Joy Hopwood

Just after one week back from New York, I'm inspired!

A highlight for me was watching "Avenue Q," on Broadway.

It's a great show covering social issues through the use of muppets,

song and acting. This show inspired me, that very night, to write my own

personal stories covering racism, alcoholism, social inequalities and cancer- which

my mum unfortunately was a victim of this horrid disease and lost her

battle in October last year.

For the first time in over 20 years, I have sewn 14 puppets!

Five will be the main central characters. My puppet musical is called,

"The Wong side of life." Wong- which was my mum's maiden name,

a tribute to her and a pun on the phrase "Always look on the bright side of life."

Needless to say, this show will probably be the

most personal performance of my life and I look forward to share

some of my stories, in hope that the public will walk away with empathy

for others in our society who may have various personal battles to deal with.

"Don't judge anyone unless you've walked in their shoes!" And remember

the only time we should ever look down on a person is to hold your hand out to

help them up...(a quote from @mateshelpmates)

Today is Harmony Day and the theme is -Sport ( "play, engage, inspire." )

It recognises the important role and positive influence that sport has in our multicultural nation.

Involvement in sport whether as a participant, volunteer, spectator or administrator unites people of all

ages and fosters a sense of belonging, acceptance and an understanding of other cultures.

Harmony Day is celebrated on 21st March in Australia and is managed by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.

It is intended to celebrate the cohesive and inclusive nature of Australia and promote a tolerant and culturally diverse

society.

Harmony Day began in 1999, coinciding with the United Nations International Day (for the elimination of racial discrimination),

it is an opportunity for everyone to come together.

We live in a multicultural country and to embrace people's differences is a great way of showing respect and appreciating each

other. We can learn so much from each other by listening and being open to ideas.

It was announced on Insight (SBS television) that our government is thinking of implementing an anti racism strategy. I think

they should start with schools and education- at a grassroots level, so children learn at a young age, the importance of tolerance

and embracing different cultures. Then the focus should progress to our media, TV and films, making sure diversity is adequately

represented because children look up to role models on television, so they feel they belong and are part of society.

All in all, this is a good start and together we can achieve "harmony" and tolerance in our society by working "together!"

ANTI-BULLYING WEEK
Posted on March 16, 2012

Welcome to Say No To Bullying Week, which culminates with a day of action today-Friday.

This initiative started in Queensland but has now spread across the nation.

It’s aim is to get people to speak out against bullies. Bullying doesn’t discriminate and affects not only children but adults too and everyone from all nationalities.

It can come in forms of cyber bullies, workplaces bullies and schoolyard bullies.

Bullying doesn’t necessarily mean in the physical but also the mental form. I’ve never been bullied physically but I have been on the receiving end with racist taunts.

As a five year old I didn’t really understand why I was being bullied, all I remember was coming to school in hope to play basketball with the Year six boys. During lunch time, when their basketball rolled out of the basketball court, I seized the opportunity to play with them and raced after the ball and threw it back to them, thinking I did a good deed. Instead they yelled, “Get your hands off our ball you bloody Jap!”

I didn’t know why they called me “Jap” because I was from a Chinese background (not Japanese). Later these boys used to tease me, as I was the only Asian girl at school. It wasn’t long afterwards that I soon found the courage to tell someone in authority-my teacher. She told the bullies off (once) but they still persisted in teasing me after school. I then didn’t want to go to school, but my mother told me not to let the bullies win. It was during this time that I found a passion in athletics and running after school. I used to spend all my spare time practicing running and doing long jump. It wasn’t until I started winning my athletic events and represented my school in athletics carnivals, that I gained respect from my peers and the bullies soon backed off. I would recommend for anyone who is being bullied, to first try to reach out to someone you trust and then focus on something you love doing and one day the tables will turn and the bullies will respect you for your talent-whether it be a sport, music etc.

If you are being bullied, do not put up with it. Make sure you reach out and speak to your school principal, your HR department or someone in authority who can take action.

Spread the word this week and don’t sit in silence.

For more info go to the Say No To Bullying page at Facebook.

KONY 2012 is a half-hour documentary, backed by Invisible Children, that's tapping into the power of social media to reach a global audience. It's based on Joseph Kony - a warlord in Uganda responsible for the enslavement of more than 30,000 children.

The aim of KONY 2012 is to make the man famous, "not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice."

