A Year in the Life, part II

Hi, here's the second half of my 2011 recap. Enjoy.

July:                  

Nationals. This trip would be our big family vacation. We’d stay at our friend’s place in Marina, just outside of Monterey, and the tournament was in San Jose. So, right now, I can say “yes” to Dionne Warwick. I do know the same to San Jose. I loved it there. Even the drive was nice. Everything was great - fantastic scenery, great farmers’ markets, cool and no humidity weather. We stayed with my wife’s friend Marsh, also a martial artist and a Monterey firefighter. Jude was so comfortable with Marsh. Guada, Marsh and Marsh’s girlfriend got to show Jude the Monterey Aquarium, where she works, and Jude got to feed the seals. I wasn’t able to go because I shot into San Jose to train and watch a friend compete in her division - a new friend, mind you, I’d made through the seminar and test in June – but just knowing my son was able to experience something as cool as feeding the seals made me happy.

Nationals itself was nice. I attended a small but meaningful opening ceremony. Each state walked in with signs, just like the countries do in the Olympics, and we heard opening speeches, pledged an oath to compete fairly and we watched some Taekwondo demonstrations. Was I excited after that? Heck, yeah! I couldn’t wait for the tournament to begin.

My actual competition was on the Saturday before July 4. There were 11 competitors in my division and I went right to the staging area. There, I warmed up, practiced my forms, relaxed. Then I’d repeat. While doing so, there were others doing the same thing. There were also lots of US team members, some I’d seen and competed against in Team Trials. What made Nationals and the year’s return to Taekwondo so rewarding was this: not only did I get to introduce my son to the thing I love, but, at Nationals, some US team members came up to me and greeted me by name. They’d remembered me from Trials and said they’d wished they could’ve helped me at Trials because they knew I was doing the forms the old way. I had pictures taken with some of them and made Facebook connections, too. We’re not all ‘buddy buddy’ and I’m nowhere close to becoming an elite athlete but I feel like I’ve become a part of the larger Taekwondo community. It’s easy to be the master of my school and keep it local and simple. To be a part of the entire community, however,  – making connections with US team members (one, incidentally, Facebooked me a birthday greeting today), making connections with the state association masters (the president served as my coach when I competed at Nationals), making friends in and through Taekwondo around the country – is what doing anything is about. Even as a writer. To make connections through the WDC and with other writers via Twitter, puts everything into perspective: that there’s a whole world out there that I am but a small part of and, yet, I can help it grow; that I do have a part to play.

I came tenth at Nationals. I thought I’d done well enough to place higher but I can accept my position. This was my first time doing this and, really, I pursued so intently for Jude. Sure, I did have notions and hopes – however, very thin ones – that I might medal but it’s okay that I didn’t. I committed, competed and have no doubts or regrets. If I do it again this year, I’ll be better prepared.

August:

Things settled down and got back to normal. I still trained but didn’t have a tournament to compete in. I also saw myself in the mirror and noticed that I’d dropped a good 15 pounds and several inches around my waistline. There’s still a long way to go but I’m heading in the right direction.

My wife’s parents celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary. Due to scheduling and budgeting, we couldn’t all go to Manila and celebrate with them so my wife went and I stayed in New Jersey with our son and dog. It was an interesting and fun father-son bonding time but it was also a little scary. I didn’t know if Jude was going to meltdown every day without his mother but he did fine. We enjoyed going to the pool, playing soccer in the park and watching movies. I wouldn’t want to play ‘single parent’ all the time but it was a nice, like I said, father-son bonding time.

This month also saw me take over, again, as head volleyball coach at my district’s high school. My second time around in this position, I knew better what I was doing and what I wanted to achieve and how to go about doing it. We had some success and some failures – and most of the credit goes to the players – but we did get to do things our volleyball team hasn’t done it a long time. We beat some of the ‘bigger’ title contending teams. We advanced to the second round of our county tournament. Some of our players were voted onto the all-conference team.

Also in this month, I made the decision to indie-publish my novel. I’d gotten lots of praise for it but no one wanted to pick it up and I found that not finding a place for it was stifling my other writing pursuits. So, I decided to self-publish and so began my foray into being a publisher, of sorts. Sure, I wish I could’ve gotten a nice fat advance and all that but, especially for a first book, I’m okay with self-publishing. There are lots of reasons why agents didn’t pick up my work. It doesn’t have to mean my novel is junk. There are simple taste reasons, economy reasons, including shifts in the publishing business with e-books, who knows? Maybe I was just targeting the wrong agents.

