Author: Sylvia Wong Lewis

Prix Europa Award to “Strange Fruit”

Posted on by Sylvia Wong Lewis

 

BBC Radio Producer Maggie Ayre received Prix Europa 2014 in Award in Berlin for Best European Radio Music Programme for 'Strange Fruit.'
BBC Radio Producer Maggie Ayre received Prix Europa 2014 in Award in Berlin for Best European Radio Music Programme for ‘Strange Fruit.’

Congratulations to Maggie Ayre, BBC radio producer, for winning the prestigious Prix Europa Award 2014 for Best European Radio Music Program “Strange Fruit,” that featured my storytelling about lynching among others. The award was presented in Berlin on October 24, 2014. Click here for a link to the Prix Europa winners and award-winning ‘Strange Fruit’ program. The award ceremony will be streamed on the website through November 8.

“The song, Strange Fruit. memorably encapsulates a poetic depiction of the brutal lynchings in the southern United States. The winning programme used this Billie Holliday song to explore the deep wounds, encountering people with close connections to the events; the stories were calmly recounted, adding intensity to the words, and allowed time for reflection. The song is delicately woven into a tapestry of sad memories. Strange Fruit demonstrates the ability of radio to communicate strong emotions and profound insights,” stated the Prix Europa Award 2014 announcement.

History: “PRIX EUROPA – The European Broadcasting Festival awards the best European Television, Radio and Online productions each year with the aim of publicising them throughout Europe and supporting their continental distribution and use. It calls on all media professionals and their commitment to quality to compete against each other with their best productions.”

Sylvia Wong Lewis on BBC Radio
Sylvia Wong Lewis recording at BBC Radio

 

Columbus Day, Indigenous Remembrance Day

Posted on by Sylvia Wong Lewis

My Indigenous and Native American ancestors are finally getting some respect. Columbus Day is getting re-branded. I know that my ancestors would be thrilled to see more American cities recognize the truth: That Columbus did not ‘discover’ America. Thankfully, some cities, like Seattle, are now giving the Columbus Day holiday a Native flavor.

“This year’s Columbus Day holiday will have a slightly different, more Native flavor in the city of Seattle. Thanks to a unanimous vote this summer by the city council, the federal holiday will now be known by a different name: Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The name change comes after activists pushed for a day to honor indigenous people instead of Christopher Columbus, the most recognizable figure linked to European contact with the Americas.” For the complete story, click here.

I hope one day New York City will see the light. There’s certainly plenty support in this town.

Many truths were heard loud and clear recently, at a rally in New York City near the landmark statue of Christopher Columbus at Columbus Circle. Native Americans, Indigenous groups, regular New Yorkers and tourists participated in a Pow Wow to focus attention on the “grand theft, genocide, racism, torture, and maiming of Indigenous people,” by Columbus and other American, Spanish, and British colonizers.

The New York gathering included: Ecuadoran community activists, Sharakapk Earth Keepers, Inwoodearthkeepers@gmail.com, Biblioteca Indigenamovil (mobileindigenouslibrary.webs.com) Chief Plenty Coups, Apsaalooke, Crow, Indigenous Outreach Project, Citizens Committee for New York City, Garifuna Coalition (www.garifunacoalition.org), Colectivo Popol VujItinerante, and more.

Would you swap Columbus Day for Indigenous Remembrance Day?

Top 5 Oral History Tips

Posted on by Sylvia Wong Lewis
my Creole aunt
Posing in Harlem, my paternal Aunt Bertha Stuart Rice, who ‘passed’ as a white person, claimed our family as Creole.

Conducting oral history interviews takes patience and planning. Your family and community members hold precious stories and memories that are legacies of tradition, culture and history. But, what should you do if relatives are reluctant to be interviewed? As a genealogist, I do what I call the ‘un-interview.’

The first time I went to Mississippi and Louisiana to learn about my father’s Southern roots, I was warned: “Don’t come down here asking questions and digging in local court records alone. Southerners are very suspicious of Northerners,” said my Louisiana cousin Antoinette. “The Mississippi blacks and whites are even more clannish and they stick together,” she said.  Besides being a musical and show business family, my paternal elders said that we were Creoles. I wanted first-hand knowledge. Once my elders left the South for Harlem, as part of the nation’s largest Black Migration, they never returned. But many of my relatives stayed. So, I needed to go there. One Southern elder cousin agreed to be interviewed. But she changed her mind when I arrived. “Not on camera. Maybe I will do audio,” said cousin Snow Owl as she eyed my equipment. I slowed down. We needed to spend time together simply visiting, cooking, shopping, talking, eating and going to church to meet-up with her friends, neighbors and extended family.

