Waterfall's and Irish Take out

Today we wnet to Diana's Baths. I didn't get to go into the waterfall, or do the bridge jump (thank god) for safety reasons. Jonah and Noah were much more adventurous at the falls and so I couldn't take my hands off of them. Well I let Noah crawl across some slippery and flat rocks with water rushing over it sort by himself, but that was it. As for the Bridge jump I did last year, the water was too shallow. I don't think I would have done it anyway. But I'm glad I did it that one time.
After that we ate lunch, did another little trail and some pretend fishing next to some mountains and then got ice cream at this awesome place with it's own playground. For dinner we got Irish take out. That's right, We are a Chinese family that just got Irish take out. Now there are a lot of jokes about Irish food, but I want to say that this is by far the best Fish and Chips and Irish Stew I have ever had. Boston is supposed to be Irish, but "Irishness" three generations ago, and cutting corners on ingredients, and general cutting corners in general tends to produce crap food. In New Hampshire's "May Kelly's Cottage" the fish for fish and chips is thick fresh slices, no chunks, of fish that is fried in clean light batter. Somehow even though we aren't by the coast, the fish is fresh. After all, just because you have fresh fish in Boston, doesn't mean that you use the freshest fish in your fish and chips. You can sell that for more money raw. So your fish and chips is usually ends and not too fresh. This stuff was fresh and thick. The tartar sauce is homemade for sure. Heck the ingredients are probably local and organic or something. They seem to be into that up here. The stew tastes home made cause it is, just like the bread.
Most Chinese people, ABC's eat fish and chips and such fried food at some point at chains or various other local pubs and bars. Basically, even if you are Asian, European, Hispanic, African,  or anything other than Irish, when you live in Boston, a little bit of Irish ends up rubbing off on you whether you know (accept)  it or not. You have basically eaten some sort of fish and chips either by force because you were hungry while you were pounding back beers watching sports, or happen to be hungry while with friends who were pounding back beers watching sports. And somehow you have even come to like "plain" cooking even though you were raised on very complicated and delicate Cantonese cuisine. (or insert the famously good ethnic food you were raised on here, as opposed to Irish/English food which is stereotyped as bad) . You've eaten bleeding, rare steak even though your Taishanese ancestors would have beaten and maimed a chef who dare served them something so raw. You appreciate and like steak and potatoes, stews, burgers and fries, fish and chips.  So, if you are in North Conway New Hampshire, either to take your kids to Story Land or the many other attractions here, DEFINITELY get some food at May Kelly's Cottage. I'v never been to Ireland but I'm pretty sure people who are from the countryside there and used to fresh food will appreciate this place. And yeah, you'll never get that kind of food in Boston, and nobody in their right mind would get Chinese food out in New Hampshire, (unless there is some hidden jewel I am ignorant of) so try it. Grace found out about it through great reviews on the internet, so it must be true.

Santa's Village

This afternoon we ventured over to Jefferson and Santa's village. A lot of breathtaking mountainscape onthe way there. Noah didn't get what we were doing. And it was kind of weird for the rest of us. I mean it's hard getting into the Christmas Spirit for me, in the middle of Summer. But it was cool. Most of the rides were actually for children a little older than Noah, and the most intense one that he was allowed on, the kind with a floating log that then dropped off and incline, was intense enough from me. From the picture you can see my tensed face and Noah's laughing joyously. I guess Noah is really going to like rides. He always misbehaves and gives me a heart attack before the ride is starting because he wants to stand up or turn around or insists on buckling the straps by himself, and my forceful restraining arms just make him more pissed off. But somehow he pulls it together when the ride starts, or at least when it gets dangerous and ends up saying something like, "I like this Baba!" right when it is screaming time for everyone else.
I'm actually not much of a ride person myself. But I like the little kiddie ones just fine.
I have to say that for us, our age group, that Story Land is better than Santa's Village. Mainly because of the set up. The whole Feng shui of story land is better. You can pretty much see the whole park, the bathrooms are everywhere, and they have doors that are wide enough so there isn't a traffic jam coming in and out. Also the trains are not only rides, they can also be used as transportation devices because there is more than one stop. This was not the case at Santa's Village. But for older kids, there are more rides at Santa's village, and it seems like Santa's village tried to build attractions that were similar but slightly better than Story Land. Like their antique cars ride has a gas pedal, and real gas. And they have a monorail flying sleigh, and a water park (which we did not do this time.) It was pretty cool over all, but I think we will be doing nature-ish things tomorrow.

Kung Fu Retreat

I'm pretty sure I had this exact same idea last time I came up to New Hampshire but I'm having it again and a bit modified. It's that for a week people come up to New Hampshire, go in together on a house and in addition to the waterfalls and other sites, they get Kung Fu and Chi Gung lessons. My modification is that instead of serious single Kung Fu men, or men that leave their families behind, it would be families that come up. First of all they will want to come up anyway for Story land, Santa's village, and the Hiking and all that. These are things they can do on their own time. They will need  a place to stay and it is cheaper to rent a house together than by yourself. Plus in the morning, the kids and everyone could use a 45 minute Kung Fu class, with a mountain view. And then at night there can be a calming meditation and chi gung class. The Kung Fu and Chi Gung part would be for free. The price paid would be for the housing and they would have to take care of their own food (or eat together, whatever) and they will have to pay for StoryLand and all that themselves. I wouldn't really make money on this idea. But we would save money by sharing the cost of the house, which has been the most expensive part of our little vacation. I mean even if nobody comes, we are already doing this, and I am already doing Kung Fu here myself, Might as well have some other parents and kids that are interested in Kung Fu come too.

New Hampshire

I'm up in the mountains in New Hampshire. We are not here to rough it or anything. Our main purpose is Story Land, which we did. (we will go back again of course) We also went to Clarke's Trading Post which has a bear show and a Chinese acrobats show. I was wondering what these Chinese acrobats do after the show. Do they like get to stay in the states after the season is over? Do they go back? Since there only skill are acrobats and usually they are slightly past their prime wouldn't it make sense to try and stay in the states? Not only a better economy, but less competition in terms of their niche. Or heck, pushing dim sum carts would still earn more money then a show in China.
As we came into New Hampshire, we saw quite a few martial arts places. Big shack looking things on the side of the highway. And I thought, if I had a choice to go to the mountain and do Kung Fu, or a water fall, or even at some look out point on the side of the road with some majestic mountain scenery, and a cramped indoor gym.... I gotta say of course I would pick the Kung Fu movie scenery option. Of course you have to know Kung Fu to go do Kung Fu. And I guess the same theory would apply to living in the City of Boston since there are still parks and what not. But they are crowded.
I wonder what it costs to join a Martial Arts school out here. It must be pretty cheap. Because story lands season passes are like $75. And even as an adult, if I had to choose between spending the day or month at Story land, or at a Martial Arts studio, I would pick Story land. In fact I would rather do Kung Fu at Story Land. But then again, I guess you have to already know Kung Fu.
And the same theory would apply to Boston too. I mean Franklin Park Zoo passes or Children's Museum Passes are fairly inexpensive. And playgrounds are free, and often have work out equipment. I guess in the Winter it's more difficult, but gloves and a coat are still cheaper than a gym membership over time. So mainly, I assume the only logical reason to join a school would be to learn the art itself, and so the appearance and equipment at the school itself, or indeed if there is an exact location to the school itself shouldn't really matter. Since nice scenery and fun things to play with will always be cheaper or even free than a school/gym.  I always though, and heard from people that left Woo Ching White Crane that they didn't care for the way the school looked or the lack of punching bags and weights. (Things which you wouldn't use much in traditional training. And again, you could always buy or even make that equipment fairly easily Go hit a tree or a tire. Then again you need to know the proper way I guess.) But then the people who stayed (like me) usually liked the way the school looked and indeed looks.
If I had my dream school, or place of practice, I wouldn't pour money into mats and equipment. But I would pour money into Gardening and statues and that sort of thing. Mr. Miyagi's dojo/house was pretty nice. So are those court yards where the rich Manchurian villain of a KF movie practice. But then the heroes always seem to be, well fugitive homeless guys and gals working out in the woods with beautiful natural scenery. Or in some nasty shack. And even Shaolin Temple and Wudang guys end up working in the less beautiful part of the Temple. Or if it is beautiful, it is the view. Because underneath them is just flat or muddy ground. And their equipment is stuff hung on trees. But when you think about it, branches hang from trees and have varying thickness and even have leaves to act as target papers, so in truth, even the act of hanging something on a tree is time wasted that could be spent practicing, or working on your other arts, hobbies, or livelihood.

