President:
Nancy Wang
576-0533

Vice President:
Mary Lowe
528-8712 x18

Treasurer:
Shirley Brummell
528-8044

Recording
Secretary:
Judy Cheung
528-0912

Corresponding
Secretary:
Kevin Ablett
538-1938

Newsletter,
Scholarship:
Mirin Lew
545-6173

Social Director:
Mary Lowe
528-8712 x18

Membership:
Judy Cheung

Ways and Means:
We need someone!

Building Committee:
Joe Wang
576-0533

Youth Group:
Mark & Azy Heydon
575-9541

Board Members:
David Chung
Stephanie Chan
Keung Chan
Irene Fong
Jean Gee
Winston Lee
Frances Lok
Shubert Yee
Kay Yee

August 2003

Contents
PRESIDENT's MESSAGE
RECA LANGUAGE STUDY GROUPS
HELP A CHILD SUCCEED IN SCHOOL
HELP PRESERVE HISTORY
DANCING POETRY FESTIVAL
2003 RECA SCHOLARSHIP WINNER
SUMMER CHINESE CULTURAL CAMP
MULTI-CULTURAL POETRY READING
YOUTH GROUP ACTIVITIES
DR. GORDON WONG OPENS NEW OFFICE
CONDOLENCES TO KWAN FAMILY
NEWSLETTER SUBMISSIONS
MEMBER ADVERTISEMENTS


PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
By Nancy Wang

Greetings to all of our busy members. This summer has been one of the most active ever. Many thanks to all who have presented the various performances, events and exhibitions that promote RECA. Our cultural dancers, lion team, summer Cultural Camp, clean-up days, building committee business, and other group activities have filled our schedule during these hot summer months. Our community involvement has been the most extensive we have accomplished so far. I also want to give an extra thanks to our active Youth Group who is always ready to jump up and help out in performances, hosting and being youth volunteers, no matter how short the notice or how difficult the task.

September will bring the resuming of our language study groups, cultural dance instruction and continued community involvement. We hope to see all of you at our annual picnic in Finley Park on September 7, and at our other activities throughout the autumn months. 

Thank you all for your active participation and continued support.

RECA's Language Study Groups will soon be reconvening. Classes for all ages and all levels of Mandarin and Cantonese are offered, as well as English as a Second Language for adults. If there is interest, Mei Li Leung will teach adult Tai Chi.

Classes begin Saturday, September 6, at 9:00 a.m. Between 11:30 a.m. and 12:00 noon, our optional cultural dance program will continue to be provided for beginning dancers, plus performance and rehearsal information for more advanced dancers. There is no extra fee for this program.

The mid-week Mandarin study group has been changed to Wednesdays, beginning September 10, 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. Mid-week Mandarin does not offer extracurricular options. Wednesdays provide smaller, more concentrated classes. Mid-week students are welcome to attend the cultural dance sessions and other extracurricular events on Saturdays. Cantonese is not offered mid-week.

English as a Second Language is offered at no charge on Saturday, 11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. This class focuses on functional survival English for adults. 

Adult Tai Chi will be held outside on Saturdays, 9:30-11:00 a.m. if there is interest. The fee is $60 per month. If you are interested, contact Mai Li Leung at (707) 535-2078 or mayllqigong@yahoo.com. If not enough people express interest to May Li Leung prior to September 6, this class will not be offered, so be sure to call as soon as possible. Do not wait for the first day of school!

Fees for language study groups, beginning this year, include annual RECA dues. Prices will be $190.00 per person, per semester, or $300 per person per year. For two people per family, the fee is $300 per semester or $500 per year. For more than 2 people per family, the base rate is for two people plus $100 per additional person per semester.

Please pre-enroll so teachers can properly plan. Last year, we were full the first week of classes. Pre-enroll to be sure you have a space. Our rooms are small, so enrollment is limited. New students may visit 1 time before paying. However, if classes are full, visitors cannot be accommodated.

Our teachers continue to be Azy Heydon, Lily Chang, Hsiu Chuen Armstrong and Liling Davis. Tien Quock is a teaching assistant for Cantonese.

For more information, call Nancy Wang (English or Mandarin) at (707) 576-0533, Azy Heydon (Cantonese, Mandarin or English) at (707) 575-9541 or Judy Cheung (English) at (707) 528-0912.

“…education prepares you for what and who you’re going to be for life”

Volunteers as academic helpers in the classroom can make a difference – it may be a difference that lasts a lifetime. The Literacy Connection at the Volunteer Center in its 6th year recruiting, training and referring volunteers into K-12 classrooms where teachers have asked for help. Volunteers, as academic helpers, assist children who are struggling with reading and math. Volunteers choose the day of the week and the hours they wish to work – the school day is 8:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. with some after-school programs that go until 4:00 p.m. No experience is necessary.

