Huron High School student group to host Pizza Showdown to benefit children in Kenya

Check out what our apia teens and friends are doing at Huron High School this Friday night, November 30, 2012! Yay Andy, Hanel, Atulya, Kevin, et al!

A group of Huron High School students have organized a Friday night event that is sure to leave attendees feeling full and satisfied in more ways than one, with all-you-can-eat pizza and supporting a good cause.

From 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, more than 100 pizzas will be delivered to the Huron cafeteria for a Pizza Showdown — an event that combines local business promotion, community camaraderie and good food together with helping sick and needy children in Kenya.

A new Huron after-school club called Youth Impact is organizing the showdown. It costs $5 for students and $10 for adults to attend.

The money generated will be given to the Take Heart Association's Hearts for Kids project. The Take Heart Association (THAP) strives to provide life-saving surgeries, support, resources and hope to families of underprivileged children in Kenya and East Africa who suffer from heart defects and disease, THAP's website says.

click on link for whole article: Huron High School student group to host Pizza Showdown to benefit children in Kenya

Chicago is the World » Possibility. Imagination. Conversations to remember. A Future for all of us.

The annual University of Michigan Natural History Museum Halloween party is packed, the girls all dressed as princesses and fairies, the boys all dressed as autobots and ninjas. My son, eight-year-old Little Brother, is a pirate. I am Hello Kitty Gangnam Style. We come every year for the science and the stories, the dinosaurs and the whales (Yay Professor Gingerich!). 

This day, I get such a sense of possibility from this short multiculti crowd. There do not seem to be any limits as boys and girls of so many different races and ethnicities imagine what they could be. Anyone could be a doctor, anyone could be a scientist, as little hands explore the surfaces of mammoth and mastodon teeth. 

Imagination has no limits today. I love that about Halloween. 

Education has no barriers today either. I love that about the Natural History Museum. (Whenever we talk about Chicago, eight-year-old Little Brother has only one word, “Sue.”) 

Even now, three weeks later, the memories of this day and the imagination it inspires insulate me from the hateful racist and sexist rhetoric churning outside my door. I want to believe that this hopeful future is what is real and all that crazy stuff in the news—from the Petraeus et al affairs to talk of secession to the Arizona woman who ran over her husband for not voting—is not. Really, don’t we all just want to educate our kids and share a little bit of candy? 

Funny how we sometimes need to step outside of reality a moment in order to see what is real.

click on link for whole article: Chicago is the World » Possibility. Imagination. Conversations to remember. A Future for all of us.

EMPOWERMENT: Presented by UAAO Board and Kappa Phi Lambda

So pleased to be invited to be a part of this courageous event at University of Michigan on Wednesday, although sad about the motivating events.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012, 6:00 pm, Kalamazoo Room, Michigan League, University of Michigan

UAAO Board would like to invite you and your general members to attend EMPOWERMENT co-hosted by Kappa Phi Lambda. This event has been triggered by many cases of gender/sexuality-based assault. We believe that this needs to be brought to the attention of everyone in the A/PIA community. During this event we will have a presentation by SAPAC (Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center), a facilitated dialogue and discussion. CAPS (Counseling and Psychological Services) will also be present to provide addi
tional support.

click on link for more: EMPOWERMENT: Presented by UAAO Board and Kappa Phi Lambda

LifeLong Learning @ WCC › Browse All Classes › Writing & Literature

Jumpstart your Memoir starts this weekend, December 1 and 8, at Washtenaw Community College:

LifeLong Learning @ WCC › Browse All Classes › Writing & Literature

Making Teriyaki Sauce for Thanksgiving Eve - NAM EthnoBlog

My 16-year-old daughter Hao Hao texts me from school, “We should make teriyaki sauce.” 

Students are not supposed to text during school so my stock answer used to be, “Why are you texting me from class?” Instead, I check the clock and smile. It is lunchtime. I have grown used to these delightful lunchtime missives. She often texts me photographs of her friends’ lunches that are so much better than what I packed for her. One friend’s mom writes lovely love notes in an elegant cursive every day…on a banana. You can practically hear her chirpy English accent in her curlicues. I try to copy, but my messy Sharpie printing falling off the mottled banana’s curves simply is not the same. Still, Hao Hao texts me photographs of the two bananas comparing notes. And her friends are amused by the pseudo banana rivalry.

