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Hello all! I wanted to let you know about my latest work hanging at the very wonderful Moden Eden gallery in San Francisco, CA! I was lucky enough to be part of their latest group show, "Myth," and returned to a subject I find myself coming back to time and time again; the Japanese folktale The Crane Wife.

Here is a free coloring page from the book I illustrated for Teresa Ann Power, "The ABCs of Yoga for Kids".  In yoga, focus on breathing is very important.

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By Michael Biggs and Steven Knauss

The BNP’s membership list was leaked in November 2008 by a disgruntled activist who had been expelled late in 2007; he has since admitted responsibility and been convicted. The BNP never challenged the list’s authenticity, merely stating that it was out of date. The list is apparently a complete record of membership at November–December 2007. Of the 13,009 individuals listed, 30 were missing a current address, 138 had a foreign address, and 41 lived in Northern Ireland. Of the remaining members, 12,536 (97.9 per cent) can be precisely located in Britain using the postcode field of their address (Office of National Statistics, 2004, 2008). Postcodes provide exceptionally fine resolution, down to the street level.

The distribution of members diverges significantly from the distribution of voters.  The correlation of votes with membership, across the 628 constituencies in Britain, is surprisingly modest (r ¼ 0.46). The party contested only one in five seats, but the correlation is scarcely higher in those alone. Voting also gives a misleading impression of the national distribution of the party’s support. Wales and Scotland provide over three times the proportion of members compared with voters.

Members must be matched with a population denominator. Data come from the 2001 Census, conducted in April. The great majority of members on the leaked list had joined since this date, as the BNP had 2,173 members in November 2001 (Copsey, 2008: 137). The BNP recruited only ‘indigenous Caucasian’ people (Copsey, 2008: 238). We count adults who defined their ethnicity as ‘White British’, including ‘White Scottish’. The proportion of white British adults belonging to the BNP was 0.032 per cent across Britain.

For statistical analysis, we use the finest geographical unit defined by the Census, the ‘output area’. This is a very small neighbourhood; the median covers an area of 6 hectares and contains 280 people. There are 218,038 neighbourhoods (as they will be termed) in Britain: the BNP was present in 10,165 (4.7 per cent) of them. Most of those had a single member; 11 was the maximum. The highest proportion was 5.7 per cent.

We begin with independent variables capturing economic insecurity. These are measured ecologically, as the fraction of people in the neighbourhood with a particular characteristic, though they are proxies for individual characteristics predicting support for the BNP. Education is divided into three categories: no qualifications, qualifications below university degree, and degree (denominated by people aged 16–74 years). Class is divided into five categories, from routine and semi-routine to managerial and professional (denominated by occupied population). The unemployment rate is also measured (denominated by the economically active). Alongside these sociological staples, housing is included because the BNP promotes the myth that foreigners are given privileged access to public housing. Housing tenure is divided into three categories: owned or mortgaged, rented from the local authority, and private rental (including other arrangements). Overcrowding, as defined by the Census, is also measured. (In both cases the denominator is households.) We expect, then, that white British adults are more likely to belong to the BNP in neighbourhoods with lower education, lower social class, higher unemployment, more private renting, and greater overcrowding. Control variables are entered to reflect findings that BNP voters are disproportionately male and middle aged (Ford and Goodwin, 2010; Cutts et al., 2011). Additional controls are population density and the proportion of people living in communal establishments like prisons.

