AdoptionTalk: Linsanity & Perpetual Foreignness

AdoptionTalk: Linsanity & Perpetual Foreignness: I've written before (both as a scholar and a blogger ) about the concept of "perpetual foreignness," that class of individuals with "marks...

The Declassified Adoptee: An Open Letter to Jon Stewart from a "Rape Baby"

From one of the Adoptee Blogs that I follow.

The Declassified Adoptee: An Open Letter to Jon Stewart from a "Rape Baby": Mr. Stewart, You and your colleague, Mr. Oliver, had a great segment on your show yesterday making fun of Presidential candidate, Rick...

Clara Rose B-Day Party-- Take II

After sicknesses and a snow-storm did their

best to wreak havoc on Clara Rose's 4th Birthday, she was finally able to

celebrate the grand occasion with a super fun kid's Gym party!

Clara Rose and Josie just moments before all the

guests arrived. 

Everyone was well aware how paitient Clara Rose

has been waiting for her special party--

and everybody was ready for some serious partying!! 

The rope swing had the crowds standing in line

It was a swinging good time! 

There were lots of tunnels and the bounce house. 

Cousin Abbie was swinging upsdie down! 

Liliana driving around. 

The party girl and her guests worked up

a mighty appetite for cake! 

Whooo\hooo!!!

More Dragon cake! 

Clara Rose had one big peice of her favorite

Dragon Tales dragon, Cassie. 

She ate the 'icing' Cassie before the cake. 

Lots of presents! 

Games are always a big hit with this party girl! 

The guests were entranced. 

Clara Rose hardly knew what to think with all the presents. 

Clara Rose and company playing with the

bucket O'Penguins she received for one present. 

More antics back in the kid's gym.

Jie Jie really got a work out

rolling the guests around. 

Cousin Emily. 

Josie-- a swinging sensation. 

Cousin Nate-- lighter than air! 

Oh yea!

We did this party up with a bang!!! 

Back at home, when the fetivities were over--

Clara Rose transformed into a princess (thanks to the lovely gift from Grace J. and her Mommy) and

treated her two big Sis's  to a royal tea party. 

The Birthday princess accompanied by her new pink baby rhino and new puppy dog. 

Falling (L)in Love with the Knicks

We (and by ‘We’ I mean the Royal ‘We’ of “Mommy, Josie, and Clara Rose) are officially New York Knicks Fans. The rest of our family and friends are more the welcome to join us in our new found Lin-Love of Professional Basketball (The invitation includes you- Wim ;-).

“Jeremy Lin: Why Having Asian American Role Models & Heroes is Important”

. . .
Before Linsanity swept our nation (hereby demarcated as  B.L. or Before Lin), we were still being treated as hostile foreigners even to the point of being portrayed as money grubbing Chinese outsiders seeking to gain influence over the American government in a political attack ad by Pete Hoekstra, a Senate candidate, that aired during the Superbowl, the largest viewed television program in history.
. . .
And much like in 1954, the overwhelming opinion of the informed population has been told or suggested by the media that Asian Americans are not truly American. That we are a people set apart. Either invisible or foreign. Submissive exotic women and effeminate martial arts super-nerds.

. . .

And it’s more than just the sport he plays or his race that has given Linsanity so much momentum. If it was, than his fanbase would never have grown outside of the Asian American community.

. . .

he is the ultimate under-dog: the scrappy fighter, the little guy who never backs down from bullies. Jeremy Lin is fairy tale Linderella story:

• He was never given an athletic scholarship even while lesser players were being courted by bigger schools and handing them out.
• His Ivy League court competitors would made ching-chong noises and threw outright racist insults at him.
• He was cut from two national teams without having ever been given a real chance to play (and you can bet all those general managers are regretting their narrow mindedness).
• He was so undervalued that he only got his chance to start after two other players were injured and another left on bereavement leave.
• His NBA contract was unsigned and he has no endorsement deals.
• His future has been so uncertain that he has been sleeping on his brother’s couch!
• To Floyd Mayweather who recently flamed Jeremy Lin’s popularity on his race (Mayweather also did the same thing to Manny Pacquiao),

When no one believed in him and in fact tried to push him down time and time again, he still believed in himself. Jeremy Lin was his own Asian American role model.

All he needed was that one moment, that one perfect moment of clarity, a clean slice of time, to prove to the world what he was capable of doing.

http://www.abcsofattraction.com/blog/jeremy-lin-why-having-asian-american-role-models-heroes-is-important/

“Lin great role model for young Asian-Americans”

For many Jeremy Lin fans, he is more than a sensational basketball player. He's an important cultural figure who is helping to break down stereotypes about Asian-Americans.

. . .