September/October/November:

It’s funny but these months really didn’t have much going on. Yes, the volleyball season ended in November with the team having done better than it has in recent years. Yes, there was Halloween and the strange snowfall before it. And, of course, there’s Thanksgiving but, really, nothing much happened to write about.

We did take Jude to see The Radio City Christmas Spectacular for the first time and its magic and the glamour of the Hall got to him, even as a three year old, instantly. “This is amazing,” is what he said. He actually said those words. I love the show. It’s a fun and meaningful program and I was ecstatic that he loved it, too. I hope he continues to enjoy it as he gets older and, hopefully, after I’m long gone, he can take his children and they’ll enjoy it too.

Oh, and about that freak snow storm, it really put me in a foul mood for weeks. I was in Brooklyn, with my wife, a mile or so away from Dumbo and The Powerhouse Arena, when the snow really started to come down. We were on our way to the Page Turner Festival, the annual literary festival and awards event hosted by The Asian American Writers’ Workshop. I’ve always wanted to attend but something always got in the way. This year, having committed to publishing my book, I bought tickets and we were set. As much as wanting to attend the event and hear speakers talk about their work, I also wanted to make some connections as an Asian-American writer, to get my book out and all that.  Well, so near yet so far. The snow forced us to go home. It’s a good thing we did because we would’ve gotten trapped in Brooklyn otherwise. As it was, we got stranded in Newark when the train wouldn’t go and our friend had to get us in his 4x4.

December:

Christmas this year was very special. With Jude more aware of things, the idea of Santa became very real to him. So, Guada and I played it up. As a result, Christmas was brilliant. Jude loved it; getting into the songs, lights, decorations, the gifts, the food, everything. For me, his excitement brought back a renewed joy for the season. I love Christmas but there always seems to be a touch of melancholy around the holidays. Through Jude, I got to feel his innocence and unblemished enjoyment of all things Christmas.

So, that’s what I have to look back on in 2011. As I venture in my 44^th year of life, let’s see what comes with it. My novel will be out in February. Maybe it’ll lead to some things big and exciting. The marketing people at the publisher think it’ll make for a good movie. Who knows? Maybe I’ll get on that US Poomsae team; with dual citizenship, if not the US one, how about Team Philippines?

I hope you enjoyed my trip down memory lane. If you didn’t know me, now you do. I’d like to get to know my readers, too. What stands out for you in 2011? What do you have planned for 2012?

A Year in the Life, part I

Today’s my birthday and I’ve turned forty-three. I first wrote my age as a number but that seemed a little depressing, emphasizing my age somehow. I’m still pretty young, I guess, and in generally good health but I think it’s normal for someone my age to start assessing his life and taking stock of where he is, what he’s done and where he’s going.  I’m in the fifth decade of my life. Some of you reading are way beyond this. Some of you are at about the same stage and others are very far away from turning thirty, never mind forty. Perhaps some of you are even yet to hit twenty.

Last year, at around the twentieth anniversary of the completion of my undergraduate studies, I did a look back to see what I’d done since then. It was a timeline of some of the major events of my twenties and thirties. Today, I’m going to present what I’ve done and accomplished and failed in over the last twelve months. Hopefully it will be an interesting read and, perhaps, educate some and entertain others. Maybe, too, it will provide one or two of you some ideas and motivation for what you want to achieve for yourself.

It’s a bit long so I’ll post it in two parts.

January:

The year started out great with a nice New Year’s celebration. We were in Manila, though, and coming home was a disaster. It’s a really long story but, in a nutshell, out flight was cancelled. People were getting booked on flights two and three weeks later. We couldn’t afford that. I’d connected somehow with another Fil-Am, who works as a travel agent in New York, and following his lead I pressed the airline to get us booked. I’m usually very shy when it comes to speaking Tagalog but this was not a time for those kinds of insecurities. I spoke Tagalog, as bad as I do, and made some progress. Granted, everyone there at the airport spoke English, but, if you’ve ever been to The Philippines and you’re Filipino, it’s never just English. It’s Taglish, which I found out is an official language, so I had to use whatever Tagalog I knew. After about 12 or so hours, we were bound for Tokyo and, from there, on to Newark. While Guada and I were about to lose it, Jude was brilliant. At one point, we had to re-inspect our bags. I’d been carrying Jude and after our bags came out of the x-ray machine, I was setting up to shoulder one, roll another and grab him. He said, “No, Daddy. Don’t carry. It’s too much.” As I write this, I actually want to lose it. At such a young age, he recognized that we’d been through a hellish ordeal (we got to the airport at about 5pm and didn’t leave for Tokyo until about 9am). He slept through a lot of it but, when he was awake, he was happy and smiling. I looked to him whenever I wanted to break down and whenever I was ready to lose my cool at the airport and airline people. He kept me from doing either. Saint Jude is the patron saint of lost causes and hopeless cases. I became attached to the name years ago when I was going through a bad patch and came across a prayer card to Saint Jude. That’s how I became determined to name my son Jude and, yet again, Saint Jude came to my rescue.