For Hypotheses 1–3, we defin

Fury of the Phoenix by Cindy Pon 2011 (ARC) Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins

Incredible Quote "I would fast for you, Li Chen Yong." Ai Ling pg. 310

*No spoilers for Silver Phoenix (well 1 tiny spoiler about relationships and a big one about a death) or Fury of the Phoenix are in this review*

Oh my goodness if you've read Silver Phoenix (and if not WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, GO!) then you understand the significance and awww factor that line has. And I rarely aw, especially not out loud, but that line made my heart melt a bit. But things aren't purely sweet for Ai Ling and Chen Yong. Chen Yong has decided to go search for his birth father, to do so he will need to set sail from Xia, heading for Jiang Dao. Ai Ling has a dream that Chen Yong will be in danger on the voyage so she decides to follow him by sneaking on board. Hopefully she won't be discovered until after the ship sets sail and hopefully she will be able to save Chen Yong. But it's Ai Ling who may end up needing to be saved as well.... There's less action in this book but still plenty of excitement leaping off the pages! Everything is described in meticulous detail from the food, clothes, Jiang Dao, the ship, and of course, the mythical creatures that terrorize Ai Ling and Chen Yong.

While I was both delighted and disturbed by the new creatures and fantasy elements we were introduced to (the Sea Shifters, learning more about reincarnation, etc) I was even more pleased by the character development. You all remember Zhong Ye, the villain from Silver Phoenix right? He was evil, eviillllll! Well not quite. I didn't think Cindy Pon could make me care about him, but to my complete astonishment (and I'm not exaggerating) Zhong Ye's story tugged at my heartstrings. While he starts off ambitious, he wasn't always power mad and there's a lot of talk about the sacrifices made by an eunuch. In a way the process of being an eunuch is like genital mutilation and rarely does anyone voluntarily go through that. So to think that Zhong Ye willing gave up such a delicate body part. *winces* I still don't like him but I understand how he was driven to do what he did in the previous book.

And for those who like some romance with their fantasy, be prepared because there is a A LOT of sexual tension and it's intense, smoldering. I was equally annoyed, happy, or heartbroken because of Ai Ling and Chen Yong not being able to pull themselves together. Everyone else can see that they need each other, they complement each other perfectly. Why can't they??? There's lots of teasing, stolen glances, misunderstanding and awkward moments (awkward for the characters, not the reader ;) There is also the romance between Zhong Ye and Silver Phoenix and it actually borders on sweet, again, the author makes you start to care about Zhong Ye. There are a few new characters introduced in this book and they move the plot along, adding significant intrigue. *SPOILER: highlight to read* Not that I ever seriously though Chen Yong would marry Ah Na, but I did wonder if he would want to stay in Jiang Dao.*End of Spoiler* The afterlife is explored and I don't want to give much away but it's absolutely spellbinding and I wanted to stay in that afterworld for a little longer, to learn more about how it works (the Mirror of Retribution!)

Fury of the Phoenix is a seducing, irresistible tale. I loved this book even more than the first. The worldbuilding is just as wonderful as in the first, but we also get to see further character development and while in the first book I wanted more character interaction I felt thoroughly satisfied in this sequel. At first I was sad to leave the a

The Latte Rebellion by Sarah Jamila Stevenson 2011
Flux

Incredible Quote "'Because you're brown and they can't tell what you are.' Miranda picked at her cheese sandwich. 'You know, this is why the Latte Rebellion is a good thing. It'll open people's eyes. I mean, it's not like we just automatically identify with whichever group we look the most like.'
'Yeah.' I [Asha] nodded. 'Not to mention, ethnicity isn't anybody's whole anyway.'" pg. 158

Asha and Carey would love to have a best friend post-graduation trip to London. In order to raise the money, they decide to sell t-shirts that praise being mixed-race (or bicultural, what have you), they dub it the 'Latte Rebellion.' The girls expected to make some money, but they didn't expect people to actually get excited about their cause and turn it into a nationwide student social movement. Asha is both apprehensive and excited about this, but the Latte Rebellion is starting to mess with Asha's life. Her grades start slipping and she and Carey are fighting more and more. Before she can say 'latte', the peaceful Latte Rebellion turns violent and charges of terrorism are being thrown around. Does Asha believe in the Latte Rebellion enough to disprove the charges and fight to keep the group alive?

