Saturday, January 16, 2010
Dar es Saalam Memorial Service
Today, with the help of Kenny I posted the memorial sevice on the web site. It was a long service, but you can scroll through it and watch when you want. When we first heard the news about Joseph we were devastated. We knew what an impact he had had on others lives, and what a great quirky active kid he was, but to see the video of the memorial service really let us know just what a big impact Joe had had on so many people; and just how many people were going to miss him. I have to believe that his time had come, but that his time here had a big impact on so many people.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Ndanda memorial October 2009
In early November, 2009 we got a package from the VSO volunteers in Ndanda. They had held a mass and memorial service for Joseph up near the swimming hole. The priest started the service by saying that he first met Joseph soon after he had come to Ndanda at a Saturday night mass. The priest had asked where Joseph had come from (this Chinese man -the whole population thought that Joseph was Chinese) and Joseph answered Kenya!
Then the priest said that Joseph said that he had noted that the church had a pipe organ, and he asked permission to play the organ. The priest said that of course they gave him permission Joseph had told me this summer that he felt uncomfortable playing the organ, he got the feeling that the church members found it odd to hear Bach in the middle of the night. Who knows what the story was; but clearly the fact that Joseph actually played the organ made a huge impression on the parish monignor. He was happy to lead the service for Joseph's grieving fellow volunteers; and he was still wondering why an American-Chinese kid had ended up in the middle of Ndanda -and he could play Bach on a pipe organ that had not been used in 25 years!
Notice that in this single post there are contradictions; in October 2006 I went to Amherst to tell him that the lilihood of getting a posting where he could swim and play a piano or an organ were very slim. I was so proud of the fact that Joseph actually ended up at a site, in sub-sahran Africa no less, that had a swimming hole and a pipe organ. The kid was amazing. I thought the gods must be smiling on him - must have been the wrong gods.
Then the priest said that Joseph said that he had noted that the church had a pipe organ, and he asked permission to play the organ. The priest said that of course they gave him permission Joseph had told me this summer that he felt uncomfortable playing the organ, he got the feeling that the church members found it odd to hear Bach in the middle of the night. Who knows what the story was; but clearly the fact that Joseph actually played the organ made a huge impression on the parish monignor. He was happy to lead the service for Joseph's grieving fellow volunteers; and he was still wondering why an American-Chinese kid had ended up in the middle of Ndanda -and he could play Bach on a pipe organ that had not been used in 25 years!
Notice that in this single post there are contradictions; in October 2006 I went to Amherst to tell him that the lilihood of getting a posting where he could swim and play a piano or an organ were very slim. I was so proud of the fact that Joseph actually ended up at a site, in sub-sahran Africa no less, that had a swimming hole and a pipe organ. The kid was amazing. I thought the gods must be smiling on him - must have been the wrong gods.
Monday, January 11, 2010
sarah palin beware
It is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation. This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans. Those who are running our factories and teaching our kids and growing our food and are fighting our wars for us. Those who are protecting us in uniform. Those who are protecting the virtues of freedom." Sarah Palin Campaign 2008************************************************************************ Somehow, I doubt that Governor Palin would view Joseph Lawrence Hai-Sung Chow as a real American. He was the son of two highly educated Americans, who do not live in a “small town"; they do however, speak with significant northeastern accents.Joseph’s dad, Ray, was raised in a Long Island suburb, his mom, Donna in an Westchester NY suburb. His parents were a medical doctor and medical scientist, with M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from two prestigious New York city institutions. His grandparents were a nuclear metallurgist, a lawyer, a librarian and an artist. And Joseph’s ethnic middle and last name, Joseph Lawrence Hai-Sung Chow, tells all. But please tell Sarah Palin, that Joseph Lawrence Hai-Sung Chow was the “real America"
Joseph and his cousins on one side of the family (the Robertson’s) can trace their lineage back to the Mayflower. The family had fought in the Revolutionary war, at least once the family name appears in the Civil War chronicles, and his grandfather and great uncles were WWII veterans. Uncle Esmonde O’Brien commanded landing vehicles in the South Pacific and his great Uncle Robert Levy, was an Air Force pilot. Colonel Levy became the head of the Air Force in southeast asia in the early 1960’s. Joseph’s grandfather, Lawrence Robertson finished his military duty as a Coast Guard Lieutenant Colonel.Larry saddled the immediate family with the military ethic by insisting that he serve out 20 years as a reservist through the 1960’s (how embarrassing, to have a father who marched in Memorial Day parades in uniform). Joseph’s once removed cousins’ were Marines during the Viet Nam war, and the pain they brought home to the families can be felt to this day. But please tell Sarah PPalin, that Joseph Lawrence Hai-Sung Chow was the “real American"
The Robertson Memorial Library in Leyden, Massachusetts, was endowed with the Civil War pension that Joseph’s great-great-uncle donated to the community. He refused to use the proceeds from a war to live; but he did want to donate the money so others could read and understand. The Robertson cousins of this generation are amazing standardized test takers, probably because their Robertson and O’Brien ancestors valued reading and education above almost everything else
Colonel Bennett, an Irish refuge from the potato famine, raised an Irish regiment from Brooklyn for the Civil War, and was a cog in the Battle of Gettysburg.
