Jonah's Birthday Party

We had Jonah's birthday party this weekend, with Wayne Potash coming to sing. The part was partially Jonah' birthday and partially Grace's graduation party, so we had Grace's friends and their kids and then we tried to have Jonah's friends. I thought it would be kind of messed up if we had all Noah's friends come. But who is Jonah's friends? We had some kids from his playgroup, and some kids that he knew from the playground. (sort of Noah's friends but also Jonah's friends.) They liked the singing and games that Wayne Potash provided. Jonah was more into it than you would think. I'm not sure he really understood the whole gifts thing. Noah understood that they sort of weren't his gifts, which pissed him off, even though technically he was the one playing with them. And the older kids, Grace's friends kids, were sometimes cool but totally dominated the whole gift opening thing. Well there was a lot of Jonah crying (Happy Birthday!) and Noah really blew out the candles, but I think Jonah did have fun too.
I was also thinking.. Wayne Potash makes a killing. Well not a killing but a living for sure. Wouldn't it be great if I could do some sort of Kung Fu lion dance thing for Birthdays? I think I could.
The thing about the real lion dance though, is that the money is not enough because you need a minimum of 5 people to do a traditional lion dance performance.
And I guess I had been focusing all my energy into things like classes, where you get the kids to progress. But apparently birthdays and other performances like that are where it's at. Especially if you could pull it off by yourself. Grace said I should just use my family. I think it would be better though if Noah and Jonah could come and help out, or just watch, or just hang out, but not be an essential part of the performance in case they needed or felt like doing something else that day.
Maybe if I pooled all my talents, like playing chinese music, lion dance, drumming, kung fu and maybe some calligraphy writing or something, drawing some animals or bamboo, I could sell myself as a sort of Chinese Cultural theme all in one. But the main thing is to be able to get all the kids to pay attention for at least 45 minutes, so they can be entertained and the parents get a rest. I guess the bonus is they are absorbing cultures and skills too. I guess I just have to write down the material I already have and organize it.

African Drumming

A couple of nights ago I went to a talent show at my old middle school. One of the talents was a group of kids learning African drumming as a class. The teacher looked familiar both from around the neighborhood and from Curious George (which sometimes does little pieces with school children around JP)
I have heard that the time signature for some African drum beats can be really complicated. The Lion Dance beat is very simple.. on purpose. The beats send signals and is meant to follow as well as direct the lion head. Historically these drums might have also directed battles as well.
The beats of the African drums that night, some from the Igbo and other Nigerian cultures, were difficult to follow even when I found they were in 4-4. There was a pausing sense to it that went into another part of the consciousness. In fact I kind of felt like it tapped into a part of the brain near the top of your head. I've heard some of these drums can be used for Shamanistic purposes. Well I suppose any drums could be used for that purpose but there was a hint of that (I felt) in these songs which were celebratory dances.
There is Chinese music like this too, but I usually think of the Guzheng, especially in those very classic songs usually with words like "drunken" in their titles. But  there is something about it being on a drum, and a drum that is struck with the hand instead of a stick... like it is closer to home.

At the Kung Fu school one day we were having a discussion of buying drums from China (the school having just bought one) the cost, the process, shipping... and One of Sifu's friends, not a lion dancer or drummer, but still a guy from China, was like, "Don't they have drums they make here? Why can't you just use a Western drum?" That question is absurd to someone who does traditional lion dance, the type where you carry on the tradition and need to have your ceremony and equipment just so.
But if it isn't absurd to a civilian(who still does Kung Fu)  who is from rural China, then why should it be absurd for a half white half chinese AMERICAN, who is already going in a different direction in terms of teaching Kung Fu to kids.
Many times when teaching inner city kids, I found that they could already drum. But to learn the simple Chinese Lion Dance drum beats was difficult for some reason.  Now if I start to have more students I think it is good to show them the traditional way, just so that they know it. But if we get enough people to one day do an event or join a parade, why stress about making them learn the "proper" way to drum, on a "proper" drum. Just use any drum... especially for Kung Fu. In fact I think it would be really interesting to do forms to some of the African drum beats I heard a few days ago.

