Salmon Collars, Boba Loca & 5 hours of "24"

Saturday was interesting, Nancy came by to catch up and hang out. My roomie, Mr. Gamera made smoked Salmon Collars and rice for us. After dinner, we went down the street for some Boba Loca and then watched five straight episodes of Season Five "24" in a row. Nance, you're a TV watching Fiend!!

-DB-

Epic @ Wilshire Avenue - March 12

Pastor Kevin continued on the series "Sermon on the Mount".

Welcome Baby Tyler Masao Oshima

Thanks Stacie for the photos!! Congrats to you and Mark!

Tyler was born on March 1st, 9:01pm at 7lb, 4 oz and 19 inches.

- DB-

Chinese Restaurants - Indigo Som

If you saw my earlier blog posting about Sam Chu Lin (who just passed away last Sunday), you saw that one of the articles that he wrote on was about a Bay Area artist who collected Chinese menus and had an photo exhibit on Chinese Restaurants in Mississippi. I was intrigued since my family also owns a Chinese Restaurant in Mississippi. So I email Ms Som yesterday and she was kind enough to reply. Here's a photo of Indigo Som that I found on the internet.

She was curious about my family's business and asked if I was going to be in the Bay area any time soon (doubtful) but I did send some photos of Ho Sai Gai Restaurant. If you ever saw that movie, "Mississippi Masala" ... my folks' restaurant is featured in an external shot and my Dad is an extra in one of the scenes (well, his toro is featured). Here's a photo of my Dad's place from a DVD screencap.

-DB-

TGI Friday n Bowling after work!

Well, since our house church meeting was cancel for tonight ... I hung out with my coworkers in a belated birthday celebration for Mister Jerry!

We met for Happy Hours at TGI Friday (Cerritos) and then went to the Cerritos Lanes. Bowling was good. I even got a "turkey" which is three strikes in a row (eventhough I didn't earn one of the strikes). I went from 50 pins in the 6th frame to 142 pins finishing. Eddie W. slammed everyone with his big 210 pins!!

We finished up earlier enough for DB to go buy groceries (most ice cream) then home in time for the Season two finale of "Battlestar Galactica" , Woo Hoo!!!

Have a great weekend, peeps!!

-DB-

Myers-Briggs - Spiritual Path

I got this chart several months ago relating to Myers-Briggs personality assessment test (I took it twice several years ago for both Gateway Christian Church and ESC/Epic Church) that my friend Kelley had shared with us at our old bible study.

Interesting, huh? I have go look up my personality type again. What's your's?Are you an Introvert or an Extravert?

-DB-

Fullerton House Church - Cancelled 3/10

Due to illness in the host family, we will not be meeting this Friday. Pray for the Hunt's trip to Kazakhstan to adopt a baby girl. Check out their blog: http://huntadoption.blogspot.com/.


- DB -

Happy Birthday Paco Frank!!

Japanese Techno-Rock concert

Well, this will be another first for DB ... a "Japanese Techno Rock" concert at The Glass House in Pomona tonight.



-DB-

Happy Birthday U2 Fan - Kevin

See, he even looks like The Edge!

Sam Chu Lin on Chinese-American WWII vets

ASIAN AMERICANS REMEMBER D-DAY

They also ask that their contributions not be forgotten By Sam Chu Lin

A visitor to Kenny Gong's home in Cleveland, Mississippi will quickly notice a picture frame with World War II medals and photographs prominently displayed in the living room. They are reminders that he was among the thousands of paratroopers who dropped behind enemy lines in France on D-Day. One photograph shows him proudly cradling a machine gun in his arms, a good clue as to why his colleagues in the 101st Airborne nicknamed the 17-year-old paratrooper "Machine Gun Gong."In nearby Greenville, Jack Wong and his wife Fannie are thumbing through an old newspaper acknowledging him as one of the city's three honorary grand marshals in last December's Christmas parade and for his service during World War II. Wong was in the Army Signal Corp and was among the tens of thousands of soldiers who waded through the waters onto Omaha Beach only days after the initial invasion took place.

