The Silent "I"

Blog Day 2007

Today is Blog Day, one day set aside to celebrate blogs all over the world.  The idea is simple:  list five blogs that you admire from different parts of the world, different cultural perspectives or different subject areas than the ones you normally blog about.  Here are my five and the reasons I enjoy them:

• Adventures of a Reluctant Blogger (Togo, West Africa):  Rebecca Hunt is a new Peace Corps volunteer serving in Togo, West Africa.  Her mom works with me and is a former Peace Corps volunteer herself.  Two generations of Peace Corps workers in one family--how cool is that?  I'm looking forward to reading about Rebecca's adventures as she spends two years in Togo.  Rebecca, your mom is so proud she can hardly stand it.
  
• Filipina Moms Blog (US):  This is a fairly new collaborative blog, similar to my sistahs at Kimchi Mamas, but with a Filipina flair.  I love this blog for the fantastic writing and peek into the ways that Phillipine culture infuses and informs their parenting.
• Pickeled Eel (Australia):  Written by an American, ex-Air Force man living in Sydney, Australia who has traveled all over the world, this blog gives insight into places we haven't dreamed of going...until now.  Qattar, anyone?  I found this one on the Blogger's Choice Awards, where he is #2 behind some Buenos Aires Hostel that may or may not be stuffing the ballot box.   I'm about  #15 on that list, so maybe I'll grow up to be like this blog someday. 
• Nisaa: We are Muslim Women (International):  A group blog by Muslim women from North America, Malaysia, UAE, and England.  I've only been reading it for a short time, but so far, every post has been a gem.  This is one of the blogs I recommended in my prior post about Race and Collaborative Blogging, and is a standard-bearer for what a world-wide community blog should be.
• Wired Malta (Malta):  A blog about things on the web related to Malta.  I wrote a whole series of postings about our one day stay in Malta last year, and how much I loved this tiny island nation.  The blog has lots of fascinating tidbits about a place I'd love to return to someday.

So, where in the world will Blog Day take you?

Wordless Wednesday - Alex

This is called "What Alex Thinks of his Mom When She Forgets the Sunscreen."

For other Wordless Wednesday entries, check here.

That Old Devil Moon

Last night, between about 2 and 4 am, there was a lunar eclipse that produced a red moon.  I know this because I read about it online earlier in the day, and because I was awake at 3 am to witness this magical sight.  The funny thing was, my entire family saw it, too.

I have bouts of insomnia.  Last night, I was fretting over something bad that happened yesterday, unable to quiet some inner voices telling me that I had let my son down in a big way. 

I finally tried to get some sleep around 2:30 am, when suddenly, Frank sat bolt upright in bed, then headed out the door.  I thought he might be going to the bathroom, but when he didn't come back for ten minutes, I thought he might have gone to check on Alex or had an uncommon bout of sleepwalking.  Just when I was about to go look for him, he came back and went back to bed.

When he returned, I noticed Alex coming out of the bathroom.  I got up to see if he was having bad dreams or if he needed anything.  He said he was fine, but couldn't sleep.  I think he was nervous about the first day of second grade.

I remembered the eclipse and asked him if he wanted to see the red moon with me.  He said, "Cool!"

We walked outside in our pajamas and bare feet and stared up at the sky from our driveway.  We don't live on a busy street, so it seemed unlikely we would be seen.  We stared up at the sky together, holding hands and looking at the red mist covering the moon, called the October Blood Moon.  It looked like a hazy red balloon lost in the night sky.

Alex and I stood looking at the marvel in the sky for a few minutes, holding hands.  We went back in and went to bed, and he fell asleep quickly between Frank and me, just like when he was a baby.  I'm sure he's probably tired today, for the first day of school.  But, I think that little trip outside to see something marvelous in the night sky was entirely worth it.

Happy Women's Equality Day

Did you know that August 26 is Women's Equality Day in the US?  This day commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, giving women the right to vote.  The right for women to vote was first proposed in 1848, but did not become law until 1920, 72 years later.  For 72 years, American women organized, rallied, and fought for the right to vote, something we take for granted today. 

The first country to give women the right to vote was New Zealand in 1893, but women in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait still do not have the right to vote.   Even though the 19th amendment was ratified by a narrow margin in 1920, Mississippi did not officially ratify it until 1983.

Women's Equality Day was first celebrated in 1971, after New York Congresswoman Bella Abzug proposed to mark August 26 as Women's Equality Day.  I had the honor of meeting Bella Abzug in 1980 at a rally.  She was a formidable, charming woman with a great passion for social change and women's rights.  She died in 1998.

In 1995, at the World Summit on Economic Development in Copenhagen, Bella said:

Our struggle is about resisting the slide into a morass of anarchy, violence, intolerance, inequality and injustice.

Our struggle is about reversing the trends of social, economic, political and ecological crisis.

Our struggle is about creating sustainable lives, and attainable dreams...

Because the root of the problem is persistent inequalities and growing inequities.

For us to realize our dreams, we must keep our heads in the clouds and our feet on the ground.

We must marshall our courage and creativity and act together...

If we love ourselves, if we love our young, if we love our country and the earth, -- and we do -- then that same motivation must move us to create not only the words but the actions to remove the great divide between rich and poor.