Today’s message, however, is about Thanksgiving Eve. Every year, we celebrate one night early, on Wednesday—hence the name, Thanksgiving Eve—with a big international potluck with about sixty of our closest friends. Our friends bring the most amazing spread, from all corners of the world, and for years we never bothered with a turkey. However, an unexpected gift of a turkey one year challenged me to attempt a teriyaki turkey with sticky rice stuffing (I generally do not cook meat). Last year, I learned how to make teriyaki sauce from scratch.

click on link for more: Making Teriyaki Sauce for Thanksgiving Eve - NAM EthnoBlog

Kartika Review: Issue 14, Fall 2012 [FULL COLOR] by Christine Lee Zilka (Paperback) - Lulu

Full-color copies of Kartika Review on sale NOW until November 27 when you order from Lulu.com with the code DELIRITAS. Treat yourself or someone else. Support this literary nonprofit!

full color version: Kartika Review: Issue 14, Fall 2012 [FULL COLOR] by Christine Lee Zilka (Paperback) - Lulu www.lulu.com

black and white version:Kartika Review: Issue 14, Fall 2012 by Christine Lee Zilka (Paperback) - Lulu www.lulu.com

IMDiversity Creating Our Own Thanksgiving, Asian American-style » IMDiversity

An old favorite that disappeared off the web and then reappeared again...

IMDiversity Creating Our Own Thanksgiving, Asian American-style » IMDiversity

Asian American Thanksgiving « The Plaid Bag Connection

hey, that's me he's quoting...

Asian American Thanksgiving « The Plaid Bag Connection

InCultureParent | Creating Our Own Thanksgiving Asian-American Style

An old story I wrote about my childhood, learning from my neighbors the Shigematsus how Thanksgiving could whatever we wanted it to be--teriyaki turkey and sweet potato tempura--and creating our own Asian American Thanksgiving...dusted off from the archives and reprised for InCultureParent Magazine:

My mother is one of the world’s greatest cooks. She never reads any cookbooks, and her dishes are never fancy or complicated. Yet every night we sit down to a delicious dinner of soup, greens, tofu or bean sprouts, stir fried chicken or beef, and rice. The sounds of the vegetables hitting the oil and the fragrant smells wafting through the house call us to dinner before my mom can. Every dish complements the others in color, taste, and texture. One will be green, another white; another will have red or orange accents. One dish will be crunchy, one crisp, and one creamy. Meals are perfectly balanced, just as she wishes our lives to be.

Except for Thanksgiving dinner.

When I was growing up, my family always tried to celebrate it like other American families did. It was one of the few days my father got off from work. My mother tried to cook a rare special dinner of “American food” as a treat. And it was the only day of the year my father led us in a prayer of thanks before we ate.

I never understood why other Americans got so excited about Thanksgiving. I understood the giving thanks part. I was thankful, too, for the freedoms and opportunities our family has had in America. But it was also a holiday about food, and the food, as I experienced it, was so bland and unappetizing. How do they eat it, I wondered, let alone celebrate it?

click on link for whole article: InCultureParent | Creating Our Own Thanksgiving Asian-American Style

Chicago is the World » Making Teriyaki Sauce for Thanksgiving Eve

Happy Thanksgiving Eve to all our friends and family both near and far!

My 16-year-old daughter Hao Hao texts me from school, “We should make teriyaki sauce.”

Students are not supposed to text during school so my stock answer used to be, “Why are you texting me from class?” Instead, I check the clock and smile. It is lunchtime. I have grown used to these delightful lunchtime missives. She often texts me photographs of her friends’ lunches that are so much better than what I packed for her. One friend’s mom writes lovely love notes in an elegant cursive every day…on a banana. You can practically hear her chirpy English accent in her curlicues. I try to copy, but my messy Sharpie printing falling off the mottled banana’s curves simply is not the same. Still, Hao Hao texts me photographs of the two bananas comparing notes. And her friends are amused by the pseudo banana rivalry.

Today’s message, however, is about Thanksgiving Eve. Every year, we celebrate one night early, on Wednesday—hence the name, Thanksgiving Eve—with a big international potluck with about sixty of our closest friends. Our friends bring the most amazing spread, from all corners of the world, and for years we never bothered with a turkey. However, an unexpected gift of a turkey one year challenged me to attempt a teriyaki turkey with sticky rice stuffing (I generally do not cook meat).