Delbert Wong, a Los Angeles judge, is sitting in his Silver Lake home, ready to watch the Los Angeles Lakers take on the Minnesota Timberwolves in the final Western Conference championship game [Lakers' won.]. A model of a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber like the one he flew as a navigator in the 401 Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force during World War II sits on a coffee table nearby. He's thankful that he survived 30 missions over Germany and Berlin. Those raids, he says, helped to pave the way for D-Day.In Santa Barbara, Roy Fong is in the garage repairing a drawer to an old refrigerator while his wife is preparing a salmon sandwich in the kitchen for lunch. During World War II, he was a radio operator stationed at Warmwell, a P-38 Lightning and Spitfire base in Southern England and helped to guide fighter pilots home. He recently celebrated his 80th birthday. He soon plans to call a friend in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to remember D-Day.

On that fateful day, Gong says it was about 1:30 in the morning when a C-47 dropped him and his fellow paratroopers near Saint-Mere Eglise. As the men jumped from their plane into the dark night air, they were greeted with a deadly 4th of July fireworks show. "There were plenty of ack-ack guns," Gong recounted. "I was so scared. The man ahead of me got shot through the stomach. I landed in a ditch near hedgerows with Germans running all around me. It took me a day to get back to my unit."The 80-year-old World War II veteran is proud of his military service. He smiles as he wishfully thinks that perhaps one day a book might be written including his wartime experiences. He notes that he has collected war souvenirs including a German Luger, but his voice becomes serious when he talks about those who made the supreme sacrifice on that fateful June 6 six decades ago. "When I think about that day," he related, "I get sick all over. I think about all of the dead people. I don't want to watch any television shows about D-Day. I went through the real thing."

In contrast, 82-year-old Jack Wong vividly remembers the many bodies on Omaha Beach and his own close calls with German snipers, but he feels differently about this 60th anniversary."This D-Day anniversary means a lot to me," Wong stated. "It brings back a lot of memories. I was drafted to protect the liberty and freedom we so cherish in this country. In boot camp, I met with men who came from all over the country. I learned a lot, and I matured a whole lot."Wong was with the 12th Army Group and on D-Day, he and other troops were amassed on the southern tip of England. Fate dealt them a positive hand. They were held in reserve and didn't go in on the first wave. When they arrived, fierce fighting continued."We got off a transport ship into a landing craft," the Mississippi Delta veteran remembered. "Near shore we waded in knee deep water. Many bodies were floating in the water. The Germans were firing artillery and machine guns at us, and our battleships and troops fired back at them.""Our main job was to intercept German radio messages and to turn over that information to G2 intelligence," he continued on. "They would decode those messages and feed it to headquarters to let them know where the German armored divisions were deployed and what they were up to."Wong emphasizes all Americans --- especially Asian Pacific Americans --- should appreciate the sacrifices that the veterans of World War II and other conflicts have made for this country.

He is thankful that his city, which once denied Chinese Americans the right to send their children to once segregated white schools or to use the local hospital facilities, has recognized veterans like himself for their contributions and honored them."We have more liberty and freedom than any other country in the world," he commented. "Many people including Asian Americans sacrificed their lives to protect that liberty and freedom that we enjoy. The people who are new in this country should be educated about that history so they too will appreciate the sacrifices that have been made, and they'll be encouraged to do what they can to protect that liberty and freedom."

Judge Wong, who later became the first person of Chinese descent to be appointed to the judiciary in the continental United States, says that the Allied bomb raids over Germany helped to eliminate Hitler's air power so an invasion could take place."There were few (German) airplanes flying over D-Day," Judge Wong noted. "If there were more, they would have strafed our troops and we couldn't have had the invasion."The retired superior court judge had completed his 30 missions on June 2nd and was scheduled to go home just before the D-Day invasion, but he and his fellow crewmembers were held in reserve just in case they were needed. He says the bombers paid a heavy price to pave the way for D-Day to happen. "We flew the last hour to Berlin without fighter cover," he recounted. "The city was surrounded by over 400 gun batteries. We lost 60 bombers. At the same time, our division was credited with 400 enemy aircraft destroyed in one day. We didn't know what to shoot at because there were so many fighters coming through. They came so close you could see the pilots' faces as they went whizzing by."