He managed to return to Brooklyn to live a long life, but many of his Irish brothers’ fell in that battle. But please tell Sarah Palin, that Joseph Lawrence Hai-Sung Chow was the “real "America.”
On the other side of his family, his Chinese great-grandfather attended the
University of Hawaii. From Hawaii he went back to Shanghai and to his Chinese banking family. Sun Yat-Sen, the George Washington of China was twice over a close relation to Joseph. Sun Yat-Sen's oldest son, Uncle Ping, was designated as a big brother to Grandma Ruby’s family when Joseph’s great grandfather died from an infectious disease. Uncle Ping, was always the revered uncle at the Chow family parties. Sun Yat-Sen had attended medical school in Japan, before he turned his political energy on. Sun Yat-Sen was doubly related to Joseph, and his historical enemy, Chiang Kai-Shek was singly related. Every couple of years the Chinese government asks the family back to prove Sun Yat-Sen’s (and Chiang Kai-Shek's?) legacy for the current regime. But please tell Sarah Palin, that Joseph Lawrence Hai-Sung Chow was the “real America”
Our families are proud to be American and thank God that there is an America We teach our children that without America our forbearers from the Scottish highlands, the Irish potato farms, Bohemia, Shanghai, Canton all would have had to survive their homelands through periods of political unrest, wars and famine; the likelihood of survival would have been slim. Some came in trunks to escape from conscription, some snuck under enemy lines during World Wars. Others came in steerage on ships; Joseph's great- great-grandmother got to come thru Ellis Island twice. The first time through she thought she hit the lottery; as a maid in brownstone building on 5th Avenue Manhattan she met the scion of a French banking family, married him and returned to France to live happily ever after. The banker and the Irish illegal immigrant went to Calais, France. Unfortunately, the “rich” husband had tuberculosis and he died in Calais soon after Joseph’s great-great grandmother gave birth to the second daughter. Joseph’s great-great grandmother, had to park her daughters in Ireland with extended family, return to New York and work as a maid to afford the cost of steerage to reunite her little family. Her daughter, Joseph's great-grandmother, Leocadie O’Brien, never forgot the family back in Ireland; when her husband made it big on Wall Street in 1929 (his name is in Economic textbooks), she would send regular payments back to a small, poor farming community in Ireland However, my grandmothers mother, the maid from Calais (sort of) never had a chance. She probably died from neurological tuberculosis on Welfare Island in the middle of the East River, New York. Her great-grandchildren live very comfortable lives, and tell their children how thankful they should be for “America ”. But please tell Sarah Palin, that Joseph Lawrence Hai-Sung Chow was the “real American.
