Outrage over the riot outrage

Please stop apologizing

These two links popped up on my Facebook feed, almost one after the other. Two alternate viewpoints in the aftermath of the Vancouver riots. The first links to a Globe and Mail article calls for restoration instead of retribution, but was written by a reporter who likely was not at the scene of the riots, but is witnessing the mob mentality that is now driving those members of the public posting up pictures, identifying them, publicizing personal information, and driving the rioters' families out of their homes. The second links to a tumblr feed post of a police officer's refusal to accept the apology of the rioters - not exactly calling for continuous punishment to the rioters, but a call to stop apologizing, that actions speak louder than words. I agree with the second part, but I was thinking.

Maybe Canadians are just too used to saying sorry when someone else bumps into them (this is the Canadian way) - they think generally that's what apologies are for - it's easy to forgive someone when all they do is jostle you on the subway. But no. Apologies are made not only as a meaningless way to show that you're polite, but they're made after you do something that you regret, maybe something terrible, self-centred, destructive. And after you apologize, you try to see if there's some way you can make up for it. It's true that some of these "apologizers" are still jerks at heart and no, maybe they don't actually "mean" it. But maybe some of them do. Is the behaviour of the online vigilante mob any better? Posting up the rioters' addresses and phone numbers, sending death threats to their families, having some weird sense of superiority and self-righteousness while doing these things? Are they going to look back on this and feel sorry about it later? Maybe some of them will; maybe some of them won't.

The easy thing to do is go down the day after the riots with a broom and gloves and plastic bags and somehow try to erase what happened. The hard thing to do is to stick around afterward, recognize that, even though they did horrible disgusting things, these people are part of the Vancouver community. Also, they're human beings - they're not at a lower level of human being than you. Don't excuse them because of their age or because they say "everyone else was doing it." Don't do that. But don't just try to separate them from the "real Vancouverites" or the "real Canadians" either. As New Age-y as it might sound, the good and the bad are part of the same community, and none of us are perfect. We have to do our best to figure out how this happened or make the attempt to, even though we may never find the answer.

The morning after

So. Life goes on.

I don't know if I'm overreacting. I woke up this morning, remembering what happened last night. I didn't take part in the riots (surprise, surprise) but I still felt a sense of shame, embarrassment, and deep disappointment. So, ok, I overreacted - I teared up.

I'd heard about the Post-riot cleanup facebook event happening; I was a little skeptical about how everything would be organized. Would most of it be cleaned up by city workers anyway? Was someone going to be at the Canada Line stations telling people what to do? Would there just be a lot of people wearing gloves and carrying garbage bags wandering aimlessly looking for trash and broken glass? Well, it turned out, it was the first thing and some of the last thing.

I took the Canada Line to Vancouver City Centre at around 8am and it seemed like most of the commuters on the train who were going into the city were in a somber mood as well. Who knows though? I'm usually not on the Canada Line that early in the morning. Maybe they're usually in a quiet and somber mood and are depressed about going into work. As the elevator carried me upwards and out to the city streets where the looting around The Bay, Sears, and London Drugs happened, it seemed like most of the debris had been cleared away in the early morning. But plywood in place of shattered windows had been put up, a reminder of what happened last night. Sap that I am, the sight of these plywood constructions brought a lump to my throat.

I heard clapping as I walked closer to the Bay and a crowd formed around what was formerly one of The Bay's display windows. A man was taping a poster up on the plywood which read something like, "I'm sorry." He then gave a speech telling everyone to write messages of encouragement and to make sure that this sort of crap didn't happen again. People started clapping. I am yet again, a sap; actual tears started forming in my eyes so I quickly move away from the scene. Before I leave, I notice a homeless man lying to the side of the speech-giving man and the boarded up window, looking curious, but also looking like he's been disturbed from his sleep. I wonder how the homeless living in downtown Vancouver fared with last night's stupidity.

I didn't really know what to expect when I filled up my backpack with gloves and a couple of garbage bags, and I ended up wandering aimlessly for a while. Besides the boarded up windows - windows that managed to withstand whatever was thrown at it, but with the impact mark of a spiderweb of shattered glass; a Starbucks which had a giant jagged hole opening up the store to the outside, several employees inside looking back outside at the onlookers curiously looking in; traces of burn marks along the sidewalk.

