Hello, everyone. It’s February 24 in Portland, Oregon, Swede-Finns Day, and I’m stuck indoors because there’s half a foot (or more) of snow on the ground outside (as well as on the roofs and bushes) and roads have been impassable all over the city.The largest snowfall in about 80 years. It’s not like this in California.
Yesterday’s outside temperature was 24 degrees Fahrenheit (-4.5 Celsius) for the entire cloudy day. Today is starting off clear and windy at 21F (or -6C)
My mother is still pulling through, though she sleeps an awful lot. I’m doing fine. Abbe’s doing better. Don’s good.
Before I wandered up to Portland, I stopped by Mark and Eileen’s place in San Leandro for Swedish pancakes, to be cooked by yours truly. Eileen, who always loves a challenge, has taken it upon herself to reconfigure me into a cook. She just might do it. Another project of hers is to get me to feel comfortable hugging people when I greet them or see them off, and to feel more comfortable smiling and laughing. She’s the only one I know who can pull off all these modifications. That’s why I often characterize her friendship (and sisterhood) as indispensable
Take, for example, this photo, a “selfie” taken at Eileen and Mark’s place, on the night of the living pancakes. For the first time in several decades I not only smiled freely : -) but I played around with my smile as well. It felt wonderful. Amicable, even. I’d almost forgotten what it was like. The last time I laughed so freely was in Tianjin thirty years ago, while I was taking part in a silly skit with several students, including my beloved Li Xiang, They all turned to face me, jumped and tackled me to the stage floor. That was not in the script! Yeah my face glowed with that same silly expression as in this photo. Thank you, Li Xiang, and thank you, Eileen.
Laughs, hugs, and revelations
My present shenanigans (hey, is that another Irish word?) are part of my grandiose plan to become more open and transparent, and authentic – to reveal the genuine self and the genuine history that has lain hidden (at least in large part) for so long and to use my newly unhidden self to explore new ways of connecting more positively and genuinely to other people because it’s my genuine self that’s forging the connection. So that photo is a milestone of sorts. It represents not just silliness, but an expanded set of emotional and creative resources. Maybe my writing might improve, too!
Having now achieved the milestone of a silly laugh (with no help from John Cleese) It’s now time to reel in my newly-revealed authenticity back a bit even though I have forged some sounder relationships. But as I’ve learned the hard way, there’s a reason why I kept my true self, and my true opinions, hidden (at least partially) for so long. Sometimes such lessons can really sting. But I’ll be back. Despite some real setbacks, the rewards are too great. but I need to take a break.
Well, that was a rather brief message this time. But of course I can fix that.
The First (Initiating) Emperor of Qín
Back in the late 1980’s, the state of California decided that in a few years, we’d all be teaching ancient history in sixth grade instead of the traditional Latin America and Canada that I had learned in sixth grade. I kept thinking that probably no California kid would ever again understand the significance of Ottawa or Teotihuacán.
In the interim, we teachers were given a choice:
a) keep teaching the old curriculum for awhile or
b) supply your own ancient history materials.
I decided to go with choice b. And I quickly discovered that books for kids about ancient China simply didn’t exist in America back then. Not at all. At least, not in English. Heck, there were barely any of them written for lay adults, either. Luckily I still had my library card for the University of California. But copying passages from professional literature would not do for sixth graders.
Well, I had recently taken a writing course at the Bay Area Writing Project, so I decided to go for it; to write my own book of Chinese history for my class. But I would also have fun with it, and fold it into the class’s Writers Workshop project. I would title it China-Tek : the Construction of a Civilization. I had decided, as a writing exercise, to write a somewhat stream-of-consciousness chapter with plenty of flashbacks, to see if I could pull it off.
To find out if I did pull it off, read the story of Yíng Zhèng, (pronounced Ying Juhng – Pictured above) the future emperor of China. Just click on on this phrase, it will download a pdf of six pages from my book. I hope that those with time to read it will enjoy it.
Well, that’s the end of my story, Oh no!! I almost forgot the elephants (see below).