Category Archives: Cultural Fusion

Last Kilts Night of Summer – Sep 03 @ Doolin's Irish Pub

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LAST KILTS NIGHT of Summer
September 03
Doolin's Irish Pub

Kilts Night at Doolin's has been a tradition since January 1st, 2005. 
That's when Terry “Bear” Varga and I joined Raphael at Doolin's Irish
Pub, when we discovered that the Atlantic Trap and Gill was closed on
New Year's Day.  Kilts Night had been the first Saturday of the month
for awhile… long before me, anyways.

Now we meet at:
Doolin's Irish Pub
Nelson & Granville St.

8:00pm to Midnight
Wear yer Kilt to receive a Free Pint of Guinness

I have 3 kilts + 1 mini-kilt  available for 4 people wanting
a FREE PINT of GUINNESS

9:00pm
LIVE Music w' Halifax Wharf Rats.

The August Kilts Night was GREAT!
We were also invaded by the World Police & Fire Games
What happens when Kilts meet Police athletes from around the world?
We met Spanish female pentathletes and Norwegian male hockey players + a Pub Crawl “from the Troller to the Raven”.

2009_Aug_KiltsNight 004 by you.

Raphael, Todd and Stuart with Spanish pentathletes for World Police & Fire Games
http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/_archives/2009/8/7/4281303.html

http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/_archives/2009/5/8/4179568.html

Powell St. Festival celebrates Japanese Canadian heritage – even if you are half-Japanese or non-Japanese

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I like attending the Powell St. Festival.  Somewhere in my clothes drawer I have a t-shirt from the 10th Anniversary festival back in 1986.

Powell St. Festival '07 - photo by Todd Wong IMG_1459 by Toddish McWong.
This year's Powell Street Festival will take place at Woodland Park – moving Eastward between Clark Drive and Commercial Drive, North of Venables St. – but South of Hastings St. – photo of 2007 festival by Todd Wong

Many of my friends have Japanese ancestry such as Jeff Chiba Stearns, John Endo Greenaway, Julie Tamiko Manning, or Joy Kogawa…. I grew up folding origami cranes, and relating to Japanese culture in a Pan-Asian-Canadian kind of way…

I have even performed my accordion at the Powell St. Festival main stage.  One year I played with my friend Sean Gunn as part of the “Number One Son” band… or maybe it was under the name of “Yellow Lackey Dogs.”

My friend Walter Quan is always there to sell his unique “sushi candles” and once when he was wearing a Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team cotton shirt, he was asked if he was “Todd Wong.”

Walter Quan and his famous sushi candles - photo by Todd Wong IMG_1466 by Toddish McWong. Walter Quan and his sushi candles booth at the 2007 Powell Street Festival – photo Todd Wong

Check out the Powell Street Festival on Saturday and Sunday.

www.powellstreetfestival.com

Here's a great article in the Vancouver Sun by Kevin Griffin:

Powell Street Festival: Metro Vancouver's Japanese Canadians celebrate a resilient culture

Powell Street Festival: Metro Vancouver's Japanese Canadians …

Julia Aoki, volunteer coordinator for the Powell Street Festival. Photograph by: Glenn Baglo, Vancouver Sun. VANCOUVER — Unlike other festivals that strive …


Gung Haggis Fat Choy team prepares for last practice before the Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festiival June 20/21

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It's the last practice before the race: Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team

2009_June_Dragonboats 012 by Toddish McWong.

Gung Haggis team line up at the Dragon Zone regatta on June 6th – photo Todd Wong

The Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival is the largest in North America. Dragon boat racing began in Vancouver BC, when the Hong Kong pavillion at Expo 86 donated 4 teak boats to the City of Vancouver.  I started attending the festivals for the great entertainment and shows.  It wasn't until 1993 that I first joined a team and started paddling.

The Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team has been racing at Alcan Dragon Boat Festival since 2002.  Prior to that I coached and paddled on many different teams at the novice, recreation and competitive levels.  The Gung Haggis team emphasizes fun, fitness and multiculturalism.  That's why we wear our kilts while paddling a Chinese dragon boat tradition.