The Volunteer Center is interested in having members of RECA in this program because there are Asian students in need of help, and they want to recruit role models for the children. It's important for the kids to see adults who look like them and speak their language. It really emphasizes how important education is. 

Volunteers do have to be fingerprinted and must have a TB test and attend a 90-minute orientation/training. Then each volunteer is introduced to the school principal or volunteer coordinator where he/she will work. Volunteers are placed in schools near their home or work or in special areas where they ask to work. The Volunteer Center works with schools throughout Sonoma County. If you would like to help, please call Barbara Fisher at 573-3372.

The following is from a letter to RECA from the Committee to Restore the Old County Cemetery.

I am working on a project to restore the Old County Cemetery on Chanate Road (the one that was long
associated with the “County Farm”). This project is a joint effort of the Sonoma County Historical Society (SCHS) and the Sonoma County Genealogical Society (SCQS). I would like to add RECA to the list of sponsoring organizations.

As part of the project, I am writing a history of Sonoma County’s "Poor Farm" and its cemetery. With the assistance of my fellow members of SCGS, I am transcribing the old county burial records in order to create a list of the 1000 to 1500 persons estimated to have been buried there. Regretfully, many old records have been destroyed, so 100% accuracy will not be possible.

Because of the prejudices of the times, which forbade Chinese from being buried elsewhere in the county, the Old County Cemetery contains more Chinese than any other ethnic group. In order that the list of burials include as many Chinese as possible, I am asking the assistance of RECA in contacting local residents who may remember burials at the cemetery. Proof of burial is not necessary.

The 1.5- acre cemetery property is still owned by Sonoma County. It is totally overgrown with trees, brush, weeds, and poison oak. Because so much needs to be done to make the cemetery useable by the public, I will be looking for private funding to supplement what money the county may be able to put into the project. If possible, I would like to install paths and benches for walking and contemplation as well as a monument to the people buried there. Later this year, I will ask the Chinese community in northern California to help me convince the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to clean up and maintain the property. 

(If you have information, please contact Jeremy at 5848 Petaluma Hill Road, Santa Rosa, CA 95404)

On October 4 from noon to 4 p.m., everyone is invited to attend the Dancing Poetry Festival, presented by Artists Embassy International. This year, two RECA groups will be featured along with invited dance troupes from around the world. Each act requires a poem. Sean Fong is looking for a poem suitable for performance with the Lion Dancers who will open the festival. Phi Phi Dang will sing the Song of Mu Lan as one or more Ribbon Dancers (Crystal Lin and possibly 1-2 more) perform later in the program. Last year, RECA's act with Phi Phi Dang singing while Meesha Heydon danced with Festival coordinator Natica Angilly (photo below), was very well received by the international audience.

Everyone is encouraged to attend this performance in the Florence Gould Theater at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, San Francisco. Performers from around the world will be on stage. Tickets are $15 each. RECA will be receiving some complimentary tickets. Performers enter free through the stage door.

Congratulations to our 2003 scholarship winner, Charles Yong! Charles is the son of RECA members David and Lily Yong. He graduated this year from Rancho Cotate High School. Charles impressed the scholarship committee with his broad list of accomplishments both in and out of school. At the time that he applied for the scholarship, he had a 4.91 GPA. His many extracurricular activities included being president of the Interact Club, creating the Stepping Stones program which brings high-school students to local elementary schools to make presentations about goal-setting, being a Senior Teen Attorney for the Teen Court, tutoring and mentoring students, and being on the varsity tennis team. He is accomplished in karate, having earned a second-degree black belt and won fifth place in weapons and sixth in kata at the 2001 AAU Junior Olympics, and has taught karate to younger students. He received the Youth Summer Research Award and completed a summer internship at the National Institutes of Health, working with top researchers. Charles plans to attend U.C. Berkeley and to major in bioengineering. 

RECA received seven applications from local high school seniors for this year's scholarship of $500. As usual, all of the applicants had excellent academic records and long lists of extracurricular activities, community service, and work experience, and it was difficult to choose a winner. Special thanks to the members of the scholarship committee, Judy Cheung, Mary Lowe, Joe Wang, and Mirin Lew, for their hard work.

As usual, our Cultural Camp was more exciting than ever before. This year, Azy Heydon joined Jean Walker in teaching. Nancy Wang and Judy Cheung assisted. Crystal Lin was our popular youth assistant. Other youth helpers assisted on various days throughout the two-week session. Irena, an English teacher from the Czech Republic, helped each afternoon. She and her daughter, Jana, added a new dimension to learning language. Five-year-old Jana did her exercises in English while everyone else did lessons in Chinese. Campers were able to practice lessons both as learners and as helper-friends.

