Here's something fun and historical at the same time. The Vancouver Asahi Baseball team is set to receive more accolades and acceptance from Vancouverites. also... Check out the NFB film: Sleeping Tigers: The Asahi Baseball Story about this very special team, which will also be shown at the Vancouver Public Library on August 11, at the Central Branch Alice Mackay Room.    more »

Prize-winning journalist and Asia expert Sheridan Prasso reads from her new book The Asian Mystique: Dragon Ladies, Geisha Girls, & Our Fantasies of the Exotic Orient. This is a provocative critique of the West's eroticized illusions about Asia and how profoundly these illusions colour our social, cultural, business, personal, and political interactions.   more »

The Canadian Club is one of Canada's oldest and prestigious associations, founded in 1906.  There are chapter clubs all across Canada.
Click here for the list
http://www.canadianclub.ca/The%20Clubs%20Actitivities/
Clubs.htm

I was invited to join the board of the Canadian Club, and was elected at the 2005 Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, June 28th.  And so I join other illustrious board directors such as the Hon. Garde Gardom, former Lt. Gov. of BC.  Tuesday's luncheon honoured all the winners of the SOARS program, which recognizes excellence for high school students in the areas sucha as academics, sports, citizenship.

Following the luncheon,  The Hon. Garde Gardom made a gracious point of congratulating each of SOARS winners as well as the new board directors.

The Canadian Club is planning on presenting more special events rather than their monthly luncheons.  This is both to reflect the increasing diversity and specialness of Canada.  I  know that I am looking forward to contributing to the programming and presentation side of theses events.

With Sunnette Jones and Bruce Jarvis - photo by Margaret Ferguson

What a busy multicultural weekend!

I attended both BC Highland Games in Coquitlam and Greek Day in Vancouver.  Both were very promotional of their respective cultures, but each had a very different atmosphere.

BC Highland Games is held at Coquitlam Town Centre Stadium.  There are competitions for Highland Dancing, Piping, Drumming as well as sports events such as caber tossing etc.  There is also a "market" set up for vendors + information booths for the various clans and Scottish heritage societies. The beer garden opened up in the late afternoon. For the evening there is a concert.  The big highlight is the Grand parade of the Pipe Bands.

Greek Day is a multi-block long "block party." All the restaurants set up mini bbqs on the sidewalk + there are food stands for Greek foods + wine and beer.  There were two main stages set up on cross streets that featured Greek traditional dancing and musical performances.  We were able to catch the closing ceremonies where all the VIP's got a chance to say something.  These included the consul from the Greek Consulate, Premier Gordon Campbell who introduced the new provincial finance minister Carole Taylor and former Vancouver Mayor Art Phillips, Acting Mayor Fred Bass (in Larry Campbell's absence) + some of the key festival organizers. 

Streams of people moved East and West along Broadway and I found I missed the sea of kilts I experienced the previous day. It was amazing to be immersed in "Everything Scottish" and I wished it could have been for so for Greek Day too... but walking admidst all the people enjoying the Greek theme block party... I decided I would love to see a "Hawaiian Day" party somewhere in Vancouver - where everybody could be "Hawaiian, and we could celebrate the Hawaiian pioneer culture in BC, where the "kanaka's" lived in Ft. Langley and on Saltspring Island, and where Hawaiian culture is celebrated every winter by Vancouverites travelling to the Hawaiian Islands...  oh and I want to start a Scottish Day festival... where everybody can walk around in Kilts - maybe along Water St in Gastown, and we can celebrate the Scottish pionneers who helped build Vancouver in the 1800's.

Gim Wong and son Jefferey arrived in Sudbury Ontario, Their Toronto arrival is expected for Sunday.   more »

By Laura Stradiotto/The Sudbury Star Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 11:00 Local News - Gim Foon Wong has just finishing riding 1,000 km in the last two days on his Gold Wind motorcycle. “It’s a miracle we’re here,” said Wong, tired but alert after arriving in Sudbury at 3 a.m. Friday.   more »

"You've got to be joking...."
"Is this for real?"
"I don't believe it!"
"I've heard of this!"
"Well done..."
"I've always wanted to go..."
"My friend has got to see this!"
"I saw you on television!"
"Are you really Toddish McWong?"