Check out these guidelines from the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage: “When interviewing members of your family or local community, be sure to seek out not only what they can tell you about the past, but what they can tell you about life in the present. How have certain family traditions evolved? What holiday customs are practiced today that weren’t a generation ago? What special foodways and rituals are part of community celebrations and why? What skills and abilities are needed to practice a particular craft or trade? How are these skills learned, mastered, and passed on to younger generations?”

Here are my top 5 Oral History tips

1.Build trust. Do your genealogy homework to check names, dates and facts. Learn multicultural dialogue rules and community rituals. Seek permission before all interviews. In my mixed-race family you must share a cup of tea, visit for three days, or bring gifts before you can ask anything. Asking questions is considered rude in some cultures. Timing is everything. Slow down. Wait for the right moment to bring up sensitive topics like slavery. Group gatherings hosted by a trusted local family member or friend provides a great way to start. Tap your network to make connections to help you find ways to build trust.

2. Show and tell your project. I was producing a family documentary and a ‘cooking genes’ cookbook. I brought along video clips, old photos, Baptism certificates, census reports, DNA results, and recipes. These items opened doors. Once they realized that I was not seeking hard facts or figures but simply stories, they relaxed. Reluctance relatives and family friends now loved being the center of attention and telling their stories. They were able to clarify and correct official records and add recipes.

3. Equipment. Less is best. Bring a mobile device, camera, and a portable scanner. Explain your interview process so the subjects know what to expect.

Creole family: Aunt Katherine and paternal grandmother, Madame Tempy Stuart Smith
Creole family: Aunt Katherine Brigman and paternal grandmother, Madame Tempy Stuart Smith

4. The Un-Interview. Don’t ask Yes or No questions. Don’t interview or use the word ‘interview.’ As a long-term genealogist, I learned that people hate interviews! My people equate the word ‘interview’ with ‘interrogation.’ Engage. Do ask for stories. Here are sample questions that generated conversations and details: Describe memorable weddings or funerals. Describe our family’s religious and spiritual practices. What languages or Creole words do you remember? How has this neighborhood changed over the years? What are the secret ingredients in this delicious Gumbo or Creole dinner? What are you growing in your garden? Describe routes and regional ways of transportation. Who are your favorite musicians? What dance steps do you remember? Who/What are your favorite writers, books, songs, artists, and films? Don’t judge the answers. Put the subjects at ease and tell them that all their words are precious.  Ask a question and listen. Do not interrupt or correct.

5. Wrap-up: Share interview results with photos, video, and transcriptions.

What are your top oral history tips?

 

 

 

 

 

oral history shares personal history
Veterans share oral history and tell personal stories in New Orleans at National WWll Museum, @WWllmuseum, where oral histories are featured.

 

Drinking genes: Alcoholism in the family

Posted on by Sylvia Wong Lewis
Your genes determine whether you get drunk after drinking.
Your genes determine whether you get drunk after drinking.

I wonder about drinking genes. Alcoholism seems to run in my family. Several of my relatives died from cirrhosis, an illness related to alcoholism. Thank goodness, I’m not much of a drinker. But my mom told me she worried that I might be at risk because I was born drunk. Well, truthfully, she was drunk when I was born. She said her excuse was that I took too long to be born. She said that she drank a full bottle of wine during her ninth month of pregnancy with me. Finally, I popped out several weeks overdue! I have always limited my alcohol intake because it makes my face and neck flush and my heart race. Knowing your family’s health problems, especially with alcohol, proves why genealogy is good for your health.

Scientists have proven that there are several genes related to alcohol metabolism.

“Multiple genes play a role in a person’s risk for developing alcoholism. There are genes that increase a person’s risk, as well as those that may decrease that risk, directly or indirectly. For instance, some people of Asian descent carry a gene variant that alters their rate of alcohol metabolism, causing them to have symptoms like flushing, nausea, and rapid heartbeat when they drink. Many people who experience these effects avoid alcohol, which helps protect them from developing alcoholism.” Click here to read more.

Book cover about underage drinking and peer pressure. Go to:http://www.thecoolspot.gov/
Book cover about underage drinking and peer pressure. Go to:http://www.thecoolspot.gov/

How do you know if your child will become an alcoholic? Key genes play a role in alcohol dependence.

