Putting the Rice in Rice Daddy

Game on: FreeRice



Help needy folks while you perpetuate the stereotype that all us rice daddies are book-learned. For every word you correctly define, these guys, related to Poverty.com, will donate ten grains of rice.



The words get harder as you go. I got to vocabulary level 45. Are you up to the challenge?



Game on!

One Laptop Per Rice Daddy

Has Soulsnax got you in the giving mood, and are you craving to go all international-like with it? Here's something you can do, and at the same time get in on the cutting edge of consumer electronics.

OLPC, The One Laptop Per Child organization, was founded by Nicholas Negroponte, one of the founders of the MIT media lab. Its mission has been to make a low-cost laptop available to every child in the developing world:

"Our mission is to provide a means for learning, self-expression and exploration to the nearly two billion children of the developing world with little or no access to education. While children are by nature eager for knowledge, many countries have insufficient resources to devote to education—sometimes less than $20 a year per child. Imagine the potential that could be unlocked by giving every child in the world the tools they need to learn, no matter who they are, no matter where they live, no matter how little they may have."

The XO laptop developed by OLPC has won a bunch of design awards 'n stuff, and seems to be close to rolling off the production line.

So, where does your rice-daddy philanthropy come in?

well, OLPC is offering the opportunity to get your own XO when you also buy one to give to a worthy kid somewhere out there. It will be cool to show this off here in the Valley, and feel good about supporting digital learning for the global community.

Challenge Update: WE'RE ON A ROLL! Four new proposals added.

Thanks to Mr. & Mrs. L., Instant Yang, ThisIsLarry, Grant D. and Manuel Z., the RiceDaddies Empowerment in Diversity Challenge is on a roll. Of the eight proposals on the Challenge, six proposals have been fully funded through your generous donations.

To keep the momentum going, we've added four new proposals to the challenge:

• My Family Is From...
• Help Us Travel To China!!!
• Bringing Asia to the Bronx
• More Than Meets the Eye: Students as Media Producers

Launched in June 2007, the RiceDaddies Empowerment in Diversity Challenge aims to mitigate the marginalizing effects of diversity-negligent pop culture and media by funding innovative educational programs that do the following:

• Promote positive images of ourselves for our children
• Promote positive images of ourselves for other people and their children
• Develop skills in our children that empower them to be leaders in the world in which we live
• Promote pride in one's culture instead of shame
• Promote self-respect and appreciation for others like ourselves
• Develop our children's ability to use their imaginations in an empowering way
• Encourage our children to be who they truly are

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My Family Is From...
- Los Angeles, California - PreK-2 - 78% low income -

"This year I will put in place an ongoing curriculum that connects students to their culture with the goal of students identifying more with who they are."

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Help Us Travel To China!!!
- Carson, California - PreK-2 - 93% low income -

"I am second grade teacher who loves to expose students to different cultures. I teach for a district that is primarily composed of African Americans and Hispanics. Unfortunately, some of my students are often not exposed to other cultures; therefore, I've brought culture and traditions to them!"

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Bringing Asia to the Bronx
- Bronx, New York - Grades 6-8 - 72% low income -

"Many of my 7th grade students, who attend middle school in the Bronx, have never left New York. It is therefore important for me, as a teacher with many different experiences, to bring the world to them."

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More Than Meets the Eye: Students as Media Producers
- Los Angeles, California - Grades 3-5 - 94% low income -

"I am a 5th grade teacher for an urban school located in South Central Los Angeles. One of the greatest challenges of teaching inner city youth is engaging them and creating lessons that are meaningful to their lives."

Challenge Update: Two New Educational Proposals Added

We've added two new educational proposals to the RiceDaddies Empowerment in Diversity Challenge, our ongoing philanthropic venture: Asian American Heritage One Book at a Time and Characters that Look Like Me.

These two proposals seek to stir the imaginations of our young children through the use of literature that promotes positive images of diversity. And we all know what happens when a child is inspired through literature: a lifelong love of learning, and a propensity toward exploring life's endless possibilities...

