Adventures in Multicultural Living: Holi, Hetalia, Songkran, and Festifools - playing in the spring sunshine - AnnArbor.com

I was walking down Liberty Street with about thirty singing and laughing and high-spirited high school girls dressed up as World War II Axis and Allied Powers (long story, do not worry, just Hetalia cosplay) when coming towards us from the other direction was a group of happy and tired-looking university students covered head to toe in colors. Deep purple smudged on one cheek, blue and red smudged on the other, hair dusty pink and green, white T-shirts never to be white again.

Oh! Holi! I knew it was coming, but I had not yet gotten around to checking an Indian calendar and so I missed it (again) this year. Oh, the disappointment.

Holi is a boisterous Hindu and Sikh festival celebrating the beginning of spring by throwing brightly colored tikka powders at others. Songkran or the Thai water-throwing festival is a similar Thai festival offering revelry and relief from the heat in Thailand’s hottest month, April. Both mark the new year in April (different calendars), and both offer a chance to play outdoors in lightness and in fun.

I dreaded both these festivals when I first encountered them in Nepal and Thailand years ago. Maybe I was too serious then. Maybe I felt more vulnerable as an outsider. Maybe I was a bad sport.

Now I think we all could use more opportunities to play. (click on link for more)

Holi, Hetalia, Songkran, and Festifools - playing in the spring sunshine - AnnArbor.com

AML: CAECC Chinese Spring Festival Saturday at WCC - AnnArbor.com

This Saturday, April 17, 4 p.m., at Washtenaw Community College's Morris Lawrence Building, 4800 E. Huron River Drive, the Chinese American Educational and Cultural Center (CAECC) of Michigan will be presenting its Chinese Spring Festival performance to celebrate the Year of the Tiger. Tickets are tax-deductible donations and cost $10 for adults, $5 for students and $90 for a group of 10 tickets.

One of Ann Arbor’s oldest Chinese cultural associations, CAECC is back on the scene after several years of quiet. Founded in 1976, CAECC is a 501c3 nonprofit and offers educational outreach and Chinese cultural classes like dance and martial arts to the community. Dr. Chen-Oi Chin is Executive Director.

In the same way that the Nutcracker ballet tells a story while showcasing different styles of dance, this show will weave a story about Chinese New Year’s rites, beliefs, customs and traditions through performances of dance, music and martial arts. (click on link for more)

CAECC Chinese Spring Festival Saturday at WCC - AnnArbor.com

AML: Muslims in Michigan Community Conversation Thursday on North Campus - AnnArbor.com

Michigan Radio, in partnership with the University of Michigan Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, and sponsored by a grant from the Social Science Research Council, has been airing a fascinating series of radio programs every day this week during Morning Edition and All Things Considered as part of their “Muslims in Michigan” project which examines the religious, cultural, political, ethnic and social lives of our state’s diverse Muslim population.

Tonight, April 15, 7 p.m., at the Arthur Miller Theater on the University of Michigan’s North Campus, 1226 Murfin Ave., there will be a special Muslims in Michigan Community Conversation to supplement this radio series. This community conversation offers a unique opportunity for listeners and members of the community to learn more about Michigan’s Muslim population. There will be a moderated panel discussion and an opportunity for audience members to submit questions. Questions can be submitted in advance. (click on link for more)

Muslims in Michigan Community Conversation Thursday on North Campus - AnnArbor.com

Friendship and Faith by the Women of WISDOM Book Launch

Friendship and Faith by the Women of WISDOM Book Launch today.

Speaking today at Purdue University's Asian Pacific American New Communities Symposium

I will be speaking today at Purdue University's Asian Pacific American New Communities Symposium as keynote speaker, thanks to super grad student, Kate Agathon. Also coming are Angry Asian Man, Blacklava T-shirts, Dawen, Kelly Tsai, Turtlist Media. So cool!

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Unearthing our town's hidden cross-cultural treasures with the spring - AnnArbor.com

No school today, so I spend the day walking around town in the sunshine with my boy, Little Brother, unearthing so many hidden cross-cultural treasures with the spring.

First we go swimming at the YMCA. As we walk down Washington Street, he spots a (plastic) owl sitting on a second floor porch across the street. Leslie Science Center just visited his school, so he immediately identifies the specimen as “A Great Horned Owl” (rather than simply “an owl”) and he begins to hoot at it the way he just heard a real Great Horned Owl hoot in school. When it does not respond, his brow furrows, troubled. Then he concludes that it must be asleep “because owls are nocturnal.”

We stop in at Downtown Home and Garden to try on all the hats and visit with Louis. Like explorers on safari, we hunt through all the stacks of soil and seeds until we finally find Louis sunning himself in the front window by the porch swings. After only five minutes of Little Brother’s vigorous petting, Louis the cat escapes to an upstairs office.

Then Little Brother and I play with all the retro wooden toys. Ah, Americana...

...even though one of those simple wooden toys is a Buddhist prayer drum that my own little brother used to play with when he was a child, now mainstream. (click on link for more)

Unearthing our town's hidden cross-cultural treasures with the spring - AnnArbor.com

AML: Grace Lee Boggs Lounge dedication at U of M Baits II Housing on North Campus Sunday - AnnArbor.com

At 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 11, a lounge at University of Michigan Baits II Housing on North Campus will be named for legendary civil rights activist and author Grace Lee Boggs.

According to an email from Emily Lawsin of the University of Michigan Program in Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies, “This will be the second lounge at U-M named after an Asian American woman activist (the first being the Yuri Kochiyama Lounge in South Quad)."

Boggs has spent the past 70 years working in labor, civil rights, the environment and African American and Asian American issues. She founded Detroit Summer, and is active at the Boggs Center in Detroit. She was the Keynote Speaker at the 2003 University of Michigan Martin Luther King Day Symposium. Last month, she was the Keynote Speaker at the University of Michigan Center for African American Studies’ 40th Anniversary celebration. She received an honorary doctorate from the University of Michigan in December 2009.

Additional Note: Grace Lee Boggs will be speaking at the dedication program, which is open to the public and will be followed by a reception at the upper Coleman Lounge of Baits II Housing, 1440 Hubbard Road, North Campus, Ann Arbor. (click on link for more)

Grace Lee Boggs Lounge dedication at U of M Baits II Housing on North Campus Sunday - AnnArbor.com

AML: "They call me Muslim" documentary film at U of M's Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies Monday - AnnArbor.com

In 2004, the French government instituted a ban on all obvious religious symbols and apparel in public schools, including Muslim headscarves, Sikh turbans, Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses. However, most of the controversy and impact of the law focused on the banning of Muslim headscarves or hijab. I often wondered how French teenagers felt about not being allowed to wear hijab to school, if they really felt more free as the government asserted, or less free as their parents insisted. At issue is more than dress, but also cultural, religious and personal identity and expression.

The University of Michigan Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies (CMENAS) will be presenting the documentary film, They Call Me Muslim, that answers that question and more, on Monday, April 5 from noon to 12:40 p.m. at the International Institute or School of Social Work Building, Room 1636, 1080 South University, Ann Arbor. From a CMENAS email:

In popular Western imagination, a Muslim woman in a veil - or hijab - is a symbol of Islamic oppression. But what does it mean for women’s freedom when a democratic country forbids the wearing of the veil? In this provocative documentary, filmmaker Diana Ferrero portrays the struggle of two women - one in France and one in Iran - to express themselves freely. (click on link for more)

"They call me Muslim" documentary film at U of M's Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies Monday - AnnArbor.com

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Sorting through the varied hues of Easter - cultural or religious holiday? - AnnArbor.com

My father and I always sang in the church and school choirs, so every year we celebrated Easter by putting on our choir robes, singing joyously at Easter sunrise mass, and then going out for a Grand Slam Breakfast at Denny’s. After weeks of preparation, we were happy and stuffed and done with Easter by 9am.

Because I went to Catholic Schools, I always had Good Friday and the week after Easter off of school, while the public schools in California had a different week off, so I thought Easter was a straight-forward religious holiday.

I had no idea that there was more to Easter than Easter mass.

Years later, I was surprised when the mother of one of my Japanese American Buddhist friends mentioned that she always makes sure her family has a proper Easter dinner, with a big glazed ham. (I recently talked with another Japanese American friend who recalls not only always having a ham for Easter, but also corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick’s Day.) (click on link for more)

Sorting through the varied hues of Easter - cultural or religious holiday? - AnnArbor.com

Voices of Adoption RainbowKids.com: AML: Reading, sharing, curating and subverting books to expand the definition of normal

April 04, 2010/ Frances Kai-Hwa Wang/ Voices of Adoption RainbowKids.com/ Adventures in Multicultural Living

I just finished reading Lac Su’s memoir, "I Love Yous are for White People," a story about growing up poor and Vietnamese American in Los Angeles dodging gangs, alcohol and an abusive father. It was a tough read but a sobering reminder that many Asian Americans do not fit neatly into the model minority stereotype.

