CHOW: Janice Wong has successful book launch at Sylvia Hotel
Janice Wong
wrote some stories about her father and his Chinese restaurant a few years ago as a gift for her family, and paired them with his recipes that she had found. Before she knew it, she had created a new genre of cookbooks.
“Janice knows a lot of people,” smiled Alicia Schlagg, Marketing coordinator for Whitecap Books. She was very pleased as author Janice Wong signed autographs and posed for pictures with family and friends. It was a busy crowd at the Sylvia Hotel on Wednesday evening, Oct 12th. Whitecap Books had taken over the restaurant, wine was served along with mandarin oranges, and many bouquets of unique flowers had been brought by admirers to mark this special
occasion.
I walked in and quickly spotted my grandmother, and her younger brother Dan Lee. I greeted her cousin Josie (Janice Wong’s aunt), and Janice’s cousin Rick Lum. These are all relatives that I had known and grown up with since I was a little boy. At the same table sat Janice’s mother
Mary, who had flown in from Saskatoon. I find it hard to believe that I only met Janice two months ago, when she e-mailed me looking for an e-mail list for the Rev. Chan family descendants.
Who else did I see? Larry Wong, now president of the Chinese Canadian Historical Association of BC. Larry has arranged to have Janice present her book, along with Paul Yee at the Vancouver Museum on ???. Larry will also be part of a panel discussion on growing up with chinese restaurants at the West Vancouver Memorial Library on Oct 18, where Janice Wong will present a slide show. I will also be part of the presentation sharing my experiences of Chinese Restaurants, and the importance of Chinese food, as I have developed haggis wun-tun
and the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners.
Janice’s book, CHOW, really is amazing. It is filled with pictures and stories about her father, her family, the restaurant where she grew up in Prince Albert Saskatchewan. Recipes alternate with
pictures and stories, giving a context to how and when certain dishes would be created and served, as well as eaten. The recipes come alive, as you can read the stories and imagine all the family members sitting around you, or her father Dennis Wong in the kitchen.
I opened the book and found stories about Great-grand uncle Luke who went to Hollywood and became an actor, starring and supporting in movies with Clark Gable and Gary Cooper. A story about Rev. Chan Yu Tan, reveals the name of his wife Wong Chiu Lin, whom nobody in my
family could remember except as “Tai-poh” (great-grandmother) or as Mrs. Chan.
Harvey Lowe the Yo-Yo King, is a friend of Dennis Wong, inviting Janice’s father to go to England with him, but Dennis’s parents forbade him, never imagining that Harvey Lowe will go on to tour the world and perform yo-yo tricks on the Smothers Brothers TV show, for Nat King
Cole, and for royalty.
At the end of the evening, Janice is still beaming widely. She is still signing autographs when I pull her away to take a family picture, because Aunt Josie and my grandmother – both in the 90’s have to leave.
“Have you met Toddish McWong, yet?” Janice asks a friend. She introduces me to her friends and says, “My friend Robin has wanted to meet you for years.” She adds later, “We will have to get a table and attend the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner this time.”
I think to myself, that there will be ways to feature CHOW at the dinner – maybe as a raffle prize or silent auction prize. Imagine winning a private Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner in your home with chefs Toddish McWong and Janice Wong, along with a copy of CHOW.
CHOW is an accessible recipe book, that is sure to be a Christmas gift for many people as it will be at home on the coffee table, next to the photo albums, or the kitchen.
pictures from the book launch and book review of chow to come….
“The destruction of the Kogawa home would be a great loss of cultural
heritage for Vancouver, for British Columbia, and for Canada. Although
Canada scored high on the recent all-nations report card, it scored low
on culture, history and heritage. Why destroy more of this precious
asset?”
Here is an update on the Kogawa Homestead demolition situation:
Nov 21, 2003, Kogawa House property, assessed at $426,100, sold for $475,00
to Vancouver resident Su Shen
Sept 20, 2005 - Vancouver City Council passes motion to plant cherry tree grafts at city hall from Kogawa Homestead
Sept 21 - Demolition inquiry for Kogawa Homestead made
Sept 23 - Naomi's Road Opera excerpts performed at Vancouver Arts Awards - City Councillor Jim Green informs audience about the demolition threat to Kogawa Homestead.