I saw a group of three with garbage bags and a broom and dustpan clearing away some glass and ended up following them around the city for a good while, looking for some place to help clean up.

I recognized that the city workers had actually done most of the cleaning up in the early morning. And that our coming down there wasn't really to do the work of "cleaning up the city." It wasn't a hindrance to the city workers either, and I hope they appreciated us coming in our own small way to help, with our dustpans and plastic bags. In a "selfish" way, I went down there for my own benefit, to feel like I was doing something to help the city, to show that I cared, to sort of attempt to clean the ugliness I felt as I watched on tv, the utter selfishness, stupid actions, the piggishness. I wanted to do something, other than go to the houses of the people who took part in this riot and punch them in the face. You know. Something constructive.

After I finished clearing up glass with the group of cleaners I'd hung on to, I saw a Bruins fan sitting outside a coffee shop. I passed him while I was walking with the other cleaner, then turned back. I told him "Good game," he smiled and shook my hand. I teared up.

If These Walls Could Talk June 11, 2011, Saturday

When I first heard about If These Walls Could Talk - a walking tour of historical Manila, but strangely enough, set in downtown Vancouver, I reacted with skepticism, but also curiosity. My first reaction was to google-stalk Carlos Celdran, the creator of this tour; I learned he was a figure of some controversy. Petitioning for reproductive rights in the Philippines. Creating a walking tour called "Living la Vida Imelda." Protesting against the involvement of the Catholic church in Philippine politics.

The particular tour proved to be both educational and entertaining. I was a little late, out of breath, and uncertain as to where Cathedral Square was located, but I was able to recognize I was in the right place by the large gathering of Filipinos and the hand-held signs plastered with Carlos' face and the event poster (and, of course, the cathedral). Dressed in a top hat and barong (a fancy Filipino shirt), Carlos greeted the crowd with a broad smile and comedian-like stylings. Over the course of the evening, he would also don an Uncle Sam hat and a military hat and a pipe, depending on section of Manila's history he was riffing about. He began by leading the crowd into a singing of the Filipino national anthem. For myself, I was able to sing the first stanza (even though I couldn't begin to tell you what the lyrics meant) but petered out mumblingly during the second stanza, having never learned the rest of the song in my childhood.

Carlos led the crowd and several interested stragglers around downtown Vancouver, starting with Cathedral Square where he discussed the influence of Catholic friars on the government and their role in the retention of the Filipino language, then onwards to another site, talking about Jose Rizal, the handover of the Philippines from Spain to the States, and then Victory Square, and the destruction of Manila in World War II. The location of each site had a tenuous connection to the subject matter, but what mattered most wasn't the surroundings, but Carlos' grasp of the historical material and the handy portfolio of large-scale historical photos that he carried around with him.

Just to make clear, my own knowledge of Filipino history is sorely lacking. In a third grade play, I did play a fruit seller whose fruit stand was kicked over by the same Spanish soldiers who had just executed Jose Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines and whose only line was "oh no!" as my oranges and grapes got knocked around (I'm pretty sure you can read about that poor put-upon fruit seller in any reputable Philippine history book). But other than that, even after living 9 years in the Philippines (and, no, I can't speak Tagalog), I wouldn't be able to write a page of what I know about Philippine history. I knew that it had been colonized by a bunch of countries (Spain, USA). I could recognize names of presidents and national heroes. At a young age, I was under the general impression that the Marcoses were jerks and that the government was corrupt and that I couldn't trust the police either.

