On AGRICULTURE REPORT: Discovery may help engineer better plants.

On SCIENCE IN THE NEWS: We look forward to the New Year with a look back at the mystery of time. 

On THIS IS AMERICA: We ask some people what they will be doing to celebrate the New Year.

By Gerrye Wong

Carol Yamaguchi, Jan Yanehiro, Dr. Larry Tseu, artist Caroline Young, Gerrye Wong

No matter how bleak the economic world situation seems to be, there is always a lust for travel getaways and what better way to escape the everyday doldrums and the bleak headlines on the television screens and newspapers.
China is always a special destination, and especially with the Shanghai Expo which opened in May to hordes of visitors and endless lines to enter the China and Saudi Arabia buildings. Sylvia Young and her group from Hawaii along with Hong Kong’s Jennie Lee enjoyed visiting all of the Exposition buildings. George Koo said the unbelievable 4-7 hour waits prohibited him from seeing all that he would have liked to visit at the Expo. Traveling on a Yangtze River tour were Benson and Helen Kwan, Doris and Paul Char and James and Evelyn Gate.  Leading a tour of ladies to Tibet and China’s outpost city of Kashgar was Gloria Hom. Former Lifetime Networks CEO Andrea Wong remarked it was a wondrous trip to see China’s outer regions. Popular and busy China Stix Proprietor Frank Chang has brought in groups to China every month with his popular tours to all parts of the country.  The ever affable Frank leads many of his advertised tours himself, a very definite plus for his travelers.  He will be leading my group of  China lovers on a golf trip to the Shangdong area in September.
I just returned from a marvelously organized Tauck Tour led by the very efficient and personable Peter Pope. We traveled through Israel and Jordan and visited the many Biblical sites one had always read about.  Tauck always puts you in the finest hotels at convenient locations, and sisters Helen Chew and Virginia Bakken enjoyed walking in the newly opened pedestrian street near their David Intercontinental Hotel in Tel Aviv.
Our tour took us to King Herod’s Palace in Caesarea, Haifa’s famed Baha’i Shrine and Gardens, Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee where w viewed an extraordinary 2000 year old fishing boat dating back to the time of Jesus. We discovered other sites crucial to the history of Christianity cruising on a similar boat.  The city of Jerusalem was indeed a holy city of incredible significance for three of the world’s great religions, Judaism, Islam and Christianity.  A visit to the Western Wall was very moving watching visitors and local citizens place their prayers and wishes in the wall’s cracks.  One cannot help but be moved by the strength of history as we joined many Christian pilgrims walking on the Via Dolorosa, along which Jesus carried the cross to the site of his crucifixion.  A magical evening was seeing the story of Jerusalem unfold in breathtaking images projected on the walls of the archaeological ruins of the Citadel, surrounding us in a multi-sensory experience through the realm of modern technological photography.
Day after day we uncovered and discovered  more history in Israel. We traveled to the cliff-top fortress at Masada, a UNESCO World Heritage site built by King Herod between 36 and 31 BC.  We viewed the place where the Dead Sea Scrolls were unearthed and saw them later enchrined at the Israel Museum.  We passed through the checkpoint into Palestinian-controlled Bethlehem to tour the Church of Nativity built over what is traditionally thought to be the birthplace of Jesus marked by a silver star on the floor.
A visit to Jordan must include seeing the Pink City of  2000 year old Petra which the ancient Nabataeans carved out of colorful sandstone cliffs.  Now named one of the New Sven Wonders of the World, Petra was almost forgotten for over a thousand years and since it was protected by the cliff of Edom, Petra is one of the best preserved biblical sites in the world.  Tauck Tours provides your Petra visit with a horse, camel and carriage ride for those who found the long walks tiring among the tomb facades, royal tombs, and temples. It was sorely welcomed by Dick and Jeane Wong, our Altours travel agent as well as yours truly although I must admit riding a one hump camel is an experience for the fearless! For history buffs and the adventurous traveler, I highly recommend this Tauck Tour of Israel and Jordan as a trip of a lifetime.
Deciding their vacation wishes were the more serene Hawaiian Islands, the Dr Steven Chew Family of Pleasanton treated grandmother Muriel Kao to a stay in Molokai. Other Bay Area friends  Ken and Faye Gee, Sandy and Ken Joe and Donald and Jeanette Wong, Hampson and Evangeline Lum  reunited as Honolulu neighbors  during their summer sojourns.  Graduations are always happy occasions and Frank and Pearl Lee journeyed to Maine to celebrate at grandson Gabriel Lee’s high school graduation with his parents, the Dr. Marvin Lees.  Competing in the National NRA Action Piston (Bianchi Cup) Championship in Columbia, Missouri was multiple time champion Vera Koo.
EXCITING TIMES IN THE BAY AREA