Our curriculum began each morning with a Tai Chi session lead by Calvin Dang, affectionately called "Dang Gong Gong" by the campers. After Tai Chi came language lessons where each camper learned to say various things about themselves. First, "My name is …" then, "Good morning. How are you? I am fine." By the second day, everyone learned "I want," "I don't want," "I like," "I don't like." During the rest of the two weeks, everyone learned many words to finish the sentences to their own satisfaction. At the end of sharing, each was given a Chinese word for something to be remembered about themselves for everyone to learn. Language lessons also included songs and games.

Break-time (recess) was filled with laughter, games and friends. While campers were outside, staff cleared a long table and covered it with clean plastic. Campers were called inside, took turns in the restrooms washing hands, then gathered at the table in smiling, bouncing anticipation. "What are we making today?" was the question. The answers throughout the week included: egg rolls, fried rice, won ton, Vietnamese spring rolls, har gau, green onion pancakes, pot stickers, and fruit salad. During cooking, each camper learned to crack an egg, stir food at the stove, roll dough, chop vegetables, cut fruit, fill and seal wrappers. Chopping and stirring was counted in Chinese. Colors of food were shouted out in Chinese. Later in the day, favorite recipes could be copied into notebooks to be taken home. Cooking lessons were tested every day. The test? Lunch! The first day, one camper turned down fried rice because to him, it was yucky. The camp rule: take one little, tiny taste. He took a very tiny taste, was surprised, took a small serving and then went back for more. Everyone learned two lessons: how to cook, and when you cook something yourself, it will probably taste extra good.

After lunch and free time, everyone settled down with story time of Chinese folk stories and modern stories about being Chinese, including how the zodiac animals were chosen, what a boy did to stop ridicule from school friends when he ate cha siu bau instead of sandwiches, what is dim sum, etc. The day was finished off with three arts and craft projects. Three small groups were assigned three different tables with three different projects. Each group rotated to each table during the afternoon. Painting was structured to prepare students for visits from professional painter Lilly Kwong, who came each Thursday for special instruction in Chinese brush painting and watercolor techniques.

RECA would like to thank all of the campers who came from all over Sonoma County as well as from Novato, San Leandro and the Czech Republic. Special thanks to teachers Jean Walker and Azy Heydon, and to administrators and assistants (sometimes the two roles overlap) Nancy Wang, Judy Cheung and Crystal Lin. Extra special thanks is given to our various assistants who helped throughout the week, including special guest instructors Calvin Dang and Lilly Kwong. Parents, youth, friends and relatives were invaluable in providing staff for our campers. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

PHOTOS FROM SUMMER CHINESE CULTURAL CAMP
(Photos provided by Judy Cheung)

Teacher Jean Walker presented language lessons each morning after Tai Chi. Given basic sentence structures, each student was encouraged to say their own sentences to express what they have and what they like. "I have a cat. "I don't have a lion." "I like red apples." "I don't like carrots." The fun was going home and speaking to parents and grandparents.

Mei Li and Annie wait their turn to stir the filling for egg rolls. Each camper had a chance to break eggs, stir food on the stove, roll out wrappers, fill egg rolls, won ton, pot stickers, har gau as well as helping to prepare many other traditional Chinese foods. Adults did all of the frying. Helpers served the food while campers ate the lunch they helped to prepare each day.

Difficult learning is easier when it is fun. Here, a language lesson is taught outside on the lawn. Cue cards to help campers remember words was enlarged and worn by teacher Jean. The horse in the field across the road was a popular topic of conversation.

Camper Johnathan Lee from San Leandro takes a turn to share what he likes. He likes golf and other sports. Each camper had a word that all campers learned. Johnathan's word was "Games."  The word "Sports" was already taken by another camper. We also had two campers from Novato in addition to local participants from members and non-members.

On the last day of camp, campers presented thank you cards to Calvin Dang, affectionately called Dang Gong Gong, who led them each morning in Tai Chi. Cards were written in English and Chinese.

Among our non-local campers was 5-year-old Jana from the Czech Republic. She and her mother, Irena, were visiting the Heydon family during camp. As campers learned words in Chinese, Jana learned the words in English. Irena was a volunteer parent each afternoon. We hope they enjoyed our camp as much as we enjoyed and appreciated them. Photo by Azy Heydon.

RECA's Lion Team participated in the Roseland International Village Parade and Festival on June 1, 2003. Henry and Linda Tang played drums and cymbals. Judy Cheung played the gong. Our Youth Group provided Lion Dancers. Azy Heydon organized the RECA portion of this event and drove the pick-up.

