from ACJ Advisory Board Member Frances Kai-Hwa Wang in AnnArbor.com:
In fifth grade, my class held a Passover dinner as part of our unit on Exodus. Exodus was a big deal then, with Charlton Heston starring in the “Ten Commandments” rerunning every year on television, so we knew the story well (that and “Gone with the Wind”).
I remember baking the unleavened bread and marveling at how flat it was. I had only ever had Wonder Bread at that point and was unfamiliar with the concepts of crust and crumb. I remember mixing the bitter herbs in a bowl, the pungent smell of them, and serving a small spoonful to each student and parent at our long table. We each held a small piece of paper with our lines, our prayers, our questions.
Since I attended a Catholic school, I am sure we held our Passover dinner on Holy Thursday to tie it into the Last Supper, and I am sure this unit segued right into Easter. I do not remember being taught that Passover was a living tradition, that there were still Jewish people and that Jewish people still celebrated Passover.
In my child’s mind, Passover was something the Israelites did right after they escaped from Egypt with Charlton Heston. My image of it stayed in ancient times.
Still, it is one of the big events that I remember from elementary school, and I always think of it every year when Passover comes. My understanding of it is nowhere near complete, but at least I know a little bit about unleavened bread, bitter herbs, salted water, and “Why is this night different from all other nights?” And I know it viscerally because I was there.
click on link for more: Selections from the smorgasbord of spring celebrations, learning from Passover and Black Day
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Asian-Americans settle in Metro Detroit enclaves | detnews.com | The Detroit News
Check out this article in Detroit News that quotes ACJ Board Member Roland Hwang:
Upen Saparia followed his brother from India to Michigan 10 years ago after a brief stop in Canada, and since then, the computer contractor has never been out of work or worried about losing his job.
"I like everything, except winter, everything in Michigan," said Saparia, 38, of Rochester Hills, who also owns a full-service Indian grocery store in Troy. "The people are great, and it's the land of opportunity."
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110419/METRO/104190316/Asian-Americans-settle-in-Metro-Detroit-enclaves#ixzz1L7n0IpdfAsian-Americans settle in Metro Detroit enclaves | detnews.com | The Detroit News
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Adventures in Multicultural Living: Lessons from Taiwan Bangzi Company's Chinese Opera adaptation of Merchant of Venice, "Bond"
from ACJ Advisory Board Member Frances Kai-Hwa Wang in AnnArbor.com:
The Taiwan Bangzi Company was in town this past week with their Henan Chinese opera adaptation of “The Merchant of Venice” called “Bond.”
I always love Chinese opera once I am there, but I have to drag myself in there because in my mind Chinese opera is categorized as “good for me.” Chinese opera is beautiful, stylized, and rich with meaning; but it is also layered with interpretation and code. My children wriggle their fingers at each other in the kitchen to show how Chinese opera singers represent anger.
But for “Merchant of Venice.”
I also love Shakespeare, but, again, resist it somewhat because it also falls into the “good for me” category. The language is beautiful, the meaning is not easy or obvious. My sixth-grade daughter Niu Niu recites, then laughs, “No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I bite my thumb, sir.”
So the children and I leave the beautiful spring sunshine and rush into the cool darkness of Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre just before curtain where we meet under new names Bassanio, Antonio, Portia, Gratiano, Nerissa of medieval Cathay; and the (presumably pre-Islam) Saracen Shylock from distant deserts. I whisper a steady stream of plot and dialogue into 7-year-old Little Brother’s ear because he cannot yet read the supertitles.
click on link for more: Lessons from Taiwan Bangzi Company's Chinese Opera adaptation of Merchant of Venice, "Bond"
The Taiwan Bangzi Company was in town this past week with their Henan Chinese opera adaptation of “The Merchant of Venice” called “Bond.”
I always love Chinese opera once I am there, but I have to drag myself in there because in my mind Chinese opera is categorized as “good for me.” Chinese opera is beautiful, stylized, and rich with meaning; but it is also layered with interpretation and code. My children wriggle their fingers at each other in the kitchen to show how Chinese opera singers represent anger.
But for “Merchant of Venice.”
