Fascinating New York

The Canadian press/media are laden with New York stories. They are mostly upbeat stories telling Canadians that New Yorkers are resilient, strong and pragmatic people with the "let’s go on with our lives" philosophy. There are also several touristic pieces telling us that it is time once again to make that New York trip (only 5 hours by plane from Vancouver). That everything is back to normal, it’s safe, it has rebounded from tragedy and that New York is even better today. It may still be a bit edgy because the city has lost the longtime attitude of adolescent innocence and invulnerability.

The New York experience of sensory overload has always fascinated me and all I needed was a bit of push. And so I went to New York last week. My main objective was to witness the rebirth of the most popular metropolis in the world. It was also to confirm the reports that New Yorkers finally realized that visitors really play a vital role in the complete recovery of "The City".

My secondary reason was to see Lea Salonga in the updated, re-worked, renovated and politically correct version of the 1958 musical "Flower Drum Song". Armed with an orchestra ticket, 3rd row, front center, it was a joy to experience the luminous stage presence and exuberance of Lea Salonga with her distinctive dulcet-voice. The role of Mei-Li seemed to have been made for her multi-faceted talents. The show reminded me of Filipina-American Maureen Tiongco who also played it on stage, in the sixties.

It was also a joy to watch Filipina-Canadian Ma-Anne Dionisio as one of the Chinese girls. She is the understudy of Lea. Ma-Anne played Kim in Miss Saigon in Toronto and Australia.

Writer David Henry Hwang of M Butterfly fame did an excellent job in retaining the original themes of the novel with emphasis on cultural assimilation, social integration and struggle to find an identity in a foreign land. Hwang also confronts cultural accommodations of Asians who become obsessed with the mighty US dollar with lines like "Nothing buys respect in America like money." And "We’ll give tourists what they want, but we’ll have the last laugh", referring to the likes of fortune cookies and chop suey. Here is a musical that is a "must" for new and old Filipino immigrants in America or Canada with their "crab mentality" packed permanently in their balikbayan boxes.

According to Statistics Canada, the total immigration and refugees in Canada in year 2000 was 227,000 then rose to 260,000 in 2001. The government plan is to have 235,000 this year but the Liberal government wants to allow 300,000. More than three-quarters of immigrants prefer Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. With Immigration Overview as source, the top source countries of immigrants to Canada are (ranked from 1 to 17) – China, India, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, USA, Iran, Yugoslavia, United Kingdom, Russia, Taiwan, Hong Kong. Hong Kong which was top of the list in the ’80s and early ’90s has gone down to 13.

The Canadian government was said to be contributing $7 million to support judicial reform and education in the Philippines. The funds are supposedly to support the country’s Action Program for Judicial Reform, to promote mediation, fiscal independence for the courts, public education. Let us hope the money will be utilized intelligently and properly in the country, not used to subsidize junkets.

A cinema theater chain is polling Canadians whether they want to drink beer, wine or coolers while watching a movie. While this may be financially beneficial to the theater operators it has several drawbacks.

It’s bad enough that people talk, crackle their popcorn and candy wrappers. Imagine possible distractions and drunken people watching a movie in public. I hope this concept never materialize. If someone wants to drink alcohol, then go to the nearest bar.

It’s been estimated that up to 80 percent of a movie theater’s profit comes from the concession stands selling popcorn, candies, other food items and beverages. They say it is commonplace in Europe to purchase alcoholic drinks at movie theaters but Europeans tend to take their cinema more seriously, specially the French.