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President: |
Summer is almost over and it is time to gear up for the coming year of classes, events and performances. Our language classes are arranged and ready to go. Invitations to perform are beginning to come in. Our annual picnic at Finley Park is in the final stages of planning. The year is being prepared to be off to a good start.   RECA LANGUAGE CLASSES By Judy Cheung Our RECA language classes are scheduled to begin on September 9, 2006. We will have beginning, intermediate and advanced Mandarin. Classes are geared to students from 5 years old to the elderly. We have even had 3 generations of one family enrolled in the past. Our pre-school program will continue once a month for tots 3-4 years old with at least one parent. There is also talk of a formal English as a second language class for adults. Let us know if you are interested. Our new tuition fees:
For additional members in a family pay the rate for
3 members and add $150 per person, per semester. The Youth Group meets the first Friday of the month. This year we will have a short formal program at each meeting. Saturday Morning Music Practice is from 9 to 11:30 AM. Dr. Robert Yee will be helping anyone who wants help in "How To Practice" or "How To Teach Yourself a Music Instrument." Our goal is to form one or more musical groups. Catholic Charities is offering a free citizenship course from August 24 to November 30. The 14-week class meets Thursdays from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Catholic Charities’ offices at 987 Airway Court in Santa Rosa. The course is designed for people who have applied or are planning to apply for U.S. citizenship. Class content will include lessons on U.S. history & civics, practice for the interview with the United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS), and helping students improve their English. For more class information, call Catholic Charities Immigration Services at 578-6000.
RECA is joining a community-wide effort to have our name inscribed on a Peace Pole erected to unite people all over the world through the universal saying “May peace prevail on earth.” Organized locally by the Atomic Bomb Peace Group, a dedication ceremony will take place September 21 from 12:30 – 1:00 p.m. at Old Courthouse Square in Santa Rosa. Over 190 countries have participated in Peace Pole projects which include extraordinary locations at Confucius Burial Site in Taiwan, Magnetic North Pole in Canada and Pyramids of El Giza in Egypt. For pictures of various peace poles, go to the web at “Peacepoles.com.” For information about the event, call Mei Nakano of JACL at 829-0854.
High school students and parents are welcome to attend this free “College Admissions Workshop” presented by the Next Generation Scholars, a local non-profit that specializes in college access for students of color. The group includes: Lina Hoshino, a filmmaker and activist, is looking for Asians to dialogue with on issues related to immigrants and human rights. Of Japanese and Chinese descent, she moved to Sonoma County over a year ago from San Francisco to escape the hustle and bustle of city life. RECA members were among an intimate group who discussed her film “Caught in Between: What To Call Home in Times of War” shown at the Peace and Justice Center of Sonoma County this summer. This thought-provoking documentary explores how civil liberties are threatened during wartime in the name of “national security” and compares the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II to the current scapegoating of Middle Eastern Muslims after the September 11 terrorist attacks. She also shared two five-minute shorts “Global Home Economics” and “Hideko,” a sensitive portrayal of her mother growing up in Japan. Her current video projects include a new film about the Manzanar concentration camps. To contact Lina, you can e-mail her at lina@tactilepix.com or call her at 664-8867. Mobilize the Immigrant Vote 2006 (MIV) is a statewide movement of diverse organizations to get immigrants to vote. California has a large number of immigrant voters, but they are under represented at the polling place. Catholic Charities is participating in this campaign by offering voter Know Your Rights palm cards (they’re small so can fit in your wallet or purse) in Chinese, Spanish and English. The campaign is non partisan and does not support or oppose any political parties. For more information, call Mary Lowe at 528-8712 x132. You can access the MIV website at www.mivcalifornia.org. On July 28, The City of Santa Rosa dedicated a mural painted by a youth exchange program with our Sister City of JeJu, South Korea. Santa Rosa youth artists have completed a mural on a street in JeJu.
RECA members Don Taylor and David Paulson (speaking in above photo) were instrumental in organizing this event through the Sister City Committee. RECA’s David Chung was there, helping put up tables, set up mikes and doing other behind-the-scenes necessities. Judy Cheung plus Azy and Meesha Heydon were among the other RECA members who participated in this city event honoring our Korean neighbors. Need toner for your computer or copier? Why not consider buying from RECA member Anita Kwan. Her business, Kwan Import, which specializes in toner cartridges, will donate 5% of each member’s purchase to RECA through its Member Purchase and Donor Program. Check the bulletin board at RECA center for below-retail prices, or you can contact her by e-mail at akwan@vom.com or (707) 953-0647.
On a balmy, sunny, August 19th, 14 poets and poetry fans from far and wide gathered at the RECA Center for the 5th Annual Multi-Cultural Poetry Reading and Potluck Lunch. Our group was small, but the bonding with old friends and new was an experience that was unrivaled.
Getting to know you--L-R: Lillian Ozorio, born in Shanghai, has European parents; Phi Phi Dang, born in Vietnam, lived in China, France and the US; David Chung, born in China, lived in Taiwan and US; Ken Peterson, born in America, has European and North African parentage. All paused in their fascinating conversation to smile for the camera. Lillian, Phi Phi and David are all life members of RECA.