Now I am reading Bich Minh Nguyen’s memoir, "Stealing Buddah’s Dinner," this year’s Michigan Humanities Council’s Great Michigan Read, about growing up Vietnamese American in suburban Grand Rapids and her fixation on American food.

Both writers ache to belong to the world around them.

click on link for more: Adventures in Multicultural Living: Reading, sharing, curating and subverting books to expand the definition of normal - In celebration of both National Reading Month and National Women’s History Month _ books, reading, women, girls, asian, frances kai-hwa wang, adventures in multicultural living, multicultural, cultural, culture

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Hidden Treasures - PacificCitizen.org

No school today, so I spend the day walking around town in the sunshine with my five-year-old boy, Little Brother, uncovering so many hidden treasures in our city.

First we go swimming at the YMCA. As we walk down Washington Street, he spots a (plastic) owl sitting on a second floor porch across the street. Leslie Science Center just visited his preschool, so he immediately identifies the specimen as “A Great Horned Owl” (rather than simply “an owl”) and he begins to hoot at it the way he just heard a real great horned owl hoot in school. When it does not respond, his brow furrows, troubled. Then he concludes that it must be asleep “because owls are nocturnal.” (click on link for more)

Hidden Treasures

AML: GenAPA Asian Pacific American Cultural Show at Power Center - AnnArbor.com

The 2010 GenAPA Cultural Show, Continuum, will be this Friday, April 2, from 7 to 10 p.m., at the Power Center. The GenAPA Cultural Show is touted as one of the largest student-run Asian Pacific American (APA) cultural shows in the nation, showcasing the incredible talents of our University of Michigan students and featuring a wide variety of Chinese, Taiwanese, Filipino, Korean, Indian, fusion, hip-hop and contemporary dance; step; hula; martial arts; music (traditional Asian, contemporary, and a cappella); Chinese Yo-Yo; and much more. Power Center offers a spectacular backdrop to this annual event and Asian Pacific American students come from all over the Midwest in order to watch.

The students quite naturally and skillfully traverse the traditional and the contemporary to create something new. Many of the performing groups are multiethnic and multiracial, brought together by an interest in the art form and the community. Recurring themes are unity, strength, cultural diversity, tradition, history, the future. (click on link for more)

GenAPA Asian Pacific American Cultural Show at Power Center - AnnArbor.com

AML: AOKI documentary film Monday on a Japanese American founding member of the Black Panther Party - AnnArbor.com

It's so sad to see the Ann Arbor Film Festival wind up for another year, but before we have a chance to even lose momentum, here comes a film straight from the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival that is not to be missed—AOKI.

From the University of Michigan Asian/Pacific Islander American Heritage Month Committee, in collaboration with the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association (APALSA), comes a screening of one of this year’s most talked-about Asian American documentaries, plus a discussion with filmmaker Ben Wang:

"Monday, March 29 at the 236 Hutchins Hall from 7 to 9 p.m. AOKI is a documentary film chronicling the life of Richard Aoki, a third-generation Japanese American who became one of the founding members of the Black Panther Party....(click on link for more)

AOKI documentary film Monday on a Japanese American founding member of the Black Panther Party - AnnArbor.com

Adventures in Multicultural Living: A tale of three tea parties--gestures of concern, respect, graciousness - AnnArbor.com

A girlfriend was recently reminiscing about the Friday afternoon high teas at Smith College, a tradition held over from a previous era, although by the time she was there, most of the young women came to high tea wearing jeans rather than dresses and white gloves. Still, there was something warm and reassuring about coming home at the end of a long week and finding pots of tea and loads of cookies (especially the cookies) prepared and waiting for you, welcoming you home.

At the Japan Cultural Festival last weekend, I slowed down (for once) long enough to watch a Japanese tea ceremony. A younger kimono-clad woman carefully and meticulously prepared and presented a bowl of tea to an older woman. She brewed the water on an old fashioned brazier, scooped the water out with a long-handled bamboo ladle, stirred the tea with a little bamboo whisk, and poured the tea into a wide-mouthed bowl. Her body movements were disciplined and deliberate. The older woman sat silently and waited patiently for her tea. The relationship between the women could be read like a dance, the care and respect with which the younger woman made and served the tea to the older woman was moving. Everything was in the details, details that nobody has time for anymore. (And so nice to see during Women’s History Month.) Off to the side of the tatami stage, several kimono-clad women made more of the bitter green tea for the audience members and offered each cup with both hands raised. (click on link for more)

A tale of three tea parties--gestures of concern, respect, graciousness - AnnArbor.com

Photo courtesy of University of Michigan's Center for Japanese Studies

ImaginAsian Art Exhibit at Purdue University

So now I'm an artist--and part of the ImaginAsian Art Exhibit at Purdue University. I like it. :)

American Citizens for Justice Census and the Community event

American Citizens for Justice Census and the Community event March 27, 1 to 4 pm, Chinese Community Center in Madison Heights. Dwight Dean, Census Regional Director, Kurt Metzer, Demographer with Data Driven Detroit, and Tom Costello of the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion, speaking. Census Bureau plans to have assistants there to help with forms. Free, with food and entertainment.

AML: Ann Arbor students shine in Michigan Japanese Quiz Bowl competition - AnnArbor.com

Congratulations to our Ann Arbor students who reached the finals of the 17th annual Michigan Japanese Quiz Bowl competition this past Saturday at the University of Michigan. These students rose to the top of the 380 students from 26 elementary and secondary schools from across the state in a competition showcasing their knowledge of Japanese language and culture. The teams were divided into six different divisions, depending on the number of hours of Japanese language instruction they have received. (click on link for more)

Ann Arbor students shine in Michigan Japanese Quiz Bowl competition - AnnArbor.com

AML: U of M's Maize Mirchi concert and Taal Dance Team performance Saturday - AnnArbor.com

The University of Michigan's premier South Asian a cappella group, Maize Mirchi will be holding its sophomore concert, "Mirchi Reloaded" this Saturday, March 27, 7 p.m. in the Michigan Union Ballroom.

Maize Mirchi sings a blend of Indian, Western and fusion music in the a capella tradition, without instruments, and all of their arrangements are student-written. They have performed at the University of Michigan Indian American Student Association Show (the largest Indian American student-run production in the nation), Dandia Dhamaka (an intercollegiate Raas-Garba competition), Michigan A Cappella Council’s MACFest and more. They recently placed second in Gathe Raho, the nationwide South Asian a cappella contest held at the University of Iowa.

Maize Mirchi writes in an email: “Join us as our superhero alter egos save the world on the big screen, while we sing live Bollywood and American fusion music.” (click on link for more)

U of M's Maize Mirchi concert and Taal Dance Team performance Saturday - AnnArbor.com

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Contrasting colors of Japanese Quiz Bowl and Japan Cultural Festival - AnnArbor.com

For the past few weeks, my kids have been doing nothing but getting ready for Japanese Quiz Bowl! Extra classes, extra homework, extra studying, extra emails from teachers, extra study sessions with classmates—and I do not have to say a thing. Japanese Quiz Bowl is serious business.

According to the University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies, this 17th annual competition, which took place Saturday, March 20, at the University of Michigan, had approximately 375 students from 26 elementary and secondary schools from across the state competing in six different divisions.

Bet you did not know that 26 elementary and secondary schools in Michigan teach Japanese as a foreign language. (click on link for more)

Photo: Last year’s team from Ohara Language School

Contrasting colors of Japanese Quiz Bowl and Japan Cultural Festival - AnnArbor.com

AML: "Reel Bad Arabs" and "Journey into America" documentaries look at Arab and Arab American stereotypes - AnnArbor.com

My last year in college, I saw the documentary film, “Slaying the Dragon,” about stereotyped portrayals of Asian American women in the media, and I cried all the way home. So that is how people see me. So that is why they sometimes act so strangely around me. So that is where much of it originates. Seeing the history of how Asian American women have been portrayed in the media, one clip after another, from Anna Mae Wong to Connie Chung, let me see what I look like through other eyes. That was how even I had been brainwashed by Hollywood and the media.

How else can we feel so certain that we know all about a people when in real life we have met very few of "those people"? How else can we know what people really think of us (since most nice people do not intentionally make racist or stereotyped comments to one's face)? (click on link for more)

"Reel Bad Arabs" and "Journey into America" documentaries look at Arab and Arab American stereotypes - AnnArbor.com

AML: Kiss Me I'm Irish. Kiss Me I'm Italian! Kiss Me I'm Chinese? - NAM EthnoBlog

I used to think that St. Patrick’s Day was a national holiday.

I attended Catholic schools in Los Angeles, and all the Bishops at the time, the ones who set the calendars for all the Catholic schools in the Archdiocese, were Irish. Thus St. Patrick’s Day was always a school holiday. Always. Along with Lincoln’s Birthday, Washington’s Birthday and All Saint’s Day.

