Daily Archives: 06/21/2009

(Community Matters) Can hardly begin to describe the level of affection and respect for my dad – who didn’t speak English until 7yo, came from a sorta rough part of town, perservered, found a great wife, worked his ass off, self-taught and rose through the ranks very patiently, achieving much success professionally & financially and even more so as a patriarch of the Sepulveda family. Happy Father’s Day, Dad. I love you so much.

(photo: with grandson and friend)

(Community Matters) After a night in Hong Kong, Steven’s arrived in Xiamen amidst a typhoon which tossed the plane around like a B movie prop. Very stringent health inspection procedures before disembarking and again in customs for any recent visitors to the US.

Haicang Bridge, Xiamen

Fujian Province the purple area facing Taiwan (green island),
both positioned at 4:00

Xiamen is in the Fujian Province, looking out on Taiwan Strait. Fujians are famous for their entrepreneurial talents and comprised most of the early emigrants to Hong Kong, the United States and Southeast Asia. Today, they emigrate to Africa, again as entrepreneurial pioneers.

The 90s saw Xiamen embroiled in the controversy of a multi-billion dollar operation smuggling oil, firearms, cars & cigarettes into China from Taiwan and Hong Kong. As well, the scandal & rumors of the seven-story luxury brothel called the Red Mansion reached all the way to then president Jiang Zemin.

The City – the 2nd most liveable according to the Chinese – is one of 4 Speical Economic Zones. It’s the country’s 8th largest port and one of the World’s top 100. It was the port of trade first used by Europeans in the 1500s and became a treaty port after the first opium wars, the main trading center for tea in 19th century.

(Community Matters) Andrew Sullivan on 9/11 recovery –

I wrote a couple weeks back that something is happening in Iran. But it is not the only place where something is happening. The rejection of al Qaeda in Iraq and Afghanistan; the ground-up election of Obama in America; and now the rising up of Iranians for freedom and civility with their neighbors: these are the green shoots of recovery from 9/11 and its wake. Empowered by new information technology, chastened by the apocalyptic conflicts of the last few years, determined to shift course away from civilizational warfare, the people of many countries are grasping for a new order and a new peace. It will not be easy; and it will not be short. But it is the only path worth taking.