Rainy Day

Me and Jonah went to the Central Branch Library after dropping Noah off. Jonah fell asleep on the way there. A book of Irish myths caught my eye and even after Jonah woke up. I couldn't stop reading it. I had only heard of one of the characters before. There were leprechauns in one story and in another there was the people going through a rainbow to Tira na Nog, which is a a land of immortals. I had been reading the kids a children's version of the Monkey King... usually on the train. The thing is, they like the story but the book just doesn't have enough pictures. They need to have at least one picture every page so that your kid has something to look at while you're reading. This Irish myth book had a ton of pictures. I ended up borrowing it. We'll see if Noah likes it. The Rainbow curtain reminded me of the Norse myths where the rainbow is a bridge. There is of course a lot of borrowing of stories between these two cultures. The Vikings were always raiding Ireland, but they way I learned it in a class in college, Dublin was actually built by the Norse who set up camp there, because the Celts didn't build. Also the Leprechauns were supposedly based on a native people that were displaced by the Celts.
There was another people in the myth books that were displaced instead that went underground and became fairies. Thuatha De Danann. I guess even though the adult Monkey King  book I have (because no child would pay attention for that sort of antiquated text) has a lot of Chinese Mythology in the intro, Pangu and all that, I really need to find a version with nice pictures. We'll see how Noah likes this book. We're going up to New Hampshire and the weather is all rainy and cloudy. And when the weather is like that, especially when I'm going somewhere extremely white and in the middle of nowhere, I usually feel Irishy so I figure Irish myths will be more appropriate for Story time.

Snacks from strangers

After playgroup Jonah and I headed over to Wonder Spice Cafe. We ate chicken and asparagus. Even though this dish probably caters more towards Americans, well that's what we are when it come to Thai/Cambodian food. Plus the meat and vegetables were fresh and the chicken was easy for Jonah to eat. We went over to the tot lot and ate and then played for a bit. I don't know if it was because I was so hungry or if it was because I was eating it at the playground, but the food tasted really good. I think Wonder Spice is health conscious because they give you a brown rice option and it seems like there isn't any MSG. Plus again, the ingredients seem pretty fresh. Pretty much that's all I care about nowadays, unless I'm having some sort of craving. And I only have cravings for Fau yuk, and Wanton, and maybe pei dan sau yuk jook, and maybe fu yu dao jai ngau yuk fan. And I also secretly have a fu gwa ngau yuk craving once in a while which I can not fulfill, because nobody else in my family likes fu gwa (bitter melon)
Anyway we played and romped and right when Jonah was getting tired, we were on the see-saw and he saw a mother with apple jacks and started pointing at it. "I want it." He said.
"Oh those are hers.," I said, "but we have cereal at home."
"These are my snacks," said the mother, "And you should never take food from somebody you don't know."
But already Jonah's soul was crushed and he started crying. Mainly because he was tired. The mother said if it was okay with me he could have a couple, but I was pretty sure it was more the tired factor. He did take a couple of apple jacks, but kept crying anyway and we headed home. Of course, pretty soon he fell asleep in the stroller.
The eating from strangers thing is a pretty real concern. Of course I am always with my kids so I don't have too much of a fear that he is going to be drugged and taken away and sold into slavery. I saw a thing on PBS and that's how it happens in India anyway. And the girl recounting the story said the woman who drugged her was actually a family friend.
Here it seems like the Jaycee Dugards and others who are captured and trafficked tend to be kidnapped without candy, or at least that's how the media and other movies show it to be. I guess I never really thought about such a thing in terms of snacks at the playground. I have thought of allergies of course. Or just the fact that I don't want my kid to eat too much sugar. But I feel like the other mother was thinking of the kidnapping risk by the way she phrased it. I'll tell you, once when I was like 9 or maybe 11 or so, This guy rode up to me on a bike and then asked if I want to go somewhere and look at hot naked girls on his computer. I said no, and I thought he was weird and later told my mom about it. Even when she suggested that perhaps he was trying to do something to me, I thought, "How was he going to do that." Because in my mind, even though I was smaller than him, I don't know I just thought I was invincible or at least bad ass I guess. But I guess when you are a woman, and a pretty one at that,you tend to think about the possibility of this happening to you (and others) more. Especially after what just happened to three young women in South Boston recently. Anyway, Jonah stayed asleep after I moved him inside. (Yay!)

Playground Politics

The Playground and how kids interact with each other on it, is a lot like real life. It is real life. Big kids take from little kids etc. And then there are parents, who are more like pagan gods than government. Parents come in and try to enlighten children that there are other toys to play with or that everyone can be happy if you share. That's like education. Showing kids a better way to do things. It's not like government because the parents don't really set up rules for the whole playground or anything like that. They can discipline their own child and protect their child, but that's it.
Sometimes kids go to other adults and ask for help. That's like praying I guess. I found it odd that this child, who I saw push his little car up the ramp already, kept asking me to help him do it. I tried to get him to do it himself, just like I would have done with my own son.

Later another child tried to get me to help him to take away a tricycle form a bigger girl. "I had it first!" he said. But of course I had seen that he hadn't. If he and another kid had got together and written an official document to say that yes indeed he had had it first. That would be sort of like law. After all, who is to say who had what first. In the beginning wasn't all land already here? We all shared it until someone realized with help of others they could make pieces of paper that legitimized why they would hoard something for themselves.

Later a couple of four year olds came in. They ran over to the little car and roller coaster thing. There are two cars, to little roller coasters. Jonah was sitting on top of one car on top of the roller coaster. The long haired blond four year old came over to Jonah and put one leg up like Captain Morgan on the roller coaster and said, "You!" and then proceeded to go through the motions of telling Jonah to get off as if he were a conquerer and this roller coaster was now his. Except he literally went through the motions because being four, he knew the posture and finger pointing gestures, but he didn't know all the words to use so he used some words and then mumbled when he didn't know what words to use.  Then he saw me from the corner of his eye and  noticed this two year old might be with someone, or at least that an adult was watching. "I'll just use the other one." he said rather loudly so I could here.Then he ran over and took the other car instead and his friend came over to Jonah.
"Get him off." said the blond child.
The brown haired child raised his arm and prepared to push my two year old off the car, on top of the roller coaster, onto the concrete.
"Uhh... waht are you doing?" I said. I had been standing a distance away. The brown haired child noticed me and then got some other toy. Then Jonah went down the roller coaster.
Now, usually when a child has a fit and wants a roller coaster car, I set up a taking turn system, even if it means my child cries because of it. But after Jonah went down, I didn't tell him he needed to give the brown haired or blond haired boy a turn, because they were older and this roller coaster thing is really for younger kids. Plus they could just take turns with the other car. They were friends. Let them work it out.
The brown haired boy went over to Jonah to take his car away.
"Get him off." said the blond haired boy and then more quietly, "Kill him. Kill Him."
Now I don't know what sort of cartoons this child is watching or what. I looked for these kids parent or adult associated with them and saw no one. Now I've wanted to hurt people and do violence to them. But usually it's something they did or said to me. Something of that nature. I never thought, "That person has something I want. Kill them and take it."
I wonder what percentage of the population does think like this. This kid had a quick temper too. Later some grandmother was setting up a turn taking system with her grandaughter and the blond haired child and when Thor wasn't quick enough he said, "Awe man" and clapped his hands together, only it was so sudden with such intense anger that it was surprising. But then he shaped up immediately to get back in line because Grandmother goddess was right there. This child was quite good looking. I could imagine girls falling for him and chasing him around later in life. And then wondering why does he treat me like this or that? Why does he do xyz. And if I were there I would reply, "Because when he was four he wanted to kill two year olds so that he could take possession of his plastic roller coaster car temporarily."