We have been asked to participate in two film documentaries.  One is a feature film titled “In the Same Boat”, directed by Alfonso Chin and produced by Jacqueline Liu for Rosetta Entertainment.  Alfonso used to paddle for the CC Riders team, and our paddler/drummer Keng Graal used to be one of his teachers.

2009_June_Dragonboats 007 by Toddish McWong Katie, rookie Gung Haggis paddler is interviewed for “In the Same Boat” dragon boat documentary film – photo T.Wong

The second film is a multi-part series called “Chinatown Canada” produced by Kerri Beattie of Image Pacific.  They will be interviewing me about Vancouver Chinatown, and filming our Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team in action, as one of the cultural off shoots of Chinatown.

We are having our final pre-race practice tonight  5:45 to 7:30pm at
Dragon Zone (50 paces south of Science World – at the Green Trailer
Building).

We will be working out our final race strategies, and finalizing seating arrangements.  Some of the paddlers have been away, but have returned just in time.  We have four brand new paddlers who raced their first races ever in May and June.  We have two more brand new paddlers who have yet to experience a full race with 7 or more boats. 

Our core veterans have been with the team for 4 years or more.  We have added some paddlers who have experience with other teams.  This could be the best Gung Haggis team ever.  But our roles at drummer and steers are not settled yet, and we might be rotating people.

Tonight after a debriefing… we are having a team social at “The Clubhouse
Restaurant” on West 2nd – across from City TV, and on the same block as
Bazzaar Novelty.

There is a dvd machine in the upstairs party room.
I will be showing documentary footage of the team from
France 3 “Thalassa” 2005
CBC Generations: The Chan Legacy 2006
ZDF “From Toronto to Vancouver by Train” 2007
but not from the 2008 Global News “Best of BC”


Flower Drum Song hits all the right notes: Vancouverites should see it and demand more!

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Flower Drum Song makes you laugh and sing…
It's Rogers and Hammerstein in 1950's San Francisco Chinatown!

May 29-June 14
Waterfront Theatre
Directed by Rick Tae
Produced by Joyce Lam
Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre
www.vact.ca

This VACT production is amazing, it should become a Vancouver regular.  Who knew Asian Canadians could put on such a good song and dance musical, worthy of being included into “Theatre Under the Stars” or at any of Metro Vancouver's stages. 

Actor Jimmy Yi is a knockout!  He plays Sammy Fong the night club owner who might or might not get married to Linda Low, played coquettishly by Lannette New.  But Linda might also marry Wang Ta, played by Isaac Kwok.  Or Ta might marry Mei Li (Rosie Simon).  And somebody else also has a crush on Ta.  Sound confused?  You should be.  It's a classic Love triangle times 2 with some great songs and dance numbers thrown in.

But then there is also Ta's father Wang Chi Yang, played by BC Lee (now known as the former Vancouver City Councilor), who wants to lay down the family law as he insists that Ta should be married, and sets out to set up a traditional Chinese style arranged marriage.  Gee… Sammy Fong has a picture order bride just arrived into town… how convenient.

Jimmy Yi as Sammy Fong with Lannette New as Linda Low – photo courtesy of VACT

Okay… forget that the characters and the setting are Asians in San Francisco's Chinatown.  This could be a plot similar to Shakespeare's As You Like It, or Gershwin's Girl Crazy, or Lerner and Lowe's Brigadoon, or Rogers and Hammerstein's South Pacific.  Love, trying to find the right person, and the ensuing moral dilemmas are universal themes in every language and culture. 

Flower Drum Song originally debuted in 1958 on Broadway with dance great Gene Kelly choreographing the moves.  This Rogers and & Hammerstein musical has everything.  Dancing, singing, corny jokes, love stories… and controversy!  It's a classic tale of old traditions versus assimilation into the New World. Addressing social issues within the Broadway musical format is the legacy of Rogers and Hammerstein.  They aptly addressed racism, sexism and classism with their hits Oklahoma, Carousel, The King and I, South Pacific and The Sound of Music. In particular, The Sound of Music addressed how some Austrians objected to Nazi Germany taking over their country prior to WW2.  The King & I addressed how the kingdom of Siam dealt with and resisted the growing colonialism of Asia by European nations.

