are using the pretext of low enrollment to run themselves more like a business - harming students and teachers' rights in the process.

5/8 But even in Taipei, schools are feeling pressure. Students at Shih Hsin university are protesting a decision to close any undergrad course with fewer than 30 students. The students say it's unnecessary cost-cutting. The college says, facing funding issues, it needs to save money where it can.

4/8 One of You’s former students, Chen Xiao-dong, said young people from his Truku Indigenous community relied on Dahan for career-track education. When Dahan closes, they'll be left without a nearby alternative. Most school closures are happening in less-developed areas in Taiwan's south and east.

3/8 Professor You Li-fang told me what made Dahan Institute special was that 2 out of every 5 of its students were from the nearby Indigenous communities. When the school closes, “I think the poor will become much poorer because they will lose opportunities,” You said. “I’m so mad about that.”

Record numbers of pilgrims are accompanying a figure of the goddess Mazu on a roughly 400-km route through western Taiwan. I stopped by on the goddess's return journey to the home temple in Baishatun, Miaoli, as her carriage rested in a rice farming village in Yunlin.

Hip hop artist Yang Shu-ya 楊舒雅 takes the stage at Taiwan's premier independent music festival, Megaport 大港開唱. She's performing her single "2045", about the fears of a potential Chinese invasion and Taiwan's uncertain future.

At a recent protest in support of Ukraine, Taiwanese volunteer Deng Ruei-yun said "It's not a good idea Trump may sacrifice the interests of the Ukrainian people." She thinks Taiwan should figure out what to pitch the US "so they can offer us more help instead of selling us out."

It's been 3 years since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since then, Taiwanese leaders have drawn parallels with their own fate. "If we allow autocratic invaders to win this war...that will enable autocrats everywhere to bully their neighbors", DPP legislator Wang Ting-yu told me.

As policymakers fret about Taiwan's low birthrate, the current approach ships off and excludes many Taiwan-born children whose mothers often want to stay longer-term here. As a naturalized immigrant to the US, I can't help but picture similar situations if the US ends birthright citizenship as well.

Some mothers who'd been undocumented before were staying there with their kids. It seemed comfy but the exit was card-locked to prevent them escaping again. Apparently one mother tried to climb from the 4th floor with a cloth rope and broke her arm. She was sent to hospital then eventually deported.

The main long-term solution the government pursues is sending the kids to the mother's home country. Often that takes time because the mothers don't necessarily want to leave Taiwan right away.

Though they're born in Taiwan, they don't have the right to claim citizenship, although in some cases they are eligible for temporary residency. Their ability to go to school and access other services is limited, with decisions often made on a case by case basis.

Visited a shelter for children of migrant workers in Taiwan (most of their mothers are Southeast Asian domestic workers). Many of their mothers can't house them because they live full-time with the Taiwanese elder they're taking care if, or they are undocumented.

Booted up Half-Life 2 again in honor of its 20th anniversary. I'm struck by the cleverness of its level design and art direction - placed somewhere between Eastern Europe and the Pacific Northwest, occupied by an alien society that feels otherworldly yet convincingly real. It hasn't aged a day.

Hard-core parkour: Lawmaker and opposition party head Lee Jae-myung livestreams himself vaulting over a wall to enter the National Assembly. 190 lawmakers out of 300 made it inside and voted unanimously to lift martial law.

Tonight outside the Legislative Yuan, where several civil rights groups called a rally to protest KMT-TPP bills advancing through the legislature. These would impose tighter requirements on recall elections and raise the threshold for judgments from the Constitutional court.

Spent the weekend visiting the Saisiyat Indigenous community to observe the Pas Ta'ay: a ritual held every two years to apologize to the spirits of the Koko Ta'ay, a people their ancestors killed a long time ago.