May-lee Chai (she/her)
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mayleechai.bsky.social
May-lee Chai (she/her)
@mayleechai.bsky.social
2.9K followers 1.5K following 2.4K posts
Writer. Prof at SFSU. Tomorrow in Shanghai & Other Stories; Useful Phrases for Immigrants; The Girl from Purple Mountain, etc. Board member of NBCC @bookcritics. Web: https://may-leechai.com/
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mayleechai.bsky.social
Congratulations to the 13 presidents of the California State University system who were given 5-20 percent raises! (retroactive to July 2025)🎉🎉🎉👏👏👏Don’t let a $144 million budget cut to the CSU harsh their glow up!
WHICH CAL STATE PRESIDENTS WILL SEE PAY INCREASES? Thirteen Cal State presidents received base pay raises set to enact retroactively to July 2025, CSU spokesperson Amy Bentley confirmed to The Tribune on Friday. • Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong: $509,336 to $611,203 • San Diego State President Adela de la Torre: $533,148 to $559,805 • San José State President Cynthia Teniente-Matson: $474,840 to $546,066 • CSU Northridge President Erika Beck: $489,576 to $563,012 • Sacramento State President Luke Wood: $476,225 to $504,799 • CSU Fullerton President Ronald Rochon: $498,130 to $523,037 • Fresno State President Saul Jiménez-Sandoval: $476,015 to $523,617 • San Francisco State President Lynn Mahoney: $472,857 to $520,143 • Cal State Los Angeles President Berenecea Johnson Eanes: $496,213 to $521,024 • Cal State San Bernardino President Tomás Morales: $455,201 to $477,961 • Cal State San Marcos President Ellen Neufeldt: $445,519 to $467,795 • Cal State Dominguez Hills President Thomas Parham: $453,971 to $476,670
November 26, 2025 at 2:55 AM
mayleechai.bsky.social
Watched the livestream of SF Opera’s THE MONKEY KING! Powerful, gorgeous, inventive production. Kang Wang (Monkey King) and Zhang Guimei (Guan Yin) were perfection! Great message too. The rich and powerful must learn to share their wealth and power or suffer the consequences of their selfishness.
Poster for monkey king opera livestream: image of a brown monkey with a red face on a yellow background
November 19, 2025 at 7:40 AM
mayleechai.bsky.social
Many thanks to author Fae Myenne Ng for visiting my Creative Nonfiction workshop at SFSU. She talked to my class about her lyrical and moving memoir, ORPHAN BACHELORS, her father’s life as a “paper son” and the long repercussions of the Chinese Exclusion Era policies. And we met Mr. Dewdrop! ❤️🐢
Far Myenne Ng, the author, appears before a Zoom backdrop of blue gray waves and black sky, wearing a black V-neck top and pearl necklace. Cover of ORPHAN BACHELORS depicting gray waves, black sky, and a red balloon on the surface of the waves. Picture of author Fae Myenne Ng, partially obscured, as she holds a large tortoise up to the camera on Zoom. The tortoise’s face and front arms are visible emerging from its shell.
November 14, 2025 at 8:43 PM
mayleechai.bsky.social
Meanwhile, “did women ruin the workplace?”
The New York Times (Screenshot of headline:) INTERESTING TIMES WITH ROSS DOUTHAT Did Women Ruin the Workplace?
November 13, 2025 at 12:13 AM
mayleechai.bsky.social
Prop 50 passes 66 percent to 34 percent
Map of California showing results of voters for prop 50
November 5, 2025 at 4:27 AM
mayleechai.bsky.social
Congratulations to newly elected Mayor of NYC, @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social !
The New York Yomes Nov. 4, 2025, 9:43 p.m. ET BREAKING NEWS Amir Hamja for The New York Times Zohran Mamdani Wins N.Y.C. Mayor's Race After Highest Turnout in Decades The 34-year-old lawmaker's victory, stretching from the gentrified corridors of Brooklyn to the working-class immigrant enclaves of Queens, completed one of the most remarkable political upsets in New York history …
November 5, 2025 at 3:06 AM
mayleechai.bsky.social
Tacky tacky tacky
White woman in silver lamé bikini writhing in a giant rotating martini glass on the lawn at Mar-a-lago at the 1929-stock-market-crash-themed party, oops, I mean the Gatsby-themed party Woman dressed in a bikini on a giant rotating martini glass on the Mar-a-Lago lawn splitting her legs in a super classy way. Oh wait.
November 3, 2025 at 3:33 AM
mayleechai.bsky.social
So glad I picked up some fresh wagashi in Japantown today! Mmm mmm mmm!
Wagashi sweets shaped like a peach, a white melon, and a green one with pink cherry blossoms made from rice paste as decorations.
October 28, 2025 at 6:05 AM
mayleechai.bsky.social
One in San Francisco today too!
“America’s only King” written under a photo of Elvis
October 19, 2025 at 1:41 AM
mayleechai.bsky.social
Joan Baez singing at the San Francisco Civic Center No Kings rally! And some choice signs!
Joan Baez on the big screen at the SF civic center plaza no kings rally Signs: “only orange monarch I want” ( picture of a monarch butterfly) and “ Immigrants aren’t criminals, the president is .” Sign: “ cholesterol: do your job!” Drawing of ICE masked faces with “pig” on forehead of hats
October 18, 2025 at 11:58 PM
mayleechai.bsky.social
Huge turnout at the No Kings rally in San Francisco. And Joan Baez sang live! Joyful crowd!
“Taco” over drawing of T as a clown Trexes against Tyrants sign held by an inflatable T-Rex Pink rainbow unicorn costume Sign: No Kings, No Pedos flanked by U.S. flags
October 18, 2025 at 11:15 PM
mayleechai.bsky.social
It took W six years to crash the world economy. Is T racing to do so in mere months?
