March 28, 2008 by Chinatown Blogger.

The Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (BCNC) offers arts and cultural programs for children, youth and adults on Saturdays. From April to June, Sunshine Saturdays offer arts classes and book readings including – Karate, Chinese brush painting, lion dance, cartoons, children’s story hour and more. Open house on Sat. March 29, noon to 2 pm. Come to BCNC at 38 Ash St. (off Washington and Oak Streets).

Following is a list of classes and activities. For more information, please contact Giles Li at Giles.Li@bcnc.net or 617-635-5129 x1070. www.bcnc.net. Attached are brochures in English and Chinese. Sunshine Saturday English Brochure
Sunshine Saturday Chinese Brochure

FOR CHILDREN
Artful Adventures: Discovering Cultures (5-7 yrs)
Lion Dance for Kids (5-9 yrs)
Karate for Kids (6-12)
Break Dance for Kids (7-12 yrs)
Chinese Brush Painting (7-12 yrs)
Drawing (9-12 yrs)
Cartooning (9-12 yrs)
Computer Animation & Games (9-12 yrs)

FOR YOUTH
Art from the Heart (11-18 yrs)
Girls Volleyball Clinic (11-18)
Public Speaking for Teens (11-18 yrs)

FOR ADULTS
Ballroom Dance for Beginners (adults)
4:15-6PM // 05.03-05.24 _ $50 single / $85 couple
Join in the latest trend for fitness and fun by learning the basics of ballroom dance from experienced instructor Raymond Eng.

FREE ONGOING PROGRAMS
Open Computer Lab (all ages)
12-3PM // Every Saturday

Drop-in Time at the Oak Street Youth Center (11-18)
12-4PM // Every Saturday

FOR FAMILIES (FREE PROGRAMS)
Children’s Story Hour (4-7 yrs & parents)
11AM-12PM // 04.05 - 04.19 - 05.03 - 05.17 - 05.31 - 06.14
Come with your child to listen to any one of these sessions to hear a children’s story in English and take home a free children’s
book too!

Book Reading with Grace Lin (4-7 yrs & parents)
2-3:30PM // 04.26
Acclaimed children’s book author Grace Lin will read and lead the group in a fun activity. Signed copies of her book will be available for purchase.

ESOL Tour of the Museum of Fine Arts (kids & parents)
12:30-2:30PM // 05.10
Educators from the Museum of Fine Arts will lead a group of BCNC parents and children through the exhibit and lead them through an art class together. Space is limited; registration is required.

Book Reading with Ha Jin (all ages)
2-4PM // 05.31
PEN/Faulkner Award-winning and Pulitzer-finalist novelist Ha Jin will read and sign copies of his newest novel A Free Life. Cosponsored with the Asian American Resource Workshop.

Book Talk with Moying Li (youth & parents)
11AM // 05.03
Moying Li, one of the first students to leave China for study abroad after the Cultural Revolution, will read from her new memoir Snow Falling in Spring. This event will take place at the Boston Athenæum at 10½ Beacon St near the State House.

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March 28, 2008 by willng24.

This is the same post I have on my own site, but I thought it would be an interesting topic for this site.

The big movie coming out today is 21. This movie is based on the book Bringing Down the House about a few MIT students who took Vegas for millions. Many Asians are angry because of Hollywood’s decision to change the race of a few of the characters. In actuality a majority of the MIT group were Asian, but Hollywood decided to cast Jim Sturgess and Kate Bosworth instead. Is this Hollywood’s way of white washing a movie so it is more appealing to the general population? Yes. Does Hollywood think that Asians can’t hold a lead role? Yes.

A recent article by the Angry Asian Man provides more insight to the character changes and response by Jeff Ma, the character who Sturgess plays in the movie. Jeff does have a cameo in the film as a Planet Hollywood dealer (ironic).

I don’t think that this is a racist move targeting Asians, but more of a financial move. The bottom line is if statistics show that movies with lead characters played by monkeys make more money, well we’d see more monkeys on film….simple as that. However, I also consider that if the roles were reversed, would the general Caucasian population have a similar response? How about other races. If Malcom X was played by Spacey instead of Denzel we’d surely hear about it everywhere.. I think it is up to us to voice our concerns to movie producers, but I don’t think this is racism…is it?