“Today, scientists at the Scripps Research Institute announced they’ve identified a key gene that appears to strongly influence the development of alcoholism and alcohol dependence. The research could prove key to zeroing in on how increased risk for alcoholism runs in families. The study, published in Biological Psychiatry, sheds considerable light on genetic variations and how they predict who becomes dependent on alcohol and the severity of the disease. (Yes, alcohol is a disease.)”  To read more click here.

What about hangovers? Yes, there’s a gene for that too.

“Some people get hangovers after a night of drinking, while others don’t, and the reason may be in their genes, a new study of twins in Australia suggests. Researchers looked for links between the study participants’ genetic makeups and the number of hangovers the individuals reported experiencing in the past year. The results showed that genetic factors accounted for 45 percent of the difference in hangover frequency in women and 40 percent in men. Click here to learn more.

For a list of family illnesses caused by heavy drinking, click here.

Do you have drinking genes in your family?

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Cooking Genes: Chino-Cubano food

Posted on by Sylvia Wong Lewis

Cubano Chino lunch

Desert

I miss Chino-Cubano food. Although my family’s cooking genes featured a range of old-school Caribbean-Asian fusion, I discovered Chino-Cubano food late in life. Right after college graduation, I ate this delicious, affordable food every day when I worked in NYC’s Hell’s Kitchen. There were two eateries on 9th avenue owned by the same chef that I loved. I don’t recall the name. But the owner’s name was Mr. Yip. Both joints featured a huge melange of Chinese-Cuban food served on oval plates for just a few dollars.

Besides the delicious food, I loved eavesdropping on the Chinese workers speaking Cantonese to each other and Spanish to customers. This was an only-in-New York experience or an anthropologist’s dream. I think I loved listening to the workers talk as much as I loved hearing my own Chinese Trinidadian relatives speak with West Indian accents.

Back in the 70s, my first job as a teacher-counselor at the YMCA took me to this old West side neighborhood. Located next door to a police precinct on West 54th between 9th and 10th avenues, it was my usual lunch time routine to explore 9th Avenue, NYC’s richest ethnic food world.  Although both eateries offered basically the same menu, I took turns going to each one. I was raised eating Guyanese, Trinidadian and Jamaican-Chinese Caribbean food. Chino-Cubano food was a welcome change.

My usual meal was simple: Special Fried Rice, a side order of fried platanos and a café for $4. Today, this meal cost about $10! This is still a bargain. Cuban-Chinese cuisine is not really fusion. It features juxtaposition or a pairing of both Chinese and Cuban food on the same plate. Eg. black beans, with rice—either white, yellow or Chinese fried rice, platanos, bok choy, Chinese dumplings, broccoli, pork, chicken or seafood.

Sometimes my Trini-Chinese mother tried her hand at Chino-Cubano cooking. She would “Latina-fy” her menu with black beans, yellow rice and plantains. To “China-fy” Cuban food, my mother would insert ginger, Hoisin or oyster sauce, bean sprouts and bean curd to her dishes.

At one of NYC’s oldest Chino-Cubano restaurants, La Caridad78’s menu features wonderful contradictions:  “Comida China y Criolla” lists the Cuban dishes as “Spanish Dishes.” “Platos Criollos” is the menu headline, but the word criollo is a contradiction too. It was originally used to distinguish Cubans from colonials. A Puerto Rican friend pointed out to me that the dishes listed are actually Cuban, not Spanish: vaca frita, chuletas en salsa soya, bisté de palomilla, rabo encendido and others. Listed on other menu pages were typical Chinese dishes such as bok choy, lo mein, beef with bean curd, and sweet and sour chicken. Tsingtao, a Chinese beer is also served along side regular ones.

There are very few Chino-Cubano recipes posted online. Here are a few that I found:

http://icuban.com/food/puerco_estilo_chino-cubano.html

http://icuban.com/food/platanos_maduros.html

Genealogy background: Chinese indentured male workers arrived in Cuba in 1847 to replace the African slaves. Since the Chinese women were not allowed to join them, many Chinese men intermarried with Afro-Cuban, Native and local island women creating a unique multicultural society. Another migration from 1919 to 1925 brought over 25,000 more Chinese immigrants. They took advantage of the island’s prosperity during those times, primarily in Havana. This long Chinese history on the island left an indelible mark especially in traditional Cuban food. After the Fidel Castro’s Cuban Revolution, many left for Miami and New York where the Chino-Cubano restaurants flourished in the 1960s and 1970s. Sadly, today, very few of these eateries exist. Many New Yorkers like me have fond memories of their favorite Chino-Cubano restaurants.

(Cooking Genes is an ongoing series)

Do you recall eating Chino-Cubano food? Do you have any recipes or menus?