Muslim Organizations Raise Funds for Leadership Program Inspired by Muhammad Ali - NBC News

my article for nbc asian america

"This effort is a small token to ensure that future generations of youth continue to be inspired by Muhammad Ali and the example he set for the way humanity engages with each other."

Muslim Organizations Raise Funds for Leadership Program Inspired by Muhammad Ali - NBC News

#Quidditch at MIT lol nerds NASW CASW #SciWri15

#Quidditch. MIT. lol nerds

Thanks National Association of Science Writers, Council for the Advancement of Science Writing, Knight Science Journalism at MIT, and MIT for so much science and nerdliness. Thanks for this opportunity at #SciWri15 as part of #DiverseScholar #DiversityFellow NASW 2015 Diversity Travel Fellowship, I learned so much!

Hawaii's Patsy Mink Honored with Presidential Medal of Freedom - NBC News.com

My article at NBC News Asian America:

“What you endure is who you are. And if you just accept and do nothing, then life goes on," said Mink. "But if you see it as a way for change, life doesn’t have to be so unfair. It can be better. Maybe not for me, I can’t change the past, but I can certainly help somebody else in the future so they don’t have to go through what I did.”

Hawaii's Patsy Mink Honored with Presidential Medal of Freedom - NBC News.com

International Basketball Relaxes Religious Headgear Rules - NBC News.com

my article for NBC News Asian America:

"FIBA has taken a step towards change, but this policy alteration will continue to lead to an unequal playing field," said Jasjit Singh, executive director of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF). "We hope that FIBA will soon recognize Sikhs, Muslims and Orthodox Jews can freely play with their respective articles of faith and not require process or paperwork to play beyond their home countries.”

International Basketball Relaxes Religious Headgear Rules - NBC News.com

Jeremy Lin Punks, Dunks On Fans in Latest Prank at Wax Museum - NBC News.com

Oh Jeremy...but don't think you can get anything past your mom... NBC News Asian America

Jeremy Lin Punks, Dunks On Fans in Latest Prank at Wax Museum - NBC News.com

Basketball Federation Refuses to Rule on Turban Ban - NBC News.com

My article at NBCNews.com Asian America on FIBA non-decision on religious headgear:

"It is a shame that FIBA has decided to let bureaucracy stand in the way of religious freedom,” said Sona Simran Kaur, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) Communications Director, after the International Basketball Federation declined to make a decision at its Central Board meeting about players wearing religious headgear, deciding instead to defer to further study.

Basketball Federation Refuses to Rule on Turban Ban - NBC News.com

South Korean Robots Stand In For Real Baseball Fans - NBC News.com

My article for NBC News:

The fans of the South Korean Hanwha Eagles baseball team are so loyal that they continue to come to Hanbat Stadium to watch their team lose, game after game, year after year. Their devotion has led people to call them bodhisattvas or Buddhist saints for their long-suffering patience and compassion.

South Korean Robots Stand In For Real Baseball Fans - NBC News.com

Catalyst to Action-Happy Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and National Bike Month! - NAM EthnoBlog

How did that happen?

I thought I took precautions! I was careful!

Grrr.

Biker’s tan.

You can always spot the bicyclists by that straight white line three to four inches above their knee and little white sock line around the ankle. I have been slathering on the sunscreen every day, trying (hopelessly) to stay fair and lovely (joke), but to no use. I know once that line forms, it is almost impossible to shake. Only two weeks into May and I am already marked. Everyone can see my secret.

click on link for more: Catalyst to Action-Happy Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and National Bike Month! - NAM EthnoBlog

Chicago is the World » Catalyst to Action–Happy Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and National Bike Month!

Oh no!

How did that happen?

I thought I took precautions! I was careful!

Grrr.

Biker’s tan.

You can always spot the bicyclists by that straight white line three to four inches above their knee and little white sock line around the ankle. I have been slathering on the sunscreen every day, trying (hopelessly) to stay fair and lovely (joke), but to no use. I know once that line forms, it is almost impossible to shake. Only two weeks into May and I am already marked. Everyone can see my secret.

click on link for more: Chicago is the World » Catalyst to Action–Happy Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and National Bike Month!

Chicago is the World » Facing the terror of sports culture far outside my comfort zone in Recreational Paddling class

When my teenage daughter, Hao Hao, started rowing crew for Huron High School, the president of the crew parents’ group recommended that we parents also get involved by rowing with the Ann Arbor Rowing Club. I thought he was nuts.