Last year, I learned how to make teriyaki sauce from scratch.

click here for whole article: Chicago is the World » Making Teriyaki Sauce for Thanksgiving Eve

"Imaginary Affairs" at the University of Michigan Library

My book, "Imaginary Affairs--Postcards from an Imagined Life," is going into the University of Michigan library! Cool! Check this: "On behalf of the Regents of the University of Michigan, I thank you for the generous gift you have given to the Library. I will process the gift and will be shelved accordingly." 

if you don't want to have to wander the stacks, go to Blacklava:

http://www.blacklava.net/#/item/frances_kai-hwa_wang_imaginary_affairs_chapbook

Teaching Ethical Wills: Writing a Love Letter to Your Family

I'll be teaching
Wednesday, March 13 and 20, 2013, 10am-12pm
Adult Learning Institute, Cedars of Dexter
Ethical Wills: Writing a Love Letter to Your Family

AADL children's program on Asian harvest festivals November 18

I will be presenting a children's program on Asian harvest festivals today, Sunday November 18, 2012, 2:00-3:30 pm, at the Downtown branch of the Ann Arbor District Library, downstairs in the multipurpose room. I'll be bringing Chinese, Indian, and Korean dancers, Taiwanese harp music, and i'm going to talk about different cultural traditions (Mid-Autumn Moon festival, Diwali, Chuseok) and do some stories. There will also be crafts and snacks afterwards. Should be fun! Hope to see you there!

from aadl.org:

Learn, share and enjoy treats as we celebrate a jumble of traditions from Asia with music and crafts that the whole family will enjoy! AADL's Family Cultural Celebrations highlight the communities from around the world that live in Ann Arbor. For all ages.

http://www.aadl.org/events/list?id=15797

Opening of UM Understanding Race Project: New Exhibits Look at Race In Our Community

With the inimitable La'Ron Williams and the silky-voiced photographer Mohammed Langston at the opening of Mohammed Langston's photography exhibit "Glimpse: People of our Community" and Laurie White's video "Race in this Place: A Community Conversation" at the UM Understanding Race Project: New Exhibits Look at Race In Our Community at University of Michigan Museum of Natural History. 

More at http://www.lsa.umich.edu/ummnh/exhibits/temporaryexhibits 

UM Understanding Race Project: New Exhibits Look at Race In Our Community Public reception

I'm going to be part of photographer Mohammed Langston's exhibit "Glimpse: People of our Community" and Laurie White's video "Race in this Place: A Community Conversation" both of which will be at the UM Understanding Race Project: New Exhibits Look at Race In Our Community Public reception, Friday, November 16, 6-8 pm University of Michigan Museum of Natural History 1109 Geddes Ave. UnderstandingRaceProject.org

Possibility. Imagination. Conversations to remember. A Future for all of us. | Chicagoistheworld.org

The annual University of Michigan Natural History Museum Halloween party is packed, the girls all dressed as princesses and fairies, the boys all dressed as autobots and ninjas. My son, eight-year-old Little Brother, is a pirate. I am Hello Kitty Gangnam Style. We come every year for the science and the stories, the dinosaurs and the whales (Yay Professor Gingerich!).

This day, I get such a sense of possibility from this short multiculti crowd. There do not seem to be any limits as boys and girls of so many different races and ethnicities imagine what they could be. Anyone could be a doctor, anyone could be a scientist, as little hands explore the surfaces of mammoth and mastodon teeth.

Imagination has no limits today. I love that about Halloween.

Education has no barriers today either. I love that about the Natural History Museum. (Whenever we talk about Chicago, eight-year-old Little Brother has only one word, “Sue.”)

Even now, three weeks later, the memories of this day and the imagination it inspires insulate me from the hateful racist and sexist rhetoric churning outside my door. I want to believe that this hopeful future is what is real and all that crazy stuff in the news—from the Petraeus et al affairs to talk of secession to the Arizona woman who ran over her husband for not voting—is not. Really, don’t we all just want to educate our kids and share a little bit of candy?