Then our school got a young new principal, Sister Nathaniel. She was Italian American, with dark brown bangs peeking out of her white habit, a matter-of-fact way of speaking and a brisk, efficient stride. She declared that since St. Joseph’s Day (March 19) was about the same time as St. Patrick’s Day (March 17), we would celebrate both saints’ days together. I have often thought of this story as one which shows the difference one person can make. Because she was Italian American, she understood the importance of St. Joseph’s Day to our many Italian-American families; no one else even knew.(click on link for more)

Kiss Me I'm Irish. Kiss Me I'm Italian! Kiss Me I'm Chinese? - NAM EthnoBlog

AML: Prom Night In Mississippi at AADL Thursday - AnnArbor.com

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 desegregated our public schools and workplaces. In 1967, with the Loving v. Virginia case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional.

However, it was not until 2008 that Charleston High School had its first integrated prom, paid for by Academy-Award winning actor and Charleston native Morgan Freeman and documented by Emmy-award winning director Paul Saltzman in the documentary film, Prom Night in Mississippi. This film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema Documentary at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. (click on link for more)

Prom Night In Mississippi at AADL Thursday - AnnArbor.com

Eastern Michigan University: Center for Multicultural Affairs

I'll be speaking at a panel discussion of Hapa Issues at Eastern Michigan
University Monday, March 15, 11 am, 310A Student Center, as part of their Taste of Asia event. (click on link for more)

Eastern Michigan University: Center for Multicultural Affairs

AML: Kiss Me I'm Irish. Kiss Me I'm Italian! Kiss Me I'm Chinese? Wearing our cultural pride on St. Patrick's Day - AnnArbor.com

I used to think that St. Patrick’s Day was a national holiday.

I attended Catholic schools in Los Angeles, and all the Bishops at the time, the ones who set the calendars for all the Catholic schools in the Archdiocese, were Irish. Thus St. Patrick’s Day was always a school holiday. Always. Along with Lincoln’s Birthday, Washington’s Birthday, and All Saint’s Day.

Then our school got a young new principal, Sister Nathaniel. She was Italian American, with dark brown bangs peeking out of her white habit, a matter-of-fact way of speaking, and a brisk efficient stride. She declared that since St. Joseph’s Day (March 19) was about the same time as St. Patrick’s Day (March 17), we would celebrate both saints’ days together.

I have often thought of this story as one which shows the difference one person can make. Because she was Italian American, she understood the importance of St. Joseph’s Day to our many Italian-American families; no one else even knew. (click on link for more)

Kiss Me I'm Irish. Kiss Me I'm Italian! Kiss Me I'm Chinese? Wearing our cultural pride on St. Patrick's Day - AnnArbor.com

AML: U-M Zell Writers Series this month at UMMA Thursdays - AnnArbor.com

I recently met a new young professor named Tung-Hui Hu from the English department who just graduated from UC Berkeley’s film studies program. It turns out that he is a very talented poet too. The Los Angeles Times describes his work as a "contained surreal style that deftly shapes a philosophical argument." Check out this review of his second book of poetry, Mine, in Raintaxi Review of Books. Two poems from his forthcoming collection, Greenhouses, Lighthouses, can be found at the University of Mississippi, where he was poet-in-residence. He is also doing a really interesting sound installation called The Last Time You Cried on exhibit at the Michigan League and U-M Art and Architecture Building March 24 to April 6.

It is spring in Ann Arbor, time for poetry. (click on link for more)

U-M Zell Writers Series this month at UMMA Thursdays - AnnArbor.com

AML: Ann Arbor Palestine Film Festival March 10-13 - AnnArbor.com

I was talking to a Palestinian American woman once about dabke dance when she suddenly wished out loud that people could see the beauty of her culture instead of automatically and only thinking about war and political conflict whenever they heard the word, “Palestine” - that there is more to her people than that. (click on link for more)

Ann Arbor Palestine Film Festival March 10-13 - AnnArbor.com

AML: What's On Your Reading List This Month? - NAM EthnoBlog

I just finished reading Lac Su’s memoir, "I Love Yous are for White People," a story about growing up poor and Vietnamese American in Los Angeles dodging gangs, alcohol and an abusive father. It was a tough read but a sobering reminder that many Asian Americans do not fit neatly into the model minority stereotype.

Now I am reading Bich Minh Nguyen’s memoir, "Stealing Buddah’s Dinner," this year’s Michigan Humanities Council’s Great Michigan Read, about growing up Vietnamese American in suburban Grand Rapids and her fixation on American food.

Both writers ache to belong to the world around them. (click on link for more)

What's On Your Reading List This Month? - NAM EthnoBlog

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Reading, sharing, curating, and subverting books to expand the definition of normal - AnnArbor.com

I just finished reading Lac Su’s memoir, I Love Yous are for White People, a story about growing up poor and Vietnamese American in Los Angeles dodging gangs, alcohol, and an abusive father. It was a tough read, but a sobering reminder that many Asian Americans do not fit neatly into the model minority stereotype.

Now I am reading Bich Minh Nguyen’s memoir, Stealing Buddah’s Dinner, this year’s Michigan Humanities Council’s Great Michigan Read, about growing up Vietnamese American in suburban Grand Rapids and her fixation on American food.

Both writers ache to belong to the world around them. (click on link for more)

Reading, sharing, curating, and subverting books to expand the definition of normal - AnnArbor.com

Voices of Adoption RainbowKids.com: AML: Winter Olympians of color - American like us

March 07, 2010/ Frances Kai-Hwa Wang/ Voices of Adoption RainbowKids.com/ Adventures in Multicultural Living

During the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, my daughter M and her friend C, the only two Chinese-American girls in Mrs. Schroeder’s first-grade class, were excited about watching Michelle Kwan compete for the gold.

C was planning to invite Michelle to her upcoming seventh birthday party, an ice skating party at Buhr Park. M loved the video clip of Michelle eating dinner with her family—using the same bowls and chopsticks that we did. For them, Michelle was an admired “older sister” that they looked up to. None of the other first-grade girls really knew who Michelle Kwan even was, but after two weeks of hearing about Michelle Kwan every day in class and at soccer, every girl in that class stayed up late that final night of the Olympics to watch Michelle Kwan’s bittersweet final performance.

click on link for more: Adventures in Multicultural Living Winter Olympians of color - American like us

Adventures in Multicultural Living at JACL's Pacific Citizen: Who You Callin’ Uncle?

“I’m not your ‘mom!’” my girlfriend finally exploded at her kids.

The teenagers looked puzzled, “Then, whose mom are you?”

I know what she means, though. She does not want her children to call her the English word, “Mom,” but to call her by the Chinese term, “Ma Ma.” The dictionary may give the same meaning for both terms, but “mom” does not have the same feel, the same nuance, as “Ma Ma.” My children are not allowed to call me “Mom,” either. (click on link for more)

Who You Callin’ Uncle?

Voices of Adoption RainbowKids.com: AML: Winter Olympians of color - American like us - RainbowKids.com Voices of Adoption

During the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, my daughter M and her friend C, the only two Chinese-American girls in Mrs. Schroeder’s first-grade class, were excited about watching Michelle Kwan compete for the gold. (click on link for more, including thoughts on adult adoptee Toby Dawson and Korean Heritage Camps)

Adventures in Multicultural Living Winter Olympians of color - American like us Rainbow Kids Voices of Adoption

ImaginAsian Art Exhibition for Purdue

I was really excited to be able to contribute a piece to Kate Agathon's ImaginAsian Art Fundraising Exhibition for Purdue University Asian American Studies Program last week. If only so that I can officially call myself an artist now?

AML: "The Garden" documentary film at AADL Tuesday - AnnArbor.com

The Ann Arbor District Library will be showing the documentary film, The Garden, at the downtown branch, 343 S. Fifth Ave., at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 2. The film has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. (click on link for more)

"The Garden" documentary film at AADL Tuesday - AnnArbor.com

AML: Putting Islamic Finance in a Western Perspective at AADL Thursday - AnnArbor.com

My father once told me that although it was nice to learn about other cultures’ festivals and foods, it was a bit quaint. He said that if one really wants to understand another culture, one should look at how they deal with money — how they save, how they spend, how much they invest, how hard they work, what is considered a necessity versus a luxury, etc. — all their values will show up clearly when you follow the money.

Wait, isn’t that a line from a movie? (click on link for more)

Putting Islamic Finance in a Western Perspective at AADL Thursday - AnnArbor.com

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Winter Olympians of color: American Like Us - NAM EthnoBlog

During the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, my daughter M and her friend C, the only two Chinese-American girls in Mrs. Schroeder’s first-grade class, were excited about watching Michelle Kwan compete for the gold. (click on link for more)

Winter Olympians of color: American Like Us - NAM EthnoBlog

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Winter Olympians of color - American like us - AnnArbor.com

During the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, my daughter M and her friend C, the only two Chinese-American girls in Mrs. Schroeder’s first-grade class, were excited about watching Michelle Kwan compete for the gold.