On another mission, German fighters raked Wong's B-17 dubbed the "Dry Run" with 17 direct hits. A waist gunner was killed and two other crewmembers were wounded. The bomber limped back to England and crashed landed at a British fighter base. Judge Wong feels the media and historians should make more of an effort to recognize the contributions of Asian Pacific Americans during World War II, especially with the 60th anniversary of D-Day approaching."I think that the 100th Battalion / 442nd Nisei Regimental Combat Team has not gotten as much coverage or attention that they deserve," he cited as example. "They are the most decorated unit in U.S. military history. We don't really hear about them except in the Asian press, and they should get more coverage."Roy Fong, who was a sergeant and radio operator in the 9th Air Force of the Army Air Corps, says if anyone looked up at the sky on D-Day it was clear an invasion was under way."With 10,000 planes up in the air ---- maybe more, some going in one direction and others going in another direction," the retired Los Angeles Department of Water and Power employee noted, "you couldn't count them. They were headed for Normandy and then coming back to reload. On June 6th our squadron commander didn't come back. He was shot down."There had been plenty of air activity going on for a solid week. The former radio operator says he couldn't hear the machine gun fire, but he knew when the pilots were in combat by listening to them on the radio. "They'd say, "Bandit at two o'clock high! There's one coming in at four o'clock," he recounted. "When they finished their missions, the pilots radioed us back. We set up homing beacons to guide them in."

Years later Fong was reminded of how important a role he played. Several attendees at a veterans' reunion nonchalantly identified him as a "cook.""I was the only Asian in my fighter group," he said. His wife Elizabeth quickly interjected, "Pilots that knew Roy quickly said, "No, No, he's not a cook! He brought us home safely. That's why we're here at this reunion."Fong added, "It would be great if more people realized that Asian Americans contributed much to help win the war."

This article is copyrighted by Sam Chu Lin and is posted on www.cacanational.org by permission of the author.

Toxic Tuna in Southern California?

This is scary ... (article from LA Times).

-DB-


Are Local Restaurants Serving Up Toxic Tuna?

A Warning For Sushi Lovers By Jerry Hirsch, Times Staff Writer March 6, 2006, 4:27 PM PST


Tuna is arguably the most popular offering at sushi bars. Many customers like slices of blood-red fish slathered in a spicy wasabi sauce. Others prefer the more simple nigiri style, which is sliced tuna over rice.But now a public health advocacy group is warning about the safety of tuna sushi and questioning the Food and Drug Administration's system of monitoring the mercury levels in fish, based on tests on a small sample of such delicacies at Los Angeles restaurants.

The group, GotMercury.org, purchased sushi from five top Zagat-rated restaurants in Southern California and from the Benihana Inc. chain in late January. Instead of eating the orders, the Forrest Knolls, Calif.-based organization took the fish for testing at CRG Marine Laboratories in Torrance.The mercury levels of the 12 tuna samples averaged about double the FDA standard, and a quarter of the orders were near or above the limit where the agency says fish should not be sold, said Eli Saddler, a public health analyst and attorney for GotMercury.org."Eating sushi has become the new Russian roulette," Saddler said.The advocacy group focused on sushi because the popular food has become one of the largest sources of fresh tuna consumption. Saddler believes this is the first time an independent group has attempted to monitor mercury levels in sushi.

