Editor’s Note

It was only a while ago that a critical mass of people paraded up and down Granville and Robson Street, celebrating as if it were Canada Day, 24/7. As a result, many fond memories and a remarkably enhanced national pride will always mark Vancouver’s Winter Olympics as once-in-a-lifetime. The folks at Ricepaper Magazine managed to survive the flurry, and we’re happy to return with our latest offering: REPRESENTASIANS! In these pages, our writers explore our quarterly theme in sometimes overt and subtle ways. Of course, we couldn’t help but include some candid, post-Olympic coverage, as well.

In this issue, Margaret Inoue explores the political representations of photographers Leonard Frank (Canadian) and Ansel Adams (American) respectively; a photo installation was recently mounted at the Japanese Canadian National Museum, which brought back memories, mixed emotions, and the impact of Japanese internment around World War II. By extension, Cheryl Caballero tackles the representation of Asian women, and the connection between western patriarchy and sexual stereotyping. On a slightly lighter note, Amy Chow covers the results of 25@25: Canada’s Future with Asia, a timely youth video contest that was hosted by the Asia Pacific Foundation. Joni Low looks at the various Asian visual art-makers who had their fifteen minutes of limelight during the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad, and Jenny Uechi writes about the influence of native-speaking foreigners in her long-standing “JennyPop” column. Last but not least, we bring back Jim Wong-Chu’s “Artifact,” the historic column that revisits interesting facts and stories from the past.

All of this, plus book reviews of Butterfly Tears and Henry Chow and other stories; a reflection on Cloud Gate Dance Theatre’s soldout show, Moon Water; an intimate interview with Australian-born visual storyteller, William Yang; a new short story by Lydia Kwa entitled “My Mother Loves Teapots”; and many stark and reflective poems by Nabin Kumar Chhetri.

As usual, we would love to hear any suggestions and ideas from the public, and appreciate your continued support and readership.

Enjoy!

Best regards,
Eury Chang
Editor, Ricepaper Magazine
editor@ricepapermagazine.ca