Anyway, it was around lunch time anyway so I tried to get Jonah to just leave with me without a big to do. On the way out I saw a woman at the other end of the playground. She could have been the blonde haired child's mother. Though she was brunette her face was similarly pretty. Though she was very young. Younger than me. Should I tell her about her son? I didn't want to make a fuss since nothing actually happened. Me and Jonah headed home. When I got home though I thought? What if this kid does do something later on. Shouldn't his mother know he has these tendencies if she doesn't already?
Then again maybe all kids have these tendencies and why sound like a crazy parent. Maybe this is just human nature. But then I usually don't see stuff on the playground that disgusts me like that. Maybe only two or three times in my kids life.

Whether the weather be wet

I cancelled class today because of weather. It was the first time I did that. But then around 10:00 or so it wasn't raining anymore. But I had already sent out the e-mail and I didn't want to confuse people. So I packed two noodle sticks and went to the park myself. But then Jonah fell asleep so I brought a real stick for myself. And guess what? There were the mothers and their kids!
"You have a very loyal group of two." One mother said. That's all you really need anyway.
Ten kids is a little much. They had gotten my e-mail, but since they live in the neighborhood they texted me and came down anyway. I hadn't even checked my phone.
So we had a class, pretty much just as usual. And now it's pouring out. I guess one of the other benefits of having a class that is only 15 minutes long is that it is that much more likely that the entire class will happen before the rain starts again.

High tech low life

If you haven't watched this on PBS yet, watch it. I don't care who you are, it's for you.
It's about these two bloggers in China, but the thing about looking at China, it's like a foil for the U.S. It's of course very different. But in a lot of ways it's very similar. If you've ever been to Hong Kong I will tell you that once you cross into China, it's not just the fact that they drive on the right side of the road that is simlar to America. America is a big country, China is a big country. There are people in the U.S. that are constantly criticizing the government. Same in China. The way that is dealt with is of course very different. But China's not as bad as we always think in the U.S. And as the recent Snowden incident shows, the U.S. is not always as great as a lot of people think either. I would also say though that looking at China always makes you feel better. Because a lot of people are always complaining about this and this about the U.S. government. And ultimately, it's usually better here than in China. Okay, if you are white and Christian. But then You have to think about what it's like to be Tibetan or a Uigur in China.

Now I'm going to talk about money and Freedom.
I try not to talk about what's fair and the rights of the people, because ultimately all that really is bullshit. Well Not bullshit, but it's just not something you can talk about realistically with a government. So let's talk about money.
I just can't imagine how much money China spends every year, censoring the internet. For what? What does it do? Stuff still gets through. Even before there was internet there was still word of mouth. And during the horrors of the Cultural Revolution.. didn't the country and therefore the government also suffer basically from itself? Alright but I don't know that much about China. I know much more about the U.S. because at least I live here.
And small stuff like how the police arrest certain people or when the FBI raids a mosque  to find out what's going on inside... Instead of thinking of things in terms of rights and freedom, I think things would actually improve if everyone just thought of money.
For instance, when that Cambridge cop arrested Henry Louis Gates. Who paid for that? How much did that cost? And when you think of it that  way, was arresting an old professor to as some sort of show of chest puffing or cock comparing really worth the money it costed the tax payer and the government, to arrest, book and detain him, when all the cops had to do was say sorry, swallow some pride and go get some donut sand coffee instead.
 Or  when the FBI raids a mosque to find out what's inside (I use this example because earlier I was watching another special, America Reframed, about being Muslim American) did it not occur to them that they could probably just send someone in and look? Doesn't the FBI have Muslim agents? I hope so. And let assume that they don't, which would be ridiculous, someone knows enough about Islam to pretend right? Isn't that a lot cheaper than a raid?
My mom traveled the globe. Hitchiked, if you will, down through Africa, back out, through the Middle East, into Asia, when doing so was not safe or cool. She even went into Laos while the Vietnam war was still going on.
While she was in the middle east, she dressed like a middle easterner, and was dark, because of the sun, nearby copper mines, etc. You get the point. She recalled one day seeing a helicopter (very rare) and a white male in sunglasses and suit and tie with prep school like blazer on lapel down from it. CIA thank you for announcing your arrival. What kind of dumbness is that? How much did that cost. Aren't you supposed to be a little more inconspicuous.

I remember thinking that things must have changed and that was another era. But when I was in high school and 9/11 happened we watched an old Frontline piece on Bin Laden. Anyway, there was a picture of a CIA guy, in Afghanistan (before the U.S. went in this last time) with the mountains in the back, and he's wearing shirt and tie and pretty much looks like he's ready for a sit down dinner at prep school.

These are just some examples of American Government idiocy. For Chinese Government idiocy ad well as Chinese Citizenship ballsiness watch High tech low life on PBS.org and see these guys Zola (young) and Tiger Temple (middle aged) go around on their bikes and their cameras recording things and writing their thoughts. They really are heroes. The modern wuxia warriors, except there Kung Fu superpowers have nothing to do with swords and flying and have everything to do with their words flying over the internet all around the world. Their pens are incredibly mighty and man do they have balls to pull that shit in China, Seriously.

Old man work out

You know you are old when you do sit ups on an incline at the playground, like 20, not 120... just 20 and it feels difficult, and then after you run to the merry go round with your son, you feel your abs cramp up to the degree, that despite how ridiculous you look doing this, you have to get down on the ground into cobra pose to stretch out those abs, while explaining this to onlookers. Did I mention I was wearing a straw hat that kind of looks like a cowboy hat? Did I mention this playground is near the Bromley Heath Projects? No wonder a lot of people think White people are crazy.
Actually the funny thing is I was doing my ridiculously low amount of pull ups, and this younger teen/20's guy with no shirt on and fairly well built, but still skinny like, comes up and says, " Don't worry I can only do one of those." And then he did one and he was serious. I thought I was the only man that isn't overweight that has a terrible time doing pull ups. Actually I say not overweight because I am not exactly fat. Well maybe I am now but most of my weight in is my legs. Anyway, when I told Grace's dad my weight he exclaimed, "You are overweight!" The thing is I know even if I trimmed most of my fat I would lose probably only 5 pounds. If I lost 10 pounds (of fat) I would start to look emaciated. That's why I say I'm not fat.
Today I avoided the pull, sit up type things and actually did some internal in Tai Tung Playground. Just one Mein Lay jum form. Then Jonah and I went to the Dinosaur park where I did one Fu Hok Song Ying, which is an external form, but I've been doing this thing where I do all my forms more internally, Or even if I do it externally I do it really really slow, like I'm doing yoga. Like so slow that even if I accidentally hit Jonah, it would not hurt or even move him. We stopped by the school and I did a stick form like this too. It meant that even if he decided to run head first into my crotch (I've seen other boys do this to their father's, Not sure what it's about. I think it's simultaneously about running in between our legs for comfort, and head butting us in the balls for laughs because  our reaction amuses them) Well anyway, I was moving the wooden stick slow enough that it didn't hit him. What is the purpose of practicing without using explosive power? Well Not only does it strengthen in other ways, but it keeps my body loose in regards to these Kung Fu movements, so that if I do have to perform this form sometime, it won't be like I haven't even done those moves in months or years. And yes, we did a little Itsy bitsy spider and Kung Fu bus as well.

