FamiLee Life

Snow....

is on it's way. We've had a few flurries but our first major snowfall of the year is expected to land tomorrow. Hm, I better get our Christmas tree early tomorrow morning before the snow really comes down.

Say Anything...Bikes and Boom Boxes

Like many from my generation, I love the scene from the movie Say Anything when John Cusack's character stands at the home of his love interest with a boom box held high above his head, music blaring, to profess his love.

Well, it seems this method has evolved to boom boxes on bicycles. I heard about this NY Times article from my Team Potluck mate, Peter.

The Result

Thanksgiving has come and gone. It was my/our first Thanksgiving as host and I think it was a smashing success. HW made an amazing turkey. I simply gave an assist on the prep and cutting. Kudos to her for a juicy, maple syrup glazed, bacon wrapped, rosemary butter infused turkey. Yum and, yes, I did carve the turkey butcher-style. It was accompanied by a garlic/bacon kale with carrots, simmered brussel sprouts, butternut squash puree, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and more. After digesting, drinking tea and coffee, and eating some pumpkin and apple pies, we turned to singing karaoke to end the celebration. A lovely day.

The Un-Art of Carving

From the New York Times, a more appropriate way to carve the turkey for tomorrow. I'm hungry already.

Busy But Alive

Traveling used to be so exciting. Now, it is largely exhausting and the thrill of getting to visit new cities is dissipating as I've been to most cities multiple times. Oh well. I guess it's part of the privilege of aging as an academic. Still, there have been some highlights.

1) I visited my 94 year old grandmother who has been ailing and was hospitalized. She is now on the mend and doing remarkably well. I hope I inherited her healthy genes!

2) I attended my 20th high school reunion, although it was not technically my reunion, since I never received my diploma from the school. That's another story and I think it was in my first blog entry.

3) My niece's high school swim team won the Class S state championship in Connecticut. Congratulations to Morgan and the East Catholic Women's Swimming Team!

4) I had a chance to meet up with my first Minnesota Ph.D. student (Brandon Yoo) who is now on faculty at Arizona State University (Tempe) in Asian Pacific American Studies and the School of Social and Family Dynamics.

5) I gave a couple of talks to the adoption community (public and academic) in the Phoenix/Tempe/Scottsdale area. It was interesting to learn about the needs and activities of different adoption communities in the country.

6) HW and I hosted a lovely pre-Thanksgiving dinner last night for our good friends who are in town or visiting from out of town. I cooked bulgogi at the dining room table using my new electric skillet! It was great.

7) We are hosting Thanksgiving dinner for HW's family on Thursday which should be a treat. Neither of us have ever cooked a turkey, so it will be a first.

8) Finally, we are getting a second cat (Hollybella), albeit temporarily. HB was one of HW's original cats but she did not get along with Shiloh (our current cat). So, HB was sent to live with a friend's aunt. However, the aunt can no longer care for her, so we need to find a new home. Meanwhile, we are housing her. Hopefully, 4-5 years apart will have erased all the negative memories from Shiloh and they get along. I never wanted to be a two cat household, but I am open to it. I told HW that two is the maximum limit and she agreed. We shall see....

Passing Thoughts on Race and Passing

Is this man Black or White?

Is this question relevant today? There is a new biography out that addresses the issue of racial passing. It's an interesting story (as told in the NYTimes) because it is written by a woman who discovered in her 20s that her father had African American ancestry (Creole), but had elected to pass as White when in college. This man, Anatole Broyard, was a very well known NYTimes book review critic and essayist. I recall reading about the familial revelation when it first surfaced in the early 1990s. I had just begun graduate school and my race consciousness was at an elevated state of awareness.

Fast forward to the 21st century. I now focus much of my work on transnational adopted individuals and their families. About once a month or so, I meet an individual who reveals to me that he or she only recently at the age of 18 or 29 or 38 came to see him/herself as Korean or Asian. Although skin color made it apparent that the person was not White, they say for so long that they (in essence) were trying to pass psychologically as White. This type of psychological passing went on through most of their childhood and adolescence.

What is the psychological cost (and benefit) of trying to pass when it is apparent that you are not White? This type of assimilation surely must levy a heavy tax on an person's psyche. It's a question that I seek to study and find answers.

Car Flat and Bike Commuting

I drove my car to work yesterday because I needed to give a guest lecture at Bethel University in the middle of the afternoon. I went to the parking ramp to drive to Bethel and noticed my front tire had gotten a flat. Drat. I took out the tools to change the tire, but could not get the lug nuts loose. They were jammed on there. I even used my foot on the bar for additional leverage to no avail. So, I called Audi Emergency Roadside Assistance and they sent out a guy to use a powerdrill with adapter to loosen the nuts and put on the spare. Fortunately, I had enough time to still make the lecture.

It is 29 F degrees this morning, but I elected to ride my bike. I just found myself frustrated with the car problems from yesterday and liked the freedom of the bike. Then, as a pleasant reward, I ended up riding alongside a colleague of mine who also commutes to work along the Greenway. Matt asked me how long into the Winter will I ride. I said probably when it hits 20 F degrees. He said he rides until it is 10 F degrees outside! Impressive. I must say, it was quite enjoyable to ride in conversation with someone in the early morning.

