Sunday, February 24, 2013

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang | NailPolishLife

Found my name on a blog called NailPolishLife? Ah! It's one of the kids from the University of Michigan Yuri Kochiyama APIA High School Leadership Program! So relieved to find I wasn't as scattered as I thought. And cute nails! Thanks Rosa.
Today  has been a pretty good day.
This morning, I woke up pretty late and then went to a meeting for a program that I’m in, the Yuri Kochiyama High School Leadership Program. There was a guest speaker today, a lady named Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, who talked about Asian-Americans and stepping outside Asian stereotypes and becoming “Badass.” hehe
Her blog is http://www.franceskaihwawang.blogspot.com, it’s all pretty fascinating. And being Asian-American myself, I could really relate to stuff she said. Example: She mentioned how Asians take off their shoes when inside and others don’t.
Frances Kai-Hwa Wang | NailPolishLife

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Adoption Parenting Toolbox

The Adoption Parenting Toolbox, to which I contributed two chapters, has a new Facebook page! Read my two chapters, "Preparing your child for racism" and "The Scarlet Letter Experiment."

Over 100 contributors came together to create Adoption Parenting. This top of the nightstand resource is a reference tool for pre and post adoptive families. It's "What to Expect" for adoptive parents.
Adoption Parenting Toolbox

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Understanding Race | Michigan Today

"As we we venture into the global arena, we see differences, issues, and challenges associated with race cropping up all over the world," says Lester Monts, senior vice provost for academic affairs and professor of music (ethnomusicology). "We need to provide our students with the social skills to navigate within this multiracial, diverse society. Race is still an issue in our society and it will be until we continue to have the kinds of conversations that I know will grow out of these theme semesters and dialogues, especially among young people. I think we are moving in the direction that will get us there."
Understanding Race | Michigan Today

Monday, February 18, 2013

Op-ed: New CEOs know diversity means profits | Opinion | The Seattle Times

Fascinating article from Edward Iwata:
For U.S. companies, this has nothing to do with political correctness or window-dressing, and everything to do with business survival.
A growing body of recent research shows that global business diversity clearly pays. A McKinsey & Company study of 180 companies from 2008 to 2010 found that businesses with more women and foreign executives boasted a 53 percent higher return on equity than rivals.
Op-ed: New CEOs know diversity means profits | Opinion | The Seattle Times

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Whole Foods Market Celebrates Chinese New Year with AACCOM

From Ann Arbor Chinese Center of Michigan aaccom.org:
On 2/16/2013, please join AACCOM and Whole Foods Market to celebrate the Lunar New Year! Students from the Center will perform a lion’s dance, traditional Chinese music, Chinese yo-yo, and a ribbon dance. Customers will have an opportunity to try their hand at Chinese calligraphy, traditional paper cutting, and other learning materials.  Please see the event calendar - http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/events?store=6519
  • Date:February 16, 2013, Saturday
  • Time: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
  • Location:
  • Whole Foods Market - Cranbrook
  • 990 W. Eisenhower Parkway, Ann Arbor,  Michigan 48103

Friday, February 15, 2013

Cover: Where the Lava Meets the Sea--Asian Pacific American Postcards from Hawai‘i


Thanks to my ebook team (M) for this cover image! Now available at Blacklava.net!

The binding is hand-sewn...all by myself...in the dark...during a blackout...in the middle of a snowstorm...while watching the Lord of Rings trilogy for the first time...and while listing to MLK Day lectures...The book design is full of antique fonts and dingbats and really cool old-fashioned printing techniques. Thanks to Laura Beyer of Wax Wing Press!