There's a lot of kids out there in the Asian community that will be able to look at him playing and see themselves out there. They will start to think that this is something possible out there for them."

http://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/knicks/lin-great-role-model-for-young-asian-americans-1.3522785

Happy Chinese New Year- Part II

This past Saturday we were off again to another Chinese New Year Party!

Clara Rose and Josie were ready for another performance!

In the staging room with some of their friends. 

Josie's got the look! 

The girls were backstage waiting to go on--

no need for boring mommy to hang around this time!

So, being the stage mom that I am-- me and a couple other mom's stole

some front row seats-- we figured the reserved signs meant they were for us.

These two played very pretty music-- traditional chinese folk songs as well as some

folk american songs with a chinese vibe.

This young woman was a wonderful dancer.

The girls LUUUVVVED her outfit.   

Here they come!

Front row, Second and Third in line! 

Singing the first song-- Happy New Year-- in Chinese of course! 

You can see Josie in the back. 

After a few other songs it was time to take a bow. 

Josie wanted to climb way up the bleachers and watch

a few of the other shows. 

It didn't take long and we ventured back down close to the stage.

The girls had a fun time dancing to music. 

It was a great ending to a wonderful Chinese New Year Celebration!

Racism and Asian Americans 2012

Racism against Asian Americans is alive and well all over and it is something that our family as well as many of our friends need to be particularly mindful about.

I think most of us read and or heard about Danny Chen, a young soldier who died as the result of racial bullying by his fellow soldiers—you know, the guys who were suppose to have his back while fighting the war on terrorism.

NICE!

There are other less overt signs that racism against Asian Americans is brewing hot:

Casual to Deadly: Anti-Asian American Racism: http://www.racismreview.com/blog/2012/01/09/casual-to-deadly-anti-asian-american-racism/

How about that political ad during the Super Bowl? I somehow managed to miss it. Anyone else get to see it in full action playing for how many millions of viewers? If you missed it like I did—a re-cap is below (and note that the 'rice paddies' are actually a cranberry bog).

This is the kind of racist crap our kids are growing-up with. It is real and it is all around us. Gabrielle and Xavier bring home “comments” all the time- not just from their peers—but also from their TEACHERS AND COACHES. But hey, what is wrong with referring to our family like “another United Nations?”

Michigan Senator Pete Hoekstra's campaign commercial slams his opponent, Democratic incumbent Sen. Debbie Stabenow, as "Debbie-Spend-It-Now."

A Michigan GOP Senate hopeful is drawing criticism for running a Super Bowl ad showing a young Asian woman speaking in broken English and thanking his opponent for propping up China's economy.

The 30-second ad, created by the campaign of former Rep. Pete Hoekstra, opens with a gong sound and shows a young Asian woman riding a bike on a path through a field of rice paddies.

"Thank you Michigan Senator Debbie Spend-it-Now," the woman says, referring to Hoekstra's opponent, Democratic incumbent Sen. Debbie Stabenow.

"Debbie spend so much American money, you borrow more and more from us. Your economy get very weak, ours get very good. We take your jobs."

"Thank you Debbie Spend-it-now," the woman says with a smile, before pedaling off.

The ad then cuts to Hoekstra, who refers to himself as Pete "Spend-it-not" Hoekstra and asks viewers to visit his website, debbiespenditnow.com, which is festooned with Chinese characters, flags, paper lanterns, parade dragons and shows Stabenow's face plastered on a hand fan.

One Michigan Republican consultant called the ad "appalling."

"Stabenow has got to go. But shame on Pete Hoekstra for that appalling new advertisement," GOP Nick De Leeuw wrote on Facebook, according to The Associated Press.

"Racism and xenophobia aren't any way to get things done."

GOP consultant Mike Murphy, a former adviser to John McCain, tweeted that the ad was "really really dumb. I mean really."

The Michigan chapter of the Asian & Pacific Islander American Vote group slammed the ad as "disturbing," telling the AP it used "harmful negative stereotypes" that encourage "anti-Asian sentiment."

Hoekstra's campaign said the ad was satirical and meant as a warning shot at the American education system.

"You have a Chinese girl speaking English, I want to hit on the education system, essentially," Hoekstra spokesman Paul Ciaramitaro told Politico.

"The fact that a Chinese girl is speaking English is a testament to how they can compete with us, when an American boy of the same age speaking Mandarin is absolutely insane, or unthinkable right now."

"I think the viewer of an ad is going to recognize satire," he said.

The ad was shot in California, and Hoekstra, who was once the top Republican on the House intelligence committee, spent $75,000 to run it during the Super Bowl.

It's scheduled to run state-wide for the next two weeks.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/michigan-gop-senate-hopeful-pete-hoekstra-catches-heat-super-bowl-ad-article-1.1017834#ixzz1lhLAJlfQ