Gerrye Wong, Evan Lysacek, and Cheryl Burke

One got very starry eyed ogling all of the celebrities who performed at the Kristi Yamaguchi “Dancing the Night Away” fundraising dinner at the Hilton Union Square in San Francisco.  Dancing for the guests’ pleasure were her fellow dancing stars from the popular TV show. They included Mark Ballas, Olympic Gold Medalist Evan Lysacek, Olympic Gold Medal Swimmer Natalie Coughlin, movie star Jane Seymour, and dancing pros Cheryl Burke, Jonathan Roberts and Chelsie Hightower.
Hosts Don Bleu and Janelle Wang kept the program light and humorous, and a very proficient tongue twisting bububububububu auctioneer captured almost $75,000 from the audience’s wallets for 10 Auction items. Most popular was the Dinner Party for 10 with personal Chef Brian Boitano with Kristi as a fellow guest which Joanna Lin thrillingly outbid everyone for.  A U2 Band Autographed Electric Guitar which included Bono & the Edge signatures was a hot item finally won by Ruth Ma.  Lucky Norman Watts won the large framed Caroline Young painting, and I even won a beautiful gemstone bracelet among the many many raffle prizes up for grabs.  Proceeds to go Kristi’s Always Dream Foundation which in the past has established an Always Dream Play Park in Fremont with equipment for handicapped children, and a summer camp in Hawaii for the underprivileged. Kristi’s sister Lori, brother Brett, parents Carol and Jim Yamaguchi were all there to welcome the over 200 supporters at this successful event.   Good Work, Kristi.  With the money you made at your fantastic event, I am sure you will continue your commitment toward improving opportunities and lives of  disadvantage children.

Kristi Yamaguchi, Jane Seymour, and Joanna Lin

Saw a great musical the other night which I have to share and recommend. The Marvelous Wonderettes is a great show about a high school prom night of 1958 with four women lead performers singing the songs of that era in a very entertaining manner. Second act brings you back to their first 10 year reunion and what has happened to them in the aftermath. San Jose Rep is the presenter so come down to downtown San Jose to enjoy this show in its great Phil and Susan Hammer Theater.  www.sanjoserep.org
Joined a private tour to Angel Island see the new outdoor stone exhibits given by Executive Director Eddie Wong to Lisa See, author of latest book Shanghai Girls. She was accompanied by Autry Museum Trustee David Cartwright, Director John Gary and UCLA Professor Stephem Aron.