Lion Dance in the morning

Not every kid can say that they just came from a lion dance when they arrive at school. But Noah can. Of course in order to get to the Federation performance at Hei La Moon, right when it was starting I had to wear Jonah in a back pack, and since for some reason, today out of all days, Noah did not feel like running, I had to put Noah on my shoulders. And since we didn't leave as early as I would have liked, I had to run. Okay not run, jog, okay not jog. Some form of movement that was slightly faster than walking. I'm not gonna pretend it was easy. My kids don't weigh that much but I could definitely feel the weight. My legs got a work out. I guess if I did that everyday, I would pretty much be in excellent shape.
Anyway, we stepped into Hei La Moon and right at that moment drums started sounding.. downstairs. I went down just in time and Noah got to watch Lion Dance. I'm not really sue if Jonah watched it or not. I turned to the side so that if he wished to look, he would have been able to.
It was like a simulation of a lion dance for me. I saw it, I heard it, and in a way I felt it because I was tired from carrying the kids and trying to run... or move run-ishly.
Well that was pretty good. Got to school almost on time too.

Symbol

 I've been working and reworking the symbol that I will put on a T-shirt. And this weekend I scrapped what I had and have decided on a picture of Noah and Jonah riding on a flying crane. The picture looks more like the cover of a children's book than a symbol of badassery (like the other ones were attempting to be. I still have another symbol of a crane in a fighting stance. All these pictures are done in black ink with Chinese brushes. The funny think is the pictures I made were the practice pictures, the test ones to make before I made the real one. But after I drew the first one, I had trouble recreating it, even through tracing. Either because the ink had gotten to watery or my concentration was lost, I just wasn't able to make a picture as good as the first one, on my scrap piece of paper. A distant cousin/friend of mine majored in Graphic Design and she's going to help me get the image on a computer as a high quality file that I can actually use to send to one of these T-shirt making companies to work with. My Si Hing from Chicago also happens to know someone who has one of those same such T-shirt making companies so after I get this image I'll probably see if i can use that company.
I'm pretty excited about my new symbol. I just feel like it matches what I am doing more. The hand positions of Noah and Jonah are meditation poses and they have cute anime like happy faces. It's just closer to what my classes are about. But even when I start to teach older students I think my classes will still be about this return to youthful thinking and happiness. That crane represents much more about my growing outlook and style of teaching as well as practicing of Kung Fu. The other symbol is good too though. Like a crane sentinel. The adult side of the practice. To protect the children if necessary. Plus I like that it is a few simple strokes with a brush. In fact, it is even more simple that the actual character for crane in Chinese. (That's pretty easy though because the crane character is pretty complicated. Though it comes close I think in number of strokes, to the character for bird.)
Today's class was pretty cool. I've been trying to do something a little different each week, while having somethings that we do every week. That hill has ended up being great. I started doing charging up the hill using different stances, and it is quite a work out. Not really too hard for kids, because in the end the kids will just run up and laugh or collapse laughing. The mothers were getting a work out though and so did I. The hill is a great training tool, as well as a sort of barrier. Sort of. The kids all keep going up it. But it is also good for my Kung Fu that I have to then sprint up a hill to get them.