C was planning to invite Michelle to her upcoming 7th birthday party, an ice skating party at Buhr Park. M loved the video clip of Michelle eating dinner with her family—using the same bowls and chopsticks that we did. For them, Michelle was an admired “older sister” that they looked up to. None of the other first-grade girls really knew who Michelle Kwan even was, but after two weeks of hearing about Michelle Kwan every day in class and at soccer, every girl in that class stayed up late that final night of the Olympics to watch Michelle Kwan’s bittersweet final performance. (click on link for more)

Winter Olympians of color - American like us AnnArbor.com

Adventures in Multicultural Living: A Star Trek to Purim, Black and White Purim Masquerade, and more - AnnArbor.com

“The Star Ship Enterprise, with Captain Kirk, has been marooned in the past over Planet Earth, circling above the Persian Empire. A plot to kill the king is revealed, and then a plot to destroy an entire people is uncovered. Did Captain Kirk violate the non interference prime directive and interfere in history? Attend his Court Martial and find out. Exhibit A - The Reading of the Entire Scroll of Esther.”

What? Did I read that correctly? A Star Trek to Purim?

In one episode of the television show, Big Bang Theory, a group of nerds are playing Klingon Boggle, when Howard suggests the word, “Kreplach.” Raj stops him, “That isn’t Kingon, it’s Yiddish for a meat-filled dumpling!” I wonder if there is a deeper Klingon-Kreplach connection. Hmmm, now that I think about it, hamentaschen are shaped strikingly similar to Star Fleet badges. (click on link for more)

A Star Trek to Purim, Black and White Purim Masquerade, and more - AnnArbor.com

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Our Own Thing Chorale spirituals at Ann Arbor District Library Sunday - AnnArbor.com

King School’s International Night was launched in grand style this year by its Gospel Choir singing “This Little Light of Mine.” Somebody’s little sister snuck onto stage with them and — with pacifier in mouth — clapped and cheered and danced right along with the older elementary school students. Sometimes she faced forward, sometimes she faced backwards, she got most of the hand motions right, and then she shoutedout “Yay!” before the song was even done. Gospel is infectious like that. (click on link for more)

Our Own Thing Chorale spirituals at Ann Arbor District Library Sunday - AnnArbor.com

Watermelon Sushi World interviews Frances

Interview by Yayoi Lena Winfrey, on her Watermelon Sushi World Blog for her Hip Hapa Homeez:

Speaking of info, Your Hip Hapa can think of few people who are more informative than Frances Kai-Hwa Wang. We originally met many moons ago as Contributing Editors at IMDiversity.com, Asian American Village. These days, Frances is still with the site, but now she’s an Asian American Village Editor. Frances also writes for numerous other publications. Check out the links below that appear in her standard email signature. Above is Frances smiling despite dozens of deadlines piling up on her. (click on link for more)

Watermelon Sushi World

YouTube - Jen Kwok - Date An Asian

This is too funny. Not for the faint of heart!

"Feeling out of Place" and APA Identity in the Midwest

Speaking tonight Tuesday February 23, 2010, 6-8pm, UM Ecumenical Center International Residence's (ECIR's) Global Village Dinner, 921 Church St., Ann Arbor, MI, on "Feeling out of Place" and APA Identity in the Midwest

AML: Chinese Lunar New Year Feasting and Family - NAM EthnoBlog

The focal point of Chinese Lunar New Year celebration is gathering the whole extended family together for a big feast on New Year’s Eve. (click here for more)

Chinese Lunar New Year Feasting and Family - NAM EthnoBlog

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Chinese Lunar New Year feasting and family - AnnArbor.com

The focal point of Chinese Lunar New Year celebration is gathering the whole extended family together for a big feast on New Year’s Eve.

Just as Thanksgiving has certain special foods that must be eaten like turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes with marshmallows, Chinese Lunar New Year’s Eve also features special food that must be eaten, each dish imbued with meaning and good wishes for the new year. A whole fish is served because the Chinese word for fish sounds like “more than enough” (and one must leave leftovers so there will be “plenty” “left over” in the new year). (click on link for more)

Chinese Lunar New Year feasting and family - AnnArbor.com

Celebrating the Chinese New Year - AnnArbor.com

Photos from the Ann Arbor Chinese Center of Michigan's Chinese Lunar New Year's Celebration by Mark Bialek at AnnArbor.com. (click on link for photos)

Celebrating the Chinese New Year - AnnArbor.com

AML: 'Vertical Speech' African American art exhibit at Kerrytown Concert House - AnnArbor.com

In honor of African American History Month, there is a wonderful African American art exhibit up at Kerrytown Concert House called “Vertical Speech.” Curated by Darnell Ishmel, the exhibition features the work of local and international African American artists Alonzo Edwards, Christopher Batten, Malcolm Rowry, Marcus Wilson, Mario Moore and Rod Gailes. This is a great opportunity to see and better understand the African American experience through the eyes of the community’s own artists.

Darnell Ishmel emails:

“Why buy Black Art? Seven reasons why...
(1) Investment in community
(2) Preserve cultural legacy
(3) Support local African American artist
(4) Contribute to a worthy cause will make a difference
(5) 'Black IS beautiful'
(6) February only comes once a year
(7) If you don't....who will?”

click on link for more: 'Vertical Speech' African American art exhibit at Kerrytown Concert House - AnnArbor.com

AML: Huaren Chinese Culture Show Saturday at Power Center - AnnArbor.com

Huaren means people of Chinese ethnicity or descent, irrespective of language, politics, or geography. It is a word that speaks to the Chinese diaspora, that links Chinese people regardless of whether they were born in Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Singapore, Germany, Australia, America, etc. and where they might live.

The annual Huaren Culture Show, put on by University of Michigan students, celebrates the Chinese New Year with a cultural show that traverses Chinese culture old and new. Performances include traditional Chinese dance, contemporary dance, traditional Chinese music on the pipa (Chinese lute), contemporary Chinese American music, Chinese wu shu martial arts, Chinese Yo-Yo, hip-hop and more! (click on link for more)

Huaren Chinese Culture Show Saturday at Power Center - AnnArbor.com

AML: "Of Civil Wrongs and Rights: The Fred Korematsu Story" at AADL - AnnArbor.com

During World War II, 120,000 Japanese Americans, almost two-thirds of whom were American citizens, were forcibly relocated and interned in concentration camps by the United States government. The official reason was military necessity, but in reality it was a combination of racism, xenophobia, economic competition, frenzied public opinion, and fear. Fred Korematsu challenged the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066. He lost his case at the time, but the US Supreme Court decision was later reversed when it was discovered that the US government deliberately suppressed information and misled the US Supreme Court in 1944. This second decision paved the way to eventual apology and reparations for all internees. Fred Korematsu later won the US Congressional Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor.

After 65 years, the Korematsu case and the experience of the Japanese American internment is still relevant today because after 9/11, many people called for interning Arab Americans, again out of fear, racism, and xenophobia. The Japanese American community was the first to stand up for Arab Americans and say never again. (click on link for more)

"Of Civil Wrongs and Rights: The Fred Korematsu Story" at AADL - AnnArbor.com

AML: Discovering the meaning in Chinese New Year's celebrations - NAM EthnoBlog

I never even heard of Chinese New Year until I was already 12 years old. We had recently moved from Los Angeles to San Jose, and I had just started attending Saturday morning Chinese School for the first time. One of our lessons was about Chinese New Year stories and customs. Of course, being only 12, I was most interested in the tradition of red envelopes, which contain gifts of money. I went home demanding to know why my brother and I had never before received red envelopes, and insisted on years of back pay. (click on link for more)

Discovering the meaning in Chinese New Year's celebrations - NAM EthnoBlog

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Discovering the meaning in Chinese New Year's celebrations - AnnArbor.com

I never even heard of Chinese New Year until I was already 12 years old. We had recently moved from Los Angeles to San Jose, and I had just started attending Saturday morning Chinese School for the first time. One of our lessons was about Chinese New Year stories and customs. Of course, being only 12, I was most interested in the tradition of red envelopes, which contain gifts of money. I went home demanding to know why my brother and I had never before received red envelopes, and insisted on years of back pay.

My brother and I forced our parents to celebrate Chinese New Year that year. We invited all our relatives over for a big dinner of Mongolian hot pot and we made a special trip to the really far Chinese butcher’s for the extra-thin cuts of meat needed. Aunts No. 3 and 6 came with all our cousins, and we had so much fun with the house full of relatives, warm with gossip and food, that we did not even notice until everyone had left that we still did not get any red envelopes.