Visiting Angel Island (left to right): Eddie Wong, Lisa See, David Cartwright, Stephen Aron, John Gary, Dr. Larry Tseu
Flying in from Honolulu to tour Angel Island for his first time was Dr. Larry Tseu, a very busy man who was being honored as Father of the Year by a long respected Honolulu association group. It was a beautiful sunny day for them to see the new Barracks exhibits, and they were soon joined by a tour group led by the National Park Service.
A group of students of  the Japanese summer camp sponsored by the Buddhist Church took a field trip to Angel Island as part of their studies on the history of Japanese  in America.  Many immigrants from Japan were detained at Angel Island Immigration Station during its years of operation in 1910-1940.
Happy birthday to Congressman Mike Honda (CA-15) who celebrated the 9th anniversary of his 60th birthday (you figure that one out) at a fundraiser at the home of Dr. Tae Yun Kim in Fremont, CA.  Mike has done an admirable job as the Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, and the DNC Vice-Chair and we hail him as a hometown boy we are very proud of.   Thanks for being there always fighting for Asian American causes and the good the community at large.  You are the best!
Mike is being honored at the 2010 Leadership Award Benefit of APALI, Asian Pacific Amrican Leadership Institute at DeAnza College July 2.  Well deserved, and congratulations to him and all of the graduates of this fine leadership training group led by Dr. Michael Chang.
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I don’t know how many Asian Americans watch Glenn Beck besides Michelle Malkin, but I do. On June 23, he went way, way back into union history long before Barack Buddy Andy Stern and SEIU. Way before he showed Americans when “progressive” and “social justice” meant getting rid of Jewish Americans. Most Americans who haven’t been through an Asian American history course don’t know how badly the Chinese were treated in the old American west.
Here’s a part of his television program:
The California Workingman’s Party was born …. in racism. The found their success in the slogan …
The Chinese Must Go!
Labor leader Dennis Kearny incited anti-Chinese sentiments and hit on workers anxiety saying in 1877:
“We intend to try and vote the Chinamen out, to frighten him out, and if this won’t do to kill them ouit. The heathen slaves must leave this coast”
Now remember the “look for the union lable” jingle? One of the first union labels was this sign for cigars, which says in big letters: “MADE BY WHITE MEN, Cigar makers association of the west coast.”
This proclamation spelled it out. Labor wanted the Chinese out, and they were successful thanks to the efforts of the labor party.
In 1880 California banned the importation and use of Chinese labor .
Congress did the same thing with the Exclusion Act of 1882, stopping all Chinese immigration for ten years. But it was renewed and modified so many times the policy actually remained in effect until 1943 and was not completely dropped until the 1960s…
ahem.. when they weren’t racist. (my note, in WWII to recognize that China was an important ally, a quota was adopted … of 50, FIFTY per year, including my parents, and not dropped until the 1965 immigration act which was intened to favor Europeans such as the Irish)
In San Francisco in 1877 Kearny led his Labor Union to the wealthy neighborhoods “A little judicious hanging right here and now will be the best course to pursue with the capitalists and the stock sharps who are all the time robbing us” At another meeting he warned railroad owners to fire all Chinese laborers. “Remember Judge Lynch” (as in Lynch-ing) That’s the labor union.
History repeats itself. Unless you understand history and you stop it.
Here is link to a copy of the program posted on Patriot’s Network
If you appreciate Glenn Beck revisiting this obscure bit of Asian American history, please sent him a note at me@glennbeck.com and encourage him to cover more Asian American topics, as he’s had a number of African American guest speakers and in his studio audiences, but not so many Asians.
Beck also covered the horrendous loss of life due to the planned economy policies of the Chinese communists and Mao that led to mass starvation during the “Great Leap Forward” on his earlier show on the communist holocaust. Liberals aren’t the only ones looking out for Asians, in fact they’re still in business recruiting Asians into radical leftism along with other minorities and signing on to terrorist sympathizer events like the ”Israel Apartheid” week  on campus.
 