Funny how we sometimes need to step outside of reality a moment in order to see what is real.

click on link for whole article: _____________

Ann Arbor District Library Asian Fusion Harvest Festival

I'll be telling stories and bringing dancing girls to the Ann Arbor District Library Asian Fusion Fall Harvest Festival

From AADL:
Asian Fusion Harvest Festival 

Join us, along with Frances Kai-Hwa Wang and Katie Mashio, for a celebration of rich Asian tradition through storytelling, dancing, and crafts on Sunday, November 18th at 2:00 pm. Chinese harp, Korean and Indian dancers, Japanese origami, mooncake mazes and little Asian snacks will be on the ticket for the whole family!

http://www.aadl.org/node/219193

Trying to Understand the Entitlement Ethos in Abigail Fisher v University of Texas and Republican Party Post-Election - NAM EthnoBlog

In New America Media's Ethnoblog:

This time of year, I spend a lot of time sitting in cafes with my friends’ children, helping them with their college application essays. (The University of Michigan’s early decision deadline is November 1.) Reading their essays is such a privilege, such a window into their worlds (that they often do not even share with their own parents). I learn so much about ethical dilemmas they have faced, challenges they have overcome, their diverse communities, their families, their dreams. Working on successive drafts together, I ask questions and push for clarification, and these teenagers that I have watched grow up and who thought they knew it all realize that there is more to learn, more to write, more that can be done. The difference between first and last drafts is stunning. 

Going through this process with them always reminds me of when I applied to college. I applied to nine universities—Harvard, Princeton, Berkeley, Stanford, Dartmouth, Georgetown, etc. My friends and I were debaters, all so cocky and sure about ourselves. We had serious discussions about whether or not we would turn down Stanford in favor of Berkeley, Harvard in favor of Stanford. When the acceptance and rejection letters began coming in, it was quite humbling that of those nine applications, I was only accepted into my safety school. Of course, my safety school was UC Berkeley, which still says volumes, but I learned a huge lesson in humility that year, and I am better for it.

click on link for whole article: Trying to Understand the Entitlement Ethos in Abigail Fisher v University of Texas and Republican Party Post-Election - NAM EthnoBlog

Chicago is the World » Trying to Understand the Entitlement Ethos in Abigail Fisher v University of Texas and Republican Party Post-Election

A small argument. A simple confusion. My latest article inChicago is the World. While helping friends' kids with their college application essays, I simply do not understand the entitlement ethos of abigail fisher v university of texas and republicans post-election.

This time of year, I spend a lot of time sitting in cafes with my friends’ children, helping them with their college application essays. (The University of Michigan’s early decision deadline is November 1.) Reading their essays is such a privilege, such a window into their worlds (that they often do not even share with their own parents). I learn so much about ethical dilemmas they have faced, challenges they have overcome, their diverse communities, their families, their dreams. Working on successive drafts together, I ask questions and push for clarification, and these teenagers that I have watched grow up and who thought they knew it all realize that there is more to learn, more to write, more that can be done. The difference between first and last drafts is stunning.

Going through this process with them always reminds me of when I applied to college. I applied to nine universities—Harvard, Princeton, Berkeley, Stanford, Dartmouth, Georgetown, etc. My friends and I were debaters, all so cocky and sure about ourselves. We had serious discussions about whether or not we would turn down Stanford in favor of Berkeley, Harvard in favor of Stanford. When the acceptance and rejection letters began coming in, it was quite humbling that of those nine applications, I was only accepted into my safety school. Of course, my safety school was UC Berkeley, which still says volumes, but I learned a huge lesson in humility that year, and I am better for it.

So I am really puzzled by people like Abigail Fisher of the current US Supreme Court case Abigail Fisher v University of Texas. A mediocre student, the University of Texas insists that she simply was not good enough, but she is certain that the reason she was not accepted is because of affirmative action and less-qualified minorities. This case also pulls Asian Americans into the argument.