Remember, we make up the statistics that movie producers go by. If you are offended by this, don’t watch the movie.

Just because a movie isn’t true to life doesn’t make it a bad movie. Hollywood has been doing this since day one. Keep in mind it is a movie. It is designed to entertain you for 2 hours for $10. If you were entertained, then you should be satisfied. I’d probably watch this movie as I’m a huge fan of movies involving Boston.

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March 24, 2008 by willng24.

Recently there hasn’t been much in Chinatown that has caught my attention to write about. However, that hasn’t stopped me in the past so…

I had the privilege of dining at King Fung Garden on Kneeland St. a few weeks ago. This place is as much a part of Chinatown culture as the pagoda. Yes, I should be ashamed that it took me 29 years to step foot into this place. However, it may be my last trip. I knew what I was expecting after reading a few reviews on Yelp (great food, horrible atmosphere), but these are the places I love. Sadly, the food didn’t live up to expectations. The meal began with steamed dumplings and scallion pancakes. I have to admit that the scallion pancake was great, but the dumplings weren’t much better than what I’d get at the frozen food section of C-mart. The noodles that followed were even worse. A greasy dish with sub par ingredients.

I didn’t get the Peking Duck that everyone was raving about, but maybe if I was daring…again.

Steven Chow’s new movie CJ7 is playing at the Kendall Square Theater. I’m a huge fan of his comedy and can’t wait to see this one. If you’ve already seen it, drop me a review. Until then, enjoy the trailer from Youtube.

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March 10, 2008 by Chinatown Blogger.

Boston Globe Article March 9, 2008
http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/articles/2008/03/09/foreclosing_costs/?page=1

Recently, we had posted an article about if Chinatown was affected by the slump in the housing market. This article from the Boston Globe came across my path about a foreclosure in Eastie and how the family was not informed until the day of eviction. So, while Chinatown may be insulated somewhat from the housing slump, the evidence is happening in other communities.

The Globe article is written by Ric Kahn (who has written a number of stories on Chinatown in the past) and tells the story of a Chinese family living as tenants in East Boston and were evicted when their landlord, Gaspar Vetrano, foreclosed. The problem was that Mr. Vetrano continued to collect the rent and never informed the family he was foreclosing until the constable showed up at their doors and threw them out the street!

Posted in WORD ON THE STREET | Print | 1 Comment »

March 9, 2008 by willng24.

Recently I wrote about the relationship between Asians and entrepreneurship, but how about “co-preneurs?” I learned the co-preneur term from a boston.com article about couples establishing businesses together. One of the highlighted couples is Joanne Chang and her fiancé Christopher Myers. If you didn’t already know Joanne Chang is the face of the successful Flour Bakery in the South End. Her fiancé (and business partner) is a successful restaurateur, but what makes them successful business partners?

This article caught my eye because it defines the modern mom and pop businesses. Even though the stereotypical dry cleaners and restaurants, which defined mom and pop business in prior generations, is being traded in for consulting firms and dot-com’s, the same challenges still exist.

I’ve always wondered how couples in this situation know where to draw the line between business and pleasure. Actually, is there a line? Does the relationship depict how the business is runs or vise versa?

“By one estimate, the “drop-out” rate may be steep. Twenty percent of co-preneurs surveyed in 1997 had quit working together by 2000, according to national surveys by Glenn Muske, a professor at Oklahoma State University. Still, the total number of such couples - 3 million - remained steady, meaning just as many went into business together as quit during that period, says Muske, adding that about one-third of US family businesses are led by couples.

So in an era when close to half of first marriages ultimately fail and two-thirds of new businesses collapse within four years, how do co-preneurs do it?”

I think that a relationship has too much feeling involved to provide a good partnership for a business. Love is a crazy thing that I will never truly understand and it makes people do some really stupid things. Now try to balance this with making sound business decisions is surely a recipe for disaster. Furthermore, much of business has to do with calculated risk taking, if we were to use these techniques to enter into personal relationships, well there will probably be more single people than there are today.

Are you in a business with your spouse? Do you know people who are? How do they manage? If any of you are like me you have family or friends of family that are in this situation. The drawback that I’ve seen is that the romance in their relationship has been replaced with thoughts of work. This is probably the only thing in a relationship that I’m not willing to risk losing.

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