I also returned to Taekwondo this month. Well, I never left it but the realities of everyday life had taken their toll and I hadn’t been training regularly, if at all. At the studio where my wife teaches Pilates, Niyolates and Gyrotonic, and where she and another instructor run their own business providing various dance and fitness classes, I started teaching Taekwondo. I do it through their business, Step2Gether, and I use the name of the Taekwondo school I operated in the early 1990s. I knew I missed training in and teaching Taekwondo, and perhaps it’s because of my age, but I didn’t know I missed it as much as I did. I’m really glad I’m back.

I attended the Writer’s Digest Conference (WDC) in New York City and pitched my novel, Back Kicks And Broken Promises, to agents at the Pitch Slam. They were all kind and said nice things. Three of them requested the complete manuscript and two of them compared it, based on my pitch, to The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. It’s my opinion that writers need validation; that what we’re writing matters to someone other than us. Whether my novel is actually on par or similar, in some way, to Junot Diaz’s Pulitzer Prize winner, I don’t know. That’ll be up to its readers to decide. Just hearing these agents say that, though, gave me a sense of hope and reward that what I’ve written could be something meaningful to someone other than me.

February:

Not much happened in February, except for finding out when the NJ State Taekwondo Championships were being held. I’d only started teaching Taekwondo again when I had to get some supplies at a martial arts supply store in Bergenfield, NJ. On the door was a poster advertising the tournament. Funnily, it was held on the same day as the New York City Half Marathon, a race I’d applied to but didn’t get accepted. If I had, I wouldn’t have competed at States and won my division and the rest of the year wouldn’t have happened as it did.

March:

The biggest thing to happen to me in March 2011 was the NJ State Taekwondo Championships. I hadn’t competed in, maybe, 15 years. Granted, I was only entering the forms division, so there wasn’t going to be contact happening but I was a little nervous about getting on the floor and performing. As it turned out, I was the only one who’d entered my division. I still performed but I was going to auto-gold anyway. If there had been others, who knows how I would have done but I was there, ready and willing to put it out on the floor. What was really interesting, and encouraging in a sense, was the fact that once I’d changed into my uniform and sat on the floor waiting for my time and stretching, a confident sense of déjà vu came over me. It was as if I’d never left the tournament circuit and, while the place and faces had changed, the calm I’d gained from experience, despite my absence, hadn’t.  I was relaxed and even confident and I didn’t have any of the nervousness that some of the other competitors looked like they had.

April:

I’d finished the final draft of my novel the previous December and had it in submission with agents so I allowed myself a break from writing to focus on my training. I was still following up with agents I’d queried and working on my works-in-progress but the main activity I was doing was training; getting back into shape and getting ready for the next tournament. You see, a little while after winning States, I’d received an email from USA Taekwondo (USAT), the governing body of Taekwondo in the United States, that I’d qualified for the US Poomsae (Forms) Team Trials and the US National Championships. I’d tried out for a US team before – in 1996, in Atlanta, for a spot on the US Olympic Men’s Handball Team for 2000. I didn’t make it but I was one of about 300-plus who was invited to try out. Unfortunately, for the team, but in a way it eased my disappointment, the US didn’t qualify for the 2000 Olympics.

After reading the emails and talking with my wife, we decided that 2011 would be ‘my’ year; the year in which our focus were these pursuits that were, ultimately, mine and mine alone. We decided that I would train for team trials and nationals for the experience, for our son to be a part of, for writing research and, maybe, to qualify for a national team.

I also began training with the NJ Taekwondo Team. This was fantastic. I got to meet masters who are in the know of how things are currently done and I got to improve on my forms and my fitness. What I’d missed from playing basketball on my high school team in Hong Kong and from our Taekwondo tournament entries with my friends and students from the 1990s was being rekindled here with the New Jersey Team.

I also received a third email informing me that there was going to be a special poomsae seminar and test in June. The test was being given by the Martial Arts Commission of USAT (USAT-MAC) and the seminar was being taught by a senior master from the Kukkiwon Academy in Korea.

