self indulgent post #1

(pictured: photo of some far away family in a galaxy far far away and the artist's rendition of the happy couple that started it all.)
the process of writing for 'yellowpages' has eventually brought me to the topic of family heritage. this word came up in my ESL class (this superhappy yellow kid's day job), and i was asked to explain in a clear, concise way. 'impossible,' i responded, 'look it up in your dictionary!'

questions for thought...

1. is it your family? - so, if you were born into a long line of chicken farmers, are you destined to be chasing poultry?
2. is it the culture of a (now) not-so-far off nation and highly influential trading partner? - what if you don't really speak chinese? how can i connect to my heritage if i only know that Kungpo Palace's ribs are more flavorful and CHEAPER than Chairman Mao's BBQ's?

not too shabby for 6 months

last night during a chilly reception for presidential hopeful barack obama, reba pointed out that in the past 6 months we've been BUSY meeting some of the not-so-conservative stars of our political stage.

1. last night - hung out by the state capitol for 2 hours with thousands of adoring supporters (or members of a 'delusional' political movement according to the clinton camp).

2. friday morning - had a cozy Q&A with chelsea at the local community college.

3. this past fall - shook hands with bill at book people

getting involved in the 'the silly season'

(pictured: our very own janet reno exercising her right to vote) registered, voted, watching debates, going to rallies, reading the countless articles... reba and i are involved. well, at least this is the most involved we've been in years.

with nearly a decade in japan, we exercised our dim political intellect with other ex-pats from Britain and Australia who found our government a little silly and often scary. in the end, we eventually mailed our absentee ballots into the great abyss. who knows what happened to them...

yesterday, was the first time to vote in a primary for us. usually, super duper happy tuesday would have usually wiped out any chance of getting involved in this process. but suddenly we find ourselves in one of those 'do or die' states.

lifting pics from my sister

i found this pic on my sister's blog where she's been documenting her role as adopted mother to this little girl. i guess i was drawn to all that yellow.

suddenly important

it would seem that super tuesday didn't really determine much on the democratic side. so, suddenly turning to states like ohio and texas to decide things. well, i guess we'll try. this coming week the candidate for 'change' and the lightning rod for polarization are coming to duke it out @ the UT campus. chances are that mostly only honored guests and the local, big time, 'wink winks' and 'nudge nudges' will be able to attend. nonetheless, i put mine and reba's names in a drawing to allow commoners to part-take in the event.

選挙 - the campaign

in this year of elections... who to choose... the female minority... the african american minority... the old man majority... rebekah and i made a rare appearance in public to see a documentary that showcases how those whacky japanese take that road to public office.

while living in japan, elections were often met with groans of pain. campaign vehicles straight out of the 1950s with HUGE speakers canvased the neighborhoods blaring the candidate's names followed by vague empty promises. at the time, it didn't make much sense to me as a migrant worker/english teacher on a temporary guest visa. but the movie DID put some light on who these guys are and how the candidate isn't really running on his or her own ideals. they're actually more of an other spokesperson for the party. if you can take two hours of subtitles and hearing this guys name being shouted at you, it's worth check it out.

thriller turns 25

ask a creative person (writer, musician, pasty comic book artist) his/her biggest influence, that person would probably give a well thought out, 'educated' response. liars. all of them. speak from your heart, and my heart says that the source of my art comes from Mj's thriller. NPR did a piece on the impact the album had on the pop music world, and the life of the king of pop since.

saturday morning

i love saturday mornings. on the day designated by slacker culture as the official 'sleep in day', i love getting up early and playing writer. a quiet house and an even quieter neighborhood help to set the mood for a sleep eyed man boy with a lot of ground breaking ideas (so he thinks) and very little knowledge of how to move them to the next step. is this what it would be like (life as a full time artist/writer)?

wrapped in coffee (a new addiction), NPR and a dirty bathrobe (old habits) i'm off in front of the computer. scott simon interviews the tortured lives of best selling authors, and i think to myself, 'i grew up like that!' 'life was unfair to me too!' maybe... in sort of a privileged middle class sense. 'i never had cable TV! it was hell!'

turning japanese...again

so... it's sort of official. reba and i are set to go back to japan this summer to lead two separate groups of young 'teenage' explorers. one month in tokyo with 45 kids learning japanese, AND an other month in osaka with 25 kids studying japanese and manga art.

super happy chinese new year mardi gras tuesday

i just realized that yesterday these three worlds collided and no one really noticed, except for these academics at yale. they're pictured here over thinking the event as usual.

sucked in... and tuned out again.

i found that i was really excited with the fourth quarter of the super bowl. (and yes, i still haven't emailed that guy from kenya enduring ethnic strife... see my last post). even through out most of the game i was making cheering and grunting noises to myself. reba gave up before halftime and went to bed. this left me to continue these prehistoric war calls to myself.

i guess living just minutes from UT and armies of burnt orange clad football fans did a little to sway my usual, stern 'i hate all pro sports' stance. maybe it was also the underdog tail or perhaps the NYC nostalgia.

sucked in.... and tuned out.

an excerpt from a conversation between my sister and myself...

'matt, did you see on the news? THEY broke through the wall to get into EGYPT!'

-wha? who are they? what are you talking about? i haven't really been following the news.

'you've been mostly following the heath ledger thing, haven't you?'

-ummmm. yes.

in my inbox, i have an email from a kenyan. honestly, i don't really know this guy, and i'm not too sure how we got to the point of exchanging emails. i've been to kenya twice and actually studied there for five months. somehow people there seem to make their way into your social network.

he writes about the recent chaos in kenya and how he had to leave his family in nairobi to seek refuge in neighboring uganda. (1). why did HE leave HIS family to seek safety? (2). since when has war-torn uganda become a safer option than kenya?

in addition to these questions i had all sorts confusing thoughts swimming in my head. (1). i don't know this guy. why should i care? (2). you insensitive jerk. people are suffering in a country you called home for half a year. so, i starred the email and went back to reading about heath ledger. a few moments later my sister called.

summer blonde

continuing on with my coverage of asian american comics. adrian tomine's (pronounced to-mee ne - i don't know why people are making such a big deal out of that. people mispronounce my name all the time) work was featured yesterday on NPR's fresh air. i'm going to run out to get a copy of his graphic novel 'summer blonde'. well, maybe i'll take a slow leisurely walk down to the neighborhood comic book store.