Set in 1950's era San Francisco, this VACT production addresses the nostalgia of the era.  Director Rick Tae has found the balance for the show in a post-modern politically correct environment, by willingly playing up the campiness of the 50's beatnik era language.

It is the older brother Ta (Isaac Kwok), the first born son, that is caught in the middle.  He wants to please his father, but he also wants to forge his own identity.  Kwok is a recent graduate from Capilano University's Musical Theatre program and does a good job in the lead role, singing and acting his way between the show's generation and love match issues.  His strong voice and good looks should could easily find him cast in leads for Brigadoon and other shows. 

Lannette New has a tough job, living up to the role of Linda Low played so excellently by Nancy Kwan in the 1961 movie.  The Low character is flamboyant role of a night club performer – sexy and independent – not your typical Chinese daughter-in-law material. New reigns in the energy with sweetness and presence.

With Vancouver's huge Chinese population, you would think ethnic Chinese actors would get tired of the perennial stereotypecasting playing Chinese waiters, kung fu baddies, chinadolls and gangsters.  But where do people get the chance to expand their horizons and resume lists?

For the past 10 years, Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre has been producing plays to showcase Asian Canadian talent, and feature works by North American Asian playwrights such as David Henry Hwang.  Asian comedy nights have become annual features that grew into sketch comedy contests.  The Sex in Vancouver series was adapted from the Sex in Seattle series originated by Kathy Hsieh and Serin
Ngai's

Producer and president, Joyce Lam also had a vision to put on Rogers and Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song as a full production in Vancouver.  Incredibly, it had never happened before.  Two years ago she saw Jimmy Yi, in the staged reading by APPLAUSE! Musical Society, and in that moment, she knew she had her casting for Sammy Fong.

Amazingly, the original 1958 production got six Tony Award nominations, and spun off some
national tours and the popular 1961 musical film version. It also marked the
first time in musical history that a mostly Asian cast appeared on the
Broadway stage.

But the work and film fell out of favour in the late 1960's due to criticism of the gender and racial stereotyping of the era, in the wake of the rising civil rights movement.

In
2002, playwright David Henry Hwang reworked the original music and
storyline for a Broadway revival that received multiple Tony nominations, a Grammy nomination for the
soundtrack.

More later

Gung Haggis Fat Choy, a scholarly take as alternative to the “Scottish Discursive Unconsious”

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Gung Haggis Fat Choy making it's way into the lexicon of journals about Scottish culture:
Dr. Leith Davis writes about Toddish McWong for Scottish on-line journal – The Bottle Imp

A New Perspective on the Scottish Diaspora
Source: www.arts.gla.ac.uk


Dr.
Leith Davis of SFU Centre of Scottish Studies, writes that “Gung
Haggis Fat Choy” bucks the trend of “Scottish Discursive Unconscious.” 

She writes: “In his contribution to the recent volume on
Transatlantic Scots, Colin McArthur comments on what he calls
the “Scottish Discursive Unconscious,” a restricted range of “images, tones, rhetorical tropes, and ideological
tendencies, often within utterances promulgated decades (sometimes even a century or more) apart”…

“Vancouver, British Columbia, serves as a good test case for McArthur's comments. Like so many Canadian cities,
it has been home over the years to a large population of Scottish immigrants….
 
“There are indeed traces of the Scottish Discursive Unconscious at work in Vancouver….

“Gung Haggis Fat Choy takes many of the features of traditional Burns nights and gives them a non-traditional twist…The “Address to the Haggis” morphs into the “Rap to the Haggis,” featuring Joe MacDonald and Todd Wong with a
synthesized beat maker in the background. The “Toast to the Lassies” in 2009 was a rap-poem delivered by a
lassie with an all-male chorus. In addition, Asian elements are added, such as a “bamboo clappertale” about Robert
Burns and his teacher by Jan Walls and music by the Silk Road Music Ensemble. Haggis wontons and other delicacies
suggest a culinary as well as cultural fusion. Gung Haggis Fat Choy does not stop at mixing together those of Chinese
and Scottish heritage. Rather, its aim is to provide a celebratory venue in which those from all cultures can be
comfortable. The 2009 dinner opened, for example, with a blessing from Musqueam elder Larry Grant, a reminder,
perhaps, that we are all immigrants here at some time in the past.