The samples came from some of Southern California's toniest restaurants — Matsuhisa, Sushi Katsu-ya, Sushi Sasabune, HamaSaku and Sushi Nozawa. GotMercury.org also went to Benihana in Santa Monica because it's part of a large national chain where sushi is featured."Our testing shows a pattern of mercury levels being significantly higher than what the FDA reports," Saddler said.Mercury, which is linked to reduced brain development in fetuses and young children, is found in at least trace levels in nearly all fish.The FDA and Environmental Protection Agency have warned that women who may become pregnant and young children shouldn't eat certain high-mercury fish, including swordfish, shark, tilefish and king mackerel. They should also limit their consumption of tuna, the agencies have said.Increasing concern about mercury in fish has pushed some in the food industry to advocate improved testing.

Last week, Micro Analytical Systems Inc. of San Rafael, Calif., and Clackamas, Ore.-based wholesaler Pacific Seafood Group began a test venture to provide fish certified to be low in mercury to Holiday Quality Foods, a small grocery chain in rural Northern California.The venture uses a rapid-testing device developed by Micro Analytical that takes minutes rather than days to determine how much mercury is in a fish sample. In most instances, only fish that tests below the median mercury level in the FDA database — for yellowfin tuna, that's 0.27 part per million — gets the venture's Safe Harbor label, indicating that it is a low-mercury filet.

Aliso Viejo hairdresser Christopher Bliss used to eat sushi as often as twice weekly. But when his wife Valerie became pregnant two years ago, they gave it up because they were worried about the mercury content of the fish."Now we eat it once a month. I don't think that's enough to worry about," Bliss said. Still, they have enough concern not to feed it to Ava, their 18-month-old daughter.Susan Pasarow of Studio City likes to eat at Sushi Katsu-ya, not far from her home."They are the best," Pasarow said. "I like to order all the yummy rolls." And she gets lots of items with tuna.Pasarow wasn't happy to learn that Katsu-ya fish had the highest mercury concentrations among the 12 samples, but said she was aware of the problems of mercury in fish."That's why I hesitate to have sushi very often. I go maybe once a month or once every other month," Pasarow said.The two samples from Sushi Katsu-ya in Studio City came back with mercury concentrations of 1 part per million and higher, above the FDA's threshold for mercury in any seafood species, Saddler said. One sample from Sushi Nozawa, also in Studio City, came back just shy of the limit, Saddler said.Neither restaurant responded to calls asking about the tests.

Representatives of Benihana and Matsuhisa in Beverly Hills declined to comment on the findings. And HamaSaku in Los Angeles had Young Kim of Ocean Group Inc., its tuna provider, return the call."We are just a wholesaler, we don't monitor for mercury," Kim said.Saddler said he didn't blame the restaurants for the problem."I know this is the way the fish comes in, but they should do a better job of warning customers," Saddler said.That's the practice of Nobi Kusuhara, chef and owner of Sushi Sasabune in West Los Angeles. He said it's well known that tuna and swordfish have high mercury levels and he regularly warns pregnant customers not to order those fish."We would like to be able to get fish that has been tested for mercury," Kusuhara said. "That would be good for the customer and would be good for us."Kusuhara said there was no system for regularly and rapidly checking the mercury concentrations of what's for sale at the local fish market and at Southern California wholesalers.

The FDA and other health regulators should have a more rigorous testing system, he said.Saddler said the yellowfin samples culled from the Southern California restaurants had a median mercury concentration of 0.82 ppm, not far from the FDA limit. The testing methodology used by CRG is similar to what the FDA uses, said Richard Gossett, CRG's laboratory manager."A child or a woman eating even one 2-ounce sushi order with the amounts of mercury found in some of the tuna we tested could exceed what the FDA considers safe," Saddler said.The test results might be coming in higher than expected because the fish prized for sushi are older, larger tuna that have had years of ocean hunting to build up their mercury levels, Saddler said. Younger and smaller fish probably would contain less mercury.Nonetheless, Saddler said the results highlighted flaws in the FDA's fish monitoring program. The agency does limited fish testing, and instead puts its efforts into informing the public about the hazards of high-mercury fish species.David Acheson, the FDA's chief medical officer, said the agency hadn't advocated large-scale testing of fish because of the enormous time and expense such an endeavor would take.