Gentle breezes wafting, sun shining gently through the tree branches, guests chatting happily under calligraphy created by Culture Camp Children; this was the setting for the 4th Annual Multi-cultural Poetry Reading. On August 9th, 20 poets, friends and family, joined together at our RECA Center. The event was jointly sponsored by RECA, Santa Rosa's Poets of the Vineyard and San Francisco-based Artists Embassy International. People came from San Francisco, Fremont, Oakland, Richmond and Alameda as well as from around Sonoma County. One person, Judy Venterini from Fremont, saw the announcement on the RECA web site and joined us.

The potluck lunch was colorful and varied. Everything from dragon eyes in watermelon Jello to thousand-year-old eggs graced the table. Turkey lasagna, chicken and rice, sun-dried tomato bread and even potato chips were also available among the many dishes brought to be shared.

The most popular activity this year was "Pick a Partner Poetry." A book table was prepared with bilingual poetry books. People would look at books, find a poem they liked, then pick a partner to read in the other language. Poets included Lao Tzu, Tang Dynasty poets, late 1800 immigrants from China to San Francisco, two young men from Hong Kong attending a university in the U.S. in the 1990's, and many more. Some partners found 2 English translations to the same Chinese poem. This led to discussion and comparisons, with greater understanding of issues relating to reading translations.
After pick-a-partner readings, each poet had the opportunity to read their own poems, or favorite poems by other people. 

The last event of the day was clean-up. Thank you all for helping to put our Center back into good order for the next RECA event. Special thanks to teens Justin, Meesha and Yim Ching for their assistance, and to all of the people from RECA, POV and AEI who stayed, cleaned, and visited until an hour and a half after our posted ending time. 

RECA members Lillian Ozorio, Phi Phi Dang and Gloria Chung discuss poems to read with visitor Judy Venterini.

Calvin Dang reads a classical Chinese poem to an attentive audience. Notice the new porch roof installed by Gordon Lew in July; thanks, Gordon!

Amy Trussell, unaffiliated; David Chung, RECA; Mary Rudge, poet laureate of the City of Alameda; and Richard Angilly, AEI, enjoy reading Pick-A-Partner poetry.

RECA's Sean Fong joins with Arthur Levinson, 17 year-old from Oakland, for a Pick-A-Partner poem.

We had a fantastic time this summer with our RECA Youth Group members. Activities included clean-up and putting up a basketball hoop at the RECA Center and going to Six Flags/Marine World. Thanks to drivers, Nancy and Joe Wang, Salina Young, and Erin Matsuba. In addition, we have gone to the Russian River to swim and picnic, camped at Spring Lake, visited the California Academy of Science in S.F., gone to the beach, and played tennis. One of our moms, a Japanese-American, taught us how to make authentic sushi. It was quite a good experience for all of us. Some of our active teens have made a tremendous contribution raising money for our youth group funding. They provided work for another non-profit organization. We plan to perform volunteer clean-up work in the Santa Rosa Creek on September 20th. If you are interested in participating in our RECA Youth Group, call Azy or Bryce at (707) 575-9541. 

The RECA Lion team, made up primarily of members from our RECA youth group, performed at the Imagery Winery on June 28. Greeting guests for about two hours, members of the team took turns performing in this unique presentation. 

DR. GORDON WONG OPENS NEW OFFICE

The RECA Lion Dance team participated in the grand opening of the office of optometrist Dr. Gordon M. Wong, located at 66 East Washington Street in the Golden Eagle Shopping Center in downtown Petaluma, on July 12. The event also included a ribbon cutting ceremony by the Petaluma Chamber of Commerce.

Dr. Wong is excited to offer the community comprehensive exams in his state-of-the art facilities, in-house lab, contact lenses, and a large selection of quality eyewear and sunglasses. A graduate from University of California at Berkeley’s School of Optometry, Dr. Wong brings with him over eighteen years of professional experience. For more information, call (707) 778-1048 or visit Dr. Wong’s website at www.wongeyes.com.

RECA wishes to extend their deepest sympathies to Bill and Brenda Kwan and their family. Their 20-year-old son William Kwan Jr. (Billy) was killed in a car accident on Monday, August 11. The family will be establishing a memorial scholarship fund, but the account has not been set up at a bank yet. Those who wish to contribute can make their checks payable to Bill Kwan and mail them to the Billy Kwan Memorial Scholarship Fund, 2323 Fourth Street, Santa Rosa, CA 95404.

All members are invited to submit articles or photos that may be of interest to other RECA members for publication in this newsletter. Please mail your submissions to RECA's post office box (see back page), or send them via email to reca_news@yahoo.com. Articles are subject to approval and editing by the editor, and will be printed as space permits.

Advertisements in the newsletter are available to all members. The fee is $30 for a one-time advertisement, or $100 for advertisements in all issues for one year. Please send a check for the advertising fee along with your ad to RECA at P.O. Box 7854, Santa Rosa, CA 95407.

Redwood Empire Chinese Association
P.O. Box 7854
Santa Rosa, CA 95407

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