Monday, August 31, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
the Melting Pot!! or not.
I brought the grandkids to visit mom and dad in Cincinnati. Mom made an astute observation while I was home. Upon reflection of the diffuculties faced by Taiwan in the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot, I commented on the infinite creativity grown out of Taiwan's population I had just observed this trip. She analyzed that this creativity drew from a history of mixing many diverse cultures. So I asked her, "What about America?" She paused only a moment, and replied "America has less mixing."
I had to laugh out loud. A straight-up acknowledgment from my mother on the segregation of American society! She continued, "'We are not really the melting pot."
If ever anyone wondered how Tim and I turned out the way we did, with the perspectives we hold, you can grab a clue here!
I had to laugh out loud. A straight-up acknowledgment from my mother on the segregation of American society! She continued, "'We are not really the melting pot."
If ever anyone wondered how Tim and I turned out the way we did, with the perspectives we hold, you can grab a clue here!
Friday, August 21, 2009
the Beauty of Taiwan 2009
The kids have put together their FIRST short movie production of their FIRST trip to Taiwan.
Spend 15 minutes traveling with my children to Taiwan. The sons and daughters of this beautiful island live on...
Music from Fire X's (滅火器) Sam Yang, Freddy Lim (閃靈), Enno, freestylin' Bunun boys we met at dinner in Nantou (南投), LTK Commune (濁水溪公社), and cousin Zulin (吳志寧)!
Enjoy. With Love...
Watch the Beauty of Taiwan 209 in People & Blogs | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
Spend 15 minutes traveling with my children to Taiwan. The sons and daughters of this beautiful island live on...
Music from Fire X's (滅火器) Sam Yang, Freddy Lim (閃靈), Enno, freestylin' Bunun boys we met at dinner in Nantou (南投), LTK Commune (濁水溪公社), and cousin Zulin (吳志寧)!
Enjoy. With Love...
Watch the Beauty of Taiwan 209 in People & Blogs | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
Monday, August 10, 2009
the Genius of K'naan
I love how K'naan's licks begin with topics I find trite, or shallow, or superficial. And then he lifts you from this surface with the lightness you feel in the pit of your stomach as you are carried over the coaster peak; He plunges you down the steep, slippery and fast slope into serious, whole-bodied, heart-wrenching truths of global reality. Before your brain can recover, you find yourself gripped, as in a trance, in his visual stenography... This is the genius of K'naan's rhymes. Add to that a catchy melody & beat, and there you find my current musical obsession. K'naan's TROUBADOUR has matured from the Dusty Foot Philosopher. Check him out!
Note: There are five songs but you have to keep clicking the forward arrow on the video...
Note: There are five songs but you have to keep clicking the forward arrow on the video...
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Random "All Music" Play
A song comes on the random “all music” play of my computer. It’s got a real nice lilt to it, it’s even a bit sweet. I like how the rhymes roll in the beat. Who is this? It’s not one of my more popular play songs…
It’s Jimmie’s big brother; a.k.a. Felon. A connoisseur of music all the time, my 14 year old 9th grade student proudly offers up his big brother’s demo cd with three songs on it. Because I seemed genuinely interested, six months later, I get handed a copy of the full album: 18 tracks of indigenously Baltimore rhymes. Jimmie is so proud of his big brother. I remember the morning when Jimmie walks into the classroom with a spring in his step, “My brother is coming home from jail!” Another young black male incarcerated; role model and hero to his little Caucasian brother. “I love when my brother is home. He looks out for me.” You can just see the stars in his eyes.
A few months before, Jimmie, who gets up at 5am to get to school by 7:35 every morning, rolls into class 40 minutes late. After class, we ask, Why were you late this morning, Jimmie? “My mom is missing.” What? “We can’t find her. We don’t know where she is. We think she’s somewhere in Virginia. We’ve called her whole family. Nobody knows where she is. My uncle (her brother) is a computer scientist. I’m going to do what he does when I grow up. He makes a lot of money. He really looks out for me.”
Jimmie’s other hero and greatest fan is his father. His father, who is separated from his mother, and married to an African American woman, Jimmie’s stepmom and perchance the link to Jimmie’s African American big brother, role model, and hero. "My ancestors are from southern Italy. In the town where my grandfather is from there is a street named after us." His father who looks twenty years more than his age, in and out of the hospital, makes it into the school at least once every quarter to speak to his teachers about Jimmie’s behavior in class. Every quarter, I get to hear, “I love you son. You are so smart. I don’t want you to have the hard life I had. You are my shining light.”
All this runs through my mind as Felon’s beats belt from my speakers.
NOTE: names have been changed.
It’s Jimmie’s big brother; a.k.a. Felon. A connoisseur of music all the time, my 14 year old 9th grade student proudly offers up his big brother’s demo cd with three songs on it. Because I seemed genuinely interested, six months later, I get handed a copy of the full album: 18 tracks of indigenously Baltimore rhymes. Jimmie is so proud of his big brother. I remember the morning when Jimmie walks into the classroom with a spring in his step, “My brother is coming home from jail!” Another young black male incarcerated; role model and hero to his little Caucasian brother. “I love when my brother is home. He looks out for me.” You can just see the stars in his eyes.
A few months before, Jimmie, who gets up at 5am to get to school by 7:35 every morning, rolls into class 40 minutes late. After class, we ask, Why were you late this morning, Jimmie? “My mom is missing.” What? “We can’t find her. We don’t know where she is. We think she’s somewhere in Virginia. We’ve called her whole family. Nobody knows where she is. My uncle (her brother) is a computer scientist. I’m going to do what he does when I grow up. He makes a lot of money. He really looks out for me.”
Jimmie’s other hero and greatest fan is his father. His father, who is separated from his mother, and married to an African American woman, Jimmie’s stepmom and perchance the link to Jimmie’s African American big brother, role model, and hero. "My ancestors are from southern Italy. In the town where my grandfather is from there is a street named after us." His father who looks twenty years more than his age, in and out of the hospital, makes it into the school at least once every quarter to speak to his teachers about Jimmie’s behavior in class. Every quarter, I get to hear, “I love you son. You are so smart. I don’t want you to have the hard life I had. You are my shining light.”
All this runs through my mind as Felon’s beats belt from my speakers.
NOTE: names have been changed.
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