Koreans and Outmarriage

When I was in South Korea this summer, I traveled through the southern portion of the country. While in a small port city called Mokpo, we ate at a tiny restaurant that specialized in chicken. Not speaking fluent Korean, we had an interesting time trying to figure out the menu (there was no menu) and what kind of food to expect (the two of us were served a whole chicken). The other interesting thing was observing the table beside us. There were two couples eating together. The two men appeared older than the two women but it was clear that they were married. I would estimate the age difference was around 15-20 years. I heard the women speaking with each other and was surprised to hear them speaking Vietnamese. Then, I remembered that there is a rising number of Korean men marrying foreign women because these men, usually from rural, poor farming areas, cannot find Korean wives who are increasingly moving out of these regions. Here is a recent article on this trend.

LEGAL WIVES IN KOREA

Chosun Ilbo, October 25, 2007

Number of Foreign Wives Leaps Four-fold

The number of foreign women married to Korean men and living in Korea has quadrupled in just six years to almost 100,000, statistics show.

According to statistics presented by the Ministry of Justice to United New Democratic Party lawmaker Sun Byong-ryul, the number of foreign women living in Korea on a marriage visa or who changed their visa after marrying a Korean man more than doubled from 24,215 in 2001 to 51,920 in 2004. In August of this year the figure was 93,902.

Korea is clearly becoming a more multi-ethnic society, since in addition to the foreign wives the number of foreign residents topped one million in August. Chinese women made up the largest group of foreign wives with 54,316, followed by Vietnamese (19,705), Japanese (5,462), Filipina (4,698), Mongolian (1,945), Thai (1,673) and Cambodian (1,374). The number of Russians and Americans who married Korean men were 923 and 550, respectively.

While the number of international marriages is growing, the number of divorces is also on the rise. Divorce suits among international couples in Korea grew from 363 in 2003 to 1,161 in 2005. In the first half of this year, the figure amounted to 1,264.

Lawmaker Sun said the country should develop systematic measures to help foreign women married with Korean men to adjust to life in their adopted country.

A Wirth-while One-on-One kind of day with women in Brasa and some Grumpy men

On Saturday morning, I awoke a bit too tired from a full Friday night of celebrating a birthday, attending a play, Kirby, which starred my friend Ansa with whom I play Monday night basketball, an art show opening at the Soap Factory featuring Hapa9, and then a brief pitstop to dance a few songs with the birthday girl at the club of her choice (not my choice, as if I had a dancing hall choice). So, I was indeed tired and could have used an extra hour of sleep. But I needed to be up early to eat a full breakfast (2 eggs and toast) and to set up my B'stone XO-3 (pump air, reconfigure tools) which has been hanging upside down idly in my basement for the past few weeks as I've been riding other bikes.

I set out of the house to meet a group of friends (Hapa9, Sergio, John, Emily, Shannon) at 11 on the Greenway by the Soo Line gardens.

It was another episode in biking to eat and eating to bike. The six of us started the ride by heading out toward Theodore Wirth Park. I had never really seen the sights at Wirth. My only other time there was to play a round of golf, so I was excited to check out this section of the Grand Rounds. Sergio was familiar with this neck of the woods, since he mountain bikes at Wirth. What a beautiful park. Must check out again and soon.

After riding through the park, we decided to consume coffee and gawk at bicycles (old and new) at One-on-One Bike/Coffee shop. Hapa9 also needed some minor repair on his bicycle, so it was a wise stop. We were joined by three more friends (Kurt, Cross, and PhT)

We proceeded to Brasa for a heavenly lunch. HW joined up with us from her office where she was putting in some extra hours (the woman works too much, I tell you). I shall say it quietly here - she drove, we biked. Oh the food! It was good! Organic, local, and just the right amount of Southern flavor. Only two main dishes are served - roasted chicken and pulled pork. Get the pork! And the sides were delicious too. Corn bread, creamed spinach, collard greens with bacon and spice, yuca fries. Yum.... we were all super hungry from the ride, so it was extra tasty.

Sated, we broke off into smaller riding groups. John had departed early to tend to the children (without eating!). Shannon and Emily rode home. HW went off to taiko practice. PhT rode off to his studio and then to an Art Shanty meeting. The rest of us rode to Uppercut Gym to deliver some lunch to Sarah. [I forgot to add this section of the ride to the map. Drat!] From there, we rode to Grumpy's for a late afternoon beverage and to wait for Hapa9 and PhT who were there for the aforementioned meeting. Waiting, waiting. We boys got tired. Maggie texted us to come over to eat chili and enjoy a nice firepit, but we got tired. Plus, it started to get colder out and we were not all dressed for the chill. So, we slowly gathered ourselves and made our way home.

It was a good ride. It was a Wirth-while One-on-One kind of day with women in Brasa and some Grumpy men.

p.s., Not counting the ride from Brasa to Uppercut, Sanoodi clocked the total ride at 17.1 miles. Add 1.5 miles to Uppercut and whatever extra miles for folks to ride home from the start/end point. For me, it was approximately 24 miles from door-to-door.

Three Words (or Two Words + 4 Letters)

INXS ROCK BLOCK