Gita Gopinath on the crash that could torch $ 35 trillion of wealth. Headline from The Economist With subhed: The world has become dangerously dependent on American stocks, writes the former IMF economist (Over a drawing of a south Asian woman in a yellow top) Oct 15,2025
October 15, 2025 at 5:05 PM
mayleechai.bsky.social
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! 中秋节快乐！🥮
October 6, 2025 at 7:28 PM
mayleechai.bsky.social
What?!!! “To commit to strict definitions of gender” is to commit to ignoring science
Trump administration asks colleges to sign “compact” to get funding preference Demands Sent to nine top schools included pledging to freeze tuition for five years And to commit to strict definitions of gender Letters on Wednesday were sent to the University of Arizona, Brown University, Dartmouth College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas, Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia. The nine schools declined to comment or did not immediately respond to messages late on Wednesday.
October 2, 2025 at 7:17 AM
mayleechai.bsky.social
“Your countries are going to hell,” T to UN General Assembly.
Here's what to know. President Trump criticized the United Nations' as ineffective on Tuesday and lectured its member nations on how they are failing in a meandering, hourlong speech before the General Assembly on Tuesday. Boasting about his own record and at one point questioning whether the U.N. served a purpose, Mr. Trump sought to portray himself as the only leader who could solve the world's problems. "I'm really good at this stuff," he said. "Your countries are going to hell." Quote from New York Times 9/23/2025
September 23, 2025 at 5:32 PM
mayleechai.bsky.social
Earthquake!
September 22, 2025 at 9:58 AM
mayleechai.bsky.social
I really loved Arundhati Roy’s memoir, MOTHER MARY COMES TO ME, which details her difficult relationship with her brilliant but troubled mother, who was the inspiration for her novel THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS. My review for Minnesota Star Tribune : www.seattletimes.com/entertainmen...
Cover of MOTHER MARY COMES TO ME showing black and white photo of college-age Arundhati Roy smoking. = The Seattle Times By May-lee Chai The Minnesota Star Tribune Book review Arundhati Roy's coruscating new memoir centers her tumultuous relationship with her mother, Mary Roy, a brilliant but volatile pathbreaker the acclaimed novelist calls "my mother, my gangster...my shelter and my storm." In "Mother Mary Comes to Me," the Booker Prize winner (for "The God of Small Things") unpacks memories of her childhood and family in a series of nearly cinematic scenes, dense with the lyrical language, deep empathy and fierce social critique that have made Roy's novels international bestsellers. She begins with her own return to Kerala, India, in 2022 to attend her mother's funeral. She's overwhelmed by her emotions - "wrecked, heart-smashed" - although her brother, LKC, expresses surprise…
September 15, 2025 at 9:09 PM
mayleechai.bsky.social
Got caught in a microclimate burst of rain
September 10, 2025 at 4:12 AM
mayleechai.bsky.social
“It is our duty to treat AI as we would our own children…” What? //These ppl are nuts. It would be funny if not for the fact their venality, stupidity, and craven corruption are going (to continue) to kill millions.
Melania T says, The robots are here. Over a photo of Melania looking sideways at a desk with the flag to the side. Melania Trump turned up at the White House on Thursday with a warning for all mankind. "The robots are here," she said. "Our future is no longer science fiction." It wasn't exactly "The Day the Earth Stood Still, but it was a fascinating sight nonetheless. This first lady does not come to Washington easily or often, but felt compelled to return to speak about the possibilities and dangers of artificial intelligence and the collective duty of our species. "As leaders and parents, we must manage A.I's growth responsibly," she said in her remarks. "During this primitive stage, it is our duty to treat A.I. as we would our own children — empowering, but with watchful guidance."
September 5, 2025 at 3:39 AM
mayleechai.bsky.social
“Suspected drug smugglers” is doing a lot of work in this headline. I mean couldn’t anyone be killed (i.e assassinated/murdered) on the president’s orders now and called “a suspected drug smuggler” since T is claiming the power to kill ppl on suspicion?
Headline from NYT: “Trump claims the power to kill suspected drug smugglers” Over photo of Trump walking past two saluting soldiers
September 4, 2025 at 10:55 PM
mayleechai.bsky.social
Okay, this made me laugh
IG meme from Still We Rise “ if only there were a Pulitzer for closed captioning” Above a CSpan shot of JD giving some kind of speech and in the closed caption it says: [single person clapping]
September 2, 2025 at 6:30 AM
mayleechai.bsky.social
Wild guess here
Movie poster for THE MOTHER OF ALL LIES
September 2, 2025 at 6:03 AM
mayleechai.bsky.social
There are so many beautiful murals in SF Chinatown! Here are a few that caught my eye.
Round ref and white year of the snake “papercut” mural Mural in honor of fallen heroes Betty Ann Ong (who died on 9/11 after phoning in that the terrorists were on her flight) and Bruce Lee (abstract design of firecrackers on blue background) Red lanterns over alleyway pained with murals of the Buddha and zodiac signs Mural of three women’s faces above slogan “we can stop racism”
August 24, 2025 at 1:40 AM
mayleechai.bsky.social
Was in Chinatown earlier today when they were setting up for the Hungry Ghost festival!
August 24, 2025 at 12:59 AM
mayleechai.bsky.social
So grants to Hispanic Serving Institutions are unconstitutional? Yet just today I recd that NEA email saying creative writing fellowships are cancelled in favor of projects that “elevate the Nation’s HBCUs and Hispanic Serving Institutions…” among other projects etc etc. Was that email a lie? Gasp.
August 22, 2025 at 10:31 PM