Sept 24 - Joy recieveds Community Builders Award from Asian Canadian Writers Workshop, at Ricepaper Magazine 10th Anniversary Celebration - other recipients include Scott McIntyre and Gim Wong.
Sept 25 - Joy Kogawa speaks at Word On The Street book and magazine fair, as part of wrap up celebrations for Vancouver Public Library's One Book One Vancouver Program.
Sept 30 to Oct 2 - World Premiere of Vancouver Opera production "Naomi's Road," at Norman Rothstein Theatre in Vancouver.
Oct 13 - Margaret Atwood makes statement supporting preservation of the Kogawa childhood home which figures prominently in the books Obasan, and Naomi's Road
Jeff Chiba Stearns: Kelowna Filmmaker Wins Best Animation Award at International Film Festival
Growing up between two cultures can be a challenge. Whether I
was in elementary school, high school or college, I often got asked:
“What's your nationality?” or “Where did you come from?” or “What's
your ethnic background?”
“I'm a CBC,” I would sometimes say, “that's Canadian Born
Chinese.” Or sometimes I would reply simply, “Canadian,” or
“What's it to you?” But moreoften I inform people, “I'm fifth
generation Chinese-Canadian.” I say this because I am proud of my
family and ethnic heritage that has a presence in three Canadian
centuries from 1888 to 2005.
Jeff Chiba Stearns grew up in Kelowna
with Japanese and European/British heritage. He created a
wonderful animation film titled “What Are You Really?” that captures
the struggles of dealing with racial identities, looks and cultural
heritage. He does this in a very fun way. I recommend
watching the film, and I hope to have Jeff and his film as a featured
guest at the next Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner – January 22, 2006.
Below are excerpts from Jeff's press release.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
October 12, 2005
Kelowna
Filmmaker wins the Best Animation Award at the 2005 Los Angeles ARPA
International Film Festival for his animated film, “What Are You
Anways?” about life growing up in Kelowna being half-Japanese.
Jeff Chiba Stearns was in Hollywood
last week attending the 2005 8th Annual Los Angeles ARPA International
Film Festival where his short animated film, “What Are You Anyways?”
screened. The festival took place at the prestigious Arclight Theatre
on Sunset Blvd from October 3rd to the 6th with an Awards Gala on
October 7th. The Awards Gala was held at the legendary Hollywood Hotel
Roosevelt on Hollywood Blvd.
Jeff was nominated as part of a competition with five other animated
films and the jury awarded Jeff the Best Animation Award at the Awards
Gala Event.
“I'm thrilled and
honored to have received the Best Animation Award at this year's Los
Angeles ARPA International Film Festival. It is a great opportunity to
receive such international recognition of my work. I can only hope
that this will only be the start of the success my film will encounter
on a world stage,” Jeff said after receiving the award. He also
mentioned, “It was also pretty cool getting to sit with Danica
Mckellar, 'Winnie Cooper' from the hit TV show the Wonder Years, who
also had a film up for nomination during the awards ceremony. I grew
up with that show and she was really happy to see me win the award.”
“What Are You Anyways?” has been having incredible success on the film
festival circuit having screened at over 15 international film
festivals so far after less than a year of release. Some notable
international film festivals include the Maui, San Diego Asian, Chicago Children's International, Toronto Reel Asian, Vancouver Asian, Newport Beach, Delray Beach,
and Dallas Asian Film Festivals. After winning the award at the ARPA
Film Festival, Jeff was approached with an offer from Norooz
Productions, an LA based animation studio, to possibly develop and have
Jeff direct a half hour big budget animation special based on Jeff's
film, “What Are You Anyways?”
“What Are You
Anyways?” has broadcast nationally on the CBC twice so far and Jeff has
also secured distribution of his film with the National Film Board of
Canada to distribute it across Canada and beyond. Kelowna
residents and anyone else who is interested on how they can obtain DVD
copies of “What Are You Anyways?” can order them by emailing Jeff at meditatingbunny@hotmail.com Info and a trailer for the film are available
at www.meditatingbunny.com Jeff is currently the classical animation instructor at the Centre for Arts and Technology in Kelowna.