Moreover, current regulations don't give the FDA much leverage in trying to prevent the sale of fish containing 1 ppm or more of mercury, he said. To take action, the agency has to prove that the particular fish had too much mercury and the consumption of that fish would be harmful. Acheson said there was little chance the FDA would be able to prove in a courtroom that an individual fish was harmful.Saddler said that now that companies such as Micro Analytical are starting to develop rapid and inexpensive testing systems, the FDA should push for increased monitoring.His organization also wants restaurants and grocery stores to stop selling the species known to be highest in mercury and that frequently exceed the FDA maximum threshold unless seafood suppliers provide proof that fish being sold don't exceed the FDA's limits.

As a branch of the Turtle Island Restoration Network, GotMercury.org previously has pushed for policy changes involving fish and mercury in California. It was one of the groups that persuaded California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer to sue the state's major supermarket and restaurant chains for allegedly violating California's Proposition 65 by failing to post signs warning patrons.

Benihana and 10 other restaurant chains settled the suit last year and have posted warning signs. The supermarket case is pending, but many of the chains also have posted signs."We have worked closely with them throughout this whole mercury battle," said Tom Dresslar, a spokesman for Lockyer.Despite the test results, Saddler said he wasn't going to give up sushi. He just plans to stop ordering tuna entrees."There's salmon, shrimp, clams and other shellfish," Saddler said. "Most of the other stuff would be OK if you are worried about mercury."

Copyright © 2006, The Los Angeles Times

Sam Chu LIn (pioneering Asian-Am reporter)

With sadness, I just heard on the news that veteran newsman Sam Chu Lin has passed away this weekend. I knew he was from the South, probably even from Mississippi and I thought Pastor Ken Fong even said that he was somehow related to him. I was surprised to learn that he hails from Greenville, MS (about 50 miles from DB's hometown of Greenwood).

Here are some article about Mr Lin:

Pioneering Asian American journalist, Sam Chu Lin dies at 67

Veteran California broadcaster Sam Chu Lin passed away this Sunday in Burbank. A pioneering Asian American journalist, he worked for Los Angeles station KTTV Fox 11 where he had been a reporter since 1995. He was 67.

A reporter and anchor on television and radio news since the 1960's, Chu Lin worked at KTLA Channel 5 and for KFWB radio in addition to KTTV. He was one of the first Asian American reporters to ascend to network news, working for CBS News in the 1970's.Chu Lin was also a respected print journalist, writing columns and articles on Asian-American affairs for Asian Week, Rafu Shimpo, and the San Francisco Examiner. His most recent story appeared this past Saturday on http://www.asianweek.com/. "He was a reporter who went the extra ten miles to make sure people knew who their Asian neighbors were," said Stewart Kwoh, Executive Director and President of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center.Chu Lin once said that "informing and helping others is what makes journalism exciting." He interviewed Presidents and world leaders and was as comfortable covering earthquakes, brush fires and the varied communities of Los Angeles as he was reporting the lighter side of life.Chu Lin felt strongly that journalism should be educational. "It's a chance," he said, "to use your roots for a positive purpose." The http://www.asianconnections.com/ Web site recalls that he once convinced the ABC News program "Nightline" to produce a program called "Asian American - When Your Neighbor Looks Like the Enemy" and even helped book the guests and find historical footage. He also won a National Headliner Award for a TV documentary called "Chu Lin is an Old American Name."The Associated Press, United Press International, The Greater Los Angeles Press Club, the Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Radio and Television News Association have all honored Chu Lin during his five decades as a broadcast journalist.Chu Lin lived with his wife and their two sons. Funeral services are pending.

First On Air

For Sam Chu Lin, breaking into radio was made possible by his own wits - he used signed petitions from fellow students and the presence of Chinese American stores along the river to convince his hometown station WJPR of Greenville, Mississippi to let him get sponsors and host his own radio show while in high school (1956). He Anglicized his name to Sam Lin and went on the air. To get into television, he had helped put a new public television station on air as an announcer (KCET Los Angeles, 1965). While he was at it, he helped launch KFWB as one of the nation's first all-news radio station as an anchor/reporter.