May:

May is my anniversary month so, naturally, this has to be mentioned. In 2011, my wife and I celebrated seven years of marriage. This isn’t a lot, in terms of numbers, but when you hear statistics that 50% of American marriages end in divorce and that many marriages (I forget the stats) don’t get beyond 3-5 years, seven is not too shabby.

This was also when the US Poomsae Team Trials were. I’ll admit I had dreams of success. They turned into delusions of grandeur pretty quickly. In preparation for this event, I had to teach myself three advanced poomsae. I didn’t have a lot of time so I spent most of it learning those forms. Of the ones I already knew, I just practiced them as is. Later, after a humiliating last place finish at team trials, I discovered that the forms had changed. They’d become more streamline and uniform; easier to judge fairly in competition. It was still a great experience and a mini-vacation but I did have to put on a brave face. Inside, to be honest, I felt embarrassed and contemplated not even going to nationals.

After my humiliation, my wife and I talked and we decided that I should take the seminar. So, I enrolled in it and applied for the test. I hadn’t tested since 2001 and, since I had enough time in, I could test from 4^th dan to 6^th dan. So, turning to my masters and other masters involved with the state organization, I trained, relearnt everything, trained and trained some more.

June:

It was another mini-vacation, thanks, to Taekwondo that was the main event for me in June - the all-day forms seminar and test. It was a fantastic event and I felt very much at home with the grandmaster from Korea. As soon as he’d arrived with the masters from the USAT-MAC, I bowed to him and I think this gave us some kind of connection. Throughout the course, which started at 9am and ended at 5pm, he would come to each us and correct us as we did the forms the new way; new to me but not the others. It was a packed room that was, perhaps the size of a two squash courts, and it held what must’ve been 90-100 of us. Jude and Guada were great. I wasn’t sure how Jude would be but he stayed happy and watched and played in the play room with other kids. Guada watched, learnt stuff herself and filmed the instructor’s demonstrations on her iPhone. I really absorbed what he taught us and I took it back with me, trying to do the forms the way he did. Strangely, and I don’t speak Korean other than a few Taekwondo-based commands, but I felt like I could understand the instructor.

After an hour break, the test was conducted. There were about nine of us who tested. Another master and I were testing for our 6^th dan and it was a fantastic experience. Those testing were of varying ages so the style of Taekwondo that was on display could have been filmed into a documentary and titled “Taekwondo Through The Ages.” I did everything well, I think, but my breaking routine needed some work. I tried a three-board jump spinning back kick – MY kick – but no go. I hadn’t practiced enough and I was under-rotating. At least my large frame was still able to get up there, though. After three attempts, I switched to a flying sidekick and went right through the wood. Jude, as kids will do, wanted my broken boards.

The following day, I went to my New Jersey Team practice and got my official uniform. That was, simply, cool. I hadn’t been on a team in a long time and to have this uniform, with the New Jersey Taekwondo logo on it, made me feel, again, part of something exciting.

Book Review: "Legend" by Marie Lu

Book Review: Legend by Marie Lu

In books and films, it is often a bad thing if the reader or viewer can guess what’s going to happen next or where the story is going to end. Sometimes it’s extremely difficult to tell a fresh story from a seemingly hackneyed theme; in this case, dystopia.  Sucker Punch, Terra Nova and, of course, The Hunger Games series come to mind. Picking Legend up at my nearby Barnes and Noble, knowing that it’s the first book in a series, I did turn to the first page with certain expectations for when I got to the last one. So, in that regard, there are certain things the reader can predict but it’s how Marie Lu gets there that is the brilliance of her novel – and her writing talents.

I was first attracted to Legend by its cover. The gold insignia, the sign of The Republic, caught my eye. It made me think of the Chinese character for ‘double happiness’ on boxes of matches that used to come with the cigarettes my father used to send me to pick up for him, when I was a kid in Hong Kong working as the office errand boy. (I’m glad to say that my father stopped smoking cigarettes in 1984.) Then I saw the author’s name and, as an Asian-American myself, there was greater interest in the book. A week or so later, I read a review of Legend in The New York Times’ Book Review. The reviewer stated something to the effect that Legend will fill the void of YA dystopia fans that was created by the conclusion of The Hunger Games series with the last page of Mockingjay. Coincidentally, on the visit to Barnes and Noble, I did buy a paperback of The Hunger Games. I didn’t buy Legend.