FILM COMMISION HQ wrote this about the ARPA International Film Festival:
“The Arpa
International Film Festival is one of the most dynamic and, in a world
increasingly dependent upon cultural understanding, perhaps the most
important niche festivals of our time.
The Arpa International
Film Festival is dedicated to cultivating cultural understanding and
global empathy, creating a dynamic forum for international cinema with
a special focus on the work of filmmakers who explore the issues of
Diaspora, exile, and cross- and multi-culturalism. And it celebrates
the ideals of independent thought, artistic vision, cultural diversity
and social understanding.”
Follow the
adventures of the Super Nip as filmmaker Jeff Chiba Stearns explores
his cultural backgrounds growing up a mix of Japanese and Caucasian in
a small white-bred Canadian city. This short classically animated film
looks at particular periods in Jeff’s life where he battled with
finding an identity being a half minority – from his childhood origins
to the epic showdown against the monster truck drivin’ redneck crew.
“What Are You Anyways?” is a humorous yet serious story of struggle and
love and finding one’s identity through the trials and tribulations of
growing up.
Visiting Saltspring Island: A BC paradise – but please… don't tell anyone!
I visited Saltspring Island 10 days ago, and didn't take a camera nor
wrote a word about it yet…. not because it wasn't worthy – but
because it pretty well left me speechless, and I have wanted to let it
sink in, savour it repeatedly, and absorb it completely.
The summer dragon boat paddling season is finally
over. We started paddling in April and finished paddling in
September on
Labour Day weekend, with a wrap up dinner with surprise gifts for all
paddlers attending!. And during these past nine months from February to October we made lots of new
friends, welcomed old friends, and had soooooo much fun!
Not only did we paddle dragon boats, but we carved our own wooden
dragon heads and tails from cedar, put a dragon boat in Vancouver's St.
Patrick's Day Parade, got featured on national television, developed a
reputation as a “real fun” team, hosted parties at The Roxy, made lots
of dragon boat team friends, and raced for medals in every race we
entered.
* Dragon Boat head and tail carving
at the Roundhouse Community Centre and filmed for CBC local news in
February, and featured at ADBF Dragon's Den tent + Sea Vancouver
Festival at Maritime Museum/Kits Point site.
* Dragon Boat float in the Vancouver St. Patrick's Day parade – featuring
special guests City Councillor Ellen Woodsworth and CBC radio
host/reporter Margaret Gallagher in March
* Taking highschool kids from Quebec out for a dragon boat lesson and mini-races
* ADBF regatta in May
* David Lam Award for Best Multicultural Team @ Alcan Dragon Boat Festival in June
*
Hosting after-race parties at The Roxy following ADBF and Taiwanese
races + 3-in-1 parties at the Roxy/Doolin's & The Cellar – always
giving FREE tickets to out-of-town teams from San Francisco, Portland,
Calgary, Tacoma… * + we helped out a lot of other teams such as Chilliwack Pirates,
Tacoma Destiny Dragons, Scaly Justice, The Eh? Team, and especially…. Concord Pacific Flying Dragons winning Gold medals in San Francisco –
Yeah Kristine, Dan and Pam!!!!
* and…. got great compliments on our team-shirts!
* wrap-up dinner on October 2
Did I forget anything? A lot of teams have trouble doing just one or two of the above listed events….
Running a dragon boat team, is similar to owning a motorboat or a
sailboat. It is still a boat on the ocean that is like a hole – you
keep putting money into… but you love it just the same.
Coach Bob Brinson & I really were very very pleased with this year's team. Okay,
we often say each year is the best yet… but the 2005 version was
really special on many many levels. Kristine, Gail, Peggy, Dave Samis
and Deb,have been with the team through many of its different
incarnations, and Craig, Kristine, Dave Montrose, and Dave Samis have
been with me on novice, recreation and competitive teams, as well as
paddling with me on many other teams. We do have something special…
we recognize it, and we give thanks to you all.
The GHFC dragon boat team is something I have nurtured since 2002, and
the GHFC dinner since 1998. Managing, organizing and coaching both is
challenging, and I am thankful for having Bob coach it this year, and
supporting the team as steersperson in the previous years. This year I
gave Coach Bob a nice honorarium, something I have never been able to give
myself for coaching past years. But this year was a stronger year for
fundraising with a good GHFC dinner of 600 people, and $1000 from the
Roxy, + some fundraising parties at the Roxy throughout the year.
