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It’s back to school season for our family and we’re busy settling into the familiar daily routine of school lunches, homework and earlier bedtimes. If you’re around San Francisco this weekend, consider checking out the Chinese Historical Society’s event, The Future Of Our Mother Tongues.
This week:
- Keeping Chinese culture in our family lives this school year.
- Rams rookie Taylor Rapp takes on the NFL.
- Mapo tofu gets a California twist.
Family Corner
Amidst the upheaval of Back To School season, with its new routines and commitments, the tendency can be to default to what’s easy, simple and dominant in our environments. That is, mainstream American culture. Here are 20+ easy opportunities to keep Chinese culture in our family lives as we send our kids off to school this fall. Chinese American Family
Children who grow up with a multicultural upbringing have unique opportunities to see life from varying perspectives. Parents from different nationalities, religions or cultures can provide their children with experiences that can positively influence their outlooks on life. Here are a few examples. Bicultural Mama
Want to know what it costs for a family to spend a summer abroad in Taiwan visiting family and building Chinese language skills? Mandarin Mama Virginia Duan tallies the full cost for her family of six, including travel, housing, summer camps, food and entertainment. Romper
Voices
Three years ago, Zirui Yan moved from Guiyang, China, to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to attend college. Like many people who move to a new country, he found that his perception of the United States didn’t exactly line up with reality. Business Insider
Author Celeste Ng chose Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior for a PBS-New York Times book club. “Growing up Chinese American, I was never sure which things were ‘real’ American or ‘real’ Chinese, or if they were simply my parents’ idiosyncrasies,” Ng writes. “I’m still not sure.” KQED
The Associated Press recently made a major change to its style guide, dropping hyphens from identities and expressions of dual heritage. Peter Feng explains how “Asian American” evolved into a political term, as opposed to a “cultural designation.” JSTOR Daily
Entertainment
Rams rookie safety Taylor Rapp wants to “show that Asians can play.” He’s a Chinese American who looked up to his older brother, earned a scholarship to play football at Washington, and in turn became a role model for young Asian Americans across the Seattle region. ESPN
After a General Motors factory near Dayton, Ohio, closed in 2008, Fuyao, a Chinese automotive glass company, moved into the former GM plant and started hiring again. The upcoming documentary “American Factory” tracks what followed in a day-to-day examination of globalization. Marketplace
Wu Assassins star Celia Au discusses her role and Asian American representation in Hollywood. “I think the more and more you see us on screen, the more you normalize it,” she says. “And I think a good way to start is in media, because everyone watches TV.” Digital Spy
Food
Yu Bo and his wife, Dai Shuang, gained international fame with their restaurant Yu’s Family Kitchen in Chengdu, China. Yu has created a twist on mapo tofu, the beloved Sichuan folk dish, by adding a California twist — chunks of ripe avocado. And it’s really good. L.A. Times
West Hollywood’s recently-renovated Formosa Cafe still has its swagger, as well as a new space devoted to Asian actors on the silver screen. Filmmaker and author Arthur Dong explains how he showcased actors who worked in Hollywood from 1910 to 1970. LAist
For 80 years, Frank Fat’s has been “home away from home” for politicians in Sacramento. Recently, a bunch of Capitol old-timers — including Jerry Brown, Willie Brown and John Burton — packed the iconic restaurant to salute its birthday. L.A. Times
History
Towering over an edge of downtown Portland, the Chinatown Gate is a visible symbol of the city’s Chinese heritage. However, after decades of change, the 33 year old gate feels like a relic of a forgotten neighborhood. Can a new crop of businesses revitalize the area? Metro News
A Grain Of Rice
“Asian American ethnicity is determined by a tension between many cultures…Given this diversity of cultural experience, how can there be a voice that is distinctively Asian American?” — Film Scholar Peter Feng
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