My wife read The Hunger Games in three days and went on to buy Catching Fire and Mockingjay and finished both books within the following five days. A couple of weeks later, we were Christmas shopping and ended up back at the Barnes and Noble. I handed my wife a copy of Legend, telling her what the New York Times Book Review said, and she started to read some of its pages. While playing with our son at the Lego table, she came back from the New Releases shelf grinning widely and said, “We have to get this.” And we did.

If you’ve read my blog on reading habits, you’ll know that I read four or five books at a time, devoting 15-20 minutes a day for each book. I like doing that because it keeps me reading and I get to experience a variety of books that fit in with my various tastes and moods. It also means I take longer than most to finish any one particular book. Well, just before the New Year, I started Legend and, a month later, I’ve finished it. I don’t mean that to say the other books I’m reading are badly written or aren’t holding my interest. They are all very good. I’m reading Lisa See, after all. Legend is just that good. It’s been a while since a book kept me turning its pages in such a way that Legend did; a way that makes me want to put everything else aside and just keep reading. The last books to do that for me were The Namesake (Jhumpa Lahiri) and The Road (Cormac McCarthy). Legend is in good – no, great – company.

Lu’s interpretation of Les Miserables, with Los Angeles as its backdrop and Day and June, the two protagonists, taking over for Gavroche and Eponine (Day) and Cosette and Marius (June) in combination and sometimes gender-reversing roles, is fast-paced brilliance. Each character is expertly fleshed out and complex. It’s an old story – the rich power machine versus the poor and struggling – but Lu makes it fresh by creating characters with which the reader can sympathise and emphathise. There is nothing gratuitous in Legend and Lu sets up every twist and turn with meaningful and exciting – sometimes jaw-dropping – payoffs. Whether you enjoy YA books or not, Legend is a must read. It’s entertaining, exciting, well-paced and visual. To say the least, it’s simply a page-turner. It’s excellent, excellent stuff. (That’s two superlatives, folks.) She also tells the story from both protagonists’ points of view, switching between each character in alternating chapters, without repetition of thought or action. She moves the story forward deftly and seamlessly. Reading Legend is like hanging out with Day and June, listening to them tell the same story without skipping a beat or missing a detail.

As I mentioned earlier, The New York Times reviewer said that Legend will fill the void, for fans of YA dystopia, created by the end of The Hunger Games series. Generally, I don’t like to compare books and authors. I believe they all need and deserve to stand on their own and be liked or disliked on their own merits. However, with the Times’ juxtaposition of Legend with the successfully popular series and all the excitement and praise The Hunger Games has received, I can’t help from making my own comparison of sorts. I haven’t read The Hunger Games yet but it’s next on my list of reads for 2012. Lu informed me, in a quick Twitter exchange, that the follow up book to Legend will be coming out this fall. I wish I didn’t have to wait. I wish I could get hold of an advance copy or galley. Unfortunately, I don’t have the resources at my disposable to do that. In the meantime, I hope The Hunger Games can fill the void left by my finishing Legend.

Postscript: Legend has been picked up by CBS Films for a slated 2013 movie release. Naturally, I’m very excited to see the film version and, with Marie Lu on board as an executive producer, I’m sure it’s going to be a great success that maintains her tone and vision. I’m also a big fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender and I was equally excited for the movie to come out. Sadly, in so many ways, I was disappointed. The casting, in particular, left much to be desired.  Please, Ms. Lu, make sure the casting stays true to your vision and doesn’t fall prey to Hollywood’s whims and/or its deep pockets.

Scheming Monkey

Monday was the start of Chinese New Year; the fifteen day celebration of the new lunar year. Happy New Year! Kung Hei Fat Choi!

Like in the western zodiac, which has a sign for different times of the year (there are 13 signs now, remember?), the Chinese calendar has an animal representing the current year. There are twelve of them and each one has certain characteristics attributed to it. Within each one, there are 'sub' versions of the animal. I, for instance, am a monkey but if you look deeper into the sign, counting the hour in which I was born, you will find that I am a 'lonely monkey.' Generally, the monkey can be mischievous; a schemer who is very generous but also very opportunistic. Hmm. That doesn't portray me in a very favourable light now, does it? Additionally, depending on when you were born and how close that i sto the previous or next year, you can also display some of the other year's animal's characteristics. For years, my family thought I was a rooster, having been born on 31 January, 1969. When I was in my teens, my sister discovered that the lunar new year happened a week or so after my birthday. Anyway, you get the drift.

