CBC Radio and Metro News: Gung  Haggis Media Alert: 
 
Look and listen for Toddish McWong

Thursday afternoon I met with Metro News reporter Jared, Dragon Martials Arts store on Pender St. at the Chinese Cultural Centre.  This is where I purchased my Lion Head mask.  I never ever imagined that the combination of Chinee Lion Head maskwith a red kilt would become such an iconic symbol of "Gung Haggis Fat Choy" cultural fusion.... but it did.  The image has become copied and blogged around the world... from Calfornia to Canton, from Nova Scotia to Scotland, from New Jersey to Simon Fraser University.

Jared took some pictures of me at Dragon Martial Arts, where I also purchased a small child's lion head mask for my nephew.  I think he'll like it.  We also took some pictures with the Lion Head mask on the standing on the corner of Carrall and Pender St.  with the Chinatown Millenium Gate designed my my cousin Joe Wai, in the background.

Friday morning I am expecting a phone call from the hosts of the new CBC Radio program "Freestyle."
They are looking for an update on the 9th annual Gung Haggis Fat Choy" Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.  I will have to tell them that I have friends from Victoria to Halifax, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal who all share in the Gung Haggis spirit, and may be hosting their own Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners, and raising a dram of whiskey to toast Toddish McWong.

I am amazed at how many people across Canada have heard about Gung Haggis Fat Choy.  Last year my 2nd cousin Katie in Toronto phoned my Grandmother to tell her that she saw me on CBC TV's The National with Peter Mansbridge.  Some people have heard me on Sounds Like Canada with Shelagh Rogers.  Friends have been e-mailing me the new story in www.thescotsman.com written by Christina Wallace who hopefully will be attending this year's dinner from Everett WA.  And next week, my friends in Montreal will read about me in Maisoneuve.

And maybe one day, we can all put aside our racial prejudices, our religious differences, and our political beliefs, and all celebrate our similarities and our common Canadian-isms over dinner.  Food and song.  This is what brings people together.  And together is how we build a nation. And everybody in our nation is family.  And in family, nobody gets left behind.