Lots of folks have already written about the legal dimensions of this case, and it is complex, but I am curious about the sense of entitlement that makes her so certain that it is the fault of others that she did not get in.

click link for whole article: Chicago is the World » Trying to Understand the Entitlement Ethos in Abigail Fisher v University of Texas and Republican Party Post-Election

Han SuYin The Mountain is Young

Woke to the news that author Han SuYin has passed away at age 96. Forget Love is a Many Splendored Thing. The book to read is The Mountain is Young. HOT hapa - desi love story. Set in 1950's Kathmandu against the backdrop of the King's coronation (LOVE the charismatic Boris), the valley is gorgeous, the cultural festivals not exoticized, with a woman writer, stifling marriage, voyage of self-discovery, the swagger of international development, and did i mention HOT hapa - desi love story (before folks even identified that way).

http://www.amazon.com/The-Mountain-Young-Han-Suyin/dp/0224602519

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/06/world/asia/han-suyin-dies-wrote-sweeping-fiction.html

On the Blacklava landing page :)

hey look i'm on the landing page of Ryan Suda Blacklava! Check out my steamy red chapbook, "Imaginary Affairs--Postcards from an Imagined Life." Thanks Ryan!http://blacklava.net/

Taiwan Academy/ Ann Arbor Chinese Center of Michigan event

Moderating a Taiwan Academy/ Ann Arbor Chinese Center of Michigan (AACCOM) Chinese as a foreign language event tonight. Little kids are adorable! #annarbor

Chinese American Jazz musician Jon Jang at University of Michigan

Guest Lecture by Asian American Movement Musician Jon Jang “One Day American, One Day Alien: a Survey of Artists of Color Who Changed the National Anthem" THURSDAY NOV. 8, 2012 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM, American Culture Conference Room, 3512 Haven Hall, University of Michigan apiastudies.events@umich.edu.

Chinese American Jazz concert with Jon Jang Tuesday, Nov 13, Rackham Auditorium, 7:30pm, University of Michigan. 

POTUS. SO. AWESOME.

POTUS. SO. AWESOME. no more apologies from me for being idealistic and hopeful. time to write. :)

ITADAKIMASU! A Taste of Nikkei Culture -- The Aunties at Temple

So pleased to be included in Discover Nikkei's ITADAKIMASU! A Taste of Nikkei Culture

The Aunties at Temple By Frances Kai-Hwa Wang

I see in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald newspaper that novelist Lois-Ann Yamanaka is reading at the Kinoole Farmer’s Market. “Jean Yamanaka” is the contact name, so she must be in town visiting her mom or other relatives. I love her work and plan to go, excitedly gathering up all her novels to ask her to sign.

But instead, the books bake in my car as I let myself get caught up with the older Japanese American ladies at the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist temple.

click on link for whole article: http://5dn.org/e0ef42c

Thanks to M for the photograph.

‎#IVOTED How about you?

‎#IVOTED How about you? Make sure to make your loved ones (and not so loved ones) vote!

http://chicagoistheworld.org/2012/10/what-do-you-mean-you-dont-vote-how-can-you-not-vote/

My Bio for Miso for Life: A Melting Pot of Thoughts

My bio for Miso for Life: A Melting Pot of Thoughts (Access Media Group, December 2012) is now up. With a great big photograph of me and the handsome fella in my love story. Book Launch celebration on December 8, 2012: http://www.ameltingpotofthoughts.com/archives/friends/frances-wang

Kartika Review 5th Anniversary Edition out now!

Read my love letter to ♥ Ryan Suda ♥ "Did you eat? means...I love you" written on the occasion of BlacklavaBlacklava 20 Year Anniversary Celebration! now published inKartika Review with new artwork! Read online athttp://kartikareview.com/?page_id=8

From editor Jennifer Derilo:

Happy 5th Anniversary, Kartika Review!
Kicked it off right with the gorgeous artwork ofJooYoung Choi and the ingenious cover design of Ligaya King. The CNF section is rightfully impressive with the essays of Jo Hsu, Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, and Jimin Han. There's stunning poetry by Rachelle Cruz and Khaty Xiong. Finally, the fiction is jaw-dropping good with An Tran, Kiki Whang, Naomi Williams (fave short story), and Ramola D.
It's FREE to read online, friends. Sink your teeth, feast your eyes. 

To purchase print copies, see: (and 20% off if purchase today Nov 1 code BRAINFOOD!)

Regular version, $11:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/christine-lee-zilka-and-jennifer-derilo-and-kenji-liu-and-sunny-woan/kartika-review-issue-14-fall-2012/paperback/product-20484529.html

Full color version (for the artwork), $24:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/christine-lee-zilka-and-jennifer-derilo-and-kenji-liu-and-sunny-woan/kartika-review-issue-14-fall-2012-full-color/paperback/product-20484548.html