Launched in June 2007, the RiceDaddies Empowerment in Diversity Challenge aims to mitigate the marginalizing effects of diversity-negligent pop culture and media by funding innovative educational programs that do the following:

• Promote positive images of ourselves for our children
• Promote positive images of ourselves for other people and their children
• Develop skills in our children that empower them to be leaders in the world in which we live
• Promote pride in one's culture instead of shame
• Promote self-respect and appreciation for others like ourselves
• Develop our children's ability to use their imaginations in an empowering way
• Encourage our children to be who they truly are

---

Asian American Heritage One Book at a Time
- Chicago, Illinois - PreK-2 - 95% low income -

"I work in Chinatown in Chicago. My classroom is 100% Asian-American. As a Kindergarten teacher, I spend lots of time reading aloud to my students.

"I feel it is important that they are exposed to stories with Asian-American characters as well as stories that they are able to relate to. I have selected 18 books that I feel would benefit my students as we work towards their understanding of family heritage and the value of cooperating within the community.

"My students will benefit greatly from these books because they are written in a way that not only I can read them, but as the year progresses the students will take ownership of the stories as their literacy skills develop.

"Please help my students become better readers by making connections with these stories.

"My students need a collection of books that reflect their Asian American heritage. The cost of this proposal is $379, which includes shipping for any materials requested and fulfillment."

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Characters That Look Like Me!
- Oakland, California - PreK-2 - 58% low income -

"I am a second year Kindergarten teacher in a low-income public school in Oakland, Ca. Over 90% of our student population qualifies for the federally funded breakfast/lunch program. I teach a variety of students from a multitude of different cultures, Filipino, African American, Chinese, and Hispanic.I have some books in my library and I have spent a lot of time and money acquiring the books. However, my classroom library lacks books featuring African American, Hispanic and Asian children. My students LOVE to read and be read to. They would greatly benefit from the exposure of characters from many different ethnic groups and it would help them to appreciate the diverse society that they live in.Please help me build a strong multicultural foundation with the multicultural books I have selected. These books will allow my students accessibility to real literature and it will hook them and excite them to learn about the world around them, as well as validate where they come from. By providing my students with books that show multicultural characters, like themselves, you will provide resources that build on the basic curriculum and on the equity we are trying to bring into our classroom community. These books will allow my students to know so much more about themselves, others and the world. Thank you so much.

"My project needs multicultural books that depict characters like the students in my class: African American, Asian, and Hispanic. I have selected a number of Multicultural sets about Holidays, Children of the World, and such titles as On Mother's Lap, Fiesta, Round is a Moon Cake and Whoever You Are. The cost of this proposal is $520, which includes shipping for any materials requested and fulfillment."

Challenge Update: New Educational Proposal Added

We've added another educational proposal to the RiceDaddies Empowerment in Diversity Challenge, our ongoing philanthropic venture.

As you can see from the proposal description, these children are in dire need of our support. Ninety-three percent of this school's students come from low-income, high-poverty homes. The proposed program meets the objectives of our Challenge and will provide 60 instructional hours to over 300 of those students. So the sooner we donate, the sooner they can learn!

Help International Kids Become International!
- South Gate, CA

"International Studies Learning Center is one of 9 schools in the country sponsored by the Asia Society to offer an internationally focused curriculum to its students.

"Media is an excellent way to help students understand international perspectives, but I am having trouble making that asset available to these children on a daily basis due to limited resources for technology. There is one TV/DVD combination deck in the school, and it is often checked out to other teachers. With one more TV/DVD deck available, I and the other teachers of the 7th grade would be able to show movies during class time to augment the classroom experience."

"As part of our school's schedule, we have an advisory class, and in that class I would like to show movies or images. Next year, as an institution, we will be reading Farewell to Manzanar and several other books with video components or pictures taken from the Japanese American Museum in the Los Angeles area. In a perfect world, I would be able to take the students to the museum and all the other associated resources with the reading material for next year, but the budget is already too small for excursions, so I may have to bring the resources to them via video and images.

"The students have the expectation of being able to participate in a world economy and marketplace, as expressed in the ISLC Mission Statement. We are acquiring texts and helping the students get access to a truly international perspective, but we need the help to make these resources reachable by our students.