Many people have asked for off-season activities for physical
exercise… Here's an idea: a different event each month. Indoor
Rockclimbing, roller hockey, floor hocky, volleyball, badminton,
waterslides… just something fun, and social – this will also aid in
planning for next year's dragon boat team and GHFC fundraiser dinner.
For 2006, I would like to see 2 GHFC dragon boat teams. One for
beginners, and One for experienced paddlers – mix them all up, and have
double the fun we had this year.
Join the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team by calling me – Todd
Wong at 604-987-7124 or e-mail gunghaggis
@ yahoo.ca
There are the tell tale signs that plans for development are
planned. There are paint markings on the sidewalk and street
marked “W” and “S”- I assume for Water and Sewer.
The house is quaint looking with a white picket fence on 64th
Ave. There are houses next to it and across the street that
are new. I am surprised that this little house is still standing,
when the many of the same era houses have long since been bulldozed in
favor of newer houses.
But, an application for demolition is expected soon. An inquiry
by an architectural firm to City Hall was made two weeks ago, prompting
the revitalization of the “Save the Kogawa Homestead” committee.
This simple house, is the only “publicly known” house that was
confiscated by the Canadian Government during WW2, after Canadian born
citizens of Japanese descent were sent to internment camps as “enemy
aliens.” Last week, I talked with Reiko at the Japanese Canadian National Museum,
and she said this was the only house that is identifed with known
cultural value. There are many houses that were confiscated and
later
sold at cheap prices as the “owners” were not expected to return.
But this house is special. Joy Kogawa wrote about it in her novel
Obasan, and subsequent children's version Naomi's Road. She
left the house at age 6, to be re-located at a camp in Slocan BC.
And forever after, the house represented a time of happiness, and the
best home she lived in, as the family was forced to live in chicken
coops, shacks, and other housing. Joy became an active part of
the Redress for Japanese-Canadian Internees. She recieved the
Order of Canada.
Obasan became one of the most celebrated Canadian novels, and was
ranked the 11th most influential Canadian novel by Quill and
Quire. Roy Miki calls it the most significant Canadian novel of
the last 20 years. The Vancouver Opera, commissioned a opera
based on Naomi's Road. Obasan was chosen as the 2005 selection
for Vancouver Public Library's award winning One Book One Vancouver
program.
Please sign the petition to preserve the Kogawa Homestead. Click on the white banner – this will forward you to an on-line petition.
Scotland wants to recruit Scottish-Canadians to “Come Ye Back” not matter how ancient the link
I found the following article in today's issue of the National Post.
The paper featured a front-page picture of nine prominent Canadians
with Scottish connections, such as musicians Natalie McMaster,
Asheley McIssac, actress Neve Campbell, Prime Miniser Paul Martin, and deputy Conservative Party leader Peter McKay.
TOUR WILL TARGET SCOTS LIVING IN CANADA
RECRUITMENT DRIVE
By RANDY BOSWELL
Scotland's top politician will use a tour of Canada this month to
target millions of Canadians of Scottish ancestry with an invitation to
“return home” and reverse the centuries-old, westward flow of wealth
and talent across the North Atlantic.
The recruitment drive by Scottish First Minister Jack McConnell, not
yet officially announced but revealed in British news reports,
coincides with the inauguration of a Scottish investment office in
Toronto and an aggressive effort by the semi-autonomous state to end a
crippling brain drain and bolster its economic fortunes.
“Scotland is an ideal place to live, learn and work,” said Lorna Jack,
head of the Americas branch of Scottish Development International. “We
are bringing this message to interested parties and expats across North
America and beyond.”
The campaign, to “win back” Scottish expatriates, as well as Canadians
with more distant links to the “auld” country, includes an
Edinburgh-backed research project at B.C.'s Simon Fraser University,
which is compiling a detailed profile of this country’s
Scottish-Canadian population.
“It is not just about the locations and incomes of Scottish-Canadians,
but about the history and culture of the Scots in Canada,” Harry
McGrath, the Glasgow-born co-ordinator of Simon Fraser's Centre for
Scottish Studies, told CanWest News Service by e-mail. “It is part of a
general effort to link modern Scotland to, and inform it about, its
diaspora which, in my opinion, is long overdue.”