I also love Shakespeare, but, again, resist it somewhat because it also falls into the “good for me” category. The language is beautiful, the meaning is not easy or obvious. My sixth-grade daughter Niu Niu recites, then laughs, “No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I bite my thumb, sir.”
So the children and I leave the beautiful spring sunshine and rush into the cool darkness of Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre just before curtain where we meet under new names Bassanio, Antonio, Portia, Gratiano, Nerissa of medieval Cathay; and the (presumably pre-Islam) Saracen Shylock from distant deserts. I whisper a steady stream of plot and dialogue into 7-year-old Little Brother’s ear because he cannot yet read the supertitles.
click on link for more: Lessons from Taiwan Bangzi Company's Chinese Opera adaptation of Merchant of Venice, "Bond"
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Adventures in Multicultural Living: BBC show looking for Tiger Mother would have been disappointed in our chai-museum-library routine
from ACJ Advisory Board Member Frances Kai-Hwa Wang in AnnArbor.com:
I got a call from the BBC last month looking for an Asian American family to take in two troubled and unruly British teens for a week of “good old-fashioned values, discipline and boundaries” for a reality TV show called, "World's Strictest Parents."
Trying to capitalize on the current hype over Tiger Mothers, the producer had found me through my articles facing off with the dreaded Amy Chua Tiger Mother — never mind that all my articles reveal that I am pretty much the opposite of Amy Chua Tiger Mother.
I told them to call Amy Chua Tiger Mother directly, but they thought I was joking.
click on link for more: BBC show looking for Tiger Mother would have been disappointed in our chai-museum-library routine
I got a call from the BBC last month looking for an Asian American family to take in two troubled and unruly British teens for a week of “good old-fashioned values, discipline and boundaries” for a reality TV show called, "World's Strictest Parents."
Trying to capitalize on the current hype over Tiger Mothers, the producer had found me through my articles facing off with the dreaded Amy Chua Tiger Mother — never mind that all my articles reveal that I am pretty much the opposite of Amy Chua Tiger Mother.
I told them to call Amy Chua Tiger Mother directly, but they thought I was joking.
click on link for more: BBC show looking for Tiger Mother would have been disappointed in our chai-museum-library routine
Monday, April 4, 2011
Adventures in Multicultural Living: Seeking the wisdom of our elders, including legendary civil rights activist and author Grace Lee Boggs
from ACJ Advisory Board Member Frances Kai-Hwa Wang in AnnArbor.com:
I was amused when Asian American filmmaker and keynote speaker Koji Sakai introduced himself to the Asian/Pacific Islander American High School Conference at the University of Michigan as an "old person," from the time of the dinosaurs (complete with dinosaur graphic).
He was born in 1977.
“For those not good at math,” he joked, “That makes me 34 years old today.”
He talked to students about how Asian American media is so much better now than in ancient times (the 1990s), and even better still than when a really old person he knows was growing up in the 1950s, when it was nonexistent.
All my life, I have been drawn to the wisdom of those older than myself, especially women of color. As a child, while my younger cousins played in the basement, I would sit in the kitchen with my mother and six aunties, or my maternal grandmother and eight great aunties, or all my parents’ friends, as they bickered and laughed, scolded and shared.
click on link for more: Seeking the wisdom of our elders, including legendary civil rights activist and author Grace Lee Boggs
I was amused when Asian American filmmaker and keynote speaker Koji Sakai introduced himself to the Asian/Pacific Islander American High School Conference at the University of Michigan as an "old person," from the time of the dinosaurs (complete with dinosaur graphic).
He was born in 1977.
“For those not good at math,” he joked, “That makes me 34 years old today.”
He talked to students about how Asian American media is so much better now than in ancient times (the 1990s), and even better still than when a really old person he knows was growing up in the 1950s, when it was nonexistent.
All my life, I have been drawn to the wisdom of those older than myself, especially women of color. As a child, while my younger cousins played in the basement, I would sit in the kitchen with my mother and six aunties, or my maternal grandmother and eight great aunties, or all my parents’ friends, as they bickered and laughed, scolded and shared.
click on link for more: Seeking the wisdom of our elders, including legendary civil rights activist and author Grace Lee Boggs
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