Every year after that, I would ask my parents what they were planning for Chinese New Year, and the usual response was, "Oh, I don’t even know when it is. I’ll have to check the Chinese calendar." If I was home, and insistent, then they would cook a meal and invite some relatives over; if not, then they would forget. They were modern Chinese who did not need these old world superstitions. But I did. (click on link for more)

Discovering the meaning in Chinese New Year's celebrations - AnnArbor.com

photo courtesy of Andrew Fang photasa.com

AML: Losar Services at Jewel Heart this Sunday - AnnArbor.com

The first time I took my daughter to Losar services, she was very little and very cute, and she caught the eye of Rimpoche, who leaned over and whispered something in someone’s ear. Suddenly, a handful of chocolate appeared before us. Awhile later, she caught his eye again, and another lean, another whisper, another handful of chocolate.

When we offered Rimpoche a white kata scarf at the end of services, he gave us yet another handful of chocolate. She loved Tibetan New Year. She thought it had something to do with getting lots and lots of chocolate. She also remembered the bread that we took home as prasad. Now that she is older, she will better understand the meanings behind the offerings and the gratitude, but there is something to be said for being able to feel it directly, as a child.

Losar is Tibetan New Year. Jewel Heart will be having special Losar services on Sunday, February 14, 10am.

Losar Services at Jewel Heart this Sunday - AnnArbor.com

AML: Wild Swan Theater celebrates African American History Month - AnnArbor.com

When Gwen Ifill was here as the keynote speaker for the University of Michigan’s MLK Day Symposium, she joked that anyone who missed the “I Have a Dream” speech on MLK Day would have another chance in February during African American History Month, a slightly cynical reminder that for some, these are the only two times of the year many suddenly remember to cursorily think about African American history.

Luckily, not everyone is like that. (click on link for more)

Wild Swan Theater celebrates African American History Month - AnnArbor.com

AML: Ann Arbor Chinese Center of Michigan's Chinese New Year's celebration - AnnArbor.com

The Ann Arbor Chinese Center of Michigan’s Chinese Lunar New Year’s Celebration will be held Feb. 13 at Washtenaw Community College, Morris Lawrence Building, 4800 E. Huron River Drive, Ann Arbor. There will be Children’s Performances (1-3 p.m.) including a colorful lion dance; traditional Chinese orchestra; dangerous kung fu (martial arts) demonstration; graceful Chinese dancers; spectacular Chinese Yo-Yo stunts; and Chinese New Year’s stories, songs, rhymes, skits and films. There will also be a “Market Festival” with children’s games and crafts and delicious Taiwanese snacks (3-5 p.m.).

Tickets will be available in advance and at the door, $5 for 25 tokens. Tokens may be exchanged for games and snacks at the Market Festival. For more information check out www.aaccom.org.

Chinese Lunar New Year’s Day will be Feb. 14 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 after being celebrated in America for over 150 years, it has become woven into the fabric of American culture. Every year is represented by one of 12 animal zodiac signs, and this will be the Year of the Tiger. (click on link for more)

Ann Arbor Chinese Center of Michigan's Chinese New Year's celebration - AnnArbor.com

Chinese Week Celebration gala at EMU kicks off The Year of The Tiger - AnnArbor.com

Photos from Eastern Michigan University's Chinese Week Celebration Gala by Melanie Maxwell at AnnArbor.com. Look at that handsome boy!(click on link for photos)

Chinese Week Celebration gala at EMU kicks off The Year of The Tiger - AnnArbor.com

AML: Raising confident daughters of color while not forgetting Obama is black - NAM EthnoBlog

Years ago, I took a seminar called, "Raising Strong and Confident Daughters." My husband laughed at me, "Could our daughters be any stronger or more confident?" (click on link for more)

Raising confident daughters of color while not forgetting Obama is black - NAM EthnoBlog

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang keynote at Eastern Michigan University

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang will be speaking on (Raising) Women in the 21st Century at Eastern Michigan University for Chinese Week 2010 on Monday, February 8, 2010, 1:00 pm, 300 Halle Library.

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Raising confident daughters of color while not forgetting Obama is black - AnnArbor.com

Years ago, I took a seminar called, "Raising Strong and Confident Daughters." My husband laughed at me, "Could our daughters be any stronger or more confident?"

The class was an eye-opener, not just in how to raise my girls, but also in understanding my own Chinese American childhood. I had no memory of dealing with a lot of the issues the instructor talked about as being so important to preadolescent girls, such as friendships and physical appearances.

At first I thought that I must have been just so low on the social totem pole, because of race and nerdiness, that I had given up hope of competing in those arenas. Then I found a Wellesley study of Boston middle-school girls’ self-esteem along racial and ethnic lines and discovered that girls of different ethnic backgrounds based their sense of self-esteem on different factors. It made perfect sense once somebody said it out loud. (click on link for more)

Raising confident daughters of color while not forgetting Obama is black - AnnArbor.com

Adventures in Multicultural Living: The 'Asian fail' and having fun with the model-minority myth and other stereotypes - AnnArbor.com

Three summers ago, my 70-year-old father, who has been after me for years to finish my PhD, had a sudden post-retirement revelation, “It does not matter how many degrees you have; what matters is that you are a good person and live a happy life.”

He then turned to the kids and said, “You do not have to get good grades or go to a good college, you just have to learn how to be a good person and be happy.”

The children and I stared at him, mouths dropped open in disbelief, “Who are you and what have you done with my real father?” (click on link for more)

The 'Asian fail' and having fun with the model-minority myth and other stereotypes - AnnArbor.com

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Can we truly be colorblind? "Skin" and "Bilal's Stand" coming to the Michigan Theater - AnnArbor.com

At Gwen Ifill’s keynote speech at the University of Michigan MLK Day Symposium, she talked about people who insist that they are colorblind and claim to see people as they really are and not even notice the color of anyone’s skin.

If there is only one African American in the room, she joked, people will say anything to avoid mentioning his race, like the tall man in the blue suit and tie, to which she responds, “Oh, you mean the black guy?” “Oh, is he black? I didn’t notice.”

She also said people have asked her if they can just talk about President Obama and simply not mention that he is African American.

I have also wrestled with how to react to such claims and loved her zinger of a response, that people would not even ask this question or make this claim unless they (or society) thought there was something problematic about the color of people’s skin. (click on link for more)

Can we truly be colorblind? "Skin" and "Bilal's Stand" coming to the Michigan Theater - AnnArbor.com

Adventures in Multicultural Living: "New Muslim Cool" film at University of Michigan International Institute - AnnArbor.com

When disparate cultures come together in surprising ways, we can sometimes learn more than when we only know about “the traditional way.”

I love seeing the creative ways that people adapt traditions and cultures, transforming them in the process. Sometimes I worry that my innocent suburban experiences here with my nice high-achieving kids and nice academic friends are hopelessly naïve.

Luckily, there are cool independent filmmakers to bring the rest of the world to us here in our small town, helping to bring together the many ethnic communities across the country, to generate a new conversation. (click on link for more)

"New Muslim Cool" film at University of Michigan International Institute - AnnArbor.com

Adventures in Multicultural Living: We gain so much from wading in the water of each other's cultural experiences - AnnArbor.com

Two years ago, my father’s choir at the University of Hawaii was invited to sing at a big international diversity concert at Lincoln Center in New York for MLK Day. Choirs from around the world had been invited to sing together, and a Hawaiian choir adds instant diversity with its multicultural population of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Portuguese, Caucasians and native Hawaiians. That summer, over a breakfast of Chinese pancakes and Portuguese sausage, my father told us about the difficulties he had had the night before at choir practice pronouncing the words in the spirituals that they were learning, “You have to say the words like a Negro,” he said.

Twelve-year-old Hao Hao gently corrected him: “African American. These days you should say African American.” (I bet Senator Reid wishes his grandchildren had told him this, too.) (click on link for more)

We gain so much from wading in the water of each other's cultural experiences - AnnArbor.com

AML: Craving hummus far away--Arab American events at Ann Arbor District Library this week - AnnArbor.com

The children and I had been in Hawaii almost five weeks when a sudden craving for hummus hit. We had not really thought about hummus for awhile, had been enjoying our huli huli chicken and Spam musubi, foods we cannot get in Ann Arbor, when we suddenly noticed that something we normally took for granted was simply not there. We searched but could not find good hummus or tabouli anywhere. We could not find good Indian food. We could not find henna. This is just a small thing, unimportant really, but we began to appreciate that there are things gritty Michigan has that languorous Hawaii does not. With Dearborn being home to the largest Arab community outside of the Middle East, Michigan is multicultural after all, but a different mix of multi than Hawaii. While the rest of the country is freaking out about terrorist stereotypes, we have neighbors.

The Ann Arbor District Library offers us two opportunities this week to learn more about our Arab American neighbors and friends: (click on link for more)

Craving hummus far away--Arab American events at Ann Arbor District Library this week - AnnArbor.com

AML: Examining Ubuntu Conference and other applications of South Africa's reconciliation process for us now - AnnArbor.com

In college, we protested apartheid in South Africa by attending rallies on Sproul Plaza, marching across campus, and not patronizing companies that did business in South Africa. It was so important to me to take my money out of Bank of America, where my family had always banked, and move it to Wells Fargo Bank. Everyone was so excited when Bishop Desmond Tutu spoke at the University of California Berkeley Greek Theater that Bobby McFerrin (just starting out then) announced his arrival in song - twice - before his helicopter even landed.