Part of McConnell's sales pitch in Canada, according to the Sunday
Herald, will be that Scotland is a dynamic modern nation and “no longer
a land of tartan, haggis and Braveheart.”
And The Sunday Times reported that famous Scots such as actor Sir Sean
Connery and singer Annie Lennox might be called upon to promote
investment and tourism among the children of Scotland's diaspora, all
part of the strategy to “lure descendants of Scottish- emigrants” back
home from Canada.
McGrath noted that before Britain devolved self-governing powers to
Scotland, “there was very little effort being made in this area and
when people left the country, as so many did, they were gone and
forgotten except by those closest to them.”
Last year, in a high-profile convocation address at Nova Scotia’s St.
Francis Xavier University, Scotland's top Catholic cleric, Keith
Patrick Cardinal O'Brien, made an impassioned plea to young
Scottish-Canadians to go back “to the home of your ancestors” –
presumably countering efforts by Nova Scotia to stanch its own brain
drain by convincing graduates to stay in the province.
More than four million Canadians claim some degree of Scottish ethnic
heritage. Canada – which traditionally counted the Scottish among its
four founding “races” along with the French, Irish and English – has a
history filled with influential Scots, including 18th-century explorer
Alexander Mackenzie, Confederation-era Prime Minister Sir John A.
Macdonald and telephone inventor, Alexander Graham Bell.
Among other places, McConnell is taking his “come home” message to the
University of Guelph, in the Ontario city founded by the 19th-century
Scottish industrialist John Galt.
On Oct. 28, McConnell is scheduled to visit the university’s collection
of Scottish archival material, the largest in the world outside of
Scotland.
Graeme Morton, the University of Guelph’s chair of Scottish Studies,
said McConnell's campaign to attract Canadian immigrants “puts the boot
on the other foot” after centuries of Scottish emigration to
Canada. But he said both Canada and Scotland would ultimately
gain from increased movement of workers between the two countries.
“I am sure” echoed McGrath, “that the young people going from here to
there will tell others about the place that they came from. I can only
see benefit for both countries in this kind of exchange.”
I Miss My CBC: Check out the latest on CBC'ers blogs
CBC and their largest union, the Canadian Media Guild are wrapping up
the latest talks finally reaching agreement early Monday morning, after
Parliament imposed talks 10 days ago and told the CMG and CBC not to
finish until a settlement had been reached. Reminds me of
parental dispute solving when I was little.
Check out the latest on blogs by CBC's Tod Maffin who organized the brilliant http://cbcunplugged.blogware.com/blog
that went up when the lock out began.
Check out Shelagh Rogers blogging of her trip across Canada http://shelaghcaravan.blogspot.com,
as she was determined to continue to meet and greet, and talk with the
Canadians across our country, wondering how far she would get before
the end of the lock out.
I was glad to see so many locked-out CBC'ers at Word on the
Street. Glad to see that their spirits were not daunted.
Glad to see that their personal committment to the community was
intact, and glad to see them take advantage of the huge crowds at the
fair. And just glad to see so many familar faces that I knew, and
sometimes get hugs from.
Joan Athey gave me a big “I Miss my CBC” sticker, that I wore for the
rest of the day. City Councillor Raymond Louie proudly wore one
when I bumped into him. Kathryn Gretzinger gave me an
enthusiastic greeting, saying that the support really means a lot to
them. I saw Adrienne Wong on stage, and talked with Priya Ramu
and Margaret Gallagher at the event. I wasn't there early
enough to see if they had continued the traditional WOTS pancake
breakfast on the CBC courtyard – as it was still roped off.
Anybody I have talked with in the Vancouver arts community, wished the
lockout over ASAP. Max Wyman called it a “terrible waste.”
Marya Gadison at the Vancovuer Public Library, said it was so hard to
get news out. Many arts organizations really missed the way CBC
Radio supports the arts, and has a loyal following. When I was on
Saltspring Island last week, it was bittersweet hearing so many
bookstores tuned into CBC Radio.
Jeff Chiba Stearns: Kelowna Filmmaker Wins Best Animation Award at International Film Festival