Where traditional Burns suppers of today include very little poetry, apart from snippets of the bard's most
famous works, Gung Haggis Fat Choy keeps the spirit of Burns's creativity alive by featuring readings from
Asian-Canadian poets and donating money to the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop, Ricepaper magazine and the
Joy Kogawa House. Kogawa was one of the first Asian-Canadian writers to reach a national popular audience
with her 1981 novel Obasan.

Read the entire article at:

http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/ScotLit/ASLS/SWE/TBI/TBIIssue5/Diaspora.html

A New Perspective on the Scottish Diaspora
Source: www.arts.gla.ac.uk

Happy Birthday Dinner at Hapa Izakaya

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Hapa Izakaya in Kitslano is one of my favorite restaurants.

2009_May 220

It was a 3 restaurant Kitsilano weekend, last week for my birthday.  On Friday we went to Sunset Grill, 2204 York Ave.  On Saturday we watched the hockey game and had Slum Dog Pizza at Hell's Kitchen 2041 4th Ave. West.  But for the “Big Day” we suggested some names… and eagrely decided to go to Hapa Izakaya 1416 Yew St.

Everytime we go there, the first bite of each dish is either “Wow” or “yummmmmm.”  A few months ago, we took a friend from Ottawa to Hapa Izakaya in Kitsilano for his birthday.  Good choice!  It's a cozy atmosphere with lots of wood, as opposed to the more high-tech “clubby” feel of the Robson St. location.  Modeled after Japanese bistros in Tokyo, owner Jason Ault returned from Japan to open up Hapa Izakaya with a fusion twist.  As sushi was supposedly invented as finger food to eat while playing games, Izakaya bistros appeared as cheap places to eat and drink after work – but Hapa Izakaya takes it to another level.  It creates a tapas style menu, with a cultural fusion twist, and sets in a glossy upscale setting.  The Robson Street location is always buzzing, while the Kitsilano location is more laid back – but the food is great in both locations.

2009_May 206

We started with King Crab roll. “Yum” – Deb's favorite!

2009_May 209

Smoked Tuna Macaroni with Ume/Seiso sauce. “Wow!”

2009_May 216

Dynamite roll with spicy mango sauce “Yow!”

2009_May 223

Creme Brule topped off the evening!

VACT CELEBRATES ANNIVERSARY OF RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN MUSICAL WITH AN ALL-ASIAN CAST

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Is “Flower Drum Song” an Asian-American version of “Sound of Music” by Rodgers & Hammerstein?

Just as the Von Trapp family hiked over the mountains for a chance of freedom from Nazi tyranny, the characters of Flower Drum Song find happiness in the pursuit of the “American Dream” both as immigrants coming to a new country, and as Americans finding their place.  The Flower Drum Wong musical (1958) was based on the book by C.Y. Lee (1957), and a movie version directed by Gene Kelly came out in 1961.

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein had previously written musicals with Asian themes such as South Pacific (1949) and The King & I (1951).  Watching the movie versions as I grew up, I was always interested because they had Asian characters and actors.  The original musical and movie of Flower Drum Song became considered full of racist stereotypes during the American Civil Rights movement, but like the 1910 song “Chinatown My Chinatown” penned by Jerome & Schartz, it has an affectionate place in the hearts of many North American Asians.

About  year ago, I watched the movie version on dvd, and was amazed by the commentary from playwright David Henry Hwang, who re-wrote Flower Drum Song for a post-colonial America and stated, “I tried to write the book that Oscar Hammerstein would have written if he were Asian-American.” 