Then summer vacation came, I went home, I got busy with other things, and I forgot all about it. For years.

Suddenly, Bishop Desmond Tutu’s voice is on the radio. South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is under way. (click on link for more)

Examining Ubuntu Conference and other applications of South Africa's reconciliation process for us now - AnnArbor.com

AML: Living in harmony in a great world house on MLK Day - NAM EthnoBlog

In Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Nobel Peace Prize lecture, given in 1964, he talks about the idea of a house, “We have inherited a big house, a great ‘world house’ in which we have to live together - black and white, Easterners and Westerners, Gentiles and Jews, Catholics and Protestants, Moslem and Hindu, a family unduly separated in ideas, culture, and interests who, because we can never again live without each other, must learn, somehow, in this one big world, to live with each other.” (click on link for more)
Living in harmony in a great world house on MLK Day - NAM EthnoBlog

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Living in harmony in a great world house on MLK Day - AnnArbor.com

In Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Nobel Peace Prize lecture, given in 1964, he talks about the idea of a house, “We have inherited a big house, a great ‘world house’ in which we have to live together - black and white, Easterners and Westerners, Gentiles and Jews, Catholics and Protestants, Moslem and Hindu, a family unduly separated in ideas, culture, and interests who, because we can never again live without each other, must learn, somehow, in this one big world, to live with each other.”

I love the imagery of that house, so easy to picture. A nice Victorian, neat and trim, brightly painted, purple and pink, warm lights shining through lace curtains, with all the peoples of the world living in harmony together inside - everyone happily cooking together, feasting and celebrating, sharing the bounty of the garden, raking leaves and shoveling snow with the seasons, emptying the dishwasher, doing the laundry, vacuuming the floor, fixing the car, fighting for the bathroom…

Wait. But how do you do that, exactly? (click on link for more)

Living in harmony in a great world house on MLK Day - AnnArbor.com

AML: Novelist Sapphire (Push/Precious) to speak at U of M for MLK Day - AnnArbor.com

I want to see the movie, Precious, based on the novel Push by Sapphire, but I am afraid. I request the book from the Ann Arbor District Library, but I am too afraid to even peel back the routing sticker that holds its pages closed. I show the trailer to my teenage children, knowing they are too young to handle the real movie, and I cry every time. Now the author, Sapphire, is coming as part of the University of Michigan’s MLK Day Symposium to talk about “Push, Literacy, Women, and African American Literature.” It seems I cannot escape the change I know awaits me there.

In addition to writing for AnnArbor.com, I also write for New America Media, which has been described as “the AP of the ethnic press.” One of New America Media’s many strengths is capturing the voices of America’s ethnic youth, who sometimes see things so much more clearly than we old people do. Here is a moving review of the movie, Precious, published last November in New America Media’s Ethnoblog: (click on link for more)

Novelist Sapphire (Push/Precious) to spejavascript:void(0)ak at U of M for MLK Day - AnnArbor.com

AML: Carmen Van Kerckhove speaking at U of M today - AnnArbor.com

Here in Ann Arbor, we are lucky that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day spills out over the designated third Monday in January and splashes into the weeks around it. There are so many incredible speakers to hear, opportunities to explore, challenges to take on, making MLK Day more than a day off of school but an opportunity to think, learn, engage.

Today Asian American Carmen VanKerchove of New Demographic and the Racialicious blog kicks off the University of Michigan MLK Day Symposium: (click on link for more)

Carmen Van Kerckhove speaking at U of M today - AnnArbor.com

AML: Little Brother's many older brothers - NAM EthnoBlog

At 10:00 pm every Friday night, Mr. Pao, the Administrator of Students, rings the bell for everyone to go home, and…nobody moves. What kind of Chinese School is this that nobody is anxious to leave at 10:00 pm on a Friday night? Everyone, parents and teachers and students, are still talking and laughing, lingering a few more moments together, just one more person to catch. I slowly round up all my children from all their extracurricular classes—gu zheng, kung fu, yo-yo, art—find their coats, pick up their backpacks, and slowly make our way towards the front door.

But where is Little Brother? (click on link for more)

Little Brother's many older brothers - NAM EthnoBlog

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Little Brother's many older brothers - AnnArbor.com

At 10:00 pm every Friday night, Mr. Pao, the Administrator of Students, rings the bell for everyone to go home, and…nobody moves. What kind of Chinese School is this that nobody is anxious to leave at 10:00 pm on a Friday night? Everyone, parents and teachers and students, are still talking and laughing, lingering a few more moments together, just one more person to catch. I slowly round up all my children from all their extracurricular classes—gu zheng, kung fu, yo-yo, art—find their coats, pick up their backpacks, and slowly make our way towards the front door.

But where is Little Brother?

I walk up and down all the hallways, ask the parents of all his little friends, check the upstairs and the gym and outside the back door. I finally find him in the multipurpose room, in the center of a big circle of teenagers, all twice his height (which is why I did not see him earlier), holding forth about his favorite Pokemon. Serious stuff.

Two of the teenagers, Brian and Stephanie, are fighting over him again, “Who do you like better? Me or her?” (click on link for more) Little Brother's many older brothers - AnnArbor.com

MLK celebration set for Jan. 19 - Chelsea Standard - Heritage

By Joanne Ladio, Guest Writer

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang will be the keynote speaker at the 2010 community celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The event is sponsored by Chelsea’s One World One Family Task Force and will take place at 7 p.m. Jan. 18 in the auditorium at the Washington Street Education Center, 500 Washington St.

Wang writes the Multicultural Living column for AnnArbor.com. She will address this year’s theme, “Living in Harmony.” Her column speaks to living with diversity and how to handle the everyday issues – good, bad and funny – that come with multicultural living. (click on link for more)

MLK celebration set for Jan. 19 - Chelsea Standard - Heritage

AML: Mochitsuki at U of M Center for Japanese Studies Saturday - AnnArbor.com

The wooden clack-clack of the kamishibai storyteller’s blocks calls us to brave the snow and head to campus to hear the tale of the Mighty Momotaro, each scene’s colorful pictures displayed in a wooden stagelike frame. The story is punctuated by the thump thump thump of the wooden kine in the other room, pounding rice in a giant wooden usu. This year there is taiko drumming, too, bringing us back to summer concerts and street fairs in California and Hawaii; as well as sumi writing and manga drawing and origami. Of course the ikebana flower arrangements and the elegant ladies in Miyabi playing koto are not to be missed. Finally, the food—so many different kinds of mochi, sembei, Pocky.

Mochitsuki is the traditional rice cake making that happens at the end of every year to preserve just-harvested rice for the winter and to make mochi for New Year’s Day Oshougatsu. Mochitsuki is a big deal in rural Japanese communities. It has become less so in urban communities who make their mochi in a mochi maker or the microwave or just buy it from a mochi and manju shop. However, there is a growing resurgence in Japanese American communities across the United States, who want to teach younger generations (fourth and fifth now) about their culture and heritage. It is always a lot of fun. (click on link for more...including an embedded video of super fast mochi making)

Mochitsuki at U of M Center for Japanese Studies Saturday - AnnArbor.com

AML: Professor Margaret Noori discusses Native Americans of Michigan, the Three Fires Confederacy - AnnArbor.com

The fifty-year-old Native American dioramas and their attendant overlay exhibit, “Native American Dioramas in Transition” at the University of Michigan Exhibit Museum are coming down this week after increasing concerns about the way they portray Native American cultures as stereotyped, oversimplified, small, and extinct. However, that is hardly the end to learning about Native American cultures.

As part of the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads, the Ann Arbor District Library will be hosting a talk by University of Michigan Professor Margaret Noori about Native Americans of Michigan, the Three Fires Confederacy: (click on link for more)

Professor Margaret Noori discusses Native Americans of Michigan, the Three Fires Confederacy - AnnArbor.com

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Swine Flu: How the "colorblind" H1N1 virus reveals our cultural differences - NAM EthnoBlog

I was invited to a special ethnic media briefing at Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle organized by New America Media (informally known as the AP of the Ethnic Press) with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to get the word out about the H1N1 (swine flu) virus and vaccine to our ethnic communities.

At first, I was naively surprised to receive this invitation. I thought that the H1N1 virus ought to be “colorblind” and not care about race, ethnicity, or culture; that it ought to make our bodies sick the same way. Why would ethnic communities need special briefings? (click on link for more)

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Swine Flu: How the "colorblind" H1N1 virus reveals our cultural differences - NAM EthnoBlog

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Swine Flu: How the "colorblind" H1N1 virus reveals our cultural differences - AnnArbor.com

I was invited to a special ethnic media briefing at Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle organized by New America Media (informally known as the AP of the Ethnic Press) with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to get the word out about the H1N1 (swine flu) virus and vaccine to our ethnic communities.