Kung Fu retreat

This weekend a Si Hing from Chicago was visiting the Kung Fu school. This meant that Grace gave me permission to do a whole day of Kung Fu. This turned out to be half a day, but still I haven't done that much Kung Fu, uninterrupted. I practiced to the point where, even though I felt like I could keep going, from past experience I knew that I should probably take a break to prevent injuries or just overdoing it. At this point I meditated. Meditating after practicing to this point is really great. Immediately I felt my body revitalizing itself. Much more than if I were to say, just sit on the couch. I mentally even decided to run through some of the forms I hadn't gotten a chance to do physically. It was actually pretty difficult in a way. Visualizing yourself doing a stick form is in some ways harder than just getting up and doing it. It's easier to get lost. Or if you lose focus, since the form is only being done in your mind, you totally lose the whole thing. Whereas if you lose focus during a physical form you might just end up doing the whole thing on autopilot. Of course it is easier to injure yourself when you are fatigued and doing complicated motions on autopilot. After a little mediation I felt refreshed again and did a few more forms. I started to realize that I used to practice a lot. Maybe even too much.
I also realized that if you practice or do anything with that kind of focus... i.e. doing it, and then when taking your breaks, meditating and running through it mentally, you will probably improve at a very fast rate. Whereas if you just practice by going to a class and getting it over with, almost having the Kung Fu or yoga or piano practice being done to you, how good can you get?
I remember watching a few documentaries on circuses on PBS. They did one in China, one in New England, and then one in Mexico. Now the kids in China were good. They did amazingly difficult things in there practices and classes. Of course there was a lot of crying and scolding, and lecturing by now overweight instructors, about diet, and practice. The kid were getting injured and generally looked unhappy, and during their breaks they were playing cheap video games on watches, and cellphones. They were talented and everyone was forced to be a certain level. But when they performed the show seemed cheesy, and lacking. Not in the maneuvers, but the general spirit of the thing. It made you wonder whether all the torture was worth it.
The New England Smirkus, had mostly older kids. But they were all good too. They were pushed but not forced. If they couldn't hack it they were out. They only chose out of the top. They worked really hard but it was different. Seemed fun even though it was extremely rigorous and difficult. What's more is the older kids, in their free time, would talk and joke about their acts and talk about improving upon and creating new acts to perform. They were into what they did. A lot of those kids went on to Cirque du Soleil, but a lot also ended up going to places like MIT.  The circus kids in China seemed to have education as part of the camp too. The family circus in Mexico had kids that could barely read, and those kids seemed to really envy normal kids who went to school, and then got to be free for the rest of the day. They were always working. Setting up, breaking down, practicing. And they didn't really want it.
Now I didn't see all the acts exactly next to each other. But the Smirkus kids didn't seem inferior at all.

Kung Fu is similarly a physical skill. It can be taught to you, but ultimately the skills and improvement have to come from you. You can be taught how to train, but you have to be into it. If you are in Shaolin Temple practicing 12 hours a day but your heart isn't in it, you will be good. Alright. Adequate. You will be able to do some pretty cool moves. But ultimately when you throw a basic punch, people who know will see that you are lacking, despite the splits and back flips.

Charles Ramsay, Gong Gu jai, Storytellers

I saw a lot of stuff on my facebook from old teachers regarding the Charles Ramsay phenomenon, which was really a side story the Amanda Berry story. I saw various clips, read articles, listened to conversations and arguments about race, and also there was the story from the Hispanic man who says he got there first.
Here's my take. First of all, I do kind of care a little whether Ramsay or the other man got there first. But in the end nobody else seems to.
 Charles Ramsay was on the news because he helped, but he became a worldwide sensation because of the flamboyant way in which he is able to tell a story, and also for his mannerisms which make Anderson Cooper look awkward and out of place, and which we are just not used to seeing at a news station. The pauses, the looks, the details which normally wouldn't seem important, but are only important if you are trying to pay attention to the feeling of being in the story, rather than trying to simply find out facts.
Ramsay is a storyteller. The oral kind. Every culture has had them throughout history them, in pubs, tea houses, whorehouses, street corners,  Kung Fu schools, gambling halls, royal courts and villages. They are called storytellers, rappers, teachers, court jesters, stand up comedians, poets, skalds, bards, street performers, purim spielers, bullshitters, and politicians. Usually this oral kind is seen as low class (unless they somehow manage to make a lot of money)

One of my friends is a story teller like this. He happens to be black and has a lot of the same pauses and mannerisms as Ramsay. But usually in conversation, not in his storytelling. As far as being a story teller goes he is one of the best oral ones I know. To the point where I have seen kids begging him and begging him to tell them a story. And when he obliges, he makes the thing up on the spot, and it is fantastic, flamboyant, and full of physical movements. Not everyone can do this. That is why, whether Ramsay's story is 100% true or 90% true or 60% true, the main fact is true. The Amanda Berry was in the house and now she is out. The reason why he has become so famous is not because he was the hero, but because of how told the story. You can be jealous of him, admire him, laugh at him, but in the end, he is famous because of a skill. You can wag your finger at those laughing at him, and thinking racist thoughts, but the story teller, is not necessarily on a pedestal. Shakespeare is on a pedestal now, but was he when he was alive? No. Entertainers were in the same class as prostitutes. Shakespeare uses high language, but he was street, (or river rather) ghetto, low class, famous yes, celebrated yes, but his theater was next to the bear fights. Court Jesters play the fool/ They are laughed at. But they can get away with saying crazy stuff in front of the kind when nobody else can.
Ramsay can get away with saying all sorts of un PC stuff on all these morning shows too that anyone else would get jumped on for. My friend too. Though I tend to call him out on many things because usually are conversations are at my house.