With only 14 people attending, we were more casual during our reading. Enjoying the shade on our lawn, we stayed at the picnic tables for our reading. Here, Mary Rudge, Poet Laureate of Alameda, reads English and our own David Chung reads Mandarin during the Pick-A-Partner Bilingual reading.
Joel Fallon, Poet Laureate of Benicia, reads a classical Chinese poem in Chinese and English. Then David Chung sang the poem in ancient Chinese style. L-R: David Chung, Santa Rosa, Joel Fallon, Benicia, Jim Walker, Santa Rosa; Anna Kong, Santa Rosa, Sarah Lum, San Francisco, Ken Peterson, Alameda, Natica Angilly, Richmond, Angela Reiss, Korea and Alameda. Robert Watada, father of Lt. Ehren Watada, being held at Ft. Lewis, WA for refusing deployment to Iraq because he believes it is an illegal and unjust war, spoke August 22 at the Peace & Justice Center in Santa Rosa to a crowd which included JACL, Veterans for Peace, and Progressive Democrats. Robert lives in Hawaii and is in the Bay Area to garner public support for his son who faces a potential sentence of 7 ½ years in prison and court martial. Robert, who has worked for the State Department, says that he resisted the draft during the Vietnam War. Father and son discussed Ehren’s decision to enlist in the Army in 2003, but after research and talking to veterans, Ehren became disillusioned of President Bush and what he believed to be manipulation of evidence that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. “What really bothered Ehren was “the deliberate killing of innocent civilians” as well as U.S. troops for the “colonization of Iraq,” Robert said. “What we have is corruption at the highest level, not for us but for the multi-national corporations.” Ehren’s request to deploy instead to Afghanistan was denied. He also served a year in Korea. A Japanese-Chinese American, Ehren is the first American officer to be charged for refusing to fight in Iraq. For details of this case, go to the web at www.thankyoult.org or www.peaceandjusticesonomaco.org. 24 campers, whoo-ee! This was the biggest Culture Camp ever. We had geared up to include campers from Taiwan, and then heard they were not attending, so we filled the expanded enrollment to 20. Just before camp started, we received word that 4 youth from Taiwan would attend the last week. Not wanting to turn them down after all of the trouble they went through to get here, we fit them in and had a wonderful time.
Sharing not only gives a chance to learn new words, but also gives young campers a chance to talk about themselves in relation to special things. Here, Maya, assisted by Judy Cheung and Cathy Ringstad, tells campers about her special drum. Her uncle made it for her out of elk skin. He recently died of a heart attack.
Many opportunities for exploration of personal interests were offered. Here, Dylan and Alex, two campers from San Francisco (yes, our fame is spreading), learn beginning drum patterns, taught by Judy Cheung. Dylan was also able to explore his interest in music on the piano. Other campers entertained us during their unstructured time with piano solos and duets.
David Chung led us in our morning Tai Chi. We appreciated his explanations of the various moves. This helped us all to understand better and to learn faster. This move was called, "Hold the ball".
Cathy Ringstad, assisted by Nancy Wang and parents, taught conversational Chinese each morning. During the second week, Judy Cheung taught English in a different room to the 4 Taiwanese Youth.
The weather was hot, but the blackberries were not ripe. We couldn't pick berries, so, on our hike along the Joe Mendota Trail behind the RECA Center, we found a long shady spot and had relay races until we felt like going back to our Center for watermelon. Yes, that's Elizabeth out in front!
On most afternoons, Jean Walker led the arts and crafts with a variety of interesting cultural projects. Lily Kwang was our guest artists once each week. Here, sisters Kiki and Laura Couchman proudly display their fans, decorated with techniques they learned earlier in Lily Kwang's class.
Cooking is one of the favorite parts of camp. The strange food Mom makes tastes so much better when you know how to make it yourself. Here, three of the four Taiwanese campers, with their sponsor, Mai Jong Shea, make pot stickers. The Taiwanese campers were older, so they learned faster and then helped the younger kids.
Sharing is always a big part of our language lessons. Here, AJ shares his race car. The lesson? How do you say, in Chinese: "Car, fast car, fast black car, AJ's fast black car. I like AJ's fast black car".
What could be better on a hot afternoon than eating watermelon in our breezeway?
Cathy Ringstad, Children's Beginning Mandarin teacher, poses with students and parents on the last day of class. Kids proudly display their certificates of completion. More children were enrolled, but not all made it for the last day. Parents are encouraged to participate in this class so they can help their children practice their homework during the week.
RECA has many talented people. Anna and Lisa Kong are among them. Both had poetry exhibited this year at the Sonoma County Fair. Here, a fair-goer reads Lisa’s prize winning poem (notice her second place ribbon) entitled Home Again, featuring a photograph of her birth town in China as part of her framed poetry display. Anna's poem was also beautifully framed and included a photograph of a lily pond.
Li’s Tai Chi and RECA have worked together since the arrival of Li Shu Dong in Santa Rosa. Many of our youth learn martial arts skills in his studio. One of our own youth, Justin Eggart, now grown, has graduated from student to primary instructor. Here, in an outdoor exhibit for the public given in June, four youths including RECA’s Bryce and Fu (right) give a stick fighting demonstration. Li’s Tai Chi has been paramount in teaching lion dancing and providing legs for our dragon. Redwood Empire Chinese Association |
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 © Copyright 2002 Redwood Empire Chinese Association |