From Frances Kai-Hwa Wang's column, Adventures in Multicultural Living, in annarbor.com:
My parents say that there is a Chinese saying (there is always a Chinese saying) about how distant relatives are not as good as nearby friends. To illustrate, they recall the time our car broke down on the winding and treacherous Pacheco Pass after midnight and how our neighbor, Mr. Shigematsu, came to rescue us and did not get home until after 2 am. Our relatives in distant Los Angeles or San Francisco could not have done anything to help because they were too far away.
Thanksgiving is a time of feasting and family, and people are traveling, cooking, and cleaning like mad, trying to get to their families for four brief days. Because many of my children’s friends are from international families and do not have extended family close by, I like to gather up all our friends and celebrate “Thanksgiving Eve” the night before with a big potluck of what turns out to be the most amazing spread of foods from around the world—teriyaki turkey, sticky rice stuffing, butternut squash Thai curry, chicken biriyani, babaganoush, tabbouli, lasagna, shrimp and broccoli, mangoes and black sticky rice, Thai pumpkin custard, and more.
So although everyone typically writes and thinks about family this time of year, I have been thinking about friends and connection—meeting someone with whom you click, who understands your humor, who appreciates your meager talents and suspect beauty, who sees you and accepts you, who challenges you to become more yourself. It is always such a relief to finally find someone who gets you, such a loss when they slip away. (click on link for more)
Distant relatives versus nearby friends on Thanksgiving - AnnArbor.com
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Emil "Amok" Guillermo to blog for AALDEF
On November 5, Asian Pacific American writer, Emil Guillermo, formerly of Asian Week, started blogging for the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) as only he can. Check out the Emil Amok take on APA politics and issues.
http://www.amok.com/blog/emil-guillermo-check-out-my-new-blog-on-the-aaldef-site/
http://www.amok.com/blog/emil-guillermo-check-out-my-new-blog-on-the-aaldef-site/
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Adventures in Multicultural Living: Viva! Hallelujah! Access to the Arts bringing cultures in and Culture out - AnnArbor.com
From Frances Kai-Hwa Wang's column, Adventures in Multicultural Living, in annarbor.com:
The wonderful University Musical Society people, walkie-talkies in hand, meet us as we step off our yellow school bus outside Hill Auditorium on a beautifully crisp Friday morning. We feel like honored VIPs as they lead our four busloads of elementary students, teachers, and parent chaperones in through the side door, down and around a long and winding handicapped ramp and onto the main floor of the auditorium. I do not know how they do it: getting 3,500 children from buses to seats in 20 minutes flat.
I gasp as I spy our usher’s seating chart. Across the very front section of the auditorium, in four big letters, is written the name of our school. They are giving us the whole front section, the orchestra section, on the main floor. As we snake into our seats, row by row, grade by grade, I feel like I have won at musical chairs to finally take my seat in the very center of the sixth row, and next to a very handsome (6-year-old) boy.
I could never afford such good seats for my family.
These UMS youth performances offer amazing access. Plus no one will shush us. (click on link for more)
Viva! Hallelujah! Access to the Arts bringing cultures in and Culture out - AnnArbor.com
The wonderful University Musical Society people, walkie-talkies in hand, meet us as we step off our yellow school bus outside Hill Auditorium on a beautifully crisp Friday morning. We feel like honored VIPs as they lead our four busloads of elementary students, teachers, and parent chaperones in through the side door, down and around a long and winding handicapped ramp and onto the main floor of the auditorium. I do not know how they do it: getting 3,500 children from buses to seats in 20 minutes flat.
I gasp as I spy our usher’s seating chart. Across the very front section of the auditorium, in four big letters, is written the name of our school. They are giving us the whole front section, the orchestra section, on the main floor. As we snake into our seats, row by row, grade by grade, I feel like I have won at musical chairs to finally take my seat in the very center of the sixth row, and next to a very handsome (6-year-old) boy.
I could never afford such good seats for my family.
These UMS youth performances offer amazing access. Plus no one will shush us. (click on link for more)
Viva! Hallelujah! Access to the Arts bringing cultures in and Culture out - AnnArbor.com
Thursday, November 11, 2010
AML: "Untold Triumph" documentary film about WWII 1st & 2nd Filipino Infantry Regiments of U.S. Army at library - AnnArbor.com
From Frances Kai-Hwa Wang's column, Adventures in Multicultural Living in AnnArbor.com:
This Veterans Day, Thursday, Nov. 11,from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., the Ann Arbor District Library, the University of Michigan Michigan Community Scholars Program, the University of Michigan Program in Asian/Pacific Islander Affairs Program in the Department of American Culture and the Filipino American National Historical Society Michigan Chapter will be sponsoring a film and discussion, “An Untold Triumph: The Story of the 1st & 2nd Filipino Infantry Regiments, U.S. Army,” the acclaimed documentary film which documents and honors the 7,000 men of the 1st and 2nd Filipino Infantry Regiments of the U.S. Army who fought in WWII. Panelists include Jason Gavilan, Josephine Sirineo , Joseph Galura , Adelwisa Weller and Quirico Samonte.