Sam Chu LinReporter-Anchor, KOOL-TV (Phoenix), 1968
Sam Chu Lin is a reporter/news anchor/radio announcer who found that "informing and helping others is what makes journalism exciting." As one of the first Asian American network reporters in New York City (CBS News), he announced to the nation the fall of Saigon and helped Superman's creators win their pensions. He's interviewed presidents and world leaders and covered earthquakes and other major disaster. In China, he went on the air to report the government crackdown on the democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. He feels journalism can also be educational. "It's a chance to use your roots for a positive purpose." Sam recently convinced ABC's Nightline to do a program called "Asian American - When Your Neighbor Looks Like the Enemy" and helped book the guest, checked the script for accuracy, and found historical footage for the broadcast. He spent over a year talking with the executive producer about how Asian Americans have been unfairly stereotyped because of the campaign fundraising and spy scandals. The program was the highest rated show in its time slot beating out Jay Leno and David Letterman in the national ratings. He has been presented with many awards including the AP, UPI, Golden Mike, National Headliner Award for Best Documentary, Chi Lin is an Old American Name, and the 1998 Los Angeles Press Club Award for covering a neighborhood shoot-out. Based in Sunnyvale with his wife Judy, and their sons Mark and Christopher, he also pioneered in Silicon Valley, establishing the television news department for Hewlett-Packard. Sam is a media consultant, contributor to AsianWeek, Rafu Shimpo, San Francisco Examiner, and reports for KTTV Fox 11 News in Los Angeles.

--------------

Sam Chu Lin Honored with CACA ‘Spirit’ Award Aug 19, 2005

MONTEREY, Calif, –– Sam Chu Lin, long-time AsianWeek contributor and veteran news broadcaster, was honored with the Spirit of America Award last Saturday at the 48th biennial national convention of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance. Chu Lin’s coverage at critical junctures of Dr. Wen Ho Lee, Captain James Yee and Captain James Wang’s careers kept an APA civil rights community rallying to their defense. Another interview helped enlighten Senator John McCain about the denial of citizenship of Asian American civil war veterans. — AsianWeek Staff Report

---- article by Sam Chu Lin -----

Mississippi Chinese Restaurants: A Work of Art By Sam Chu Lin, Mar 04, 2005

Most people might conclude that a Chinese restaurant is simply a place to eat, celebrate or hobnob with someone else, but Berkeley artist Indigo Som will tell you differently. As far as she’s concerned, images of Chinese restaurants can represent art. And she illustrates that point with her new exhibition, Mostly Mississippi: Chinese Restaurants of the South, on display at the Chinese Historical Society of America Museum at 965 Clay St. in San Francisco through March 27, 2005.

Last fall she traveled to rural Mississippi and photographed the facades of Chinese restaurants. It’s a place where many people are known for eating Southern fried chicken, catfish and hot tamales. It’s also considered an unlikely home for Chinese and other Asian Americans. For the same reasons, Som has made similar visits to Wyoming, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The Creative Work Fund provided Som and the Chinese Historical Society of America a $34,000 grant to complete this latest project.

“The Chinese-restaurant project is me looking at the relationship between Chinese restaurants and American culture and American identity,” Som outlined. “It’s a look at the place of the Chinese restaurant within the American imagination.”

As an artist, Som doesn’t consider herself a professional photographer. She laughs when she’s asked if she used a high-end Nikon or Hasselbladt camera to take her thought-provoking pictures. Her professional colleagues knew she was not a gadget person and suggested that she equip herself with a simple $20 Holga all-plastic medium-format camera with a plastic lens to complete her assignment.

