Author's post:
不捨告別。Departure, unanticipated...
Five friends started off a much anticipated hiking trip, but only four returned. FP's Taiwan writer Vanessa Tsai has been in the dark for five months, still making sense of loss and death, often unanticipated. Writing, a way to fill in the blanks... 據點台灣作者蔡季妙用字、詞、書寫去填滿友人意外墮崖後幾個月還在擴大的空洞。
《垃圾之書》讀後雜感 Reading birdwatcher Łubieński's account of waste catastrophe
Another anthropocene scenario, a critical reflection of our environmental consciousness through an ornithologist's observation. What can we do, FP contributor Vanessa Tsai asks. 蔡季妙看著生活環境的惡化和資源分配的傾斜，慨嘆個體的無能為力，亦為環保意識中的一些矯枉過正作出反思，她問：你想做甚麼？你願意犧牲甚麼？你能做甚麼？
Vanessa Tsai /「他還年輕」之後，我感念的一切 After “He’s Still Young” … thoughts abound recalling a former teacher
A teacher who passed on more than knowledge, but inspirations. FP writer Vanessa Tsai, a teacher herself, has been inspired by Wu Sheng. 傳授知識是老師的職責，單單傳授知識的老師，也算是一個老師。「據點。句點」寫作人蔡季妙國中時遇過一個不僅單單傳授知識的老師，老師老了，相處回憶串串，縷縷如煙，卻常存心中。不求聞達不望回報，春風化雨，無聲無息潤澤大地，這是一個好老師成就另一個好老師的故事。
《旅館》讀書會後之喃喃自語 Murmurs after group-reading HOTEL LIFE
Emerging from a group-reading session of Levander and Guerl’s Hotel Life , F-Teatime contributor Vanessa Tsai reflects on herself as a lone sojourner. Anything can happen…? 。「據點。句點」寫作人蔡季妙借「旅館」讀書會探討人與旅館的關係，亦訴說天涯孤客的心情：浪跡異地，各有懷抱，前路茫不可知，誰也像浮萍，誰也需要一個安心所。（
月圓夏之夢 Interspecies drama in a full-moon summer evening
In an unplanned hanging out in summer, Taiwan-based FP writer Vanessa Tsai found her direct encounter with the “Brown Land Crabs” (aka Chestnut crabs, or red-claw crabs) invoking interspecies thinking: must we sustain human survival at the cost of natural survival? 據點駐台作者蔡季妙趁暑假鬆一口氣，隨心的到台南曾文溪口一遊，正值「凶狠圓軸蟹」產卵時節，觸發了「種間思維」對人和自然共生的必要性。
《娛樂至死》讀後，身為教師的自省 A school teaching reading Amusing Ourselves to Death
因讀書會的推介而細讀波茲曼的《娛樂至死》20週年台灣中譯本的據點作者蔡季妙，深刻檢視了作為自然科學的小學教師的本位，策問：有趣的教學和嚴肅深度的學習真的不可共存？Taiwan-based FP writer and science teacher to children Vanessa Tsai read Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death and asked if she must choose between entertainment and serious teaching in order to be effective, or if that is a false binary.
Vanessa Tsai / 也說說寫寫我的少小時候 Loose thoughts on my childhood days, all those years…
一個小時的飛航時間，把香港和台灣分隔成兩個歷史溯源和軌跡有交疊卻體驗不一樣的生活世界。又或者，貌不似而神似？身為小學老師的「據點」海外作者蔡季妙用今天的視野去「重訪」小時候的自己，不期然想起了教科書。Primary school teacher Vanessa Tsai, FP overseas contributor, revisits her young self through the lens of contemporary society: her primary school textbooks and experiences weigh on her massively. How is Hong Kong and Taiwan linked to and set off from one another other than the 1-hour flight that sets them apart?
Vanessa Tsai / 台北《巢》 獨立影音計畫 觀後 有感 A visit to Endospace Sound Visual Art’s “Nest”
《巢》是「安全感」的符號，內部的情感流向自成一體，同時是個「開發可重複利用的媒體裝置」；對訪者來說，強調無敘事的觀賞。據點海外作者蔡季妙於2020年12月底到訪了。巢內部住進皮膚裡的感官思維是怎樣的呢？Nest is the exquisite architectural work of the Ploceidae in nature; “Nest,” now on in Taipei, is an enclosed installation space of internal circulations deploying recyclable media. FP writer Vanessa Tsai just paid a visit.
Vanessa Tsai / 不麻煩的麻煩 Saving trouble, that’s trouble…
The sight of a wild animal turned convenient pet reminded Vanessa Tsai a questionable utilitarian attitude towards animals, and thus also self-justification in other areas of life. 蔡季妙目睹一隻狐獴成了寵物，驚覺實用功利價值為先的態度，灌滿了日常生活，扭曲了道德的邏輯性。
Vanessa Tsai / 殭屍。 教室裡。臺灣。2020…2014。2016。
2014年3月18日，一群臺灣的大學生，為了制止海峽兩岸服務貿易協議不當立法通過而衝進了立法院，霸佔了立法院23天，引起社會各種討論。筆者於2016年生平第一次進行根管治療，之後嘴巴裡有了一顆不會感到疼痛卻足以協助咀嚼功能正常的牙齒。筆者不禁反思，傳統上的「孝順」、「不犯上」是以甚麼樣的形式進行著，因而記下這樣的感觸。