I don't usually mind slow starts in contemporary novels and this one was no exception. I liked getting the backstory and feeling completely immersed in Asha's world, I was satisfied with the little everyday details. I would warn you though that it takes awhile for the actual rebellion to start but stick with the book. I was a bit peeved at how some characters emerged for a chapter and then faded away, only to be called again a few chapters later. Thad and Bridget were both brought into the story but then they just disappear, Asha doesn't give them another thought. The biggest problem to me were the awkward transitions. Just when a chapter was starting to get really good, the story would stick to the present where Asha was in the middle of a school board hearing on her possible expulsion (her school viewed the Latte Rebellion as a terrorist group). Then just when the hearing started to get interesting, the story would change to the past events leading up to the hearing. Sometimes it seemed like the hearing was rushed, for example, I almost missed the decision the school board made because it was rushed over.

The most fascinating point to me was that Asha (half-Indian, a quarter Mexican and a quarter Irish) and Carey (half Chinese, half European) resent being forced to pick a side or idenitfy with what they are the most. I admit I'm guilty of thinking that way. I'm bicultural but I've definitely thought at times that if you if have more than three different cultural backgrounds, you can list them all but if you join a club, join them all or pick the one you identify most with. I get ticked when people do the whole '10% Irish, 10% Scottish, 15% Swedish, 2 % Cherokee' etc. Just pick your top two! However this book showed me that it's not that simple. I shared Asha, Carey and Thad's frustration at the lack of understanding/options for multicultural people. Just today I was registering for the SAT and I could only pick one race or chose to be 'other.' I ended up selecting Black but I was peeved that there wasn't a way for me to pick Black AND Latina. Real-life moment right there. I love that Asha starts The Latte Rebellion for purely selfish reasons. She wants to travel and needs the money so why not open a business that would appeal to certain people? That's what entrepreneurs do all the time and I thought it made the book even more fun. Asha st

The Man Asian Literary Prize was founded in 2007. It is an annual literary award given to the best novel by an Asian writer, either written in English or translated into English, and published in the previous calendar year. 

The judges chooses a longlist of 10 to 15 titles announced in December, followed by a shortlist of 5 to 6 titles announced in February, and a winner is awarded in March. The winning author is awarded USD 30,000 and the translator (if any) USD 5,000. Submissions are invited through publishers based in any country.

i. Authors must be citizens of one of the following Asian countries or territories: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, East Timor, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, The Hong Kong or Macau Special Administrative Regions, The Maldives, The People’s Republic of China, Vietnam; “Citizen” in the case of the Hong Kong or Macau SAR may be taken to be permanent residency.

ii.  Documentary evidence of citizenship may be required.

iii. Books must be unified and substantial works of fiction in English or in English translation.

iv. Translated works may have been previously published in another language, but the date of their first publication in English must be 2010.

v. Self-published books, children’s books and books that exist only in electronic form are not eligible.

vi. Books may be published anywhere in the world but must be published in the calendar year 2010.

vii. Books or authors winning other prizes are eligible.

viii. Eligibility of any given submission is at the sole discretion of the Prize Board. No correspondence will be entered into.

Entry

i. Publishers may enter up to two eligible books with scheduled publication dates in 2010. Publishing houses with more than one imprint may enter up to two eligible titles for each imprint.

ii. Entry forms must be submitted online and entry titles must reach the Prize Manager by 31 August 2010.

iii. At that date five copies of all books entered, whether already published or not, should also be received by the Prize Manager. Proofs should be submitted as soon as available and finished copies must be received by the Prize Manager by 30 November 2010.

iv. The Prize Board has the right to disqualify any entry not received in finished copy by 30 November 2010.

v. The judges may, at their entire discretion, call in any eligible book they choose published in 2010.

vi. No copies of books entered by publishers will be returned to them.

http://www.manasianliteraryprize.org/how-to-enter/

If you know an Asian Writer, please pass this on to them.  Thanks!

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy