Clara Iwasaki
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ciwasaki.bsky.social
Clara Iwasaki
@ciwasaki.bsky.social
170 followers 220 following 95 posts
Prof @ UAlberta: LA expat, lilikoi enthusiast. You can ask me about Chinese/Sinophone scholarly things, but you can also ask me about my cat and all other cats in my area.
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ciwasaki.bsky.social
Agreed! There's no other academic building where I have witnessed Pikachu commit murder while eating a dosa.
A stuffed Pikachu is pushing another stuffed animal out of a second floor window.
September 17, 2025 at 9:43 PM
ciwasaki.bsky.social
Re-reading Koji Ariyoshi (Kona born Hawai'ian JA communist and China expert)'s autobiography this morning. I found the end of his preface striking. It was written when Ariyoshi faced trial and jail time for organizing a communist party in Hawai'i. Words to think about in these times, I think.
The Salem witch hunt, the Alien and Sedition Acts, and the Palmer raids of 1919 were all defeated. America must return to its senses to play a constructive role in the community of nations. The hope lies in the people, here and on the Mainland. We have deep faith in them to struggle for progress. It is the duty of those who understand the situation, including those who have been silenced, to awaken the conscience of the whole populace.
September 15, 2025 at 4:40 PM
ciwasaki.bsky.social
"The average American has three friends"
Three medium sized blackbird looking birds. They all have midnight blue iridescent heads and their bodies are black but show a dull yellow sheen to them. Two on the right are crouched down, their heads pointed upward at an angle in that grackle like pose. The one on the left is shouting at the top of its little lungs and its whole body is ruffled out with effort.
May 2, 2025 at 5:40 PM
ciwasaki.bsky.social
And some pretty amazingly posed grackles.
Three black birds all looking up in different directions expectantly. Their light colored eyes clearly visible. All have shiny midnight blue iridescent head feathers.
April 29, 2025 at 12:45 AM
ciwasaki.bsky.social
One of my favorite shots is a very serious merlin.
A small falcon perched sideways to the camera: its face serious and majestic, its butt fluffy and sticking out to the side. Probably not funny if you are a sparrow.
April 29, 2025 at 12:45 AM
ciwasaki.bsky.social
Pretty sure I saw my first Horned Grebe today. Unfortunately quite far away and not my best picture.
A waterfowl, more or less duck sized, rusty red lower body, dark back, rusty neck, big round black jowls, ruby red eyes, and golden "eyebrow" feathers on top.
April 29, 2025 at 12:45 AM
ciwasaki.bsky.social
As good an excuse as any to share some of my favorite bee pics from the garden last year.
A rotund golden bumble bee with a black bottom feeds from a electric pink flower the shape of a jester's hat (or Sideshow Bob's hair). This is a queen bombus perplexus. On the same flower a very tiny bee probably 1/50th of the size of the queen bumble feeds from the same flower. A very tiny black and white striped bee dives upside down into the flower. It's lower belly covered in pollen. A black and white striped bee rises from a yellow flower. It's bottom and back legs coated in golden pollen.
April 18, 2025 at 2:34 AM
ciwasaki.bsky.social
Got a good pic of the male today.
Small falcon with a slate blue wing perched on a burl of a tree peering down at the person taking pictures of them like a creep.
April 11, 2025 at 1:50 AM
ciwasaki.bsky.social
Went out during magic hour and can now confirm there are two of them and they're definitely trying their best to set up a nest.
A light brown raptor about the size of a pigeon perches on a branch. Two pigeon sized raptors in frame one crouching and the other flying away
April 7, 2025 at 2:51 PM
ciwasaki.bsky.social
Not my normal lane, but I've been hearing a new bird call through my closed windows for weeks. Thanks to the @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social app Merlin, IDed it as an, er, Merlin. New one for me.

I finally went out with a camera and got a photo and figured out where the pair is nesting.
A small pigeon sized raptor, a merlin, backlit perched in an elm tree. Photo with the contrast turn all the way down of a merlin, a small pigeon sized raptor screaming its tiny head off.
April 6, 2025 at 3:45 PM
ciwasaki.bsky.social
I scream-laughed so loud in my own home at this news that my cat got worried about me. Oh my god.
Slightly apprehensive tuxedo cat with green eyes looks up into camera.
March 12, 2025 at 11:58 PM
ciwasaki.bsky.social
This Gary Bettinson interview with Johnnie To in Asian Cinema (2024) is truly amazing. Other people who Johnnie To considers overrated Anthony Hopkins and Daniel Day Lewis.
Interviewer: Johnnie To's Collateral is an enticing proposition. JT: The script I read was set in New York, not LA...The studio could not convince me about the quality of the story. Who cares about Tom Cruise? I don't like him - his acting is so lousy. But of course, he is a superstar. But how can we change his persona and acting style? We can't.
February 10, 2025 at 3:45 PM
ciwasaki.bsky.social
One of the kind of cool things about bird watching from my house is that every April 14, juncos stop by our yard on their way elsewhere.
Two juncoes, one with a greyish head and one with a black head. One is standing on fallen leaves and the other is blurry as it is taking flight.
December 5, 2024 at 4:53 PM
ciwasaki.bsky.social
Tuxedo cat sitting on a white ottoman by the window. Riceballs wrapped with nori in a little wooden serving tray.
November 26, 2024 at 11:37 PM
ciwasaki.bsky.social
Ok, you know what? It's on me for searching "Hong Kong" at Indigo. But seriously though, what the fuck am I looking at?
Book title: Hong Kong revolution, Spiritual messages of the guardian spirits of Xi Jinping and Agnes Chow Ting
November 13, 2024 at 10:31 PM
ciwasaki.bsky.social
If you see this (and are so inclined), post a cat. My cat Musubi @musubifosters.bsky.social, a 12 year old cat with a lot of opinions.
A tuxedo cat with her mouth slightly open.
November 7, 2024 at 8:28 PM