Where the Lava Meets the Sea--Asian Pacific American Postcards from Hawai‘i
A Collection of Essays, Prose Poems, and Short Short Stories

by Frances Kai-Hwa Wang

First Printing, January 2013
“Where the Lava Meets the Sea—Asian Pacific American Postcards from Hawaimakes me so homesick! I long to partake in the fusion of Asian and Pacific Islander ceremonies, cultures and customs that Frances Kai-Hwa Wang describes so eloquently. Her book of lean yet rich prose reveals her truekamaaina spirit. Sweet like sugar cane, poignant like the tales of her immigrant characters, and sacred like the ancestors of Kanaka Maoli who lived in Hawai‘i first, Wang’s essays will move you.”
Yayoi Lena Winfrey, writer/director Watermelon Sushi

“I’ve never been to Hawai‘i, but now thanks to Frances Kai-Hwa Wang’s lovely collection, I feel I’ve made the journey. Through her beautiful descriptions, I too have traveled to the Monkey King’s waterfall, visited the teahouse made of longing, prayed the Golden Chain of Love, trod on the black sands of Kalapana and the white sands of Maui, and sat with the Uncles playing ukulele and singing songs of love.”
May-lee Chai, author of Hapa Girl and The Girl from Purple Mountain.

“Where the Lava Meets the Sea—Asian Pacific American Postcards from Hawaii, in the vein of Maxine Hong Kingston’s essays in Hawai‘i One Summer, enters into the complexity of Asian America’s romance with the mythical racial “promised land” of Hawai‘i. The pain and longing of life on the continent meets the wondrous, dynamic world of Hawaii’s Puna Coast.”
Dr. Susan Najita, Associate Professor in the Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies Program in the Department of American Culture and the Department of English, University of Michigan

Far from where the tourists go and passing for local, Frances Kai-Hwa Wang and her children go to Hawai‘i every summer to visit grandparents and explore the Big Island’s natural wonders, many cultures, and interesting characters. Where the Lava Meets the Sea—Asian Pacific American Postcards from Hawaii is a collection of essays, prose poems, and short short stories through which they search for home in Hawai‘i, and they discover an Asian Pacific American sense of belonging, one that does not simply allow them to belong, but one that presumes they belong.


Designed by Laura Beyer, Wax Wing Press
Available at Blacklava.net

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Second Chapbook is done! "Where the Lava Meets the Sea--Asian Pacific American Postcards from Hawaii"


Much love to my Virtual BFFs and my IRL BFFs too! Second Chapbook is done! "Where the Lava Meets the Sea--Asian Pacific American Postcards from Hawaii"--essays, prose poems, short short stories, and you!

Far from where the tourists go and passing for local, Frances Kai-Hwa Wang and her children go to Hawai‘i every summer to visit grandparents and explore the Big Island’s natural wonders, many cultures, and interesting characters. Where the Lava Meets the Sea—Asian Pacific American Postcards from Hawaii is a collection of essays, prose poems, and short short stories through which they search for home in Hawai‘i, and they discover an Asian Pacific American sense of belonging, one that does not simply allow them to belong, but one that presumes they belong.

The binding is hand-sewn...all by myself...in the dark...during a blackout...in the middle of a snowstorm...while watching the Lord of Rings trilogy for the first time...and while listing to MLK Day lectures...

Available soon at Blacklava.net.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Lion Dance / 舞獅 - YouTube

Check out my awesome lion dancers! with surprise ending! (pay no attention to my delirious half chinese half english introduction)

Lion Dance / 舞獅 - YouTube

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

“Elm Park 1955,” performance by La’Ron Williams | Michigan Theater

Check out my friend La'Ron Williams at Michigan Theater, Tuesday, March 12, 2013, 7:00-8:30 pm, as part of the University of Michigan Understanding Race Project:
Tuesday, March 12 at 7 PM. This event is for an adult audience.
In Elm Park, 1955, Ann Arbor based storytellerLa’Ron Williams combines an adult’s analysis and wisdom with the fully believable wonderment, confusion, and fear he felt as a child growing up on the south side of Flint, Michigan in the midst of social upheaval.  Listeners of every color and background are drawn into his story precisely because it is suffused with a child’s sincerity and genuine bafflement that the reality he lived didn’t match the stories he was taught about his country – or himself – on TV, at school, and in the society at large.
This story offers a powerful, non-threatening means to approach the examination of structural racism and unconscious bias. With his storyteller’s sensibility, Williams is able to enliven and personalize complex issues, and to encourage his listeners to think deeply about their own socialization process.
La’Ron Williams is a nationally acclaimed, award-winning storyteller who has toured extensively presenting performances and workshops. His highly participatory, music-spiced programs present a dynamic blend of original and traditional tales crafted to help promote peaceful conflict resolution, foster cooperation, reveal invisible bias, encourage community, build self-esteem, and deepen our historical understanding of the ideal of American democratic inclusion.
La’Ron is a member of the National Storytelling Network, the Detroit Association of Black Storytellers, and the National Association of Black Storytellers. He is a past recipient of a countywide “Annie Award” for Artistic excellence, and has been recognized by the Ann Arbor African-American community as one of their “Kwanzaa Flames”.
Offered as part of the Understanding Race Project, this event is co-sponsored by the U-M Understanding Race Theme Semester, Michigan Theater, and U-M Museum of Natural History.
For more information, contact Amy Harris at aharris@umich.edu or (734) 763-4191 or Amanda Bynum at abynum@michtheater.org. Offered as part of the Understanding Race Project.
Advance tickets available at ticketweb.com.
“Elm Park 1955,” performance by La’Ron Williams | Michigan Theater