Jackson Square Playground

(Unfortunately I had to send this e-mail to DCR Boston, who is in charge of this playground.)

This playground is awesome. But there are a few hazards, a few which you know about because you put caution tape on it.

However, there is a hole due to a rope in the net that came loose in the net above the orange slide. It is located on the bottom right part of the grid if you were to lay down on the net with your head pointed towards the slide below. If a child slipped through due to kids pushing or rushing over the net they could easily fall through and injure themselves seriously.

Also the rock climbing wall has many loosened finger holds.

This park is great and does a lot to change the neighborhood. It also encourages people to work out. The equipment is brand new so I can only guess that these hazards are due to sabotage, which is unfortunate.

But still it needs to be repaired or at least marked so people know to be more careful or not to just send their kids to the top.

Thanks

-A Jamaica Plain Parent

Black and White part two: Am I Trayvon Martin or am I George Zimmerman?

In my twenties I participated in Chinatown Crime Watch.  Chinatown stayed open later than the rest of Boston, and had been a place where non-Chinese would come to commit crime. There were street drug transactions, street prostitution, hand bag snatching and other petty crimes against elderly Chinese residents. Rapes and beatings were part of the norm in the summer. Occasionally, elderly would die from a beating. I have spoken to restaurant workers who had to make a living under these conditions and heard their stories.

Crime Watch grew from a few business owners who got hit hard carrying upwards of $10,000 cash on them. It always came down to money. The idea behind Crime Watch was initially pitched as a way, “to protect the economy of Chinatown. We make it safe for tourists to come in go to restaurants spend money, etc.  When businesses profit, the community benefits."

As a resident, I cared more about my neighbors than the businesses and patrolled dark alleys to discourage a rape, assault or snatch and grab. Most of the other members were middle aged or even elderly. I was a version of George Zimmerman but none of us carried guns and we could not stop serious criminals making drug transactions.  Did I profile people? Yes.

Have I been subject to the same suspicions? Yes again. I was fifteen and stopped outside the steps to my apartment by a man flashing a badge and claiming to be neighborhood watch. He was still in his car and some distance from me. I thought, “If I attack this stranger from this distance, and if an unseen gun is drawn, I’m dead. If I run to the steps, and the unseen gun is already drawn, I am also dead.” So I just went with his “neighborhood watch” story, even though the projects we lived in had paid security guards. After explaining we were standing in front of where I live, we parted ways.

Why is it we’ve become threatened in our own communities by our own? Is there not a way to bring the community together and keep it safe that is inclusive of our young men instead of isolating them as something to be feared?  Armed patrolling driven by fear will not solve our problems.  My Crime Watches became ones I did without the vest, and more about building bridges between young people and community members.  I really do believe there is a way to bring the idea of neighborhood watch and all that pent up energy of youth into community growth and safety. Young people, with the guidance of adults, could be a major part of the solution. But that solution will never happen if they are seen by those same adults as part of the problem.

Black and White

I agree with everything Obama said in his speech today, well everything I saw in the clip anyway.
BUT,
yes a big but,
I know that a lot of white people (that includes me because when I walk down the street I am pretty much white I think) will say, "Hey all those things he listed happens to me too." and then a lot of white people will use that as a reason to say Obama and black people are full of it, or this isn't fair or that is messed up or etc etc.

I can't really talk about other white people's experience, but I just want to say that before I started pushing around a stroller women will lock their car doors when they see me, sometimes old ladies clutch their purses or say weird shit that I later realized was there attempt at a threat, when I was making polite conversation. I have even been profiled by police when wearing a hoodie in college. In high school (preppy boarding school), I returned to my neighborhood (projects) wearing, well I wasn't wearing "street" looking clothes. People would say I looked Russian or foreign. Well A neighborhood watch guy (but we had no neighborhood watch) stopped me. He was in his car. He flashed some sort of badge and demanded to know where I lived. He didn't get out of the car like Zimmerman.
In my neighborhood, even though I didn't ever carry a gun, you always have to assume that everyone else is. And from the distance, and the fact that he didn't get out of the car, if he had a gun, well I was screwed if he decided to shoot so I just told him the truth, that he had stopped me right in front of my house. It turned out he actually was some sort of neighborhood watch and not, I don't know, someone trying to get me for some other reason.

I even got stopped by police a week after Henry Louis Gates Jr. was arrested. Someone had called thinking that I had kidnapped my own son or something like that. Some cops were good about it but one second responder in particular was a jerk. Let's just say I learned from Gates's experience. And I also learned from that particular experience what a lot of black men already know. How to talk to police. I.e. it is not enough to be polite and cooperative. You must also congratulate them on a job well done and thank them for their service.

Anyway, so yes this stuff happens to me too.... but I'm also pretty sure things might have been worse for me on some occasions had I been black. And sometimes it just doesn't matter how nicely you speak.

But here's the main point. White people in with regards to the Zimmerman trial (btw Zimmerman is  as white as I am. We are both "white enough" fi you know what I mean) and also after Henry Louis Gates's arrest turned on blacks. Well actually a lot of blacks turned on Gates, because they immediately thought, "that stuff happens to me too so what are you people or you complaining about."

Instead of thinking, "That stuff happens to me too, and it needs to stop, We should work together to make it stop."

There is the historical oppression of blacks in this country that adds to the stress of what's happening now. But let me go back to some historical cooperation I read somewhere that at the beginning of this country, they had white slaves too and that poor blacks and whites would regularly drink with each other and socialize as if they were the same people. This was seen a DANGEROUS. A threat to those in power. So white were given land and rights. Something to lose, and slowly blacks became a race and that race became the slave race. Easily identifiable. A white slave (indentured servant) can escape and blend in. But as long as everyone agrees that all slaves are black and most blacks are slaves then it makes it difficult for slaves to escape, rebel revolt.  My point is, if you are a white guy thinking, "this is bullshit all that shit happens to me too. This all Obama's fault." Why not work towards bettering society for yourself and for other people like you who have those things happen to you. Who is your real enemy? And if you say black people, just remember that long ago, that's what the old imperialists wanted you to think. So why isn't it  the same now?

Now okay, maybe there isn't a man behind the curtain trying to keep us all down (and maybe there is.) but whatever happened, Trayvon Martin is probably not your problem. Henry Louis Gates is certainly not you problem. People going around with guns trying to "save" you may or may not be your problem depending on your appearance, not just skin color. But everyone shooting each other instead of working together... that is a problem. So focus on that instead of immediately trying to put down your fellow man for whatever reason. Sympathize and work together and focus on common ground instead of arguing and fighting each other.

And even if you don't like Obama for whatever reason, is anything he said in his speech incorrect? Isn't his speech trying to bring us together? Isn't that a good thing? Just saying.

Noodle sticks at Stony Brook.

Yesterday Grace picked up Noah and I was supposed to meet them at Stony Brook, which also has a playground. I brought four pool noodles to use as sticks. But Jonah couldn't really get it, and then Grace didn't want to run through the sticks form, and help Noah. I had been waiting for a while before they got there and as Jonah ran around the playground two older kids were stick fighting with water squirters.
"Don't do it that hard you're going to break the sticks!" one yelled. Because their sticks were made out of plastic. Weak enough to break but hard enough to hurt if they happened to hit each other, or Jonah for that matter. Their mom (or woman in charge of them) eventually yelled at them to stop.
Well when my kids took no interest to my foam sticks I asked one kid (in front of his mother or woman in charge of hime) if he wanted to learn a stick fighting game. Earlier I didn't know if his parents were there and I figured it would be creepy to ask kids to play if their parents weren't around. Plus Jonah might have ran off. Now we only had a few minutes before we would all head home but that was enough time to run through the stick game and maybe my kids would come over and at least watch if they saw older children doing it.
He picked up the game pretty quickly. Of course their were hesitations and distracted moments. He hesitated to jump over the stick. "You think too much!" his mother scolded.
He sweeped high to on my leg hitting them, "You're supposed to sweep lower!" his mother yelled at him again. This told me though that she was watching and approved of him playing the stick game with a strange adult. It also meant, I didn't have to say any of these things. Had they been real sticks, it would have been a bad idea to play in the playground, but also, if we got hit, even grazed, the mood of play would turn sour. But with foam noodles, it didn't.
Anyway, after we finished, he wanted to keep going. But our family had to leave. It was great to have someone who WANTED to do a kung fu drill over and over and over. That's never happened before. But of course I never tried to teach spontaneously for fun as a game with no other motive or purpose. The stress of a performance, or say supervisors looking for a beneficial "curriculum" can sour the mood just as much as a wooden stick to the leg or face I guess.