At first, I was naively surprised to receive this invitation. I thought that the H1N1 virus ought to be “colorblind” and not care about race, ethnicity, or culture; that it ought to make our bodies sick the same way. Why would ethnic communities need special briefings? (click on link for more)

Swine Flu: How the "colorblind" H1N1 virus reveals our cultural differences - AnnArbor.com

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Oh! Oshogatsu! Missing Japanese New Year's Day - NAM EthnoBlog

The doorbell rings. The dog barks. I turn on the porch light, open the front door, and…

No one is there. Then I look down. A package!

Ooh, I was not expecting any more Christmas presents. I bend down to pick it up, and I hear the unmistakable sound of …

Rice.

A box of rice. A very big box of rice. Who would ship me a very big box of rice? (click on link for more)

Oh! Oshogatsu! Missing Japanese New Yejavascript:void(0)ar's Day - NAM EthnoBlog

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Oh! Oshogatsu! Missing Japanese New Year's Day - AnnArbor.com

The doorbell rings. The dog barks. I turn on the porch light, open the front door, and…

No one is there. Then I look down. A package!

Ooh, I was not expecting any more Christmas presents. I bend down to pick it up, and I hear the unmistakable sound of…

Rice.

A box of rice. A very big box of rice. Who would ship me a very big box of rice?

I stagger into the house, the sound of trickling and flowing rice filling my ears, and I put the very big box down on the kitchen table. I look at the label to see who in the world would FedEx me a very big box of rice and smile when I read, “Koda Farms.” (click on link for more)

Oh! Oshogatsu! Missing Japanese New Year's Day - AnnArbor.com

AML: Wishing for an American New Year's Eve - NAM EthnoBlog

Oh the excitement of New Year’s Eve! The perfect little black dress, impossibly high heels, dazzling rhinestones, an invitation to THE New Year’s Eve party of the year, a handsome and suave “New Year’s Eve Date,” a fluted glass of champagne, cute foods, counting down with the crowd, getting magically kissed right at the stroke of midnight (the primary purpose of said “New Year’s Eve Date”), singing Auld Lang Syne with one’s dearest friends, starting on that new year’s resolution to lose ten pounds (tomorrow)… (click on link for more)

Wishing for an American New Year's Eve - NAM EthnoBlog

AML: Last chance to see the 'Native American Dioramas in Transition' exhibit at University of Michigan Exhibit Museum - AnnArbor.com

You don't have to spend more than a few minutes hanging around the Native American Dioramas in Transition Exhibit at the University of Michigan Exhibit Museum to see several children run up excitedly, thump up onto the ledge in their big snow boots, and squeal, “Ewwww, they’re naked! Why are they naked?”

A tired parent struggles to explain—or not—leaving the children to figure it out for themselves - “They must be really poor,” “They must not know any better,” or “That’s their culture.” There are no Native American doctors, lawyers, professors, engineers, architects, librarians, activists, or astronauts depicted.

It is not difficult to understand the hurt these diaramas must have caused Native American children seeing the exhibits with their classmates during the fourth grade Native American social studies unit, or how easily misperceptions and stereotypes are perpetuated.

I can feel it, too. Imagine if it was you and your family depicted there - tiny, naked, nerdy, weird, frozen in time. And all your friends and random strangers, looming giants overhead, pointing and laughing from on high about all the things that set you apart as different. (click on link for more)

Last chance to see the 'Native American Dioramas in Transition' exhibit at University of Michigan museum - AnnArbor.com

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Wishing for an American New Year's Eve - AnnArbor.com

Oh the excitement of New Year’s Eve! The perfect little black dress, impossibly high heels, dazzling rhinestones, an invitation to THE New Year’s Eve party of the year, a handsome and suave “New Year’s Eve Date,” a fluted glass of champagne, cute foods, counting down with the crowd, getting magically kissed right at the stroke of midnight (the primary purpose of said “New Year’s Eve Date”), singing Auld Lang Syne with one’s dearest friends, starting on that new year’s resolution to lose ten pounds (tomorrow)…

Oh the glamour! The style! The fantasy! As the child of immigrants, with my nose pressed up against the glass, it all seemed so exquisitely “American” and romantic, “better” in a way that as a child I had somehow decided that cars with trunks, ten-speed bikes, store-bought clothes, Adidas running shoes, and the symphony must be “better” and “more American,” because they were things “real Americans” (read Caucasian Americans) took for granted but which my sensible immigrant family would never indulge. I thought we were so uncultured and uncouth. (click on link for more)

Wishing for an American New Year's Eve - AnnArbor.com

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang And Multicultural Thanksgivings

Just found this reference and link to Multicultural Thanksgiving at slanteyefortheroundeye.com. Now is that a funny url or what? And he said dd was worth a click! That's a lot coming from a blogger...

There's just a nice read I wanted to post up from Frances Kai-Hwa - who's also editor at IMDiversity.com Asian American Village - down at the AnnArbor who talks about Thanksgiving and the different ways people are celebrating, and I just thought as this is the week of the Turkey (no no, not me - although thanks for the thought) it was apropos (and the picture of the cute kid hovering over a plate of Thai butternut squash curry is worth the click too).

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang And Multicultural Thanksgivings

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Is Christmas any less Christian if you put up a Bodhi Day tree? - AnnArbor.com

One of my daughter’s Jewish friends from preschool once said that she liked coming to our house this time of year because we were the only other people who did not have a Christmas tree, either. Her mother described the conflict her child felt at school having to do Christmas-themed art projects such as decorating trees, which, regardless of what you call them, are still Christmas trees. Even a 5-year-old could see this.

It felt good to know that she found comfort in our home, although I had to confess that the real reason we did not have a Christmas tree at that time was that we used to always travel over the holidays. I was raised Catholic. We do celebrate Christmas. However, we did it reflexively.

So then I nearly scared my children to death with the pronouncement, “Now that we’re Buddhist, maybe we shouldn’t celebrate Christmas anymore.” (click on link for more)

Is Christmas any less Christian if you put up a Bodhi Day tree? - AnnArbor.com

AML: Kung Pao Kosher Christmas? - AnnArbor.com

I once had a Jewish housemate who explained the different types of silverware her family needed to keep kosher—one set for meat, one set for dairy, and one set of disposable chopsticks for Chinese take-out. She also described how Jewish people go out for Chinese food on Christmas day because Chinese restaurants are always open (and back then, the only other people not celebrating Christmas). I never knew how critical my culture was for her culture.

Several years ago, I was amused to learn how some Jewish communities were taking that tradition another step and organizing big Jewish comedy shows at Chinese restaurants on Christmas Day. The organizers of one such event in San Jose, California, told the San Jose Mercury News at the time that they had had a difficult time explaining their proposal to the Chinese restaurant owners, who had not even realized that so many of their customers that day were Jewish, or why. We do not always realize the impact of how we intersect with other people, other cultures. (click on link for more)

Kung Pao Kosher Christmas? - AnnArbor.com

AML: Learning about Christmas and Santa through the claymation classics - NAM EthnoBlog

Once again in New America Media's Ethnoblog:

Asian American journalist Lisa Ling once said on The View that as a child she thought Santa liked Caucasian children better than Chinese children because he always left much better and bigger gifts, like stereos, for her Caucasian friends, whereas he only left small gifts, like batteries and toothbrushes, in her stocking. (click on link for more)

Learning about Christmas and Santa through the claymation classics - NAM EthnoBlog

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Learning about Christmas and Santa through the claymation classics - AnnArbor.com

Asian American journalist Lisa Ling once said on The View that as a child she thought Santa liked Caucasian children better than Chinese children because he always left much better and bigger gifts, like stereos, for her Caucasian friends, whereas he only left small gifts, like batteries and toothbrushes, in her stocking.

When I heard that, it was as if I was hearing silver bells. I always got batteries and toothbrushes in my stocking, too. I had grown up thinking that gifts from Santa always had to be small in order to fit inside the stocking.

It was not until I was in my 30’s that I discovered that some people received gifts from Santa that not only spilled out of their stockings, but covered the floor and piled up as high as the Christmas tree. Some people did not even bother hanging up stockings by the chimney with care, as they knew their gifts would be bigger than that. Is that allowed? (click on link for more)

Learning about Christmas and Santa through the claymation classics - AnnArbor.com

AML: Emily Hsiao: a role model for my children, an inspiration for me - NAM EthnoBlog

In New America Media's Ethnoblog:

My first memory of Emily Hsiao is from 11 years ago, when she and a bunch of her little 7-year-old girlfriends were sitting in a tree yelling “Kiss! Kiss!” at my daughter and Emily’s little brother, who, since they were both 3 years old at the time, would oblige, much to the giggles of the 7-year-old girls sitting in the tree.