This year, it's the Year of the Dragon. Generally speaking, the dragon is the most revered sign in the Chinese zodiac and it's an honour to have been born in the dragon year. Not just in the zodiac, but in Asian culture as a whole, the dragon is the highest symbol of enlightenment. It's a mythical creature that posseses the highest ideals of knowledge, strength, power and wisdom. From what I recall, hopefully accurately, from an Eastern Mythology class I took at Rutgers, there is a Shinto sect that believes that Japan was born from a dragon's egg.

With all its traits, the dragon brings a sense of intensityt, optimism, excitement and drive. It hints that the upcoming year is going to be filled with happiness and success. However, as ideal as the dragon is, there is also a sense of impulsivity to it. During the dragon year, people are encouraged to pursue their dreams but to do so with caution. Approaching them without care in the drago year can lead, ironically and sadly, to failure, poverty and whatever normal things none of us want to experience.

So, with that in mind, I wish all of you good luck, prosperity and much success. Just be careful how you get there.

For me, as a writer, I am very excited that it's a dragon year. I don't recall if dragons and monkeys are compatible - I think we are because one of my sister's is a dragon and we get along really well - but with my monkey traits of scheming (which I like to translate into planning; a less sinister word) and opportunism combining with the prospects of success brought with the dragon year, it appears to be very auspicious that my debut novel is coming out in this year. Maybe the stars and animals will align and I will have some kind of success with Back Kicks And Broken Promises. The marketing people at my publisher, Abbott Press, strongly believe that my book lends itself to being adapted into a screenplay and, consequently, a really good movie and that, as their agent put it, is a "life changer." A change for the better, I hope.

All-in-all, 2012 has been a good, albeit young, year. Taekwondo classes have resumed, after our winter break, and my students are progressing nicely. I'm also making new connections through my Twitter account with other writers and some influential players in the writing and publishing world. I also had a fantastic reunion with my best friend, who lives in Germany and who I hadn't seen since 1997. Thank God for the internet because we have been able to keep in touch, at least. And, my novel is coming together for a February release.

I know things won't always be up during the next twelve months. That's just the natural way of things. Things, however, are looking very bright right now and it's up to me, as a monkey, to make the most of that through the excitement and optimism and idealism of the dragon. I'm targeting and hoping for much success this year - professionally, personally, athletically, spiritually, you name it. I hope you are too and I wish you all the luck achieving it.

Kung Hei Fat Choi!

Anti-Racism = Anti-White?

My friend is a contributing columnist for an online football (soccer) magazine. He's also Pakistani, raised in Bristol, grew up in Hong Kong and now lives in Germany. I've known him for going on thirty years and, I am proud to say, he has not a single racist bone in his body. As a Pakistani in England, he's had his fair share of racism directed at him and his family and, as a non-Chinese Asian in Hong Kong, he - along with some of us other Asians, including Chinese, who attended the expat British school - was on the receiving end of some unfavourable comments there.

I bring this up because he just wrote a piece on the racism scandal involving Luis Suarez, Patrice Evra and Liverpool Football Club, of which he has been a lifelong fan. In a nutshell, Suarez has been accused of calling Evra, eight times, a derogatory word for a black person. As a result, Suarez has been fined and is serving a lengthy ban from playing. The article also discusses whether the club handled the situation correctly and offers some suggestions on educating imported players on the 'dos' and 'do nots' of the English Premier League. (Here is the link to the article. It's called Liverpool FC, Kenny Dalglish, Luis Suarez and Racism: What Is The Best Solution?)

What struck me, however, was a comment one of his readers made. The reader wrote, "Africa for Africans, Asia for the Asians, white countries for EVERYBODY. Mass immigration and "assimilation" forced on all white countries and ONLY white countries.......Anti-racist is a codeword for anti-white."

For me, this is a ridiculous statement. First of all, are there any 'all white countries' (anymore)? Were there ever any, really? If so, what then of the mass immigration of whites to Africa, enslaving the native Africans and exporting those slaves to other parts of the world? What of the whites coming to America and stealing land from the Native American Indians and killing many of them off? What of the whites going to Asia, colonising its countries and making the locals less than people, equal only to the standing of a dog? Second, non-whites (just to continue to use the reader's phrasing) are not the only people migrating. There are whites who migrate, not just because their companies have relocated them but because they like the lifestyle, to 'non-white' countries. How many non-whites live in places like The Philippines, South Africa, The Bahamas, Brasil, to name a few? Thirdly, the incident my friend's piece was discussing had to do with two non-white players. This clearly shows that racism is not just an issue that has to do with a white person and a person of colour. It can happen between two people of colour and not one white person has to get involved. Here, in America for example, I've seen African-Amerians getting on other African-Americans for dating non-African-Americans simply because of the other person's race.