Meinlei jum in the morning

This morning, the kids woke up earlier than they have been, and when I said, "Okay children!" and started doing mein lei jum (similar to tai chi), They actually started following along with me. I couldn't believe it! Granted I didn't even try doing the whole form. And after a short period of time they stopped following along but I got up to about 25% of the way through, the amount you would teach a beginner (adult) to start with, and then stopped. They didn't scream for me to do anything else. This is progress. I can do this every morning. Now granted it's not really much of a work out for me, but it is something. It is something that we can conceivably do every day and build on from there. Some I'm pretty psyched about it

Jumping over sticks

Jumping seems like an easy enough thing to do. Little kids do it all the time. Of course some kids jump better than ever. But if you haven't been doing a sport, or working out in a way that makes you jump, then jumping is not that easy at all. I found this out when I try to teach a children's stick form to mothers and teachers who haven't been jumping. For instance, today at little pandas, I started teaching the teachers the stick form and then they can teach the kids. The form is sort of like chinese patty cake. Plus we do it with pool noodles made out of foam so nobody is getting hurt. So even if I hit their legs everyone is still okay. I already knew that the jumping would be a little difficult form them. These women aren't exactly out of shape for their jobs per se. But their workouts consist of walking a lot, lifting children, and if they do any sort of other exercise, I bet they don't jump. So when they jumped over the little foam noodle they would shriek and there was a sense of a freeing feeling. I'm sure when they were little girls they ran and jumped and maybe even climbed trees all the time. But have they done any of that recently? Even my jump was somewhat clumsy from my point of view. It wasn't as smooth as it could be, but my legs are still strong. Jumping over sticks that are flying at your legs while doing other simple kung fu moves and yelling "ha! Ha! Ha!" had an effect on them. They felt like, "Oh My god I just did that. I'm like straight out of a Wuxia series on TVB" or at least that's what I got from their laughing and "wah!" ing at each other. And from the look on the children's faces, they were like, "Wow my teacher is like a Kung Fu hero!" Now I'm not talking about me. That's sort of expected because I'm the kung fu teacher. But they didn't know that their other teachers, the women that give them snack and all that, could be Kung Fu superstars too. And neither did the teachers. All from a simple stick form that actually was called a "girl's" stick form or a "children's" stick form in the village. Designed if a young girl has to fight, by doing these simple moves she could drop a man easily, especially if he doesn't have a stick. But still you have to be smooth and fast but it's quick to learn. But it's still a good thing I teach it with noodles. Teaching it with sticks can result in some pain and injury and hurt feelings. But with the noodles, it's all fun! Plus you can practice right next to children.

Outside the Box on Boston common

This art festival is great. Yesterday I took Jonah down there before 12pm before everything starts. At first I was confused that I didn't see anything but we still went to that tadpole playground which has little sprinklers. Then the big frog pond opened up and we did that for a while. We dried off and I got lunch at the Earl of Sandwich. A bunch of cops and bomb squad people were there too so I knew there was some kind of event.. more than what I had seen. The stages opened and the performs started blasting music, and I walked past the not normal car on a pole towards the beacon hill area. There was this huge section called Knucklesbones which was all types of kids toys, platform mazes, stilts, tightrope, and bladder ball but all for little kids to the didn't get hirt. There was also bean bags and this other game similar to bean bags except you throw these two golf balls attached with a string. I stuck to the rubber balls because when the balls are hard it is basically a weapon. In fact it looks a lot like a weapon you would see in a ninja or batman movie to through at somone's feet and trip them. I was thinking that they are much smaller than ninchucks put could be used similarly. I might have to make a pair for myself. I mean I could carry them in my pocket and used them as both a toy and possibly a weapon if necessary. Heck Noah and Jonah could just play with it in the stroller and then I could just grab it from them if I needed it. It looks like to make one as pretty as the one's they had I would need a drill though. And that seems like to much work. Or I should say, too dangerous work.

Anyway, Jonah painted a "hippy bag" and then we headed back to Chinatown. He fell asleep. it was 2pm and the festival ends everyday this week at 4pm. I pulled Noah out of school early. He was pretending to nap anyway, and we went back to the festival and did all the things that I knew he would like doing which Jonah could not do because he is too little. Then we watched a puppet show. Oh yeah, earlier there was this Japanese puppet show. I recognized a lot of the songs, but we had to leave because Jonah was scared of the old man monster that was the main character. We also watched a clown show called Jest in Time.
There was Indian dancing which I watched from afar and then a bit of modern dance just as I was leaving to pick up Noah. I don't really know what it was about, but if I had to guess, the young women dancing and then a crowd of young women crawling out wearing a translucent red cloth... I think it had something to do with "becoming a woman." It was kind of freaky and strange to me though. But Jonah wasn't scared of it. He wasn't really into it either and it wasn't to my taste. But everyone else seemed to be mesmerized.
At the end of the day we watched a "Strange Fruit" performance. The reference to the song is kind of gruesome but the performance was not. People were dressed in early 19th century type clothing (I think) only with circus colors and make up. The were on top of huge poles that bent and they did dancy acrobatic moves to music. It was cool.There was rock music, country music, various traditional music. I enjoyed it. I'll try to go back on Saturday. Yesterday wore us all out.

Dreams of Joy by Lisa See

This is the sequel to Shanghai Girls and it is about the Great Leap forward. I had read and heard a little about this time and was not just horrified but also fascinated by it because it's difficult to imagine that such things could happen. And yet they did. Actually when I first started reading the Hunger Games it took me a while to get into it because I immediately made a comparison to the Cultural Revolution in China and decided that indeed, the world of the Hunger Games didn't seem all that bad in comparison.
Most of what I had read about the Great Leap Forward was either from a History book or from Jung Chang's "Wild Swan's" While these books mention things about peasants, there not really from the perspective of a peasant. I thought it was pretty ingenious of Lisa See to create Joy, an American Born Chinese, who goes back to China for various reasons but is also a believer in Communism from what she learned in College.
It helps the American reader see things through the eyes of the peasant. But how can the American born reader ever really identify with that. It is too much of a jump. There are too many cultural differences that need to be explained. Joy is that Bridge because while she comes to live there, she is one of us (an American) and through her eyes we can understand what is going on. Even though the book is fiction, the events are real and there is something more real about it when it is told in the form of a novel instead of just mentioned in a statistic. 45 million strangers dying is not the same as really trying to figure out how and why through story telling. Horror stories about children being eaten is not the same as getting to know those children and the parents in a fictional story and then having that situation come about. Shanghai girls really has to be read before this book though. And I really think that anyone that is Chinese American or remotely interested in Chinese Americans or Chinese culture really should read both of these books. I hope there is a third to this series. It would be nice to see what the characters do when China becomes more economically powerful. When China and America come closer together but still have a strained relationship.Things like that. I mean just look at the news with Snowden fleeing to Hong Kong. And before that the 2008 olympics. So much has changed since the Cultural Revolution with the U.S. owing most of the National Debt to China. Such a thing would have seemed impossible back then. And yet it is true. Maybe the novel would not be as politically exciting. But I would love to read what Lisa See could do with these characters in well, the present situation.