These are some of the comments that were provoked when attendees to the BC Highland Games walked in the front gate and discovered a booth proudly displaying the name "Gung Haggis Fat Choy" in big red letters.  On each side of the tent's pillars were display boards with newsclippings about the infamous "Gung Haggis Fat Choy" Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.


With Sunnette Jones and Bruce Jarvis (of Seattle) at the BC Highland Games - photo by Margaret Ferguson

Draping across the front table of the booth were red cotton t-shirts arranged from Women's XS to Men's XS proudly displaying the backs and fronts of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team designs.  On top of the table were displayed shirts for sale $30 as a fundraiser for the dragon boat team, as well as pictures of the 2004 dinners, pictures of dragonboats and especially the "dragon boat float" that was the Gung Haggis Fat Choy entry in the inaugural Vancouver St. Patrick's Day Parade in 2004.

Nobody ever said "You are a disgrace to Scottish Culture, laddie!" or "Get thee back to where you came from you Chinese heathen!"  No.... not at all...

"Toddish McWong," cried out Harry McGrath when he entered the main gate and walked up to my booth.  Harry is the coordinator for the Centre Scottish Studies at Simon Fraser University.  He loves the concepts behind Gung Haggis Fat Choy.

"We are like family here," said Jim Bain one of the festival organizers and also a Grand Chieftain of the Sons Of Scotland.  Bain himself had just earlier in the week attended a Chinese Mun Yet (One month old) coming out party for his own grandchild... as his wife is Chinese Canadian, and his children hapa (Chinese and Scottish Canadians). 

Bain was very pleased with the multicultural aspect of the BC Highland Games.  In one pipe band there is a drummer of South Asian descent.  There was a Chinese vendor selling hats.  There was Mango shave ice by a Taiwanese family vendor.  And when you looked around, observant eyes would spot the occaisional Chinese guys wearing kilts, and families of mixed race leading children of blended ethnicity.

People were generally very happy to find the Gung Haggis Fat Choy booth, talk about the dinner, and dragon boating.  Talk about their experiences in multicultural families, or that their (Scottish descendent) son has been living in China, or that their (Chinese descendent) daughter just got back from Scotland.

They pointed to the picture of the kilted Chinese lion head figure and laughed.  They asked how to join a dragon boat team.  They asked me to pose for pictures with them in front of the booth.

My friend "Bear"of Bear Kilts was there.  Bear has become one of my mentors in kilt wearing culture, and even has his own blog titled The MacBitseach.  He checked in on me throughout the day, and was glad to see me have a booth there and telling people that I actually did wear my "maple leaf tartan" while paddling dragon boats.  I gave his son "Cub" a Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat shirt, as Cub also checked in on me, and helped relieve me to grab some food or drink.  And at the end of the day... Bear came over to say good bye.

"I like your sgian dhu" he said...
"My skin-what?"
He nodded down to the cell phone tucked in my right sock where the ceremonial knife sgian dhu is traditionally kept.
We both chuckled and shook hands.

pictures and more stories to come....

It's the BC Highland Games on June 25th in Coquitlam, at Coquitlam Town Centre Stadium. 

9am to 8pm

Click to find a map
www.bchighlandgames.com/

I will have a booth where I can sell Gung Haggis Fat Choy t-shirts and give out GHFC recipes for haggis won-ton, haggis-stuffed tofu, and haggis lettuce wrap.

Cool!

But I will have to leave by 6pm, so I can attend the Diana Krall concert at 8pm at the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver.

Vancouver International Jazz Festival starts this weekend.
Great line-up of cross-cultural music and performers...

Music is always something that evolves and transcends boundaries and bigotry.  Lots of performers and lots of free events around town.  Tognight, I will be at the festival opener - Diana Krall at the Orpheum Theatre.  Diana is sort of a hometown girl, as she was born and raised in the small town of Nanaimo, just a short ferry ride across the Georgia Straight on Vancouver Island.

My favorite DK songs?  Tom Wait's Temptation, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Let's Face the Music and Dance...
and Patsy Cline's I'm Crazy... and her duet with Ray Charles for You Don't Know Me.

