What is right thing to do with this blog ?!

Time to wrap up Year 2009 and to clear my thoughts about this blog.  Now that fall 2009 semester is over, my obligations to continue this blog has expired too.

The problem, however, is the fact that I discovered a hard but entertaining hobby of writing in English , but should I keep my stream of conscious in public?

I'll be off for a few months . . .

Cultural Authenticity and Fair Representation

Writing about multicultural topics, we cannot be  too careful.  It is especially so when anyone authors a book as an cultural outsider: done right, it will bring great delights.  Done wrong, the results can be more than a simple resentment.

Legend of Hong Kil Dong: the Robin Hood of Korea (2006) by Anne Sibley O'Brien is one delightful example that makes cultural insiders hiccup.  Not only the cultural and historic details but also the affection toward Korea engrained in the book is such that it seems impossible that a Westerner can author the graphic novel.

The Korean Cinderella (1993) by Shirley Climo is an example at the other end.  As one Amazon.com book reviewer wrote, "the subtle racist undertones of one Westerner's portrayals of Asian looks" surely can offend Asians.  That review might explain why some readers had to cut out the eyes of characters in the book that I borrowed from QBPL (Queens Borough Public Library in NY). 

well . . .

Some publishers go extra miles to do it right, when they publish muticlutural items.  Pigling: a Cinderella story (2009) by Dan Jolley,  is a dreadful example.  Cosidering the range of muticultural aspects, the publisher claimed to have had some consulting process but it could not stop errors (quite obvious to cultural insiders) and permanently ruined a beautiful depiction of Korean Cinderella. 

The Re-gifter

Just finished the Re-Gifters (2007) by Mike Carey. Thank you all who recommended me this title. It was a delightful read and I am so relieved that I can  agree with other reviewers about this graphic novel.
 
A teenager Dixie practicing Hapkido, her friendship with Avril and her crush on a fellow martial artist are well developed. Plot is fast enough and black-and-white pencil work is popping up but not so much to distract the story.  Not bulky, just 148 pages!

As one of reviewers wrote "racial and economic issues explored in the narrative are seamlessly integrated as realities of Dixie’s life," ethnic and multicultural factors, such as the main character Dixie is a Korean American teenager, she is learning a Korean martial art in the Koreatown in LA, and her dad's business was flatten down during the LA Riots in 1992, are credibly well blended in.

My excitement about this book also comes from the fact that those multicultural elements add more depth to the story.   It seems that an author wanted to narrate a teen character, who lets out her growing pains through a marital art, and he successfully set her in a Koreatown in LA.  As he sees it, it is a romance graphic novel.  Great entry book for girls and boys who have grown out of the strawberry bubblegum flavor.