Hard enough to take a child to and from five crew practices a week, how was I supposed to find time to add in my own practices as well? Still, the group of parents who also rowed looked pretty cool at 5 a.m., dressed in their own red and black spandex outfits, unloading the boats alongside the kids.

Yet here I am, climbing into an outrigger canoe at 7:15 in the morning.

click on link for more: Chicago is the World » Facing the terror of sports culture far outside my comfort zone in Recreational Paddling class

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Facing the terror of sports culture far outside my comfort zone in Recreational Paddling class | AnnArbor.com

When my teenage daughter, Hao Hao, started rowing crew for Huron High School, the president of the crew parents’ group recommended that we parents also get involved by rowing with the Ann Arbor Rowing Club. I thought he was nuts.

Hard enough to take a child to and from five crew practices a week, how was I supposed to find time to add in my own practices as well? Still, the group of parents who also rowed looked pretty cool at 5 a.m., dressed in their own red and black spandex outfits, unloading the boats alongside the kids.

Yet here I am, climbing into an outrigger canoe at 7:15 in the morning.

Hao Hao took a course called “Recreational Paddling” last summer, and I happily drove her down every morning, watched the canoes take off, then sat in the car writing on my laptop until they returned. A bad shoulder saved me from all the friendly, “Why don’t you join us?”

Unfortunately, my shoulder got better.

click on link for more: Facing the terror of sports culture far outside my comfort zone in Recreational Paddling class

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Deciphering and accessing the language and culture of American sports - AnnArbor.com

At Eastern Michigan University’s Chinese Week Gala Banquet, 6-year-old Little Brother snuck off with a group of Chinese American high school boys. I laughed when I found them in the lobby watching the Superbowl on TV. The Chinese organizers had scheduled this big gala event in the middle of the Superbowl, but that did not affect turnout because the Chinese participants did not even know about it. Sitting cozily in the middle of those older boys, Little Brother also did not know what he was watching or who was playing, but he learned it was important.

Sports are such an integral part of American culture that many take it for granted that everybody already knows how to play. When I was in eighth grade, the Physical Education teacher did not teach us how to play baseball, she just threw us out there with some bats and balls, and everyone else knew what to do and started playing. I did not even know how to hold the bat, let alone how or when to swing. I was terrified.

When my children started playing soccer in kindergarten, I always went to their practices at the park down the street, with the dog and their younger siblings. However, it was not until six years later that I suddenly realized that I was supposed to be going to their games every week, not their practices. Nobody ever told me. How was I supposed to know? (click on link for more)

Deciphering and accessing the language and culture of American sports - AnnArbor.com

AML: UM-OSU Rivalry fueling King School's Silent Auction: #325 The Karr Jersey - what colors will the principal wear? - AnnArbor.com

Sometimes those in the majority take their position for granted. Sometimes minorities have to really struggle to make their voices and perspectives heard. Occasionally, when a minority group organizes, they grow in strength, power, confidence, much to the chagrin of the majority group who has to adjust their heretofore unquestioned way of thinking. Race and culture are pretty charged topics in America, but we can see how some of these same themes play out in other, more gentle, less-charged territory. For example, in Ann Arbor, we are so used to seeing “our” colors, maize and blue, that we sometimes take it for granted that anyone else might prefer other colors, say scarlet and gray.

Oops, did I just call the U-M-OSU rivalry gentle and less-charged?

One of the auction items at this Friday’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School’s Silent Auction is #325 The Karr Jersey, or the chance to make Principal Kevin Karr, who wears only maize and blue, wear another team’s colors.

Parents from Ohio State University have been organizing for months to collect enough pledges to ensure the winning bid to force Principal Karr into scarlet and gray for one day. They have reached out to each other and organized, they have grown in size and confidence, they have even contacted an elementary school in Columbus, Ohio, to help collect pledges to help their cause. Apparently the cause has gone viral. Excitement over this movement has even given young OSU fans the courage to wear their colors proudly to the school’s Friday Wear Maize and Blue Day. (click on link for more)

UM-OSU Rivalry fueling King School's Silent Auction: #325 The Karr Jersey - what colors will the principal wear? - AnnArbor.com