Check out this essay on Salon.com...

Earlier this week, Salon.com executive editor and hapa dad Gary Kamiya posted a poignant meditation on parenting and the passage of time ["September song," 10/10/06]. Click through Salon's daily site pass for access and check it out.

Because racism is a parenting issue...

Rice Daddies has been host to some interesting discussion in recent days about the intersection of race, politics and parenthood. To an anonymous commenter wondering why a dad blog was spending so much time on race issues, another anonymous commenter responded that racism is a parenting issue.

On that note, I'm pleased to announce the launch of a new blog from New Demographic, the anti-racism training company behind the Addicted to Race podcast and the Racialicious blog (formerly Mixed Media Watch): Anti-Racist Parent.

We're launching today [didn't I mention that I'm a regular contributing writer?], so please welcome us to the blogosphere by visiting, spreading the word, and joining the discussion.

Soccer Dad: Things I Miss

You never know how much you appreciate something until it gets taken away. Like...

Taking a long hot shower
Restful sleep
Driving and singing in the car
Picking up Maceo and putting him to bed
Keeping him out of danger
Trader Joe's and Costco runs
Walking the dog
Muscle tone
Playing soccer
Taking Maceo to the grocery store in his push car
Cooking
Stealth trips to Popeye's
Changing diapers (really!)

Three weeks to go! Check out the 10 day old incision. The same day, I got fitted for a regulation walking cast. I can put some weight on it but I ain't trying to rush it. I go in next week for another round of x-rays and a new cast. If all goes well, I could well accompany Miggity Mace on Halloween candy foraging.

(This post is dedicated to wifey, who works full time, teaches two classes and has taken the brunt of childcare chores during my gimpy lifestyle choice)

SD

Am I really going to be a dad?

It's so strange as I sit here at work picking the dry boogers from my nose and not believing that I am actually going to be a dad. I guess it has not hit me since my wife is not showing yet, and the only evidence we have of the pregnancy are the dry heaves that she has occasionally which throw me out my chair. Seeing the baby on the ultrasound was so surreal, since it actually had two arms and two legs with a trunk and a head. The face looked like something from Alien, but I am hoping he or she has the good looks of my wife!!! :)

I have occasional panic attacks at night when I think that I am going to be a parent. Insane, but yet exciting in a quirky way. My buddies with kids tell me that it did not hit them until they were in the car driving home from the hospital for the first time with their babies, and then they started peeing their pants. I have a feeling I may be wearing a diaper after my wife has the baby just in case.

Anyways, just some thoughts from a dad to be.

Charlotte Observer Article on Blogging Dads

There's an article on blogging dads that made the front page of the Charlotte Observer. Here's a link to the online version:
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/15720412.htm

It's a nice little article about DadBloggers.com, which is based in NC and about blogging dads in general. They mention RiceDaddies and include a link to MetroDad's blog as well. (Blatant self-promotion alert) I also contribute to DadBloggers and an excerpt from my last entry "The Adrenaline Rush of Fatherhood" was included in the article. It's great to see more and more resources for dads popping up. I know my wife participates in several mom's groups and has access to lots of support. Most are mom-centric, but are becoming more oriented towards both parents. One of our favorites is the Berkeley Parents Network.

What are some other local and online resources you rely on?

What's in a name?

What's in a name? People write books, watch astrology shows, etc. to talk about a name and what the name means. My wife and I were looking at names for our future child, and I was blown away by all the names out there. She was on call delivering other people's babies in Los Angeles the other night, and we were on the phone going through lots of names. I probably started to phase out after the first 3 names, but my wife was going through name after name after each alphabet letter. Christina, Christian, Grace(too many other Koreans with this name), George, etc. We can't use this name because it means "dull", this name sounds too arrogant, the baby will get teased if its Sara Lee(baking goods), and on and on.

The funny thing is that we don't even know the gender yet. I was thinking Brutus or Hercules if its a guy, and Booboo or Monchichi if its a girl. My wife did not find that too funny... The tough part about having Lee as a last name is that the name can become an adverb. Mary: Merrily, Ugh: Ugly, Happy:Happily, you get the picture.

Anyways, the hunt for names is still on, and once we know the gender of the baby, we can start limiting it down. I guess women take this stuff more seriously since the child has to live with the name for the rest of their life. Oh man, I don't want to traumatize our baby, and definitely not going to name it after fruit or some Korean dish like Bibimbap or Soondooboo. Anyways, the name search goes on...

RICEDADDIES.COM

Well, it's been a lively week here at Rice Daddies, and we thought now would be as good a time as any to snatch up our domain name before any cyber-posers tried anything funny. Heh.