In this tour, I learned:
- the Philippines was under a fundamentalist theocracy in its early history. Carlos even compared the pope to Osama Bin Laden and the Catholic theocracy to Al Qaeda, which drew a couple of gasps from the crowd. Although the priests and friars did stuff like help the Filipinos keep their native dialects alive, Catholic friars also did things like...shoot the Spanish governor-general in the head when they didn't agree with him.
- the appointment of Jose Rizal was largely due to American influence. They chose Jose Rizal probably because he was a pretty amazing guy (spoke 22 languages, was a poet, historian, writer, etc., inspired a revolution) but mostly also because he was dead, wasn't controversial, and therefore wouldn't cause any trouble. (and, oh my goodness, wikipedia is telling me he was an ophthalmologist as well. An ophthalmologist, people.)
- the famous picture of General Douglas MacArthur arriving on Leyte Beach during World War II after he said "I shall return," was taken three times. The first time, he fell in the water. The second time was because - of course, he had to re-take the picture with dry pants. The third time was because they'd learned that Life magazine was coming to take pictures the next day so they had to re-enact the arrival.

However, the major thing to take away from the tour, and something that Carlos emphasized time and time again was not to underestimate what Manila was and still is. A beautiful city known as the "Pearl of the Orient," a city that connected the East to the West, a multicultural city combining Spanish charm and American industrialism into something that was uniquely Filipino. But a city that was also almost completely destroyed during World War II (it was the second most devastated city in the world next to Warsaw).

At the end of the tour, Carlos compared Manila to "halo-halo" - a Filipino dessert that, literally translated, means, "mix-mix," - a mixture of cultures and influences (by the way, the above pictures is of halo-halo -- it's better than it looks). To me, I always saw Manila as a city of extremes and contradictions - tall skyscrapers next to a mound of shacks; the biggest mall in Asia filled to the brim with shoppers while outside, beggars begged on street corners; the rotund wealthy working out in fitness centres to rid themselves of fat while others survived on one meal a day; a place where sales people would become strangely obsequious once they heard me speak in my "American English." And yet, when I think on my own experience with Manila, ultimately, I have fond memories - and upon the end of Carlos' walking tour, a greater appreciation of what Manila is and what it could be. And just like General MacArthur, one day I will return.

Hime Japanese Restaurant review

315 Broadway E
Vancouver, BC V5T 1W5
(Mount Pleasant neighbourhood)

My first restaurant review on this blog! It's not going to be very extensive, but it's definitive: I heartily recommend Hime Japanese Restaurant in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood.

Hime is near my workplace and I was initially a little leery. I'd gone to another neighbourhood Japanese restaurant and although it was cheap, it was definitely not good quality. I'm one of those racist restaurant goers: my impression of "authenticity" of a restaurant that belongs to a particular country or culture is highly dependent on the # of fellow restaurant goers that I see that belong to the same culture of that restaurant. And everyone else in that first "I'm not going to recommend" restaurant were of the "paler" persuasion. I suppose though, that Mount Pleasant, although it contains a large number of artsy hipsters, does not contain its fair share of Asians, artsy hipsters or not.

Anyways, I've gone on a segue. But I'll just say that Hime does not contain a large # of Asian customers, but Hime has proved my racist stereotyping wrong! It was good! Reasonably priced and good presentation as well, which are two things that usually don't go together. I ordered a special scallop roll, which consisted of a regular scallop roll on the bottom and a sort of spicy scallop salad on top. The scall0ps were nice, fresh, and plump.

I also don't usually care about customer service if the food is good, but in this case, the customer service was pretty much icing on the cake. A hearty hello as I came in the door, tea filled at regular intervals, a "so how is the food?" inquiry, a hearty goodbye as I left.

I also noticed, interestingly, that although it seemed like the restaurant was owned by Koreans and had Korean waitresses, one of the sushi chefs was Japanese. One of the waitresses seemed able to speak both Korean and Japanese, and the other waitress spoke to the chef in English. In addition, a customer came and sat at the bar. He was Chinese, but spoke with an obvious familiarity with the waitresses and sushi chefs in the language that they all knew: English. I felt a little warm and fuzzy - not because of the conquering dominance of English as the lingua franca - but because it seemed like such a show of community and differing cultures getting along, etc. Especially since I had written an article for Ricepaper way back when bemoaning the racist attitudes I had seen among some Chinese, Japanese and Korean people when I had been an international student in Beijing. That's another segue for another day.

The yelp reviews of Hime are located here.