Usually when you meet a story teller in person, whether or Irish, or Black, Latino, or Taishanese, there is some give and take, some shouting at him to get to the F-ing point, to summarize, to stop blowing water to such an extent. Unless the story teller is  himself, an alpha male good at Kung Fu or prone to punching interupters in the face.
Or...
 Unless the whole point of the conversation is not to find out some facts or information, but is about the STORY. Then the story teller is like a skald, or prophet and total attention is given to him (or her), no matter what their status. And if they are good at their story telling then they will be asked to tell it again and again and again.

That's what happened with Ramsay. The truth is everyone wanted to talk to Amanda Berry and the victims, or to find out more about the case. But since non of that was coming out, and because Ramsay told his story so well, with so many layers of it, what he felt at the time, how he felt about living next to such a person, how he can not sleep now just thinking about it, he became his own story.
Maybe the other man not only got there first but also was the one to break down the door. But his story was... boring.  And didn't have the levels of imagining being friends and neighbors with a guy who ends up being worse then some of the witches and demons in medieval fairy tales.
It doesn't mention  the feeling of being duped by such a person, wanting to kill such a person and at the same time knowing that women were trapped in the house next door in a dungeon for that long, everyday while you lived a regular life. The genuine surprise of learning this, the details of dress, food, and the comic relief at the end, a joke playing on race and the absurdity of the situation.
This type of story telling, is not as strong in suit and tie America. It is not absent completely. It usually can only tale place after a couple of beers because to suit and tie America it is a bit improper. It was left behind in Ireland, or lost when Taishanese fluency gave way to English, or your Puritan ancestors looked at all that askance in the first place as the work of the devil and proper people wrote their stories down.
But this type of story telling is a part of mainstream America, at least from my experience. Ramsay isn't a them. He's an us. The other suits of the morning shows are the them.

To stroller or not to stroller

Jonah's breakfast activity today was dumping his blueberries onto the table and then counting them one by one as he put them back into his bowl. He doesn't often get to do this, undisturbed. The difference today was Noah went to school early, with Mommy. Sometimes the two boys wit together for breakfast quite nicely. But then this can quickly turn to some sort of hitting, or pilfering of the younger child's food supply to protests of "Share! Share!" Noah is all about sharing when he has finished his half and there is only Jonah's left. Then he insists that they should share. Of course Jonah will then start crying as slumping himself on the floor. Well... it's not always like that. And it certainly wasn't like that today. Later on, Jonah snuck into one of our visitor's room. She is a Taiwanese friend of Grace's. I heard Jonah learning how to say nose, eyes, ears, etc. in Mandarin. I was wondering how he picked those up so fast. I thought it was do to my reading him this book, a gift from another one of Grace's Taiwanese friends, "My first Hundred Words in Chinese" I guess. Jonah is always touching my nose and saying, Bi zi, and then Bei gau and then laughing. The Cantonese he must have learned from me. It's good to have these things reinforced by several people. Maybe he will actually end up speaking Chinese.
Well then I decided we should have a leisurely walk in the woods. No stroller. In fact, yesterday Jonah refused to sit in the stroller and I ended up picking up Noah without one. I'm not going to pretend that was easy though.
Then Grace calls and told me about a Mayor's coffee hour at the tot lot. I didn't really want to go. But then I did. Carrying Jonah without the stroller. There were free fruit cups and we got a plant. Something for Jonah and Grace respectively. But other than that, it was a normal day at the tot lot. Then rain started and I carried Jonah home while jogging. The because of the weight of Jonah (not that heavy but it makes a difference) I sank down and did more of a horse stance thing walking thing. We had to stop often because Jonah wanted to run. I guess if my kids ran at the same speed as each other, or stayed together, or could be completely trusted not to go into the street, or to stop at driveways, the stroller would be unnecessary now. But, because they are not any of those things, the stroller makes things simpler emotionally.