Joseph’s grandmother, Ruby, from Shanghai is an incredible woman. She speaks five Chinese dialects, English and a spattering of French. When she came from Shanghai in 1942 she was escorted by a General through the Japanese battle lines, and when she arrived in America she went to Bryn Mawr on a full scholarship. But, she was the only Chinese person in the class, and she spoke no English. Ruby could not get an apartment or a job New York City in the 1950’s. The United States Government tried to deport her, and her husband, Joe, to the strange, iconoclastic China of the 1950’s. But they managed to stay in America where fellow Americans may have hated her, and feared her, but they were not trying to kill her. Those fellow suspicious Americans, sent their children to learn piano from Ruby. Her husband Joe practiced nuclear metallurgy at Brookhaven National Laboratories. Things could be worse than standing out because the color of your skin does not match your neighbors. On the positive side, your neighbors do not speak Mandarin or Cantonese, and they cannot import goods from China The imported goods from China paid for Ivy League educations for the children. But please; tell Sarah Palin, that Joseph Lawrence Hai-Sung Chow was the “real America"
Joseph’s grandmother, Ruby, is among the most amazing persons I know; but now that I think about it all of Joseph’s forebears are among the most amazing people I knew. They came to America because the world they had grown up in was falling apart; they jumped ship because they knew America could offer them education and opportunity. Joseph was second, third, fourth, fifth, tenth generation American. Joseph knew, because of the stories that his parents and grandparents told him that America was
the best of all worlds. Joseph died in a tragic hiking accident in Africa while serving his country in the Peace Corp. Joseph had spent two years positively showing the world why the United States is the best of all things. He taught physics, chemistry and calculus to the future leaders of an African Nation, Tanzania. Joseph followed the call that Kennedy and every President since then have made to the youth of America The call is to show on a personal level, why America is the best country to emulate. The young people of the Peace Corp are not joining a league of young people with guns; they are sent out as individuals to represent America to the world. Joseph was the embodiment of America to his small, very well educated, town in Tanzania. And the population of that town loved Joseph, and misses him. But please tell Sarah Palin, that Joseph Lawrence Hai-Sung Chow was the “real America”
Joseph truly believed that America as he understood it, a well educated, intellectual, well versed population, was the pinnacle of the world civilization. And that civilization could teach, through textbooks and lectures, better than guns and intrigue, how the world could live together. But please; tell Sarah Palin, that Joseph Lawrence Hai-Sung Chow was the “real America?
Joseph and his cousins on one side of the family (the Robertson’s) can trace their lineage back to the Mayflower. The family had fought in the Revolutionary war, at least once the family name appears in the Civil War chronicles, and his grandfather and great uncles were WWII veterans. Uncle Esmonde O’Brien commanded landing vehicles in the South Pacific and his great Uncle Robert Levy, was an Air Force pilot. Colonel Levy became the head of the Air Force in southeast asia in the early 1960’s. Joseph’s grandfather, Lawrence Robertson finished his military duty as a Coast Guard Lieutenant Colonel.Larry saddled the immediate family with the military ethic by insisting that he serve out 20 years as a reservist through the 1960’s (how embarrassing, to have a father who marched in Memorial Day parades in uniform). Joseph’s once removed cousins’ were Marines during the Viet Nam war, and the pain they brought home to the families can be felt to this day. But please tell Sarah PPalin, that Joseph Lawrence Hai-Sung Chow was the “real American"
The Robertson Memorial Library in Leyden, Massachusetts, was endowed with the Civil War pension that Joseph’s great-great-uncle donated to the community. He refused to use the proceeds from a war to live; but he did want to donate the money so others could read and understand. The Robertson cousins of this generation are amazing standardized test takers, probably because their Robertson and O’Brien ancestors valued reading and education above almost everything else
Colonel Bennett, an Irish refuge from the potato famine, raised an Irish regiment from Brooklyn for the Civil War, and was a cog in the Battle of Gettysburg.
He managed to return to Brooklyn to live a long life, but many of his Irish brothers’ fell in that battle. But please tell Sarah Palin, that Joseph Lawrence Hai-Sung Chow was the “real "America.”