Check out Nancy Kwan's “I Enjoy Being a Girl” on youtube
I Enjoy Being A Girl Flower Drum Song Movie

I really enjoyed watching the original movie.  There are great highlights such as Nancy Kwan singing “I Enjoy Being a Girl”, “A Hundred Million Miracles” performed by Miyoshi Umeki.  Most fantastic is the jazz dance sequence of the song “Chop Suey” is addresses the melting pot/cultural fusion of Asian America.  My friend Dan Seto always says that the song “Grant Avenue” is famous, and was very happy on his first visit to San Francisco to actually stand on Grant Avenue in Chinatown.  It would be as if Rodgers & Hammerstein had set the story in Vancouver Chinatown and wrote a song about “Pender Street.”

Check out this press release from Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre and buy your tickets!


VACT
CELEBRATES ANNIVERSARY OF RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN MUSICAL

WITH
AN ALL-ASIAN CAST

Rodgers
& Hammerstein’s FLOWER DRUM SONG * May 29
to
June
14, 2009

 

 

 

VANCOUVER,
BC (April 2, 2009) – Continuing to celebrate 10 successful years as the city’s
premiere Asian Canadian theatre company, Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre (VACT)
is excited to announce that it will be staging Rodgers & Hammerstein’s FLOWER DRUM
SONG from May 29 to June 14 at
The Waterfront Theatre on Granville
Island.

 

This
is the very first time that this Tony award-winning Broadway musical will be
presented in Vancouver
as a full production, during this, the 50th anniversary of the play.
Another milestone for Vancouver
theatre will be the all-Asian-Canadian
cast, along with an Asian Canadian
production team that includes director Rick Tae, choreographer Raphael Wong, set designer Janice Chiu, costumer designers Joyce Chung, Jeannine Sheares-Moon and producer Joyce Lam. Rounding out the team will
include musical director Christopher
King and lighting designer Darren
Hales.

 

Other
notable highlights include actor and former Vancouver
city councillor BC Lee and local
Asian comedian Tom Chin, in a cast
of eighteen that stars Issac Kwok as
young and impressionable Wang Ta, Rosie
Simon as shy pre-arranged bride Mei Li, Jimmy Yi as hipster nightclub owner
Sammy Fong and Lannette New as
ready-for-the-altar showgirl Linda Low.

 

And
adding to the experience, VACT will include the use of sur-titles – Chinese text that’s
displayed above the stage so that non-English speaking Chinese members of the
audience will be able to follow along with the lyrics and the dialogue. This is
the second time that VACT has decided to use this visual aid to welcome as many
members of the local Asian community as possible – the first time being VACT’s
successful run last summer of the Asian version of Neil Simon’s THE ODD
COUPLE.

 

Rodgers
& Hammerstein’s FLOWER DRUM SONG, set in San
Francisco’s
Chinatown
of the late 50’s, takes a “colourful” approach to the age-old conflict that
affects even the traditional immigrant family – the Generation Gap. Sammy’s
folks have arranged a bride for him from
China,
hoping to sever his relationship with showgirl Linda. Mei Li arrives shy and
naive – totally wrong for the modernized Sammy. But, she just may be the ticket
for Sammy’s buddy Ta, whose dad is trying to prevent his kids from discovering
rock ‘n roll, baseball, sports cars – a losing battle. However, Ta is smitten
with the sexy Linda – because she “enjoys
being a girl.” Suddenly Sammy has to figure out how to get Ta and Mei
together so he can be with Linda. Of course, singing and dancing
ensues.

 

FLOWER
DRUM SONG, first performed on Broadway in 1958, is seeing a revival lately. It
had fallen out of favour over the years as diversity awareness redefined how
minorities should be portrayed in the media. However, VACT’s production will
keep all of the original language of the play and attitudes of the day intact.
“Doing this, our audience will be able to
see the distinction in how far we’ve come and also be able to reminisce about
the past with a satirical sense of humour, “ says director Rick Tae. “It’s just amazing how far we’ve come,”
adds producer and VACT founder
Joyce Lam.  “We have 18 terrific actors and singers in
this cast. I remember clearly 10 years ago how we struggled to find 3
experienced Asian actors in all of Vancouver
for our first play.”

 

For
more information, including cast and crew bios, please visit http://www.vact.ca.