I hate racism. It's one of the worst things human beings invented. As a mixed-race person, I've gotten from both sides. My friend's article suggests that imported players get educated on the way things should be done in the English Premier League. I agree with this. It'd be like orientation day on the first day of any other job. Sadly, however, racism is a global issue and not just something that happens in England or on the football pitches of our favourite teams. Throwing Suarez a little bit of a lifeline, perhaps there was a language barrier issue. Suarez is relatively new to England and, perhaps, his English isn't very good yet. Evra, who's French, has been playing in England for a number of years now and I've seen him interviewed. His English is rather good. Suarez's native language is Spanish and the word for black in Spanish is 'negro' (the ne not pronounced like knee). Perhaps, there was a misunderstanding and maybe Evra thought Suarez used a different N word. However, this is thin defence if Suarez is using it. To refer to a player - to anyone - by his race, other than maybe to describe the person, is a form of racism. This may even be a form of racism, too. Personally, I'm okay with someone saying something like, "Oh Juan, he's one of the male gym teachers at school. He's the Asian one." Change "Asian" to "yellow" or "brown" then we have a problem.

Unfortunately, racism exists. With increased immigration and increased mixed race marriages, I think, I hope, racism eventually will stop. These, though, should not be the only solutions; if they are, at all. Am I being too romantic about it ending? Probably. If it does, I doubt it will happen in my lifetime. Sadly, I doubt it will happen in my son's lifetime. Racism stems, largely, from simple ignorance. Eliminate that ignorance with education and exposure. It's not enough just to learn about it. Go out and meet and really get to know people who are different from you. That's the first step.

So, is anti-racism tantamount to being anti-white? No. Anti-racism is, simply, anti-racist.

Educational Conundrum

I don’t know. Maybe I’m being elitist. Maybe I’m being a snob. Maybe I don’t understand education. Maybe I don’t understand the culture in which I live. I am a teacher, though, and I do understand that there is a downward trend in students’ GPAs and test scores.

I’m bringing this up because I recently had a conversation with one of my students. It’s the final week of the semester and I assigned a small project for my students to complete by the end of the week. It’s also midterm time at our school and the student reminded me that we (the teachers) are not supposed to give homework during midterms. Honestly, I haven’t looked at the policy about this lately and I’m sure what the student said is over generalizing but it did sound familiar. Let me say, before someone points to the student and says that the student was just trying to get out of work, that this particular student is earning good grades in my class and produces good work. This student is not on the lower end of the grade spectrum and does not try to get out of working.

I believe the policy for not giving the students work during midterms is so they can focus on their exams, study for them and not get too stressed out. On some level, I suppose it’s looking out for the student. On the flip side, however, I think it’s doing the students a disservice. When I did a year at a private Catholic all-boys secondary school in New Jersey, there were designated days that teachers of certain subjects could assign homework. For instance, Monday was the day maths teachers could give homework and Tuesday was for science. Maths teachers weren’t ‘allowed’ to give homework on any day other than Monday.

I never considered myself to be a good student; one of those super motivated, high achievers who desire about going to an Ivy League school from the age of five or six. My parents, also, weren’t the type to push me towards that. My mother wasn’t a Tiger Mom and my dad wasn’t a Tiger Dad in regard to education. Looking back, however, I do recall getting good grades. Simply, I believe that was because I was made to work. Teachers gave us homework and assignments whenever they felt they needed to. It didn’t matter if all my teachers gave me projects at the same time and if they were all due on the same day. We, my classmates and I, were expected to get the work done and we were expected to do it well. I’m not saying to give students just to give them work. That would be a quantity over quality display and quantity doesn’t always lead to good things. However, work should be given when it’s needed and it should be work that’s meaningful and forces the students to think.

Some of the students I teach complain when I assign them a project. They cite that other teachers have given them work, as well. They ask for extensions. Some even ask if they have to actually do the projects I assign. I think we – teachers, parents, and society – have become soft enablers. There’s nothing wrong with being tough on kids; tough doesn’t mean abusive. It doesn’t mean bullying. It means demanding. It means forming discipline and good habits. Not being demanding enough can promote laziness which, in turn, leads to lack of performance. We’re talking education in this blog. Lack of performance turns into poor grades.