On the other side of his family, his Chinese great-grandfather attended the
University of Hawaii. From Hawaii he went back to Shanghai and to his Chinese banking family. Sun Yat-Sen, the George Washington of China was twice over a close relation to Joseph. Sun Yat-Sen's oldest son, Uncle Ping, was designated as a big brother to Grandma Ruby’s family when Joseph’s great grandfather died from an infectious disease. Uncle Ping, was always the revered uncle at the Chow family parties. Sun Yat-Sen had attended medical school in Japan, before he turned his political energy on. Sun Yat-Sen was doubly related to Joseph, and his historical enemy, Chiang Kai-Shek was singly related. Every couple of years the Chinese government asks the family back to prove Sun Yat-Sen’s (and Chiang Kai-Shek's?) legacy for the current regime. But please tell Sarah Palin, that Joseph Lawrence Hai-Sung Chow was the “real America”
Our families are proud to be American and thank God that there is an America We teach our children that without America our forbearers from the Scottish highlands, the Irish potato farms, Bohemia, Shanghai, Canton all would have had to survive their homelands through periods of political unrest, wars and famine; the likelihood of survival would have been slim. Some came in trunks to escape from conscription, some snuck under enemy lines during World Wars. Others came in steerage on ships; Joseph's great- great-grandmother got to come thru Ellis Island twice. The first time through she thought she hit the lottery; as a maid in brownstone building on 5th Avenue Manhattan she met the scion of a French banking family, married him and returned to France to live happily ever after. The banker and the Irish illegal immigrant went to Calais, France. Unfortunately, the “rich” husband had tuberculosis and he died in Calais soon after Joseph’s great-great grandmother gave birth to the second daughter. Joseph’s great-great grandmother, had to park her daughters in Ireland with extended family, return to New York and work as a maid to afford the cost of steerage to reunite her little family. Her daughter, Joseph's great-grandmother, Leocadie O’Brien, never forgot the family back in Ireland; when her husband made it big on Wall Street in 1929 (his name is in Economic textbooks), she would send regular payments back to a small, poor farming community in Ireland However, my grandmothers mother, the maid from Calais (sort of) never had a chance. She probably died from neurological tuberculosis on Welfare Island in the middle of the East River, New York. Her great-grandchildren live very comfortable lives, and tell their children how thankful they should be for “America ”. But please tell Sarah Palin, that Joseph Lawrence Hai-Sung Chow was the “real American.
Joseph’s grandmother, Ruby, from Shanghai is an incredible woman. She speaks five Chinese dialects, English and a spattering of French. When she came from Shanghai in 1942 she was escorted by a General through the Japanese battle lines, and when she arrived in America she went to Bryn Mawr on a full scholarship. But, she was the only Chinese person in the class, and she spoke no English. Ruby could not get an apartment or a job New York City in the 1950’s. The United States Government tried to deport her, and her husband, Joe, to the strange, iconoclastic China of the 1950’s. But they managed to stay in America where fellow Americans may have hated her, and feared her, but they were not trying to kill her. Those fellow suspicious Americans, sent their children to learn piano from Ruby. Her husband Joe practiced nuclear metallurgy at Brookhaven National Laboratories. Things could be worse than standing out because the color of your skin does not match your neighbors. On the positive side, your neighbors do not speak Mandarin or Cantonese, and they cannot import goods from China The imported goods from China paid for Ivy League educations for the children. But please; tell Sarah Palin, that Joseph Lawrence Hai-Sung Chow was the “real America"
Joseph’s grandmother, Ruby, is among the most amazing persons I know; but now that I think about it all of Joseph’s forebears are among the most amazing people I knew. They came to America because the world they had grown up in was falling apart; they jumped ship because they knew America could offer them education and opportunity. Joseph was second, third, fourth, fifth, tenth generation American. Joseph knew, because of the stories that his parents and grandparents told him that America was
the best of all worlds. Joseph died in a tragic hiking accident in Africa while serving his country in the Peace Corp. Joseph had spent two years positively showing the world why the United States is the best of all things. He taught physics, chemistry and calculus to the future leaders of an African Nation, Tanzania. Joseph followed the call that Kennedy and every President since then have made to the youth of America The call is to show on a personal level, why America is the best country to emulate. The young people of the Peace Corp are not joining a league of young people with guns; they are sent out as individuals to represent America to the world. Joseph was the embodiment of America to his small, very well educated, town in Tanzania. And the population of that town loved Joseph, and misses him. But please tell Sarah Palin, that Joseph Lawrence Hai-Sung Chow was the “real America”
Joseph truly believed that America as he understood it, a well educated, intellectual, well versed population, was the pinnacle of the world civilization. And that civilization could teach, through textbooks and lectures, better than guns and intrigue, how the world could live together. But please; tell Sarah Palin, that Joseph Lawrence Hai-Sung Chow was the “real America?
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