Zoo Time

I was bored today. The tot lot and all the other playgrounds just seemed too.. normal. And for some reason I had forgitten that we have a Zoo membership. Grace suggested we go to the Zoo after lunch. We did. We only saw a few animals and went to the playground. It was a pretty good workout to follow NOah throughout the play structures. There so many people there that we decided not to let Jonah in. He was tired and spacing out anyway. We thought he would nap but he didn't until we left and hes was in his car seat.
It's not that hard to go through those small tunnels meant for children. It's not as much effort as say a bunch of pushups. But it's not easy either. Plus you get to basically play with your kid instead of just watching him. Also most of the stuff was pretty scary to do alone. I mean I was constantly  seeing older kids that were too afraid to get down or go down the slide and needed help. I don't know where their parents were. The probably just figured they could let the kids explore on their own. But I guess I am overcautious. And besides my child is younger. He could really get hurt if he fell from some of this stuff. Anyway,
I didn;t get a chance to do Kung Fu today but  I think I got a light little Playground work out in.

Generational arts

Right after dropping off Noah, late, me and Jonah went over to our little playground by Little Panda and Tufts where I do pull ups and some KF. Then the Dragons class came. From across the street they were shouting, "Mr. Adam! Mr. Adam!" all the way unti they got to the playground. Jonah played with them but eventually I saw it was a little much because the size difference made it dangerous for Jonah.
I was watching all the Dragon kids do the monkey bars. I was so bad at monkey bars when I was a kid. In fact I didn't really do monkey bars until I was much older. I don't recall having a playground that had them around until CSTO built one in the center of the projects. I was so excited when I was able to get across.
These kids go across, here there, hold on for a while.
Anyway it's important. Other things that are important came into my head too. Like Dulcimer, calligraphy, and I suddenly wanted my kids not only to do these things but to do them with me. I feel like they can do better than me because I know a little bit more about these things than my mom did. Except Chinese Painting. My mom was actually really could at that. But we never painted together on the same page. Probably because she wanted to do a real painting and I wanted to do my own type of painting. By the time I got old enough perhaps to paint together, I probably was no longer interested, I would want to paint on my own.
Last night, I went to a scarp book making class where we put together pictures etc. For the last bit of class the kids came up. Noah and Jonah totally took over what we were doing. In terms of what pictures go where etc. So I can see why my mom didn't paint with me. But actually the class talked about how it's important to let the children participate even if it doesn't look "nice".
My mom did a good job raising me. But of course she was a single mother or widowed mother, whatever the term is, so she didn't have as much time. Plus she was older, so she didn't have the energy to go to the playground all the time. And even if she did, they were few and far between back then.
She had me do all these Chinese activities to put me in connection to that side of me. To China even.
But now my kids can be the next generation to do all these same activities, from pretty much the same organizations in Boston. The activities would be more of a connection to Boston and Chinese Culture. It's not just reaching out searching for identity, but repeating what I already did as a kid, and doing it better because of that.
They will do the same Kung Fu, Calligraphy, Music, and of course do whatever new stuff they want to do too. But I have hopes that they will be better because  I will be able to support them a little bit longer to get them to the next level. I mean. When they learn Chinese, I at least know a little Chinese. So I can do storytime chinese homework with them. Instead of them going into the classroom deaf to the language and hoping to come out somehow educated. I can hold a brush, I can do Kung Fu, so they will be able to as well, as if it were something natural instead of groping for a connection to a far away culture and a far away time.
ANyway time to get the dulcimer back out and see if Jonah will play with it.

Kung Fu habits

Noah has taken to waking up to pee at 3am and then going back to sleep. Which means of course I take him to the bathroom and then lie awake for a long time. Sometimes I get up and do some meditation and then some Kung Fu. I don't go out to the park. I usually start inside and then move to the deck. There isn't a whole lot more space but I think being outside makes a difference, if only mentally and spiritually. Why don't I go to the park? Well there is always the chance my kids will wake up and wonder where I am. Plus I'm just worried that people will suspect me of something. There's usually not anyone around, but you know how people are.
That means I can't really get into it. I can to intense stance training, but not intense moving stance training. Which is probably just as well. I just do a little bit, to get things moving, to make myself feel like I did that practice, breathed that chi gung breath and I usually stop to find myself standing because my mind has wandered and the truth is I am tired. I just can't sleep. My mind is racing for some reason.
After all, I can always do some moving stance stuff later. Maybe I should make a habit of it. To do A little bit of moving stance stuff everyday. Not a lot. Just 10 minutes or so. maybe 15. Instead of trying to practice in the playground I should just bring Jonah to the park, a field area and doing a little bit of moving... and then move on to the playground. He would like it. I don't have to get all into it either. I can still talk to him or play with him.  It's always better to just start with a little. A little is more than nothing and the truth is too much can get you injured or put you in a mental place that you don't need to be if you are watching your child.

Where is your Kung Fu from?

Today for little pandas we did some free play with noodles for swords, dragon heads (because the fog made me think that perhaps the lion head would get damaged by the moisture) and the instruments. The children were confused with the freedom they were given so we quickly moved on to Lion/Dragon dance. I wanted to keep the same routine and really if you are one person Dragon, you are more of a lion than a dragon right?
Then we did Kung Fu. I busted out with some more Kung Fu songs. I now have itsy bitsy spider and big spider, counting to eight song, bao jeen dup (rock paper scissors) based on a Japanese version where you make different animals and things with the combination of these hand symbols, and of course, wheels on the Kung Fu bus. Each class did not get all of the songs. And the older class did more forms. It was pretty cool.
The area is pretty nice with a tree, and as I sat there with Jonah after class doing a little one on one time with him, I realized it looked kind of like a Zen Garden except childproofed. I should definitely hold the weekend class there. It's just nice and private.
As the kids played in their little playground and Jonah joined them on of the teachers commented on how I spoke a lot of languages (I had just said, "dai dai, Jau le!") I clarified that I did speak Cantonese, but that my Mandarin was not up to snuff. The teacher spoke Mandarin to me and I thought she was, you know, from one of those unfamiliar provinces. But then she switched to Cantonese and she continued asking me about my Kung Fu and how long I learned etc. I eventually said I did Bak hok pai/ White Crane.
"Is that like crane moves? Or where is that from?"
"Taishan is where my Sifu is from," I said because actually our background is a little complicated and confusing unless you are actually interested.
"Oooo maybe that's from that Crane Mountain area," said another teacher.
Crane mountain is a village. All I know about that village is they do the duck shaped lion heads, and that their dialect sounds closer to Cantonese/bak wah than Taishanese does.
"Doushan." I said.
And the first teacher slipped into Taishanese and exclaimed, "Oh you speak our language?" (Taishanese or specifically doushanese) "I'm also Doushan." and then after more conversation, "So your Kung Fu.. is probably from Woo Ching."
"That's right." I said, "Woo Ching is my Sifu."
"Oh my mother bought a Condo above theirs in Doushan.....

Group learning or one on one

I guess it's time I put up some flyers for my little Free Kung Fu Playgroup. Probably I will only put up two. One at the tot lot, and one at the park. I think any stay at home mothers with kids that are not in school, or even nannies would be interested... because the group is free after all. I haven't put them up yet because I didn't want like 20 people showing up. But I realize that is very unlikely to happen now. I think too that the idea of doing a weekend class in Chinatown is probably not fun or convenient for me.
If I did do a class... more for Noah than Jonah, than I should just do it at the park again. And then again, to make it really convenient for myself, why not just take Noah to the park and do one on one stick fighting.