Post-WOTS thoughts

WOTS 2009 Survey Results and other thoughts

Here are the survey results from the small sample (21) of people who stopped by the Ricepaper booth and filled out a survey to win various Asian-Canadian related prizes (David Suzuki autographed issue, Strike the Wok, one-year subscription):

81% female, 19% male

90% were not subscribers

20% between ages 20-29
30% between ages 40-49
14% 30-39
30% above 50

9% Filipino
20% “Other” (i.e. “Everything. We are all one people”; “World”)
24% Caucasian/European
29% Chinese
9% Hapa
9% Japanese

A wide variety of other magazines read. The one that came up most frequently could be Macleans and “too many to list/a lot”

Web features most interested in

* Most people interested in blogs, event calendar, full-length articles, reviews and community links. There was a little less interest in forum/discussion and an online store. An online store was rated by 3 people as the least useful/interesting feature.

How did you first hear about Ricepaper?
A majority (52%) had never heard of us before.
20% had heard of us through word of mouth, previous festival attendance.
14% through library or bookstore
One person had heard of us through Evelyn Lau’s reading at the Poetry Tent

Most were interested in reading most sections that Ricepaper already offers. Most popular sections were current social issues, fiction/poetry, personal stories. Second most popular were artist profiles and historical pieces. Third were pop culture and film/book reviews.

Why people visited the booth

* #1 reason people visited was because of an interest in Asian Canadian arts and culture
* #2 reason was because of the pretty magazine covers – this is significant for future festival attendance that we have a lot of our mags on display. It’s a definite crowd-drawer
* Giveaways are also good at drawing crowds.

Earnings ($$$)

* “Vintage” (12.4 and before) back-issues sold ($1 each) Total sold= $1x9 = $9
* “Still fresh” (13.1 – 14.1) ($2 each); Total = 32 issues x 2 = $64
o 13.1 Comics - 9
o 13.2 Bikes (Cities) - 8
o 13.3 Colourschool - 5
o 13.4 Altar ego - 3
o 14.1 In translation - 7
* Brand new (14.2, 14.3) ($4 each) = 12 issues x $4 = $48
o 14.2 Aesthetics - 2
o 14.3 Space:Culture:Place – 10
* 1 subscription renewal = $15
* 1 Rita Wong’s Monkey Puzzle = $10

General thoughts

* Awareness of Ricepaper - Maybe around 60-70% of the people I talked to had never heard of Ricepaper even though they seemed to have an interest in Asian Canadian culture. This is just observation, but it seemed like if they were Asian-Canadian themselves, they were especially surprised to learn that it had been around for 14 years.
* Biz cards/brochures Lots of people asked for business cards or brochures – should have for next time!
* Website address on sub cards Also, website address should be on subscription cards the next time we print them out.
* Volunteering/Writing for Ricepaper
o Several people were interested in volunteering or writing for Ricepaper. Next festival attendance should include a volunteer/contributor signup sheet. People interested mainly in design layout or contributing (not that many people interested in office administration…) Potential idea with Eury – creating a “potential contributors” form so people can fill out writing publication experience/ Areas of interest/etc.
o One potential writer had been a regular contributor under Jenny Uechi (and possibly Herman) but with the changeovers, had lost contact with Ricepaper – have put her into contact with Eury.
o Lots of people interested in writing about food J.
* Survey design (note for myself) survey design could be improved to provide more useful results. I.e. some questions only applicable if the visitor was already a Ricepaper reader. And “rating questions” (on editorial content or desired web features) didn’t really work.

Thoughts from Leanne

- Complimentary comments We had a nice comment by Brad Cran, Vancouver's second poet laureate. Neither Patricia and I weren’t there to hear it so we don't know his exact words, but I heard from a few people that Brad said that Geist and Ricepaper are beautiful magazines.

- Promotions at Poetry Tent Evelyn Lau read poetry from our magazines. Patricia handed out some issues there, which produced results in a survey campaign she was running. She did amazing with soliciting surveys! I think I managed to get only two filled out, but that might be because people tended to ask me about ACWW related things which is a different topic.