"A contribution of a DVD player and Television would help the students develop this perspective and help them get to their grade level in understanding by assisting their comprehension with video input into their texts and exercises in class.

"My project needs A Sony DVD player and 27" color television to enrich their internationally-oriented curriculum. The cost of this proposal is $401, which includes shipping for any materials requested and fulfillment."

Check out my review of DVD for new dads...

I usually don't write here about the reviews I do for products on my own blog via the Parent Bloggers Network, but I just posted a review of something that I actually really liked and that may be of interest to dads and friends-of-dads here on RD. So go check out my review of Armin "Mr. Dad" Brott's "Toolbox for New Dads" DVD and see what you think. As an added bonus, if you order the DVD via the link from my review and note in your order that you're coming in via daddy in a strange land, I get 25% of the purchase price back, and I will put any monies generated through this toward our RD Empowerment in Diversity Challenge, our ongoing philanthropic effort via Donors Choose.

[On a side note, I'm also posting about my review here because since the upgrade to Apple's iLife 08 and its new version of iWeb, things have been all screwy, including my rss feed and the address being redirected to, so if I don't post a link here I'm afraid nobody's gonna know it's there. So if anybody out there's a Mac genius and knows all the fixes for these problems, holla]!

Challenge Update: Reallocate your Philanthropy Credits

This is just a note to those of you who generously donated to the RiceDaddies Empowerment in Diversity Challenge. Apparently, one of the educational proposals we funded, Exploring Inner Beauty with "The Bluest Eye", will not need the funds contributed. Those of you who donated to this particular proposal have had your donations returned in the form of Philanthropy Credits.

To reallocate your Philanthropy Credits, simply CLICK HERE to visit the RiceDaddies Empowerment in Diversity Challenge, and select another project that you find compelling. You will be prompted to use your available Philanthropy Credits toward your contribution.

The educational proposals currently featured in the RiceDaddies Empowerment in Diversity Challenge are:

Developing Cultural Self Awareness with Literacy and Art
I hope to engage my student in conversation about culture and race. While they are engaged in an art activity I hope to teach my class to have similar conversations with peers....


Materials Needed that Promote Racial and Cultural Awareness
By adding Multicultural and abilities materials to the centers in my classroom my goal is to facilitate the children's awareness and to help them understand that they are part of a large group with similar characteristics (not "different" from everyone else)...


Big thanks go to Daddyinastrangeland for the heads-up!

Happy Birthday America!

Thanks for being there for me, America!!!

To celebrate your birthday, I'm investing in your future. Here's to another 231 years!

Challenge Update: New Educational Proposal Added

Since you just got paid on Friday, we've added another educational proposal for you to fund through the RiceDaddies Empowerment in Diversity Challenge: Developing Cultural Self Awareness with Literacy and Art.

This new proposal engages 2nd grade students in activities that promote pride in who they are. The program will use books like The Skin I'm In, Black is Brown is Tan, The Colors of Us, and Nappy Hair and Cornrolls as a bridge for students to embrace their skin color and hair texture as well as that of others.

Meanwhile, the proposal Myself & Others has received additional funding since last week, and now needs only $81 to complete funding!! C'mon, go ahead and complete this proposal... you can do it!

Remember, InstantYang and his wife will be graciously matching all donations from now through July 4. So, keep your contributions coming. Your donation of $10, $20, $100, or $1000 could be worth double through Independence Day! Doesn't that make you feel good inside?

Donate Now!

UPDATE: And thanks to Daddy in a Strange Land for suggesting our latest proposal. If you have any suggestions for educational proposals that are in line with the RiceDaddies Empowerment in Diversity Challenge, don't hesitate to post them here.

Challenge Update

Thanks to everyone's donations, two of our three educational proposals have been fully funded!!!!! THANK YOU ALL! YOU ROCK!

The one remaining proposal, Myself and Others, is already 65% funded, with only $487 needed to complete funding.

