Rice Daddies
Posts on fatherhood that were also cross-posted to the Rice Daddies blog.
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“Top of the World Ma! Top of the World!” That’s what I hear in my head whenever someone mentions “Mother’s Day.” James Cagney standing tall atop that fiery oil tank — White Heat – Triumphant despite the facts – Boom! The other thing that comes to mind is that “Mother’s song.” The one that goes,
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There are two interesting Chinese documentaries streaming on Netflix right now: Weijun Chen’s Please Vote for Me (2007) and Lixin Fan’s Last Train Home (2010). In Chen’s movie, a third grade class experiences democracy firsthand when they hold an election for “Class Monitor.” Fan’s Last Train Home uses the difficulties of securing a train home
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I jumped on the bandwagon and posted a reaction on Rice Daddies to Amy Chua’s article and book about the differences between Chinese “Tiger Mothers” and Western mothers (Can we call them Lambs?) But I’m not done yet. I have more to say to the Tiger Mother — And I know I do so at
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http://www.youtube.com/v/tI_Rzl6KSYs?hl=en&hd=1<\/embed><\/object><\/div>";” alt=””> Two of my favorite holiday movies are Miracle on 34th Street and Bass and Rankin’s The Year Without a Santa Claus because they address questions of belief and faith. Not the religious interpretations of the words but the parental version: What we tell our children they are too old to do and believe
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http://www.youtube.com/v/-EDAjoLGQyQ&hl=en<\/embed><\/object><\/div>";” alt=””> I’ve been calling it my “succumbing to mid-life crisis” purchase (in addition to the electric guitar). For my birthday this year I bought myself a Playstation 3 (or as the young people refer to it – a PS3). I convinced myself that the PS3 was more than just a video game console –
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http://www.youtube.com/v/Dj4H3Ioxs6s&hl=en<\/embed><\/object><\/div>";” alt=””> Even before my eldest could write proper words, I made him keep a journal. I was inspired by a friend of ours whose daughter (same age as my eldest) kept a sketchbook diary – images of events she felt were important to record. Every week I would ask him to “write” – usually
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http://www.youtube.com/v/pZPNQK3k8Yo&hl=en<\/embed><\/object><\/div>";” alt=””> I grew up among a handful of Chinese families in Hollis, Queens. I have been mugged three times in my neighborhood. When I was 12, two or three kids around my age tackled me off my bike, kicked me, told me: “This is our neighborhood! Go back to China you Fuckin’ Chink!” They
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http://www.youtube.com/v/7uSVzYE4oy0&hl=en<\/embed><\/object><\/div>";” alt=””> It’s not hard to draw comparisons between the new century vilification of Mexicans and the turn of the century vilification of the Chinese just leafing through Jean Pfaelzer’s Driven Out – Although the poorest of the poor, the Chinese bore the blame for the era’s widespread hunger and homelessness… Racial stereotypes began to
Vincent Young 