More information about the film is available at the California State University Sacramento Asian American Studies website, including a Viewers Guide, a timeline of Filipino American History, and lesson plans and handouts for educators. (click on link for more)
"Untold Triumph" documentary film about WWII 1st & 2nd Filipino Infantry Regiments of U.S. Army at library - AnnArbor.com
This Veterans Day, Thursday, Nov. 11,from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., the Ann Arbor District Library, the University of Michigan Michigan Community Scholars Program, the University of Michigan Program in Asian/Pacific Islander Affairs Program in the Department of American Culture and the Filipino American National Historical Society Michigan Chapter will be sponsoring a film and discussion, “An Untold Triumph: The Story of the 1st & 2nd Filipino Infantry Regiments, U.S. Army,” the acclaimed documentary film which documents and honors the 7,000 men of the 1st and 2nd Filipino Infantry Regiments of the U.S. Army who fought in WWII. Panelists include Jason Gavilan, Josephine Sirineo , Joseph Galura , Adelwisa Weller and Quirico Samonte.
More information about the film is available at the California State University Sacramento Asian American Studies website, including a Viewers Guide, a timeline of Filipino American History, and lesson plans and handouts for educators. (click on link for more)
"Untold Triumph" documentary film about WWII 1st & 2nd Filipino Infantry Regiments of U.S. Army at library - AnnArbor.com
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Adventures in Multicultural Living: Sharing the Light of Diwali - AnnArbor.com
From Frances Kai-Hwa Wang's column, Adventures in Multicultural Living:
My neighbor Leah is amazing with her leaves. Every Tuesday morning, she fills up her two big brown compost bins with leaves, then she fills two other big brown compost bins she has borrowed from her neighbors, then she stands on the sidewalk with her rake to wait for the city compost truck to come. As soon as they take her leaves, she quickly refills the four containers and pushes them across the street for when the truck comes back down the other side of the street. She is utterly amazing, she is so on top of her leaves.
I do not get leaves.
This year, I am even more confused about what to do with my leaves. The city will not pick them up. I cannot afford a compost bin. I see people mulching their leaves with their lawn mowers, but I only have a push mower. (click on link for more)
Sharing the Light of Diwali - AnnArbor.com
My neighbor Leah is amazing with her leaves. Every Tuesday morning, she fills up her two big brown compost bins with leaves, then she fills two other big brown compost bins she has borrowed from her neighbors, then she stands on the sidewalk with her rake to wait for the city compost truck to come. As soon as they take her leaves, she quickly refills the four containers and pushes them across the street for when the truck comes back down the other side of the street. She is utterly amazing, she is so on top of her leaves.
I do not get leaves.
This year, I am even more confused about what to do with my leaves. The city will not pick them up. I cannot afford a compost bin. I see people mulching their leaves with their lawn mowers, but I only have a push mower. (click on link for more)
Sharing the Light of Diwali - AnnArbor.com
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Adventures in Multicultural Living: Minorities pummeled by ethnic stereotypes at Halloween and election time - AnnArbor.com
From Frances Kai-Hwa Wang's column, Adventures in Multicultural Living:
My neighbor was cleaning out her college-aged daughter’s room and gave me a large sombrero for the kids. Maybe for Halloween, she suggested, if they do not already have a costume.
Six-year-old Little Brother already had a costume, but he was thrilled to discover his new sombrero when he came home from school, so stately and grand, with its sweeping green brim, pink accents, and fancy blue stitching, that he immediately put it on and ran outside to “show the guys.”
The older neighbor boys good-naturedly teased him: “Where’s your horse? Where’s your guitar?”
He came home puzzled and embarrassed that he had thought it was a cool sombrero when, by their comments, it must have been some sort of cowboy hat. But it did not look like what he thought a cowboy hat looked like. So what did they mean exactly?
How to explain this? How to protect him? Little Brother knows some (real) Hispanic Americans, but none who wear that kind of garb. (Hey NPR’s Juan Williams! Check out Muslims Wearing Things at Tumblr.com.)
click on link for more: Minorities pummeled by ethnic stereotypes at Halloween and election time - AnnArbor.com
My neighbor was cleaning out her college-aged daughter’s room and gave me a large sombrero for the kids. Maybe for Halloween, she suggested, if they do not already have a costume.
Six-year-old Little Brother already had a costume, but he was thrilled to discover his new sombrero when he came home from school, so stately and grand, with its sweeping green brim, pink accents, and fancy blue stitching, that he immediately put it on and ran outside to “show the guys.”
The older neighbor boys good-naturedly teased him: “Where’s your horse? Where’s your guitar?”
He came home puzzled and embarrassed that he had thought it was a cool sombrero when, by their comments, it must have been some sort of cowboy hat. But it did not look like what he thought a cowboy hat looked like. So what did they mean exactly?
How to explain this? How to protect him? Little Brother knows some (real) Hispanic Americans, but none who wear that kind of garb. (Hey NPR’s Juan Williams! Check out Muslims Wearing Things at Tumblr.com.)
click on link for more: Minorities pummeled by ethnic stereotypes at Halloween and election time - AnnArbor.com
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Vincent Who at MAPABA conference
Showing the movie Vincent Who today at Michigan Asian Pacific American Bar Association (MAPABA) conference in Detroit with Curtis Chin and Roland Hwang and Frances Kai-Hwa Wang.
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