 
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By Aaron Glantz, New America Media
SAN FRANCISCO - California’s utility and telecommunications companies are doing hundreds of millions of dollars more business with minority contractors, according to a new report from the Greenlining Institute, a Bay Area think tank.
But the organization says the news is not all good for minority firms. According to Greenlining’s report, Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric are lagging behind their competitors. Cable companies , which increasingly compete with regulated telecommunications firms for broadband business , have virtually no minority contracting portfolio at all.
“There are clear industry leaders, there are those who are stuck in the middle of the pack and those who are not even stepping onto the field,” said Greenlining attorney Sam Kang.
According to Greenlining, California’s major utility and telecom firms handed out $341 million more in minority contracts in 2009 than in 2005.
Spending on African American and Latino businesses increased, while spending on Asian American and minority women-owned businesses went down.
Of the companies tracked by Greenlining, Verizon did the greatest amount of contracting with minority-owned businesses at 24 percent, followed by Southern California Gas at 23 percent, and AT&T at 22 percent.
On the other end of the spectrum, Sprint and Cox Communications gave just 8 percent of their contracts to minority-owned firms.
In an interview with New America Media, Greenlining’s Kang singled out PG&E for criticism.
The company placed in the middle of the pack, giving about 15 percent of its contracts to minority businesses.
But among all the firms monitored by Greenlining, the giant utility was the only company to see its volume of contracting to minority businesses decline.
“PG&E is the biggest utility in California and it’s missing a huge opportunity by falling farther and farther behind industry leaders,” Kang said.
“Historically, they’ve always been strategic in reaching out to minority firms,” Kang said, “but lately it seems like their attention is geared toward spending money and time on implementing a $4 billion rate increase over the next three years and shoving smart meters down our throats despite all the complaints.”
Kang also criticized PG&E for cutting back on its minority contracting at the same time it spent more than $35 million on a failed ballot initiative to make it more difficult for municipal utilities to get into the power market.
“We’ve noticed a drop off in their corporate culture,” Kang said.
PG&E spokesperson Fiona Chan gave a different spin.
While the percentage of minority firms getting contracts declined in 2009, she said, the overall volume of dollars increased by $54 million to $500 million.
“PG&E has long viewed supplier diversity as a strategic business advantage because it helps us provide the very best products and services to our customers and supports economic development in the communities that we serve,” Chan said.
PG&E and Greenlining also have different readings of the utility’s willingness to include minority firms in the emerging, alternative energy sector.
Chan said for example, last year PG&E’s renewable sourcing team awarded 30 percent of its Pilot Photovoltaic Project contracting dollars to diverse businesses.
But Kang countered that the pilot project is “very small.”
“We asked PG&E on whether they wanted to incorporate supplier diversity into their $900 million Manzana wind project,” he said. “PG&E declined.”
Ian Kim, who runs the green jobs program at the advocacy organization Green for All says PG&E’s answer is not enough.
“When you’re getting the money of millions of ratepayers the public has a right to hold those businesses to a higher standard,” he said.
“The utilities have a long way to go when it comes to building bridges with the community,” he added.
“It goes way deeper than the surface level” of contracting data,” he said.
One minority-owned company that has gotten work from PG&E is Energy Conservation Options (ECO), an Oakland firm which positions itself as a one-stop solution for companies and building managers seeking to increase their energy efficiency.
Its CEO, Dahlia Moodie, makes a point of hiring from the community in Oakland, especially from chronically unemployed and underemployed segments of the population.
“It was difficult for me to find my way into PG&E, but once I got in I could see that they are being very aggressive in terms of the services that we provide,” she said.
Moodie believes many small, minority companies have difficulty finding work with PG&E for the same reason they have difficulty getting contracts from any large business, or from the government.
“You have to have this incredibly wide range of understanding about how a large bureaucratic organization works,” she said. “It takes a certain set of skills to do that and a lot of people don’t come to small business with those skills.”
When she started ECO in 2008, Moodie said she spent an entire year simply meeting any many people in corporate leadership positions as she could. She needed to make the connections, she said, in order to get her start-up off the ground.
“The problem,” she says, “is that there are very few small and minority businesses that have the skills or resources to do this.”
Aubrey Stone, the director of the California Black Chamber of Commerce says whatever the numbers, his members “are still struggling, and feel like they’re not major participants in the process.”
“I think it’s great that the number of black businesses getting contracts increased, but I don’t see it,” he said. “I don’t see a major increase so I can’t relate to it personally.”
This story first appeared on New America Media:
http://newamericamedia.org/2010/06/utility-giants-face-criticism-on-minority-contracts.php
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SAN FRANCISCO – Togonon Gallery is proud to participate in the 2010 Shanghai Celebrations spearheaded by the Asian Art Museum by presenting a panel discussion on the lives and works of the artists in the exhibition.
Gold Standard: Nine Asian/American Modernist Artists is a selection of vintage paintings and works on paper celebrating the artistic achievements and contribution of Asian/Americans artists in the development of American modernism. The artists include: C.C. Wang, John Way (Wei Letang), Constance Chang (Chang Shangpu), Ruth Asawa, George, Miyasaki, Arthur Okamura, Leo Valledor, Carlos Villa, and Gary Woo. The first three artists originally came from Shanghai; Gary Woo was from Guangzhou, while the rest were born in the US. All of the artists worked in California during the 1960s and 1970s.
Guest curator Dewitt Cheng says, “The title is both symbolic and historical. To monetarists and economists, the gold standard denotes the amount of the precious metal held on reserve to back a nation’s paper currency. West Coast aficionados of art and cultural history might recall that Gold Mountain was the Middle Kingdom’s name for Gold-Rush-era California; they might also remember the golden spike used in 1869 by Central Pacific Railroad Director Leland Stanford to ceremonially complete the transcontinental railroad (which was, incidentally, built by a labor force 50 per cent Chinese). That spike, which now resides in the Cantor Art Center at Stanford University, thus symbolizes the meeting of East and West, and, by extension, the careers of these Asian-American modernists who managed, a generation before multiculturalism, to unite traditional Asian art and western avant-gardism. Negotiating between cultures was no easy task: American critics tended to see the work as Asian, while Asian audiences saw it as American. The artists, predictably, tried to avoid being pigeonholed.