more info at UnderstandingRaceProject.org
http://www.lsa.umich.edu/themesemester/events/elmpark1955performancebylaronwilliamstue12mar2013_ci

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Ann Arbor Chinese Center of Michigan’s Chinese New Year’s Celebration 2013

The Ann Arbor Chinese Center of Michigan’s Chinese New Year’s Celebration will be held on Saturday, February 9, 2013, 1:00-9:00 pm, at Washtenaw Community College, Morris Lawrence Building, 4800 E. Huron River Drive, Ann Arbor.
There will be children’s games and crafts (1:00-3:00 pm), and children’s performances by students (3:00-6:00 pm) including a colorful lion dance; traditional Chinese instruments; dangerous kung fu (martial arts); graceful Taiwan ribbon dancers; spectacular Chinese Yo-Yo stunts; and Chinese New Year’s stories, songs, rhymes, skits, videos. Special guest performances by the Ann Arbor Traditional Chinese Music Ensemble and The Chinese Choir of Michigan. Raffle. A Chinese New Year’s Eve dinner will be served 6:00-9:00 pm, featuring New Year’s specialties from area restaurants. 
Tickets for performances and dinner will be available in advance and at the door: $12 Adult (14 and up), $10 Children ages 5-14, children under 5 free. Additional tokens (25 for $5) may be purchased and exchanged for games and snacks.
For more information check out www.aaccom.org or contact principal@aaccom.org.
Chinese New Year’s Day falls on February 10 of this year. It signifies the beginning of spring and is celebrated by ethnic Chinese in many countries around the world. It is also celebrated by ethnic Taiwanese, Koreans (Sol), Vietnamese (Tet), Tibetans (Losar), and others; and it has become woven into the fabric of American culture, after being celebrated in America for over 160 years. Every year is represented by one of twelve animal zodiac signs, and this will be the Year of the Snake.
The Ann Arbor Chinese Center of Michigan is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization whose mission is to provide an opportunity for any interested persons to learn about Chinese culture and language regardless of one’s race or cultural background, and to promote cultural diversity. Chinese classes are held once a week on Friday nights and are open to the public. For more information check out www.aaccom.org.
and 

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Tonight!

Tonight! 487 children, 28 performances, 29 countries and cultures, all on and off stage in an hour and a half! oh, and 1000 people for dinner, and educational activities, too. We are so awesome! Thanks everyone for being a part! This is going to be fun!

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

AACCOM Chinese New Year's Celebration this Saturday

The Ann Arbor Chinese Center of Michigan Chinese New Year's Celebration will be this Saturday, February 9, 2013, at Washtenaw Community College. Children's games 1-3, student performances 3-6, Chinese New Year's Eve dinner featuring specialties of area restaurants 6-9. You don't want to miss this year's lion dance, we have something special planned! Hope to see you there! 

Ann Arbor News, Blogs, Events & Discussion - AnnArbor.com

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Speaking at University of Michigan Yuri Kochiyama APIA High School Leadership Program


Excited! I was just invited to speak at the University of Michigan Yuri Kochiyama APIA High School Leadership Program on February 23, 2013. I love those kids!