I hope that all women of voting age in the US will remember what a precious gift it is to be able to vote.  I hope that all women will take to heart Bella's words and know that the first act in the struggle for equality and justice for all people is to exercise your right to vote.

Banner from Emily's List, an organization dedicated to supporting Democratic women in their bids to be elected to office.

Travel the World with GeoBeats

Planning a trip abroad and want to get a little of the local flavor before you go?  Want to know where the best places to eat in Rio de Janeiro are?  Have kids who are studying different countries in school? Want to see the world without leaving home or spending a dime? 

If so, check out GeoBeats, a fun video travel guide.  You can select from hundreds of short videos from popular travel destinations all over the world.  The short films are very well-made and include an "insiders" look at diverse destinations, from Cairo to Buenos Aires to Copenhagen.  Made by filmmakers all over the world, with local hosts taking you through some of the off-the-beaten path sights of some of the world's great cities.

I really love this site for the quality of the videos and the in-depth look at various places.  You don't have to commit a full hour of watching a foreigner show you the popular tourist destinations, like most of the TV travel shows.  You can pick and choose what you are interested in and how much time you want to spend. 

Have fun and enjoy the trip!

My Map of the US

create your own personalized map of the USA or check out the California travel guide

The states in red are the ones I've visited, but the ones in white I haven't.  Now I know where to plan our next US vacation!  Looks like we need to take an RV trip across the Northern US.  According to this, I've been to 38 states, which is 74% of the US.

Wordless Wednesday - Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge, August 20, 2007

It seems only fitting that a blog called "The Silent I" would participate in Wordless Wednesday. 

Stinson Beach

We went to a wedding this weekend, which was more like a 3-day long party in Stinson Beach.  Stinson Beach is a lovely strip of sand and surf in Marin County, about 20 miles from San Francisco.  The bride and groom had booked just about every hotel, bed-and-breadfast, and vacation rental in town for their hundred or so guests.  I'm sure it must have seemed like "Invasion of the Wedding Party" from the tiny town's perspective.

The town is a small strip of shops and restaurants along Highway 1, with a sort of sunbleached, sleepy look to it.  Early in the morning, people were casually strolling down the highway.  As the day progressed, there were more and more cars jamming the road begging to be let in.

One of the main features of the town is  a broad swath of public beach with white sand and surf.  Signs warn of a dangerous riptide, and the Pacific is too cold for serious swimming.  This didn't stop the boogie boarders, windsurfers and a few other brave souls who jumped in anyway.  The beach was crowded with people enjoying a the sun, in spite of a torrent of fine sand blowing around in the strong breeze.

We stayed at the Stinson Beach Motel, just two blocks from the public beach.  The motel, built in the 1930's, is the kind of seaside hotel you would expect in a quaint little town, but at big city prices.  We had a nice room with a pull-out futon bed for Alex and a full-size kitchen that looked like it had been recently remodeled.    One caveat:  you are evidently supposed to arrive before 7, but no one told us that ahead of time.  The Manager Dude (as he introduced himself to me) was pretty annoyed that we kept him waiting until 9 pm, and let Frank know about it.  So, if you find yourself arriving at the Stinson Beach Motel some weekend, try to check in earlier so you harsh Manager Dude's buzz, and cause bad karma to come crashing down on you like a gnarly wave at Mavericks.

Race and Collaborative Blogging

Here's what I guest-posted over at BlogRhet on Wednesday. The discussion is ongoing. I'm honored to be a part of it.

...I am a Korean-American, the product of a Caucasian father and a Korean mother.  For my entire life, I've embraced the duality of my heritage, faced being the "Asian girl" in my all-white school in Ohio, and the "white girl" when visiting my relatives Korea.  I am always checking "Other" on government forms when asked about my race.  I am the perpetual "other."

I started my blog, The Silent I, nearly two years ago, to share information about a Katrina relief trip that I took with my friend, Jill Asher.  After the torrent of words and stories spilled out, I realized how much I loved writing.  I then started blogging the stories of our family travels, the small details of places and people we met.  I blogged so that I would not forget.  I blogged to capture memories for my son to read when he grows up, when the places we've been to as a family are only distant echoes to him.  I am an observer and storyteller, bearing witness to the small details and nuances of life.

After blogging on my own for a while, I started to contribute to two collaborative blogs.  As a mixed race person, it is probably only fitting that I contribute to two very different group blogs, one with a Korean-theme and the other made up of primarily Caucasian women who live in Silicon Valley.  My experiences with these two communities have been as different as the two sides of my heritage.

Speaking of Race...

I've been asked to to talk about issue of Inclusion and Exclusion:  Where are the Bloggers of Color and Why Aren't We Reading Them? on Kristen Chase's BlogTalkRadio show on Wednesday, August 15, 9 pm Eastern (6 pm Pacific, for you locals).  Kristen will also be joined by Jason of Daddy in a Strange Land and Rice Daddies, and Kelly of Mocha Momma.  Should be an interesting hour, so listen if you can.  You can also subscribe to the podcast via iTunes and download it to listen at your leisure. 

Joy asked me to Guest Post this week on BlogRhet, so I will be posting my thoughts on Race, Identity and Blogging there on Wednesday as well.  Ever since the  BlogHer conference, I've given the issue of race, or specifically, how being a person of mixed race, affects how and where I blog about certain topics.  So, hopefully, I can articulate some kind of coherent thought that will make it worth your while to listen and read.