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Books read lately-

"Throw Away Daughter" by Ting Xe Ye- (I think that's how you spell it) A young adult book about a Chinese girl adopted into a Western family. She later travels to China to meet her bio mother. It was a really interesting book. At first I didn't think that I would get into it, but then I really did. I'm quite glad that it's been written, because I think it will be an important book for future generations.

"A Complicated kindness" by Miriam Toews- I kept reading because I wanted to find out what happened. I thought it was good, and I liked the voice of the narrator. It's a different theme to tackle in Can- lit, so I'm glad that it got as much recognition as it did. There was also a dark sense of humour which I liked.

"Inside out" by Evelyn Lau- I read this to prep for my upcoming interview with Evelyn. It's a collection of essays. Some of them were quite good. I particularly liked the one about depression, as I felt that she accurately captured the feeling of depression. I also found the record of her lawsuit against WP Kinsella to be interesting.

"Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw" by Will Ferguson- I didn't have much interest in reading this until [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] posted that she was reading it. I'm really enjoying it, more than I thought I would. It's the sort of adventure/travel/weird facts book that I really get into. I need to do more travelling in Canada.

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Wow, I'm really Canadian.

Strange and wonderful things

I took my first trip on the Seabus last weekend. It was pretty for about two minutes, then the fog and the darkness took over and we couldn't see anything. B* and I attended a Chinese hotpot at a friend's in West Vancouver. The friend is living in a huge house owned by his aunt, who is living in Hong Kong. As a result, Arthur has a huge house with no furniture. He threw a hot pot party, so I got to enjoy my first hot pot, which is like a sort of Chinese fondue.

I'm catching up on work and errands that I needed to get done. I am currently working on a project for my dad's 60th birthday, and several job applications. I need to get a dress for a wedding that I plan to attend.

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In the strange category, one of my closest friends has signed a contract to go teach English in Kuwait for two years. She has never lived overseas before. I'm really concerned. I've told her that living in a country with the threat of terrorism does strange things to a person. My experience living in Indonesia after terrorist attacks was pretty scary, and the threat of terrorism is much stronger in Kuwait. However, there's a point where you just have to accept someone else's decision and hope for the best. I guess I'm approaching that point.

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Today I watched "In the shadows of Gold Mountain", is a NFB film by Karen Cho. It won a major award at the Reel Diversity festival last year. The film chronicles the discrimination against the Chinese in Canada, mostly due to the Head Tax and Exclusion Act, as well as some of the racism against the Chinese. The film is both thoughtful and historically informative and it includes archival footage, interviews, and photographs. It discusses Chinese participation in the construction of the railroad, as well as the way that Chinese families were broken up by the Head Tax policies.

I was surprised to find that I recognized some of the old men in the film. Included in the film are Roy Mah, a Vancouverite who founded "the Chinatown news" in Vancouver's Chinatown. Roy is well respected among many who participate in the Chinese cultural community and historical society in Vancouver. Gim Wong is another older Chinese man who fought in the Second World War, even though he was not eligible to vote in Canada at the time. He's 81 and a few years ago, he rode his motorcycle to the site of the Last Spike (Craigellachie)to raise awareness about the Canadian government's lack of attention to the Head Tax Redress issue. I met Gim at Gung Haggis. I didn't really talk to him that much, but he showed me a picture of himself as a young man on a motorcycle.

I also recognized many of the locations in the film, since they took place in both Montreal's and Vancouver's Chinatowns.

I was extremely moved by this film and found myself tearing up in many scenes, especially when Gim Wong told a particular story involving a racist incident against him.

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If you live in Vancouver and want to borrow my tape of this film, please feel free to email me.