CBC Radio and Metro News: Gung Haggis Media Alert:
Look and listen for Toddish McWong
Thursday afternoon I met with Metro News reporter Jared, Dragon
Martials Arts store on Pender St. at the Chinese Cultural Centre.
This is where I purchased my Lion Head mask. I never ever
imagined that the combination of Chinee Lion Head maskwith a red kilt
would become such an iconic symbol of “Gung Haggis Fat Choy” cultural
fusion…. but it did. The image has become copied and blogged
around the world… from Calfornia to Canton, from Nova Scotia to
Scotland, from New Jersey to Simon Fraser University.
Jared took some pictures of me at Dragon Martial Arts, where I also
purchased a small child's lion head mask for my nephew. I think
he'll like it. We also took some pictures with the Lion Head mask
on the standing on the corner of Carrall and Pender St. with the
Chinatown Millenium Gate designed my my cousin Joe Wai, in the
background.
Friday morning I am expecting a phone call from the hosts of the new CBC Radio program “Freestyle.”
They are looking for an update on the 9th annual
Gung Haggis Fat Choy” Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year
Dinner. I will have to tell them that I have friends from
Victoria to Halifax, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal who all
share in the Gung Haggis spirit, and may be hosting their own Gung
Haggis Fat Choy dinners, and raising a dram of whiskey to toast Toddish
McWong.
I am amazed at how many people across Canada have heard about Gung
Haggis Fat Choy. Last year my 2nd cousin Katie in Toronto phoned
my Grandmother to tell her that she saw me on CBC TV's The National
with Peter Mansbridge. Some people have heard me on Sounds Like
Canada with Shelagh Rogers. Friends have been e-mailing me the
new story in www.thescotsman.com written by Christina Wallace who
hopefully will be attending this year's dinner from Everett WA.
And next week, my friends in Montreal will read about me in Maisoneuve.
And maybe one day, we can all put aside our racial prejudices, our
religious differences, and our political beliefs, and all celebrate our
similarities and our common Canadian-isms over dinner. Food and
song. This is what brings people together. And together is
how we build a nation. And everybody in our nation is family. And
in family, nobody gets left behind.