 

Event
Details

Rodgers &
Hammerstein’s FLOWER DRUM SONG

@
The Waterfront Theatre

1412
Cartwright Street,
Granville
Island,
Vancouver

May
28: Preview

May
29, 30, 31, June 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

 

Tickets
Details

Purchase in
Advance:

By
phone (604) 684-2787 with a $2.50 service charge

By
online www.vact.ca or
wwww.ticketstonight.ca

Group Rates,
please call (778) 885-1973

 

*Preview
performance Thursday May 28 at 8pm – $20

(only available
online at www.vact.ca or cash-only at
door)

*All
Wednesday/Thursday/Friday/Saturday evening performances at
8pm –

$29 in
advance/$35 cash-only at door

*Saturday/Sunday
matinees at 2pm (except
Wednesday June 3 matinee at 1pm) –

$24 in
advance/$30 cash-only at door

 

*Limited
Rush Tickets: $17.50 cash-only at the door (max 2 per person)

*Students
and Seniors (65+): $20 cash-only at door

(not
available Friday or Saturday evening performances)

Kilts Night in May at Doolin's Irish Pub

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2009_May 121 by you.
Every 1st Thursday many of our Gung Haggis dragon boaters attend Kilts Night at Doolin's Irish Pub.  It's a fun social, with great music by Halifax Wharf Rats, and just a fun excuse to wear our kilts. – photo Todd Wong
2009_May 124
Michelle of the Halifax Wharf Rats plays a flute solo – photo Todd Wong

2009_May 117

We introduced two kilt virgins to the joys of wearing kilts.  Oops, they were kind of shy and insisted on wearing their pants under the kilts!

Terry Glavin wins Lt. Governor's Award for Literary Excellence

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image

 

 

 

Terry Glavin named recipient of
the sixth annual Lieutenant Governor’s Award
for Literary Excellence

image

Okay…. it was author Terry Glavin who partly inspired me to create a “writer's speaking series” on the 2007 strike line of CUPE 391 Vancouver Library Workers.   Terry called me up for some reason or another, maybe to admit he was a big fan of my Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner, and somehow I asked him to give a reading on our strike line.  And that's how it started!  After Terry came many other authors such as Stan Persky, Hiromi Goto, Daniel Gawthrop, Rita Wong, Tom Sandborn, Chuck Davis….  but it started with Terry! http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/_archives/2007/8/15/3160687.htm

IMG_1743 by you.

Author, jounalist Terry Glavin speaks to the CUPE 391 Vancouver library workers – giving support – photo Todd Wong

We since became friends and look for reasons to go for a pint of Guinness at the Irish Times Pub in Victoria, or host a Gung Haggis house party at his place… but the only thing we manage to do is leave comments and links to each other blogs. 

Terry has written amazing books, and is very big on diversity – both cultural and environmental and bio-diversity.  Moreover, I think we recognize in each other a deep respect for First Nations culture and history, the ability to laugh and poke fun at mainstream institutions, and the necessity of shaking up the world a little now and then.

But on this Saturday, I will be able to have a drink and toast to my rabble rousing “outspoken voice” as he is feted by the BC literati.  In the mean time he says he “Vows To Resist The Urge To Cash The Cheque And Head Straight For The Track”

http://transmontanus.blogspot.com/2009/04/i-vow-to-resist-urge-to-cash-cheque-and.html

CIMG0247

At last year's BC Book Prizes, I got to hang out a bit with Gary Geddes, the 2008 winner of the Lt. Gov's Award for Literary Excellence. 
Rita Wong and Gary Geddes big winners at BC Book Prizes Gala http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/_archives/2008/4/29/3666200.html

Terry and Gary are friends, so Terry won't mind if I put Gary's picture in here…

Check out the official BC Book Prize website…

and what they have to say about Terry:

Vancouver, BC
– The West Coast Book Prize Society is proud to recognize Terry Glavin as the
recipient of the sixth annual Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary
Excellence.