Filipino-American Leo Valledor, immersed in black culture since his San Francisco childhood, disliked being identified by race; similarly, George Tsutakawa (not shown here), when asked to choose between Japanese and American identities, dismissed the question as meaningless: “I am neither; I am both.” We are fortunate that these artists chose the Middle Path between cultures, enriching both, and creating a body of work as lustrous and lasting and global in appeal as the universally prized precious metal.”
About the Curator
DeWitt Cheng is a San Francisco art critic, collector and curator who write for Art Ltd., Artillery, Sculpture, East Bay Express, SquareCylinder.com, VisualArtSource.com, and ArtBusiness.com.
About Togonon Gallery
Established in 1994, Togonon Gallery exhibits artists that represent the dynamic culture of the West Coast as well as international artists. The gallery works with emerging and established artists with a distinguished scope of diversity that encourages a lively dialogue about contemporary life. Our passion is to present exhibitions that will keep the energy alive for the arts. Togonon Gallery is a member of the San Francisco Art Dealers Association (SFADA).
Visit togonongallery.com & www.shanghaicelebration.com
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I found this hilarious piece by aspiring writer Lillian Wu on her Teen Writer’s Haven blog. Enjoy.

By LillianW
If you are like the majority of Asians, your parents are the stereotypical tyrants. You don’t have the faintest clue as to how to live up to their skyscraper standards, and they don’t understand why you’re never trying. Here are some tips on getting along with your Asian parents, and maybe eventually you’ll even understand them.
1. Never Talk Back to Them
Asian parents are infamous for resorting to violence once provoked. When you strip them of their authority (especially in public), they retain respect by humiliating you in return. If you supplement your threats with incoherent cursing, you are asking for a fate worse than death. Even if your parents murder you, everyone will agree that you had it coming.
2. First Apologize, then Reason
It doesn’t matter whose fault it is. You’ll never hear the end of it if they think you haven’t learned. If it really is important enough, wait until time has passed before you bring it up again. Reason with them rationally, and avoid getting heated, or your parents will follow, and then they will win.
Warning: If they go for the whip or whatever weapon they use to teach you a lesson, run! Contrary to popular belief, being obedient at that moment won’t do you any good. When you infuriate Asian parents, they don’t take it well. They lose all reason and will become vicious, more so than they intended. You’ll most likely outrun them, and once they recover, they will have cooled. That’s when you apologize and bring them some tea.
3. Perform the Best of Your Abilities
To Asian parents, as long as you perform well academically, you don’t have to know anything else. They think Americans waste their time on extracurricular activities and would much rather their kids be hermits. To appease your strict parents, perform the best of your abilities. They will witness your efforts and help you discover your talents elsewhere. They will never settle for less.
4. Make Sure They Can Always Find You
Asian parents are very protective of their children and spend half their lives sheltering them. If you leave the house, be prepared to receive frantic calls wondering your whereabouts and who you’re with. Always pick up and reassure them that you are alive and well. Treat them as you would your boy/girlfriend. They have dangerously creative imaginations and will be suspicious if you don’t offer thorough details.
5. Do Not Let them Catch you lying
It is probably best to lie to your parents sometimes, especially when it concerns a failed test. Just be sure not to arouse their suspicions. You will never know privacy again with all their snooping. Just because your parents may not always be around, does not mean you’re free to be reckless. They have probably installed cameras all over the house, claiming it was for feng shui.
6. Give Them Something to Brag About
Asian parents have one hobby they all share: bragging about their children. Mothers are more frequently guilty of this and they love it. It becomes a competition between squabbling mothers eager to prove how her kid is the best. The highest honor goes to the 4.0 students with 2400’s who got into Harvard and M.I.T. and are having a hard time deciding. In Asia, they have never heard of any American school but Harvard and M.I.T. so it is a huge accomplishment. Parents devote their lives to getting their children in.
Be careful if you have absolutely nothing your mother can boast to her friends about. It will only frustrate her more when all the other mothers are describing their superhuman kids. Find a talent soon. Mediocrity does not sit well with Asian parents. Good luck!
a. hu notes - check out the “Date Sexy Asian Singles” and “Asian Dating and Singles Site. Find the Perfect Asian Woman Now! Asian Girls For Marriage ” ads that pop up for keywords in this article. Hardly works for the usual “please support our advertisers” line. Sigh.
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SEATTLE, Washington – The National Asian Pacific Center on Aging (NAPCA) recently held its quarterly board meeting in San Francisco, CA and named Pablo Wong to its Board of Directors.
Wong is the Senior Vice President for Market Development for Fidelity National Financial, Inc. He is based out of San Francisco, CA and is currently serving on the board of Episcopal Community Services and a member of the State of California Economy Strategy Panel.
Born in Nicaragua and of Chinese descent, Wong was named one of the most influential Hispanics in the San Francisco Bay Area by the San Francisco Business Times in 2005 and received the President’s Award from Ten Bay Area Real Estate Associations. He graduated from The University of Hawaii with a degree in Agricultural Economics and is bilingual in English and Spanish.
David Cohen, an attorney and consultant based in the Los Angeles area, was also named to the Board. He has served as U.S. Representative to the Pacific Community, the President’s Special Representative to the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commissioner on the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Insular Affairs. Cohen received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds a joint J.D.-M.B.A. from Penn Law School and the Wharton School.
“David and Pablo will provide strong guidance and expertise from both the legal and real estate fields,” said NAPCA Board President John Q. Duong. “By adding them to the board, NAPCA has strengthened its ability to serve Asian American and Pacific Islander seniors as our organization moves forward and continues to grow. We are excited about these additions to the board and welcome David and Pablo to the NAPCA family.”
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District Attorney Kamala D. Harris has appointed Sharon Woo as the new Chief of Criminal Division at the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.
She is the first Chinese American woman to hold this prestigious position in the City and County of San Francisco. Currently, Woo is the Managing Attorney of the Narcotics Unit. A graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles, she later received her Juris Doctorate  from the University of San Francisco, School of Law.
Before joining the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office in 2000, she spent a decade as a prosecutor at the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office. At one point in her career, she was also a cross-designated federal prosecutor for the Northern District of California at the United States Attorney’s Office.
Woo is a veteran prosecutor who has more than twenty years of experience in prosecuting cases involving domestic violence, sexual assault, narcotics, gang violence and robbery.
“Sharon Woo is a talented prosecutor with integrity and keen appreciation for the law” said District Attorney Harris. “She is dedicated to protecting the public, and I am proud to have appointed her to oversee our criminal division.”
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