It's hard to say which is better for them, one on one training or in a group. I started the group because they seemed to be resisting the one on one training. But now I've noticed Jonah fighting for my attention during the groups. Well not fighting exactly, but either acting up or refusing to participate, then the second the group is over he is back to acting relatively normally. I haven't had a group class for Noah in a while. Mainly because we had this Lion Dance event and that so I counted those events as a class for him. Then this last weekend we did sticks. I didn't even bother making him do forms and such. After all, when it is just the two of you you can let him try and whack you with sticks. It is only when there is a group that you can't do this and therefore have train through forms. A more top down approach where the students have to learn by doing moves they might not understand. As opposed to learning how to hit, but trying to hit me, and chase me, and learning about defense through my stick touching him. Of course at some point you will benefit from learning different techniques that you might not be able to come up with one your one.

Odd Jobs

Yesterday we got our new sink put in. Noah was fascinated with the whole thing. I suddenly started thinking about how maybe Noah should learn plumbing and Jonah should learn electrical work. I don't want me kids to only be plumbers and electricians. Of course I would want my kids to go to MIT and Harvard (Noah and Jonah respectively.) But there's nothing wrong with learning a skill that can make you some money. during the summer and weekends while you are studying.
And I could be their little secretary and take care that end of it. If I had had such a skill, all those wealthy friends I made in high school would have been more useful to me, I could have done work on their houses.
I remember several conversations in high school with teachers that talked about class and that sort of hierarchy. One example was a poorer kid tells his friends that his dad lost his job. A richer kid says the poorer kids dad can work for his dad. The poorer kid is now supposedly angry that the richer kid said this.
I didn't really understand the point of the story much. I mean I knew what they were saying, but my father was dead and our family had never had someone who had a job like the poorer kid's dad was being offered through the richer kid. It sounded like a great opportunity to me.
Another example is one kid who was under 14 or something like that needed someone over 16 or something like that to see him off at the airport. He was, he put it, "Smarter and bigger than most of the people on that plane." He was indeed over six feet tall and probably wider than four feet in his shoulders. And he was quite smart as well.. and rich. They would pay what sounded like a ridiculous amount of money just to sit there. After all, I was heading home too and I would have to take the bus to the airport too. It was just a matter of staying their a little longer
I quickly volunteered when I had the chance thinking I might be too late to get the job, but actually nobody else had been interested. The teacher setting up the job said, "and you don't feel like its too much to ask to have to wait with him etc."
"You're paying me right?" People didn't understand then that I was from the projects. Not a neighborhood of lesser economic wealth. PROJECTS. and my mother was sick.

Of course now sometimes people offer me similar jobs and I have to turn them down. I even feel bad that I can't help them. But I simply can't. It's true that I don't need the money, but the real reason is I have two kids. I can't go somewhere or drive somewhere out of the way (even if I could drive) because Jonah has to come with me and Noah has to be picked up from school, and Grace who has the real job needs to focus on her real job. People think I have a lot of free time. I do and I don't. When they are playing at the playground, that's sort of like free time, except I have to keep my eyes on both of them at the same time and spot them often for climbing dangerous things and also I play with them. So even though what  I'm doing might be enjoyable, I also am required to do it. Otherwise things much more terrible than getting fired could happen.

Some artwork

I realized that I should probably be taking pictures of my kids artwork.

What to do.

Usually we spend a lot of time at the playground. Me and Jonah I mean. But not only is it really hot, Jonah is also sick. He's getting better. He had a fever for a few days and now he has a rash, which from talking with the nurse means he is at the end of the virus he has. Something similar to chicken pox, but isn't chicken pox.
He fell asleep on the way to Noah's school and when we passed by the playground, he woke up. Mentally it looked like he wanted to play, but instead of playing he just sat on the steps of the structure, like an old man relxing in the park. Taking in the atmosphere of fun, but not physically participating. I decided we might as well just go home, where we would be out of the sun. Right now we're watching Ni Hao Kai Lan. I guess we'll do some puzzles and stories later. But staying home all day really does get boring. I guess we can go back out for a walk in the woods later.. soon...there's always our little pool. We'll see.

Our forefathers

I am of course talking about the founding father's, the gods of American culture, whom we go to constantly in popular culture to seek advice from mostly on who to buy insurance and cars from. I guess Lincoln and other dead Presidents, also Martin Luther King, are in this category of American gods People who statues are made of, who are quoted, and used in dream sequences in sit coms.
Let's go back to the original founders for today though. It is after all Independence day. You know, Jefferson, Washington, Hamilton, Franklin. That's who we mean when people like the CEO of Chic Fil a say, when talking about the Supreme Courts decision to allow gay marriage by saying Doma in unconstitutional, "Our founding father's would have been disappointed."
I have written before that I am all for gay marriage. I am also for people expressing their opinion though, especially if it is not an angry tirade. Plus I'm all for Chic Fil A too. I like their sandwiches, and I like that they help pay for Curious George, and I'm pretty sure that even though the CEO is personally against Gay Marriage and gays, that he hires gays anyway because he is required by law to do so.
But let's talk about our forefathers. Would they be disappointed? This assumes that

 A) They themselves were not gay or even bi. You know that they did not sleep with men or each other. I don't think that is safe to assume at all. Even though there is no historical evidence, you just don't know. Most people cast aside statements that Our forefathers would have been disappointed by saying "they were slave owners." They still knew owning slaves was wrong, and that they shouldn't rape them or at least take advantage of their power of ownership in the workplace. If Jefferson didn't know he was wrong, he wouldn't have set his slaves free in his will. If Slavery was really thought of as beneficial to the slave then freeing them would be abandonment instead of a gift.  But just because something is wrong doesn't mean you don't continue to do it. There is a lot of slavery (though not chatel slavery) in American History after the Civil War. The chain gang can be seen as a form of slavery, even racial slavery as most of the people imprisoned on trumped up charges were black.

It also assumes that

B) The founding father's were highly religious in the way that Chic Fil A Ceo and many other American Christians are religious.
The founding father's had very strong beliefs. But what were they? Dan Brown writes fiction and the novel "The Lost Symbol" is fiction. But like his other books, the artwork and architecture referenced is real. Worth a read. Just saying.

What would the founding fathers be appalled at?
For one, they would probably be appalled at all the Anglo files in America. They would be appalled by all the crap our modern culture gives to the French. The French helped found this country. The French helped found this country. The French helped found this country.
I wrote it three times because I feel like we do stuff like rename French fries so often that we forget that...the French helped found this country.
I remember in grade school someone came into our second grade class and read Disney's Beauty and the Beast and said that it was a French story and then mentioned that at one point our country had considered French as a national language. And that wouldn't that be horrible because we would all be speaking French now and wouldn't be able to understand each other. That is one of the stupidest things I have heard a white person say about a white culture. But all of the students in the class just sensed the answer that the guest speaker wanted and nodded our heads and replied in that group unison mindless whatever you say manner that school hammers into us. Even though most of the class was Chinese, black, Hispanic, and Jewish and most of us spoke at least two languages. We went along and nodded and waited for the story to begin....except the French girl who said, "I speak French." And of course, if French had been the national language for over two hundred years and we all were speaking French, we would all also understand French too.
The French helped found this country.

The founding fathers would probably be appalled at how we clamp down our borders to prevent illegal migrant workers from coming in. Being slave owners, they wouldn't understand such a strong central government expending so much energy to prevented laborers from freely coming to you, instead of you having to go enslave them and then expend so much energy to keep them from escaping. You don't have to pay slaves, but they still cost money. The system of payment we have now is much more humane than slavery, but I bet it might be cheaper too. Which I think is the real reason why non chatel slavery has ended.

Btw another thing we don't hear a lot is that a lot of blacks probably have American ancestry going back to before America became independent from Britain. And of course a lot more blacks probably share genes with the founding fathers than we probably think about. And yet whites who haven't been here for that many generations are often considered more American. There are also a lot of Hispanics whose families were in the United States before it was the United States. And of course there are Native Americans, who are not seen as more American. Our founding fathers probably wouldn't have considered any of these groups as potential citizens... ever.