So, if we can only get $243.50 donated to Myself and Others, then InstantYang will graciously match the remainder. Then, all three of our educational proposals will be complete! (Thank you InstantYang for picking up the dollar-for-dollar match through July 4!!)

Don't worry, this is not the end of the RiceDaddies Empowerment in Diversity Challenge. Once all of our proposals are fully funded, you will still be able to donate to your heart's content. I have a list of proposals in the pipeline which will be activated once the current ones are fully funded.

Let's have a round of applause for the following donors, whose generosity has enabled about 1,225 students to obtain approximately 1,960 hours of learning:

• Alfredo C.
• Anthony M.
• Debra H.
• Debra P.
• Ella Ruby J. E.
• Evie and James-Tai Murakami
• Gail E.
• Ivette B.
• Jackie L.
• Jason & Michelle Sperber
• Judith A.
• Larry C.
• Linda S.
• Lissette V.
• Margaret Hughes.
• Maria M.
• Mary G.
• Mary Jane L.
• Mary O.
• Matthew Callaghan.
• Melissa P.
• Natalie G.
• Regina D.
• Rosezella M.
• Sam W.
• Shavonne K.
• Susan Ito.
• Susie A.
• U. Angie H.
• William K.

If you haven't yet made your donation, it's not too late to join the ranks of the heroes listed above. Simply click here to make your donation today!

Celebrating Friday, June 15th...

Today is Friday, and it's also the 15th of the month. You know what that means: You are getting paid today!

Why are we celebrating? We're celebrating cuz I know you will take advantage of this last day of our dollar-for-dollar match to the RiceDaddies Empowerment in Diversity Challenge. That's right, for every dollar you donate to the Challenge, another dollar will be donated by us. So your donation is worth double.

So far this week, we've matched $350 in donations. That makes it a total of $700 donated this week! But it doesn't have to end there... If you donate before 11:59PM EDT today, your $10 donation could be worth $20. Your $100 donation could be worth $200. Or your $1000 donation could be worth $2000!!

So once you've verified that your paycheck has cleared, go straight to the Challenge, and DONATE!

Hey man... it's for the children. Real men take care of children. Be a man. :)

Introducing The RiceDaddies Empowerment in Diversity Challenge

At the top of our sidebar, there's a link to our first official philanthropic venture: The RiceDaddies Empowerment in Diversity Challenge.

It's one thing for us to blog about the unique experience of being RiceDaddies, and the special issues we face as 21st century Asian-American parents. But with this new challenge, we now hope to add weight to our words by actually putting our money where our mouths are.

We RiceDaddies believe that we have a unique perspective as Asian-American parents because many of us grew up in this country at a time when Western pop culture and media may have had a marginalizing effect upon our social and cultural development. The lack of positive portrayals of diversity has resulted in negative implicit associations with people of color, even among people of color themselves. Such negative associations with people of color continue to perpetuate behavior and violence against people of color.

If media producers fail to portray our children in a positive, beautiful way, then it is up to us to do it. While some things have changed for the better, some things still remain the same. So, for any improvement to continue, we must choose to be the agents of such change.

With that in mind, The RiceDaddies Empowerment in Diversity Challenge aims to mitigate the marginalizing effects of diversity-negligent pop culture and media by funding innovative educational programs that do the following:

• Promote positive images of ourselves for our children
• Promote positive images of ourselves for other people and their children
• Develop skills in our children that empower them to be leaders in the world in which we live
• Promote pride in one's culture instead of shame
• Promote self-respect and appreciation for others like ourselves
• Develop our children's ability to use their imaginations in an empowering way
• Encourage our children to be who they truly are

Donations to the challenge currently go to the following public school educational programs:

• Myself & Others
• Exploring Inner Beauty with "The Bluest Eye"
• Leadership Textbooks for Class

Take the time to read about each of the educational programs featured in the challenge. You'll see that your donation will pay social dividends for generations to come.

As an added incentive for you to donate, my wife and I have decided to offer a dollar-for-dollar match on all donations made from now through Friday, June 15th. That means every dollar you donate is worth double! So go straight to The RiceDaddies Empowerment in Diversity Challenge and donate today!