Okay... so I'm going to be on television yet again... but this time it is on Saltwater Water City television show.Hosted by Todd Wong, this explorAsian presentation was recorded on May 14 at Our Town Cafe and features readings by Joy Kogawa, Michelle Wong, Alexis Kienlen and Jessica Gin-Jade. Sunday June 26 at 1:00PM Monday June 27 at 10:30PM Thursday June 30 at 2:30PM Saturday July 2 at 11:30AM   more »

As part of Vancouver Public Library's One Book One Vancouver program, there will be many related events designed to help bring the book Obasan to life.

Obachan's Garden, is the award winning National Film Board documentary about the filmaker Linda Ohama's Grandmother.  Ohama won a 2002 Leo Award for best direction for a documentary.

Check out a review of Obachan's Garden on Culture Vulture

Please see below for the information from the VPL web page.

Obachan's Garden: Film Screening
Thursday, June 23; 7:30 p.m.
Alice MacKay Room (Lower Level), Central Library (350 West Georgia St.)

Join director Linda Ohama for a special screening of Obachan's Garden.

In 1923, Asayo Murakami left Hiroshima and settled in a fishing village in Steveston, BC. Her family has memories of a happy woman who sang, danced and nurtured a colourful flower garden, but underneath, the memory of what she left in Japan haunted her deeply.

Delicately peeling back the layers of her grandmother's life, filmmaker Linda Ohama discovers a painful, buried past. In poignant interviews, Asayo, now 103 years old, recalls life in Japan, her arrival in Canada as a "picture bride," her determination to marry a man of her choice, the bombing of Hiroshima and the forced relocation of her family during World War II.

Beautifully rendered dramatic sequences are merged with an exquisite collection of memories, feelings, images and voices. Culminating in an emotional reunion with a long-lost daughter, this film is an intensely personal reflection of Japanese-Canadian history and a testament to one woman's incredible endurance and spirit.

Gim Wong' "Ride for Redress" has reached Ontario! Sid Tan sends this note!   more »

View photos of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team in action from the 2005 Alcan Dragon Boat Festival.   more »

Gim Wong well recieved in Winnipeg for his "Ride for Redress"   more »

1) Featured on CBC Newsworld live national television; 2) Raced for medals in the D division final; 3) Won the Hon. David C. Lam Award for being "the team that best represents the multicultural spirit of the festival" 4) hosed "the Sunday night party to be at"? PICTURES!!!   more »

SHASHIN: JAPANESE CANADIAN STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHY TO 1942 Book Launch   more »

Come to our Paddlers' Appreciation Party... June 19th @ The Roxy   more »

Didja see us on CBC Newsworld? Live National TV? from the ADBF site? didja? didja?   more »

Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team had a very exciting First Day at Alcan Dragon Boat Festival   more »

Apparently CBC Newsworld wants us to wear our kilts, bring our decorated paddles, and our yellow Chinese dragon hand puppet.   more »

Vincent Lo is the creator of Six-Sixteen fibreglass dragon boats in Vancouver. He is an incredible guy.   more »

We will go to: Flamingo Restaurant - 3469 Fraser Street,    more »

That multi-generational family dragon boat team "Paddlin' The Wong Way" had their picture featured   more »

Here's an interview and photo with Gim Wong back from 2002.   more »

Our Application for the ADBF David Lam Multiculutral Award: Google the words �dragon boat� and �multiculturalism� and the 1st entry is Gung Haggis Fat Choy.   more »

Our application for the ADBF Community Spirit Award: The Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team is very active in Vancouver’s community.    more »

HALF AND HALF by Lensey Namioka. A children's novel about a young girl growing up in Seattle WA with both Scottish and Chinese parentage. WHITE TIGRESS by Jade Lee A romance paperback set in Shanghai 1897.   more »

Here is the press release about the Friday June 17th Press Conference for Gim Wong in Winnipeg.    more »

IT's OUR FIRST RACE ast ADBF.... are we ready??? Our first race is 10:30am Lane 3.    more »

Roy's lecture and the Naomi's Road musical performances will be broadcast on CBC Radio's Ideas program on June 27th, 9:05pm.   more »

There is highland dancing, drum and bagpipe competition, The athletic events will be: light stone, light hammer,   more »

Here are the latest updates from Gim's Ride for Redress in Calgary. Sid Tan told me that Gim has safely made it to Medicine Hat now.    more »

The Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team has been practicing hard since Early April to compete in the upcoming Alcan Dragon Boat Festival for June 18/19.    more »