Film-maker Jason Russell says Kony is the "most wanted man in the world according to the ICC," and his documentary aims to put the name into every household's conversation across the world.

http://youtu.be/Y4MnpzG5S

It's a long standing issue that most people seem to have an opinion on..Why are soap operas and dramas on commercial television, not reflecting cultural diversity?... Reflecting our society as it is today? Peta-Jane Madam, from SBS World News interviewed me yesterday about this hot issue. As a result from all this, I hope for a change for the better as children of colour need positive role models to identify with and look up to in order to feel accepted in our society. Television and the media are powerful sources that do this.

I feel that Australian television can be comparative with U.K. and U.S. television and film industry, with colour-blind casting and changes in script writing whereby characters are not stereotyped but are 'positive' reflections of our society today.

http://youtu.be/-e3GvnOXC-A

Great articles from The Daily Telegraph, highlighting the need to cast "different flavours & different cultures," of contemporary Australian society, representative of 2012.

ACTOR Firass Dirani said, "There has to be a call for the networks to put on shows with these cultural differences because this is who we are in 2012...Hopefully, the networks start writing shows that cater for different actors and different cultural backgrounds."
Jay Laga'aia, who was born in New Zealand and is of Samoan descent, who is a "Play School," colleague, responded and backed the race call for television and allegedly stated that he was dropped from a
television series over his ethnicity.


I then asked a friend who works in Los Angeles in casting, who will remain anonymous, states, “The common roles for Asian-Americans are police roles and gang roles. The latter especially as it relates to stereotypical roles related to themes like Chinese mafia. Martial arts films have Asian-Americans casted, they play on popular stereotypes that non-Asian audiences will go see. There has been a slow change for more roles for Asian-American women, however there’s still a long ways to go before Asian actors are selected for their acting ability and not their race. There’s always a love story with the main characters and thus Hollywood won't hire and Asian actor to star opposite a non-Asian actress. I think Asian-American women are advancing faster in leading roles, more so than in Australia.”

I then asked my friend Pete in U.K. the same question and his response was,

“On U.K. T.V. you see a lot of diversity and it’s not tokenism. People get a chance no matter what colour.”

It's great that this matter is now out in the open...let's hope that a change will occur as a result of this.

Every Valentine's Day I set an hour or so aside to give to Sydney's Homeless. Yesterday I gave out drinks and Turkish Delight for the homeless to eat.

It was great to see their surprised reactions of gratitude, as they all never expected to receive a gift!....it was a win-win experience; it made them happy and gave me JOY!

Look fwd to next year!

Even though David Choe has now fortune and fame...what he has lost is his privacy. "I did everything I wanted to when I had nothing...I'll still do whatever I want, but now I'll have people bothering me..."

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8417746&

This is a great (short) video clip that I hope inspires the passion within you!

http://youtu.be/QDmt_t6umoY

"The Nine Months That Made You" : a gr8 doco -The Barker theory-what happens at birth determines who we are today http://www.sbs.com.au/documentary/video/2185232284/The-Nine-Months-That-Made-You

FOODIE

Last night a group of us foodies went to #Red Lantern restaurant in Surry Hills - Luke Nguyen's restaurant.

We had the $65 banquet meal.

It was 10/10 food and service.

If you're in Sydney you must try this awesome restaurant.

Definitely one of the top restaurants I've been to in Sydney.

Just read - "TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE," by Mitch Albom 9/10
One of the most powerful books I have read about life is "Tuesdays with Morrie," by Mitch Albom.

Morrie tells his former student the meaning of life...If only everyone lived Morrie's way...what a better place this world would be.

9/10 Highly recommended.

Fitness Day 1
First time in the gym in 10 years. I ran on the piece of rubber for 35 minutes #treadmill and did 5 minutes on the stair master with the handles nearly hitting my head. I was tempted to kick the giant rubber ball, but didn't as I could hit the T.V. screen. After that I had a 10 minutes swim.

Let's see if I can keep this up! Thanks to my trainer #Brenda

Best art exhibition is the Picasso exhibition at The Art gallery of N.S.W.
-the most inspiring, innovative exhibition I have ever been to in a long while...since my visit to M.O.M.A. (New York)

Best coffee and hot choc cafe - Guylian at Circular Quay and

Lindt cafe in Sydney city.

Best Cafe of 2011- Cafe Dov in Potts Point.

(I love the Caesar salad with pork belly croutons and the sorbet)

BOOKS I highly recommend - Anh Do's "The Happiest Refugee," my favorite book of 2011. - "Inspirational, positive and compelling"

Other favorites include: "Steve Jobs," by Walter Isaacson.

Fave chick lit book; "Manhattan Dreaming," by Anita Heiss.