Breakfast at Tiffany's

I rewatched Breakfast at Tiffany's tonight. The first time I saw it, I must've been around 10 or 12. I didn't remember much about it except that it was sorta confusing and there wasn't really a plot. When you're 10 or 12, you kind of need a plot to keep entertained. But it's considered a classic and so when I was at the library picking up a hold on It Happened One Night, I decided to check it out too since I was on this whole classic movie roll (if a roll consists of one classic movie...rolling into two classic movies...yah!). So, there was a lot of stuff that I hadn't picked up on when I first watched it.

First of all, I didn't pick up on the basic facts about each character.

This is kind of what my 10/12 year old mind remembers from the movie: Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) is a flighty, charming party girl who gets paid $50 each time she goes to the powder room with someone. And Paul or "Fred" Verjak (George Peppard) is one of her neighbours who is also a writer and has an older lady friend. And there's also this weird neighbour, Mr. Yunioshi (Mickey Rooney), who's dorky and threatens to call the police on Holly all the time. Oh yeah, and Holly also had a cute cat, named Cat.

But now in my "mid to late 20-something" mind, I now realize that Holly's powder room visits and Paul in his bed with his older lady friend leaving money on the nightstand actually mean other things. Hmm, it's similar to when, after watching Dirty Dancing a million times in my childhood, I realized that Penny had an abortion and that Robbie got her knocked up but wasn't taking responsibility and that's why Baby poured that pitcher of water all over him. I'd watched that scene in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story where Bruce Lee and his girlfriend watch Breakfast at Tiffany's in the movie theatre but leave when Mickey Rooney appears on screen (first reaction when I watched that Dragon scene, to be honest, was, "What's the big deal?") bur I was still shocked and appalled and angered, etc. whenever Mr. Yunioshi appeared. With his coke-bottle glasses, buck teeth and pidgin English, he represents the worse of the yellow-faced actors. And they'd toss in things like him waking up and knocking his head against a paper lantern or him performing a tea ceremony (but spilling the tea because of getting startled by one of Holly's parties). Ergh! It almost makes you think that it's impossible for this movie to still be considered a classic! Almost...if Audrey Hepburn wasn't so impossibly beautiful, effortlessly chic, charming, etc.

I'm sure there have been other classic movies that have rage-inducing stereotypes in them although I can't think of any right at this moment (Sixteen Candles's Long Duk Dong? Is that movie a classic?). But the Mr. Yonioshi performance was a black stain on any enjoyment I could feel about the film overall and each Mr. Y. appearance pulled me out of the movie. I'd feel like calling someone an idiot but I didn't know who. Was Mr. Y actually in the original Truman Capote book? Or was he just added to the movie for "comic relief"?

I guess my memory of Cat was the only one that stayed intact.

I'd give it a 7 out of 10 with a mental suppression of the Yonioshi scenes.

P.S. To top it off, there is also a nasty librarian stereotype! You know, the bespectacled, shushing librarian with her hair up in a bun who yells out "Whaaaat are you doing to that book???" when all you're doing is trying to autograph it (but I guess for me, occupational stereotypes aren't really as offensive as race stereotypes).
And then Audrey Hepburn says that Tiffany's is a nicer place than the library. Tsk. You can't borrow jewelry, you know (unless you're a famous actress, I suppose).

Flight of the Conchords

My sister recommended this to me a few months ago. Jemaine and Bret are the two members of Flight of the Conchords, the 4th most popular folk parody band in New Zealand....they sing songs in various styles (sex-funk, sensitive soul, folk-indie-type) about how you're the most beautiful girl (in the room), how love is like tape, sweet love songs about what would happen "if you're into it". There's also the occasional David Bowie or Lord of the Rings tribute song.
In addition to the hilarious and deadpan lyrics, the tunes are actually pretty catchy. I enjoy acoustic guitar. Even if the songs weren't funny and were about death and dismemberment (and it's entirely possible that their songs could have both of these traits), I'd still give them a listen. They've got an HBO show now but I don't know when I'd be able to see their show outside of youtube. It is possibly about a folk parody band from New Zealand trying to make it big in America and the people they meet, both men and women, both big and small.
Incidentally, here is a youtube video of "Sello tape" (I don't know what that is, perhaps a New Zealand word for "scotch tape"?) - Sello Tape