Another thing I’ve thought about over the years is the requirement for the number of days a student has to attend school each year. In New Jersey, it’s around 180 days. If a student misses too many, there are issues with failing and repeating the grade. Yes, there are truancy issues and kids can’t just not go to school and go to school when they choose, however, to simply say a student should fail because he or she just X number of days is, in my opinion, ludicrous. This came to mind because of a discussion I had about snow days and having to make up the days missed due to school closures if we use more than the built in number of emergency days.

Looking back on my own schooling, I recall in my Third Form (Grade 8) year that I was sick with bronchitis and out of school for a good two weeks. My brother got work for me from my teachers. As I recovered, I did the work at home and brought it in when I returned to school. For the classes my brother could not get work for, I simply asked them what I missed and, again, made up the work.

Encouragingly, I learnt from a fellow teacher that in one of the Dakotas – or is it one of the Carolinas – there isn’t a minimum number of days requirement in their schools. If days are missed due to weather or if a student is out due to a prolonged illness, for example, as long as the work is taught and learnt all is good. Again, there are truancy laws in this country and kids can’t just be absent. They do need to be in attendance to fully learn what they’re supposed to be learning. Also, requiring some kind of attendance teaches them responsibility and gives them a sense of what it’s going to be like when they’re older and in the workforce.

Education, in my opinion, should be a case of quality and not quantity. For the most part, in my experiences, the teachers I have had and worked with and the schools I have attended and taught in, follow this principle. Sometimes, however, funny things happen and it’s how much someone has done that takes precedence and is rewarded over the worth of whatever he or she did.

I believe accountability is the key. Make students accountable and make them think. Demand their best and accept nothing less.

Big Brother IS Watching...At Least He Wants To

PIPA and SOPA. That's all I've been hearing about today on Twitter and that is a good thing. It tells me that people are paying attention and doing what they can to stop these acts from being voted in as law. In a nutshell, for those of you who are unaware, both are acts that are geared towards stopping online piracy of copyrighted material and to prevent US-based websites and businesses from doing business with non-US websites and businesses that engage in copyright infringement. This is a good thing.

The bad thing about both acts - PIPA being put forward by the US Senate and SOPA, which is coming from the House of Representatives - is that they will sanction and prevent online business from dealing with foreign sites that are known, however not proven, to be engaging in copyright infringement. If proven, fine. Attack the illegally acting sites. But the ones that are just 'known' to be engaging in them? Come on. Doesn't our legal system say 'innocent until proven guilty' somewhere? What's next, sanctioning those sites that the government merely thinks and feels are doing illegal business? We are a nation of laws, not whims.

The other problem is that this 'protection' can only lead to blanket censorship of the internet and, eventually, to an internet that is no longer free but one that we, the users, will have to pay the government some ridiculuous tax or use fee in order to publish our material. For one thing, there is a fundamental right in this country of freedom of expression. For another, the internet is a viable, living entity that honest people use for business. Commerce relies on the internet. Small businesses get in touch with customers and potential customers through their websites and e-mail services that allow them to compete with the deep-pocketed conglomerates in their same fields.

I am a writer. I'm on the verge of getting my debut novel out to the public. Hopefully, I'll generate some sales of my novel and develop a fan base that will support my work and want to read more fiction I write. I can't do this as easily, quickly and effectively, as an independent writer and publisher, without a free and uncensored internet. Even writers and other artists who have the money and agents and the backing of big publishing houses, art houses and music labels rely on the internet to promote their art and generate an income.

Sites like Twitter and Facebook are important to people like us. They, and the internet as a whole, are also important to the 'everyman.' Since moving to American in 1985, I'd lost touch with many friends. Through Facebook, I'd managed to find them and reacquaint with many of them and some of them - in fact, the majority of them - live in other parts of the world. I have family members all over the world too and the internet allows us to keep in touch. Before the widespread use of the internet, we relied on letters and phone calls. Sometimes snail mail would get lost. Once, I received a birthday card from my dad in The Philippines more than a year after the birthday for which it was intended. In the past, phone connections weren't always reliable. Today, the efficiency of the internet has made snail mail service better. Phone calls are clearer and cheaper thanks to services like Skype, Yahoo! Messenger, FaceTime and Viber.

The internet is a great thing. Yes, there is piracy out there and it has to be stopped. All crime has to be stopped. However, it's not the internet and the freedom of its use and non-censorship that has done this. Just like a gun can't kill unless someone pulls the trigger at someone else, the internet is also just a tool. The government is going to make it harder for us honest individuals to use the internet for business and pleasure by attacking the tool and not the illict user.

Please, keep freedom of expression alive. Keep the internet free and uncensored.