“My work is conceptually and emotionally driven,” Som stated. “I’m a project-driven artist. I don’t specialize in any particular medium. It didn’t make sense for me to go out and get some fancy piece of equipment that would bog me down. The Holga lets me develop my eye, which is the more important thing for what I was trying to do. Because of the plastic lens, there’s this sort of dreamy quality to the images. The medium format allows me to print [the photographs] really big.”

Som was also attracted to Mississippi because the state has historically been a focal point for race relations. To her surprise, she was greeted with a warm welcome.

“The thing that I found about Mississippi, especially the Delta area, was the sense of place,” Som said. “It’s so particular. It’s so much itself, despite all the fast-food franchises and the continuing corporation of America. The whole Southern-hospitality thing is real! People were so nice to us. They drove us around and talked with us for hours.”

One of those people was Cathy Wong of the How Joy Restaurant in Greenville.
“Indigo really wanted to learn more about our town and our community,” Wong commented. “I was happy to help her out.”

The artist was equally impressed because Wong’s husband, Raymond, had recently been hospitalized after suffering an aneurysm and was “making an amazing recovery.” Som discovered that Southern hospitality wasn’t an isolated case.

“There was the Van Tran family who ran a place called Chop Sticks,” Som recounted. “It’s on the side of a little Chevron service station in Flora, Mississippi. Van Tran is Chinese Vietnamese and must have come to this country in his early teens. He spoke 85 percent Mississippian and 15 percent Chinese Vietnamese. To me that was very beautiful.

“Everybody we met and we talked to was really friendly and helpful,” Som continued. “You’re out on the street and somebody comes within 15 feet of you and they greet you and ask, ‘How are you?’ Being a city girl, I’m really not use to that. It was really nice!”

Do her photographs of Chinese restaurants communicate such an atmosphere? Like many artists, she encourages viewers to study her pictures to see what emotions they will generate.
“I think there’s something about the slow pace of life [in Mississippi],” Som reflected. “The local economy is not like the roaring, thriving thing exactly. There’s a different kind of space and time happening than what I’m used to.

“I think the power of art is that it communicates on the visceral level, which has more impact in the long run than just ‘Here’s this predigested idea for you,’” Som elaborated. “I hope that what comes across in the photographs is a whole lot more complex and has more depth and makes people think. I want them to be mulling over these images in their heads years from now, especially if they’re thinking about Mississippi.”

The 38-year-old artist encourages others to shed what she calls the East Coast and West Coast “elitism” and to learn more about Asian American culture elsewhere. She feels her time in the Deep South was well spent.

“I think what I wanted was to disprove my own snobbery,” Som stated. “I was born and raised in the Bay Area. I’ve had those attitudes. I think that was accomplished.”

To learn more about the artist, visit www.indigosom.com.

The other "Range"

I been writing alot lately about my new golf passion and going out to the driving range and such. But then I been missing out on that "Other" range. Man, here I am thinking that Chooah and I are only two "gun nuts" in our blog world and I see that we found a "Kindred Spirit" .... http://iheartcamels.blogspot.com/




Mel, you're one of a kind!

-DB-

Back to Back "24" episodes this Monday

Whoa! TWO HOURS of "24" on Monday! I can't wait for First Lady Martha to kick that wimpy Prez's ass after he almost got her killed! Also from last week, Jack's after his former CTU recruiter and mentor Peter Weller (Mister RoboCop himself)! Wonders what happens to Lynn McGill (Mister Hobbitman, Sean Astin)? What will the Russian terrorist do with the nerve gas?

Spoiler to reveal in inviso-text (highlight to see) : Kim Bauer is back! She finds out about Daddy Jack still alive and boy is she pissed! Also C.Thomas Howell is introducted in the series and someone who's been around for a while dies!

-DB-

Brea Golf Course - DB's First 9 holes!

Well, I finally got to play my very first round of golf (9 holes). I had to leave church alittle bit earlier today to meet with my coworker at the Brea Golf Course (next door to St. Angela's). It was a beautiful day to play. I shot a 54 on the par 29 (par 3 course). It was fun! Can't wait to play another one!


Here's a scan of the score card.

-DB-