British
Columbia’s Lieutenant Governor,
the Honourable Steven Point, will present
the award at the
Lieutenant Governor’s BC Book Prize Gala to be held at
the Marriott Pinnacle Hotel in
Vancouver on April 25, 2009.

The event will be hosted
by BC BookWorld publisher and
author Alan Twigg .

“Terry Glavin,
author and journalist, has been an outspoken voice in
British Columbia as a conservationist and
nature writer. He is known for his passionate commitment to
British Columbia ’s First Nations and
for his deep understanding of how First Nation culture and way of life are
bound up with the province’s
natural history and our future as a just and sustainable society.
 

In addition to his books,
Glavin’s many articles on social and political issues are evidence of his
strong journalistic ability to marshal facts and his unwillingness to go with
the accepted wisdom of either
the right or the
left. In his role as an iconoclast, he is a critical voice in
the dialogue that sustains a civil society.

As editor, Glavin has also
brought us the innovative and
courageous Transmontanus series, published by New Star Books. Established in
1992 with the aim of exploring
the relationships between landscape and imagination,
this innovative series of 16 titles has given voice to authors and
the mes that might o the rwise
have been lost to us.

Glavin offers an
extraordinarily holistic vision that does not focus on single issues, but
instead in everything he writes shows us a world where culture and nature,
human aspiration, natural beauty, language, history and social justice are
inextricably intertwined.
 

Terry Glavin has won many
awards for his work as a journalist, as a science and technology writer, for
his editorial innovation and for his powerful essays. We are privileged to
honour him with the Lieutenant
Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence in 2009, for his contribution to
life and letters in British Columbia
and for his willingness to show us how to see our world more deeply, more fully
and more truthfully.”

– Jury member Ellen Godfrey

The jury for this year’s Lieutenant
Governor’s Award: Ellen Godfrey, author and former literary publisher;
David Hill, Manager of Munro’s Books, Victoria; and Sheryl Mac
Kay , host of CBC’s North by Northwest.

This prize was
established in 2003 by former Lieutenant Governor, the
Honourable Iona Campagnolo, to recognize British
Columbia writers who have contributed to
the development of literary excellence in
the province. The recipient receives a cash award of
$5,000 and a commemorative certificate.

 

All BC
Book Prizes info at www.bcbookprizes.ca

 

A Gung Haggis Gaelic Easter Greeting…

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It's been too rainy and cloudy for me to go skiing at Silver Star this weekend.  So I kayaked on Kalamalka Lake and helped walk the doggies up in Kalamalka Lake Park, where the snow still lies.

Yesterday I went to Village Green Mall in Vernon, where people were buying Chocolates and in the food court, an Easter show for families consisted of trying to fit 12 members of the Vernon Girls Trumpet Band into a giant balloon.  (photos to follow).

After a week of Tartan Day/Scottish Week activities… and not having any Chinese food in recent memory… I am beginning to question my Easter heritage.  Even though my great-great-grandfather was a Chinese United Church Minister, I never went to United Church for Easter.  For many years, I was a member of Celebration of Life Centre, and Centre for Spiritual Living – both New Thought Churches.

The only Chinese cultural event that I can think of, is giving Red Eggs at a dinner, one month after a baby is born.  But this isn't necessarily related to Easter, except perhaps as a reminder of sucessful fertility in relation to Spring fertility rituals.

I remember one childhood Easter where we received Easter baskets in Honolulu.  There were always lots of Chocolate bunnies for Easter as a child, but the Honolulu baskets had the little fluffy toy chick decorations… That was cool.  No grass skirts on Easter bunnies back in the 60's though.

The Gung Haggis dragon boat team paddled this morning to Granville Island for Hot Chocolate and Coffee, and found some Easter Eggs.  This is becoming a team tradition.

My Irish-Canadian writer friend Terry Glavin sent me this email message, and a link to his website:


The big Irish event among my
crowd, the event of the year that utterly eclipses St. Patrick's Day, has always
been Easter anyway. Thus:

http://transmontanus.blogspot.com/2009/04/easter-2009-beannachtai-na-casca.html

Gung Hay Beannachtaí na Cásca Fat Choy, comrade.

 
TG