Since I spent my twenties putting myself through school, I didn’t really have any hobbies. I have always owned a computer, liked to read and exercised. But I would not have called any of those things a hobby. I worked. I studied. That took up more time than I really had. However, now that I’ve [...]
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Christine Eclavea Mercer
Thursday is the most hellish day of the week. It’s ballet day. And if I didn’t truly believe that children need activities to keep them out of trouble, build self esteem, and gain physical exercise, grace, or whatever, I would drop it. DD7 complains incessantly. Not about ballet, which she loves again, now that the [...]
It’s a coincidence that I read two books written by Chinese Americans in a row. Before Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, I read On Gold Mountain, by Lisa See. Interestingly, See writes about her paternal great grandparents, the grandfather being Chinese, the grandmother American and Caucasian. See herself, several generations later, has only one [...]
For my birthday, I bought a doll. An absolutely ridiculous gift for an adult, but also perfect. All of my childhood, dolls looked like Barbie : blonde, blue – eyed, Caucasian. So when I encountered a little Amer – Asian doll, I knew I had to bring her home. Jess McConnell was the Girl of [...]
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, I read because I was interested in the motivation behind Asian parenting. The author, Amy Chua, refers to her parenting style as Chinese. But to me, the parenting style is more inclusive. As it turns out, the book is famous, and controversial. And somehow I missed hearing about it. [...]
