It's not everyday, that a world class baritone opera singer and director offers "product placement" for a production of Gilbert & Sullivan's opera "The Mikado." But that is exactly what happened in Vernon, BC, on July 22, 2006. Damon Nestor Ploumis, baritone of great renown, was guest director of "The Mikado" for the Okanagan Vocal Arts Fesival, for which he also played the role of Pooh Bah. Additionally he sang the role of Bartolo in Nozze di Figaro. Our dragon boat team, Gung Haggis Fat Choy, was attending the Greater Vernon Dragon Boat Races, and we went to visit the family home of our drummer, "The Martin's." Bill Martin is also a member of the board for OVAF. This is what happense when GUNG HAGGIS FAT CHOY meets OPERA - view PICTURES!   more »

My cousin in San Jose, Valerie Wong, sent me this joke: What A Face Means To The Chinese: An American, a Japanese and a Chinese went for a hike one day. It was very hot. They were sweating and exhausted. When they came upon a small lake, they took off all their clothes and jumped into the water, since it was fairly secluded....   more »

The fame of Gung Haggis Fat Choy is consistently growing. Here is an example of appreciation from an ex-Scots, ex-Canadian - who really appreciates the intercultural directions of Gung Haggis Fat Choy - which celebrates the Chinese and Scottish heritage of Canada + everything in between & everything beyond! .... Please welcome Alexander Hutchinson as a guest on www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com Mr. Hutchinson has written a poem about Haggis titled "Surprise Surprise" (see attachment). He has also sent me a cover from his book, and a picture of a haggis wearing a kilt.    more »

There is never enough time to write about everything I do... but for the past week - here are some intercultural highlights and thoughts: July 20th Tang Concubines; July 22/23 - Vernon Dragon Boat Festival; Wednesday - Fireworks - July 26th; Thurday night - COPE fundraiser BBQ at Rowing Club   more »

Here's a link to an article about Tacoma Dragon Boat Association in the Seattle Times yesterday (July 27, 2006). http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/outdoors/2003153650_nwwboatcolumn27.html This article describes how this group now dragon boat paddles 5 times a week on Lake Union in Seattle WA, after starting out in Tacoma in 2001.They interview my friend Lee Bjorklund. Tacoma uses the Hawaiian word "pau" to mean "stop" - since coach Clem Corbiel used Hawaiian outrigger language to train the Tacoma dragon boat teams, even though Clem is a native Albertan from Canada who used to race flatwater canoe against Hugh Fisher in the Canadian canoe organizations. In May, the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team assisted TDBA by providing paddlers and drummers for two women's teams in the 2006 False Creek Women's Regatta. check out our story and pictures False Creek Women's dragon boat regatta: Gung Haggis races with Tacoma DBA    more »

Roy Miki was named to the Order of Canada on Monday. I think Roy is a fabulous Canadian. Legend has it that he was born on a beet farm, while his family was interned during World War 2. Check out the CTV story below about Roy being recognized for the Order of Canada.   more »

Great vacation in Vernon / Kalamalka Lake... We had so much fun!! Lots of stories to share... memorable moments: hot hot hot weather.... swimming off the private dock at Deb's parents' lakeside home kayaking and canoeing at the dock while sipping drinks and eating watermelon. Watching lightning / thunder storm from the hot tub at Pinnacles Resort on Silver Star Mountain... Pulling Ashleigh on water skis with a dragon boat.... OH - did I forget about the dragon boat racing? We did two 200m sprints + 500 sprint, then a 1000 m race with turn on the Saturday. PICTURES    more »

This weekend, the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team heads to Kalamalka Lake for dragon boat racing. It is one of the most beautiful lakes I have seen in BC, and I love canoeing and kayaking on it.... PICTURES   more »

