Monthly Archives: January 2009

Idea of the Day: What to do with the holiday cards now that you are thinking about taking down the Xmas tree…

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Send them to St. Jude’s Hospital and help the children earn some college money!
I received this email about the Greeting Card recycling program at St. Jude’s.  Wish I have heard about it in the previous years…
“Friends & family,

Before you toss out all those Christmas cards, read this….

“Over 30 years ago, wishing to show our donors our appreciation for making St. Jude’s Ranch for Children possible, the idea was conceived for turning the previous year’s Christmas cards into ‘new’ cards for the coming season. The recipients were so delighted with their unique ‘thank you,’ they requested the children sell them the special cards. And so, the St Jude’s Card Recycling Program was born.

Today we have expended the program to include ‘all occasion’ greeting cards…just about anything that starts with a used greeting card front.

People from all over the world send us their used card fronts. The children precision cut the card fronts and glue them to pre-printed card stock. The children receive 15 cents for each acceptable card made which is divided among their savings, a college fund, their cottage fund for special group outings, and to provide the kids with extra pocket money.

The children can make special orders for any occasion. Our most popular requests are for angel and teddy bear cards. Custom orders with special printing, etc. are also available.”

Please send your used all occasion greeting cards (front page only) to:

St. Jude’s Ranch for Children
100 St. Jude’s Street
Boulder City, NV  89005-1618

In praise of the book, “American Born Chinese”

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For Chinese people or people in the know, American Born Chinese are known as ABC, and different from Chinese immigrants (be their parents or their distant cousins), they have to cope with a different set of tribulations, and many of these are psychological. This book, or rather, graphic novel, follows the tradition of Frank Chin's angry plays ("The Year of the Dragon" and especially, "The Chickencoop Chinaman") and Maxine Hong Kingston's Americanization (or rather, Asian-Americanization) of Chinese folklore in "Tripmaster Monkey", and provides a 21-century spin on growing-up Asian/American in the USA. In fact, I have to wonder whether the young brilliant author Gene Luen Yang has read Chin's and Kingston's works — he must have since these are part of the "canon" now. 
 
All the above probably makes the book sound rather dry, it would be my fault. The book is a wonderful combination of humor, irony, insightful reflections, and great story-telling. It is a wonderful and short read: my husband, my 10-year-old, and I passed the book along and finished reading it in one night. You obviously do not have to be an ABC, or an Asian American, or an Asian for that matter, to appreciate the underlying theme of this book: you have to learn who you really are and appreciate who you are to begin to reach your full potential, and to truly feel that you belong wherever you go.  The theme of "trying to fit in" will resonate with any young person (and not so young) trying to find a place in the world for themselves. 
 
The book has won several awards, including the National Book Award for Young People.