So, while http://ricedaddies.blogspot.com/ will still get you here, from now on, all you have to remember to get your daily dose of fatherhood antics with a side of race consciousness is this:

RICEDADDIES.COM

SPEAKING OF STEREOTYPES...

A friend of mine passed this along: "Chinese Hotel Laundry Bag. The description is aces:

"No one knows laundry better than the Chinese. They’ve even perfected the bag. We’ve found it useful for carrying everything from dirty clothes to snorkeling gear, plastic toy sets, vegetables from the Farmer’s Market. The real thing, these sturdy 100% cotton twill Chinese laundry bags have a mystic, irresistible appeal. No fortune cookie included, though."

If only this were some Blacklava, irony-laden put-on.

Alas. No.

--Poppa Large

Memoirs of the Racially Insensitive

Today, over at BloggingBaby, there was a post about dressing up as a geisha for Halloween. The author of the post, Heather Craven, writes "if I get a wild bug and decide to dress up this year, I think I will definitely be a geisha. This costume offers glamor and comfort in one easy stop."

Also, she continues to say, "Incidentally, I am not alone in my admiration of the geisha costume. It is quite popular this year, Perhaps it is due to the movie, 'Memoirs of a Geisha'."

Now, a quick look at Ms. Craven's bio tells me that she is white and lives in the Colorado mountains. I assume there aren't too many minorities living up there in the mountains, Ms. Craven?

As I said in her comments...

"Would you get dressed up in blackface as well? Or go to a Halloween party as Aunt Jemima? Put on a minstrel outfit? No? Then, why would you ever dress up as a geisha? Is it really possible that you don't see how that could be offensive? I'm extremely disappointed in you, Blogging Baby. I hope you have the decency to publish my comment. I hope that you have the decency to apologize. But most importantly, I hope you see how you're playing into and reenforcing racial stereotypes that most minorities don't find amusing."

Now, I'm not saying that Ms. Craven is a racist. I'm sure she's a very lovely woman in real life.

And this isn't about political correctness. Fuck political correctness.

The thing that amazes me about the entire post is that it's painfully clear that, at no point, does Ms. Craven even have an inkling of an idea that some people might possibly be offended by seeing a white woman dressed as a geisha. As you can tell from reading her post, the thought clearly never even entered her mind!!!

To make matters worse? Check out the unbelievable link that Ms. Craven includes in her post! Are you fucking kidding me? Could those costumes be any more stereotypical or offensive?

Again, I don't think Ms. Craven is a complete bigot or a card-carrying member of the K.K.K. However, I think her ignorance and insensitivity say something very interesting about race in America.

What do you think? Offended or not?

Televisions vs. Rice Cookers

A recent report said that the average U.S. household has 2.55 people and 2.73 TV's. What this means is that in the U.S. there are more TV's than people in the average household. My parents have 3 TV's, one in the family room, one in their bedroom and another in a guest room. My in-laws have 3, one in the living room, one in the kitchen and one in the bedroom. In this regard my own family is way below average since we only have one television. It's one of those bulbous tube type behemoths from the 90's that takes up half of our living room.

But when it comes to other essential household appliances, I know there is one area where I've definitely got the average U.S. household beat: Rice Cookers. A lot of people are fine cooking rice in a regular pot or God forbid in a microwave. Not me. I'm a rice snob, gourmet, and gourmand wrapped into one. I regularly buy and stock 10-20lb bags of long grain jasmine, short grain calrose and short grain brown rice. I also have several other varieties like risotto, long grain brown and wild rice blends in much smaller quantities.

I'm like a ravenous hobbit with a bad carb addiction. I can eat rice for first breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, supper and at late-night snacktime. I also don't consider rice a starch as my chef friends do. I'll eat rice with pasta, potatoes, bread, noodles, and even other varieties of rice and rice dishes. I'm a riceaholic and damn proud!

So how many rice cookers do we own? We currently have 5. One main one for everyday use, a larger one for when we have guests, and 3 that are in storage as keepsakes. That's even more than the number of iPods that my wife and I own combined.

Here's a list of our rice cookers:
5 cup 18 setting fuzzy logic rice cooker with 24 hour timer/alarm (wedding present-on counter)
10 cup rice cooker for when we have guests (wedding present-stored under the counter)
3 cup rice cooker from my college days (in storage)
6 cup rice cooker from my bachelor days (in storage)
Microwave rice cooker (well meaning present-in "deep" storage)

Do you consider yourself a rice snob/addict?
How many rice cookers do you have in your household?