We always look at our founding fathers as the beginning of our American history. Their not. The cultures that were already here are part of OUR history too. And so are the cultures that came at the same time and after the founding fathers set up shop with laws made in their own interest.

In fact did you ever notice that most shows and movies have modern kids traveling back to King Arthur's court in old England (the country he fought a revolution to separate from) rather the say.. pre Columbian America, even though the time machine in the movie does not also travel to go back to England.
 But I digress...

My final thing to say is...
Our Forefathers would be absolutely appalled and confused that our African American First Family which they never would have imagined, would be such big Downton Abbey fans.

Our founding father's fought against England. The French helped us. We owe the French our country.
Happy Fourth of July! Thank you France.

Shanghai girls by Lisa See

First of all did you know Lisa See was white? Whiter than me. She was one great grandparent that is Chinese. I was going to do a piece about white authors that white Asian Pacific Islander novels... and how much I like them. I mean at first I avoided them, reading Amy Tan and Chinese novels translated by westerners... but then when I started reading Alan Brennart's Honolulu and Molokai, and then went on to Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha because I'm not from those cultures anyway. But I still saw a lot of similarities between my experiences and the female protagonists. I realized something. I am a white guy  (that is also Chinese), so reading from a white author's point of view, one who did extensive research on and likes the Asian culture they are writing about would probably appeal to me.
Lisa See's book was particularly eye opening and familiar at the same time because they end up in America. So it is a novel about Chinese Americans. When reading the Jook Sing daughter's dialogue, I can't say that I agree with her at all, but I know girls like her and it help me have some insight into that tension between an Americanized Chinese teenager and a Chinese Parent. I never had that because my mother was white and my father was dead. For some reason, being white and speaking Chinese as well as hanging out with a lot of older Chinese men, I got to see their perspective more than the abc's perspective, from their complaining about work, their kids etc..... until I started teaching them Kung Fu en masse and got to overhear their conversations and perspectives.
I'm wondering if Lisa See got to hear more from older Chinese people because she could talk to them in that way as both an insider and an outsider. Chinese enough to be a Chinese American writer. White enough not to get emotionally triggered when talking to an older Chinese person about their experiences.
Anyway. Shanghai girls is awesome. I looked at Lo wah kew differently after reading it. (My Dad jumped ship in 70's I think and most of the people I hang out with came from China. They weren't in the states for the Red scare and all that so honestly I really didn't know much about it. It also makes you think about people of middle eastern descent (or who look like that) in America today. Back during the Red scare they basically thought every Chinese person was a potential communist spy. They didn't trust them. Sound familiar? Just saying Muslim Americans (and Muslim "looking" Americans) get a lot of looks nowadays. Asian Americans (East asian ones) shouldn't be so quick to jump on the group that is being suspected when not that long ago in the states the same was true of people that looked like them. Of course as I said a lot of Asian Americans were still outside the U.S. or their Asian ancestors were outside the U.S. (That includes me, even though to most people, I'm just white) during that time so they don't really think about what Asian Americans who were here went through.

T-shirt excitement

I was so excited about the new T-shirts. In fact I still am. Grace helped get them done and my friend/cousin helped with putting the design images into a clean computer format. Grace thought the image needed a circle in the back to center it and it did. What came out was Jonah and Noah flying on a giant crane with either the moon or sun or other circular object in the back. Up to your interpretation.
Not everyone else was as excited about the T-shirts as I was though. They were iffy on buying them. There were questions about the price.
 I charged what I had to pay for a shirt when I had to bought one at Sityotong because I didn't realize I needed a shirt to work out at that gym. And then lowered it to what I had to pay at Woo Ching White Crane over 10 years ago, and lowered it further still if you buy two.
Most Kung Fu school's (not ours) charge a registration fee of $75 to $100 and you get a free T-shirt. The truth is what is a registration fee? Basically you are paying $100 for a T-shirt to be part of the group. So my $18 for one and $28 for two is actually pretty cheap. Not as cheap as you might pay for at on the clearance rack, but still. It comes with free Kung Fu. Or my original $25 for one and two for $30. Still cheap if you buy two. And if you buy one for yourself and your kid, that's two right there. I only did this becauseI thought $50 was getting up there for being part of a group at the park. Not that it isn't worth it. It's just that I wanted to keep the group pretty much free.
Now I realize I should just stick to my original price. $25 for a T-shirt. Tomorrow I will teach at Little Panda's and if the whole teaching the parents their thing works out. That's what the T-shirt or registration fee will cost. Then the Kung Fu classes themselves will be by donation. A few bucks a class. Whatever.
Still a small amount of money but I guess most people think of T-shirts as a thing that is given away. Like if you volunteer for something you get a free T-shirt. Or your company gives you a free T-shirt for an event. Or someone trying to sell you something gives you a free T-shirt to advertise their product.
So basically if the shirt costs more than $3 they consider it expensive. But I'm not a giant company. I had 24 shirts made and that's it. Their cool and their worth a lot to me.  Even if only me and my kids end up wearing them around it was worth it to get them.
But it's cooler if a whole group is wearing them and doing the children's Kung Fu. I'm not forcing the JP playgroup to buy them. Eventually they will want them and buy them.
But for the Chinatown group I think I will make it a required "registration fee" The main reason is if I have to get on a train to get to the group, the group has to at least show enough interest to buy a shirt.
For the JP group, it's okay if even nobody shows up and it's just me and Jonah doing sticks in the park. Because its in the park right down the street and we were going to go there anyway.

Gardens

I don't have much time to trim hedges. The reason why is because trimming hedges is not really a small child friendly activity. There are too many possibilities of injury or death from the equipment and the cars on the street. These weekend I did not only trim our hedges but I made a deep cut into them because they had gotten so wide that I was not able to reach into the middle to cut that part. Anyway our neighbor who shares the house and therefore the hedges with us was upset. Perhaps if I had cute them back more gradually. Perhaps this perhaps that. They will grow back, but they don't look as green as everyone else's right now. But before they were more unkempt and overwhelming than everyone else's. To the point where walking down the sidewalk you had to tilt your head to avoid them. They had to be cut back at some point.
I haven't cared about gardening or anything like that in the past, but now I am starting to look at other people's garden's. The truth is, those hedges and the garden are shared but really they belong to downstairs and since the house is Grace's even the small part that is hers is not mine. I have no say in how to garden the downstairs or how to pick this or that, but because I am able bodied I feel somewhat responsible for the work. But then I am more responsible for making sure my kids are growing and playing etc. than plants so it is only when they are being watched that I will even consider doing something else. Unless of course that something else could safely involve them.
Grace is talking about wanting to move to Quincy.
At first I didn't like the idea of leaving this Jamaica Plain neighborhood. Yeah there aren't Chinese supermarkets down the street, but I love the parks, playgrounds and open minded hippy atmosphere.
But then I remembered my condition for moving elsewhere. Before it was someplace in Illionois, or Seattle. The condition was, the downstairs and the yard is going to be a Kung Fu school.
I guess my dream is to have a beautiful looking school like Mr. Miyagi in the Karate kid movies, and of course to have more students than just some skinny Danial-san. (I have that covered beacause I have two sons) And somehow to have enough money to survive. Miyagi had a plant shop or those cars or something. I guess I live off Grace. But potentially I could bring in some income teaching Kung Fu or doing treatments. Which was another part of the condition, the Kung Fu school and Garden on the first floor wouldn't just be for me only,  but would be for potentially teaching students other than family members and bringing in Money.
Anyway, I've been dreaming and thinking of such things recently. I like my life now, with the projects and Kung Fu playgroups I am developing. But a physical space... a school of my own to go with my group and T-shirts would be cool too.