I have always loved visiting the aquarium since I was a small child in the 1960's. My father would take us even before Skanna the killer whale was there, in the BC Tel pool - tiny by today's standards. We even have home movie footage of the killer whale that was trapped and put on display by fishermen in Pender Harbour in the late 1960's. I believe that this was the start of the learning curve about orcas in BC. My brother grew up studying marine biology, and later supervised the wardenship program for the Michael Biggs / Robson Bight wilderness refuge area for the orcas near Telegraph Cove, BC. .... PICTURES   more »

This just in from CBC TV, sounds interesting! Sounds like a good way to demonstrate the intercultural nature of Canada... imagine a South-Asian, born in Africa, but who studied in England and now raising his own son in Canada. - Todd   more »

I went to visit the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington, on Sunday. It is amazing. The building was designed by Vancouver architect Arthur Erickson, who has also designed the Simon Fraser University, Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver and many others. Check out information on the building of the Museum of Glass on Erickson's own website. ... LOTs of PICTURES!   more »

I have known Tippy Agogo since the mid-1980's when we "rocked" the Capilano Courier, the student newspaper at Capilano College. Tippy is an amazing performer, frequently appearing a folk festivals, children’s festivals, punk festivals. He is known for his musical explorations utilizing commonly found items such as tin cans and anything he can get his hands on. From his web site www.tippyagogo.com   more »

The Museum of Glass in Tacoma is incredible. We enjoyed our visit. My girlfriend Deb kept saying, "My mother would love this." We were all amazed. You have to go! ~~~ PICTURES!   more »

In a world of oppositions, what would you expect from the Sun? Oppositions, of course. We look at the Sun only from our own point of view, from here on Mother Earth. But, the Sun has its own point of view. The Planets, the four basic Terrestrials (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars) and the four basic Jovians (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) adjust the Sun’s tempo. Along with its own internal rhythms (it has several), the Planets modify the Sun’s rhythms, nudge them into Planetary Synchrony.... With the biggest rush of international tensions since long before 9/11, really big tensions as the Mid-East hits a boiling Summer, all the Planets from the Sun’s point of view are in arrow-straight alignments going exactly through the Sun, and those alignments are all linked with each other! Saturn opposes Neptune (a slow grind), not seen exact from here on the Earth until the end of August. Venus opposes Jupiter (personal discords), Mars opposes Uranus (hair triggers, rash acts), and Mercury comes exactly between the Earth and Sun early Tuesday morning, triggering a global “shifting-of-gears”.   more »

How did Gung Haggis fare in Kent? Well... lots of fine tuning with each race. With 12 Gung Haggis paddlers + extra paddlers from Fluid Motion, 39th Brigade Army Team, Scaly Justice, Sweet and Sour Dragonballs (from Victoria) + Tacoma DBA.... it was a challenge. But WE DID IT! PICTURES! We improved each race... working together with different paddling styles different paddlers different levels of ablilty.... but not enough to overcome the good competition at this festival.    more »

During the middle of the Chinese Head Tax Redress campaign during the Federal Election - Trevor Chan came up with a track called Our Story - detailing samples adressing Racisim, and Chinese in Canada. Check it out! Check out their information on the Folk Fest Website http://www.thefestival.bc.ca/artists.php?perID=2739    more »

Each time I attend the Action Musicals at the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts, I find I learn more about Chinese history, culture and art. Unfortunately I will be missing the opening night presentation tonight, Friday July 14 - but I hope to review the show when I return from dragon boat racing in Seattle this weekend. The Tang Dynasty is one of the most powerful and artistic epochs in Chinese history. I was thrilled to visit the museums in Bejing and Xi'an during my visit in 1993, as well as seeing the Ming dynasty tombs and the Terracotta Warriors. Growing up in Canada, we really develop with a Euro-centric view of history.    more »

Mr. Ralph Lee, 106 years old, rode the "Head Tax Redress Express Train" to Ottawa for the "trip of a lifetime. I attended the ceremony that saw the first people that boarded the "Redress Express Train" to Ottawa, for which they would see Prime Minister Harper make an apology for the Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act. Travellers got on board at stops in Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Toronto. 106 year old Ralph Lee, got on board and travelled from Toronto to Ottawa. The following letter is from his grand-daughter, followed by an article in Sing Tao News.   more »

Robbie Burns Day meets Chinese New Year. Two separate cultures. Nothing in common. Everything in common. ~~~ Summary of the CBC TV special, based on Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner: Gung Haggis Fat Choy. ~~~ This article features summaries of each segment of the special + links    more »

Two Gung Haggis paddlers climbed into a six person Hawaiian outrigger canoe to race in one of the Lotus Iron races. The calm water of Burrard inlet sparkled under a blue cloudless sky on July 1st as Gail Thompson and Dave Samis paddled with a Lotus Sports Club outrigger team. The 11km race is 22 times longer than a 500m dragon boat race.... + PICTURES   more »

Gary Gee is a head tax descendant now living in Nunavat... above the arctic circle. He puts together a nice arguement for individual compensation for head tax descendants....   more »

I am part of an e-mail net work across Canada of people working for Head Tax / Exclusion Act redress. My colleagues live across the breadth of Canada, from Victoria to Halifax, from Southern Ontario to Nunavat, across the prairies and in Quebec. Wow... sounds pretty Canadian to me. My friend Victor Wong wrote: I guess to some extent we (descendants) are only beginning to realize the impact of the racism faced by our parents and grandparents. And perhaps we are seeking an ‘atonement’ for ourselves (see below). And you’re right about the “no amount of money”. I said as much at the April 29th consultation in Montreal. I told Minister Oda that I sought symbolic redress because if it was full compensation, the govt couldn’t afford it. Symbolic redress allows me to remind the govt of the violence they inflicted on our families, so they don’t do it to others. I found this1984 article on Chinese laundries in Toronto with the more interesting passage at the end: “The era of Chinese laundrymen who made the pants dance is definitely gone. However, the lingering tendency to stereotype early Chinese Canadians as laundrymen has caused some mixed feelings among the younger generation of Chinese Canadians. At times, the question "Is your father a laundryman?" to some Canadian-born Chinese is looked upon as demeaning. They certainly are not familiar with a famous Chinese poet Wen I-to, who studied in North America in the 1920s. After observing and being shocked by the contempt of Americans for the Chinese laundrymen, he wrote a poem called ''Song of the Laundry." Wen lauded the Chinese laundrymen with the following ode: .......... You say that the trade of laundrymen is too base, Only the Chinese are willing to descend so low, Your pastor informs me, saying Jesus' father was a carpenter by trade, Do you believe it, do you believe it?”    more »

I first met James Johnstone at the Chinese Canadian History Fair organized by the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC, and held the Vancouver Museum... James created a geneaology for Kogawa House at 1450 West 64th Ave. which he presented to me just before I walked into Vancouver City Council chambers on November 3rd to ask City Council to delay processing the demolition permet for the house. It was a fascinating look at immigration patterns for the Marpole neighborhood, by peeking at the list of inhabitants of one of the oldest homes still surviving in Marpole.... James sent me this update on his activities which include researching Chinese and Japanese homes in Vancouver:    more »

This is the first road trip for Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team since Harrison last year... It's been awhile since the whole team went on the road to enter under our own name. 2003, in both Kent WA and Portland. But not all our paddlers are able to make the trip south to Washington state. There will be paddlers joining us from 3 other Vancouver area teams + a team in Victoria, and maybe even from teams in Tacoma and Portland... as we now have just one empty seat.    more »

The Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team is getting ready to go to Kent/Seattle dragon boat races, just south of Sea Tac airport on Lake Meridien. It is part of Cornucopia Days in Kent WA.... We had a mix of veteran paddlers, rookies, and brand new beginners. A full boat of 23 paddlers... okay... a wee bit heavy. It was important to prepare the team for the races in Kent WA, for next week, so we started off with some warm-up, then did a 500m race piece. It was a little bit ragged, so we did some exercises for timing and technique, before working on our starts, and finishing off on another race piece.... The Cornucopia Days festival has a real small-town America feel to it. The streets are closed off.and stalls lined the curbs. There is music, and amusement park rides. The bars are open, and so is the beer garden. There is no great variety of multicultural music, arts and culture like in Canada... but there generally is classic rock and roll, country music and an Elvis impersonator or two.   more »

Boy, those Yanks sure know how to throw a party, don’t they? The 4th of July, Independence Day parades, tons of flag waving, the Shuttle launch, Korean rocket’s red glare, Gaza fireworks. GW helped trees explode in a blaze of blazes for the rush into forest fire season. Then, just after, just for Bush’s birthday, the Sun blew off a hot blast from Sunspot 898. How does he do that??? .....Of course, it’s not a decadent enough party unless you piss off the neighbours. At the last minute, the States rams through an early escape clause to the softwood deal, after decades of bitter dickering. Mini-Bush insists it’s a done deal. Thanks, Steve. Then, the election in Mexico swings to the right amid wonder how 3 million votes can get lost, or was Mexico “Floridized”? Now, that’s what I call a party!   more »

Sharon Hung is an amazingly talented singer. I first met her after she had performed in the "Gung Haggis Fat Choy" CBC television performance special. She was the lead singer in Joe McDonald's "Brave Waves" band, singing a rousing version of Auld Lang Syne. Sharon has also performed with me at First Night Vancouver 2005, as well as for Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner events in 2005 and 2006. Last night, July 7, at the Chan Centre, Sharon performed 3 times, showcasing her wonderful voice and performance ability. The songs she chose to perform were pop songs, which unfortunately did not show the full range of her talents. This young woman is capable of singing, hip hop, soul, gospel and blues.Sharon easily won the "Best Stage Presence" award. She was named to the top 3, then the top 2. Finally... when the final decision was made.... Sharon was the 2nd place finisher for the 2006 Fairchild TV New Talent Singing Contest.... + PICTURES   more »

Here is my contribution to Storyscapes Chinatown, bringing together stories of interactions between First Nations and Chinese peoples in Vancouver. I was very pleased to bring a Creation Story to tie in the spiritual kinship between these two cultural groups. I have always personally felt a spiritual bond to First Nations peoples... This particular story about the Mongolian birth mark on First Nations people was told to me by an elderly First Nations man that I met at the mouth of the Capilano River in North Vancouver.... PICTURE   more »

This is my cousin Rhonda Larrabee. Actually she is my mother's cousin, as Rhonda's father Art Lee, was the elder brother to my grandmother Mabel (Lee) Mar. Rhonda is incredible. She has singlehandedly resurrected the Qayqayt First Nations Band. When she first applied for her Indian status, she was denied and was told that the Qayqayt "didn't exist anymore." Disappointed, she was shocked because clearly she existed, and her brothers existed, and her mother's siblings still existed. A few years later... she applied again and was granted status. She was told "I guess you want some land now too." PICTURE   more »

This is my cousin Joe Wai. Joe's mother is my father's eldest sister. Our grandfather Wong Wah, came to Canada at age 16. He was soon managing his uncle's store which became the largest Chinese drygoods store in Victoria's Chintown.... Joe is an architect who has made many contributions to Vancouver's Chinatown. He w PICTUEas the architect for the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Gardens, the Chinese Cultural Centre Museum and Archives, the Chinatown Millenium Gate, The Chinatown Parkade, the West End Community Centre... and many other buildings in Vancouver.    more »

I am part of 23 story tellers gathered to share stories of interactions between Chinese and First Nations people in Vancouver. Check out Storyscapes Chinatown exhibition during the Chinese Cultural Centre's Arts and Cultural festival held on July 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th. The exhibition will be in the courtyard of the Centre (50 West Pender), as well as on the corner of Pender and Carall. Please spread the word! An invitation to the exhibition will follow next week.   more »