As she grew older, I often asked Emily to babysit so my girls could develop a relationship with an older sister who could later lead the way for them and talk to them about teenage girl stuff should the need ever arise. (click on link for more)

Emily Hsiao: a role model for my children, an inspiration for me - NAM EthnoBlog

AML: Tot Shabbat, Tot Chanukah, lots of latkes on Friday - AnnArbor.com

The last night of Chanukah falls on Friday, making this Friday’s Tot Shabbat at Temple Beth Emeth an extra special evening, Tot Chanukah! Tot Shabbat is a special Shabbat service every Friday night for families with young children, so Tot Chanukah is a special Chanukah service with crafts, songs, Shabbat dinner, and lots and lots of latkes. It is open to the community. On this night, families bring their menorahs, and because it is the last night of Chanukah, all nine candles are lit, and the sight of so many fully lit menorahs together is, according to my friend, Zoe, “Amazing!” (click on link for more)

Tot Shabbat, Tot Chanukah, lots of latkes on Friday - AnnArbor.com

Three Asian American Perspectives on Thanksgiving

Cool 8asians.com post citing me, Eric Nakamura (Giant Robot), and Andrew Lam (New America Media) all in one entry. What great company in which to find oneself. Last month an editor said my writing reminded her of Andrew Lam's writing and I nearly fainted. Go ahead, flatter me more! (click on link for more)

Three Asian American Perspectives on Thanksgiving

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AML: English High Tea at TeaHaus Sunday - AnnArbor.com

Before I went off to graduate school at the University of Michigan, my father gave me a beautiful blue and white Japanese teapot and a set of six small teacups that we picked up in San Jose’s Japantown. He said there is something about drinking a nice cup of tea out of a nice pot in a nice cup that you just need sometimes.

My children and I discovered this cute tea shop on Fourth Avenue one sunny afternoon, where they have a selection of 200 loose teas (including several different varieties of my favorite, Earl Grey) and a monthly English high tea. From TeaHaus’ website: (click on link for more)

English High Tea at TeaHaus Sunday - AnnArbor.com

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Emily Hsiao: a role model for my children, an inspiration for me - AnnArbor.com

My first memory of Emily Hsiao is from 11 years ago, when she and a bunch of her little 7-year-old girlfriends were sitting in a tree yelling “Kiss! Kiss!” at my daughter and Emily’s little brother, who, since they were both 3 years old at the time, would oblige, much to the giggles of the 7-year-old girls sitting in the tree.

As she grew older, I often asked Emily to babysit so my girls could develop a relationship with an older sister who could later lead the way for them and talk to them about teenage girl stuff should the need ever arise. I wanted to surround my children with positive role models, both famous (poor Tiger) and local, so I was always looking for cool Asian American and multiracial teenagers and young adults who could lead and inspire my children (and occasionally babysit too). However, I never thought that some of these kids might become role models for me, too. (click on link for more)

Emily Hsiao: a role model for my children, an inspiration for me - AnnArbor.com

Photo courtesy of Andrew Fang at www.photasa.com.

AML: A2SO's Sing Along with Santa goes global Saturday - AnnArbor.com

Figuring that Santa must get tired of only milk and cookies during the American leg of his annual journey, our family always leaves Santa mango mochi, sometimes a few potstickers, too. Last year, then 4-year-old Little Brother wanted to leave chocolate chip cookies, too, “like everyone else” because he was worried that Santa might not know what mochi was. So I told him to ask Santa directly.

At the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra’s annual Sing Along with Santa, Santa not only knew what mochi was, he told Little Brother that he loves mochi! They had a great conversation comparing all their favorite kinds: kinako, strawberry, an.

Since Santa travels around the world on Christmas Eve, delivering toys to all good boys and girls, it follows that he speaks all the languages and is well-versed in all the cultures of the world. Of course Santa can speak Indonesian, how could he not? Of course he knows the intricacies of Cambodian dance and the story of the Ramayana. He’s Santa!

And he sings, too. (click on link for more)

A2SO's Sing Along with Santa goes global Saturday - AnnArbor.com

AML: Monkey King Films, Chinese opera face painting, and Chinese papercutting at AADL Sunday - AnnArbor.com

Growing up, I did not know very many Chinese folktales or legends. My parents were modern and educated, without a lot of patience for all that old stuff. The summer I was in fifth grade, however, I went to visit my grandparents in Niagra Falls. Sitting in the den of my grandparents’ house, my grandfather told me the story of Sun Wu Kong, The Monkey King, the valiant and mischievous and invincible monkey born out of a stone who is sent to protect the Buddhist monk Tripitaka on an epic journey to India to bring Buddhist scriptures back to China. This was the one Chinese story I knew growing up, and although I have since learned many more, it has become a story my children love as well, whether in book form, cartoon, play, movie, manga, action figures, or Chinese opera.

One Halloween, Little Brother, then 3 years old, dressed up as the Monkey King and came face to face with a 3-year-old Superman at Chinese School. The two superheroes eyed each other suspiciously. I wondered, who is the greater superhero? Superman or The Monkey King? Super speed and super strength and tights? Or 72 transformations and cloud-soaring and a tiger pelt? (click on link for more)

Monkey King Films, Chinese opera face painting, and Chinese papercutting at AADL Sunday - AnnArbor.com

Sing Along with Santa goes Global - arborweb.com

The excitement starts to build from several blocks away when we see family after family with little girls in red velvet dresses, white tights, shiny black shoes, and red ribbons in their hair. The sidewalks are slippery as everyone streams towards Bethlehem United Church of Christ on Fourth Avenue near William for the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra's annual "Sing Along with Santa," which returns on Saturday, December 12.

There is nothing in this world that I love better than singing Christmas carols with a beautiful man--even if that man is wearing a big red suit! All pretenses of secular Ann Arbor-ness fall away as we walk into the warm and glittering church, all decorated with lights and bows, the tree gorgeous and reaching towards the ceiling. The pews are packed with families and cute, cute children. (click on link for more)

Sing Along with Santa - arborweb.com

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Wanting 'one right way' - resisting multiculturalism, diversity, tolerance - AnnArbor.com

Years ago, a friend from Chicago was visiting right around dinnertime, when we decided to make noodles or pasta for dinner. I started boiling the water and rummaging around for some vegetables when he declared, “That’s not how you make pasta!”

I was surprised because my family is northern Chinese and so I have been eating and making noodles all my life. I was speechless when he pushed me aside in my own kitchen and instructed me on How To Make Noodles—by peeling and mincing the garlic just so and drizzling the noodles with olive oil. Years later, I learned that this recipe is called pasta aioli, and is certainly one way of making noodles, but in his mind, it was the only way to make noodles, and I was wrong for wanting to make them any other way. (He thought I was wrong for crushing the garlic with my grandmother’s cleaver, too.)

Soon thereafter, I was at an Italian couple’s home with a group of friends when dinnertime overtook us. Our hosts started making pasta with a simple marinara sauce to feed everybody. All the women gathered around the kitchen, ooohing and ahhhing and watching and learning until someone commented, “You’re such a good cook.” Cici with her long white hair and throaty accent was completely unimpressed, “I am not a good cook, I am just Italian.” (click on link for more)

Wanting 'one right way' - resisting multiculturalism, diversity, tolerance - AnnArbor.com

AML: 13th Annual Evening of Sacred Song to benefit Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights (WICIR) - AnnArbor.com

Last year around this time, my neighbor Laurie organized a good old-fashioned caroling party (a medieval English tradition) for all the neighbors and kids to go tromping through the snow and sing Christmas carols around the neighborhood.

I was so excited. It had been years since I had gone caroling, one of my favorite things in the world to do. In college, I used to go caroling every year all around downtown San Francisco with the UC Berkeley Glee Club - singing in hospitals, restaurants, street corners, underground BART stations, alumni functions, Ghiradelli Square. I know all the words (but weirdly, only the harmonies) to all the standard (and a few not-so-standard) Christmas songs.

One of the things I love about Christmas caroling is the opportunity to stand in the sacred for just a few moments in this secular world of ours to sing praise and glory without having to play it cool. It really does not matter if the words swelling and circling around us are “Baruch Adonai” or “He shall purify” or “Sweet little holy chile’, we didn’t know who you wuz,” it is not often that we have opportunities in polite society to express feelings of passion or adoration.

Plus I have a certain weakness for men who sing. (click on link for more)

13th Annual Evening of Sacred Song to benefit Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights (WICIR) - AnnArbor.com

AML: U of M Center for Chinese Studies Talk: "China as a Eurasian Subcontinent: Perspectives on the Past and Future" - AnnArbor.com

This summer, I discovered a fabulous seventeenth-century Persian bowl at the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) that features Persian script and Chinese floral design that captures the interconnectedness of all our cultures—through the Silk Road in those days, through the internet today. Some people think that the crossing of cultures is a new phenomenon, facilitated by airplanes and telephones. However, globalization is not new, and a lot can be learned from how we all fit together in time and place. (click on link for more)

U of M Center for Chinese Studies Talk: "China as a Eurasian Subcontinent: Perspectives on the Past and Future" - AnnArbor.com