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Another day, another event to emcee.  This time, I was before much of Chicago’s public relations industry.  Please click here to take a spin over to my blog at Chicago Now. Thanks!

Peace

Today, I was at the Cambodian American Museum to emcee the kickoff of Asian American Heritage Month.  Click here to link to my blog at Chicago Now.  Thanks!

There are dozens of Asian organizations and groups throughout Chicago:  Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Pakistani and many more.  It’s diversity within the diversity of our city!  The local Asian community joins together annually for a common celebration ahead of the Lunar New Year.   The Asian American Coalition event usually attracts over a thousand people and I always enjoy being among the emcees for the annual gala.

All week, I worried about what to wear.  I hate buying evening gowns.  They’re expensive and little-worn.  So I decided to just go with one of the dresses already in my closet. Would people recognize it?  Is it out of fashion?  How trivial.  There’s nothing like reality to knock things into perspective.

Euna Lee of Current TV

The keynote speaker for the evening was Euna Lee of Current TV.  She was quite emotional in recalling her 140 days of captivity last year within North Korea.  Click here for a great synopsis by Dan Rozek of the Chicago Sun-Times. It was nice to finally meet Euna.  She expressed true gratitude for the vigils we held here in Chicago while she and Laura Ling were prisoners.  Laura had called me days after they were freed.  I was touched she would take the time to call just about everyone who had a role in the nationwide vigils.

Adorable Hannah.

As Euna broke down during her speech last night, she was joined on stage by her husband and 5-year-old daughter, Hannah.  All eyes were glued to the photogenic family on stage as Euna talked about the horrid situation that continues to play out along the border of North Korea and China.  For many women there, evening gowns and what to wear are of no concern whatsoever.

The contestants strut their stuff!

I can’t recall even one mention of beauty pageants while I was in journalism school.  But throughout the year, I emcee a variety of events (just about every week) including a beauty pageant.  The Chicago Chinatown Chamber of Commerce holds a popular Miss Friendship Ambassador Pageant to select a young lady to represent Chicago’s Chinese community.  The winner gets to travel to Hong Kong to compete in an international pageant that includes ambassadors from Chinatowns all over the world.

The Chinatown Chamber does great work for the community so I am happy to help out. And I always enjoy working with David Wong who provides the Chinese translation for the ceremony.  While my Cantonese is conversational, I cannot translate a lot of technical terms and titles – and there are a lot of people with long titles who want to be mentioned.

With pageant co-emcee David Wong.

Just announcing the list of dignitaries, elected officials and sponsors seems to take over half an hour.  There are always more who show up after we’ve received the final scripts.  Asians are so respectful, everyone wants just about everyone to have “face”.  Names and titles are scribbled into the margins of our scripts which is why I go through it carefully while I’m making the announcements.  I always wonder if the average banquet goer pays attention or cares.

As the contestants paraded around in their evening wear, an organizer tells me “Uh, (elected official) says he didn’t hear his name mentioned.  He wants us to mention it now.”  What?!?!  I am certain I mentioned his name. If I said it again, others may wonder why they didn’t get mentioned twice.   I think even Miss Friendship Ambassador would agree.

Richard Marx: Awesome guy, eager to cure Cystic Fibrosis.

Last year, I got to learn firsthand how news anchoring and reporting aren’t nearly as nervewracking as singing in front of a live audience.  So, I was more than happy to just be in the audience Saturday night for Chicago’s Newsapalooza, an annual charity event to benefit the Cystric Fibrosis Foundation. WLS Radio Host Roe Conn and Grammy-winning singer Richard Marx select news personalities to perform “out of their element”.  Indeed, the result is interesting and entertaining.

Roe and Richard are passionate about the cause.  Richard says, “Cystic fibrosis kills way too many people and a cure is imminent. We are very close!”  Soon, we may be even closer because their event raised more than $100,000 for new research.

Sondra Solarte & Jan Jeffcoat performed beautifully. (Look, that's Walt Willey from "All My Children" behind Sondra!)

I was proud to cheer on my “Good Day Chicago” pals Jan Jeffcoat and Sondra Solarte as they sang “Heartache Tonight” by The Eagles.  They were awesome!

I’ll post the Newsapalooza highlights as soon as they’re available.  But here’s Richard Marx and his band performing at the after party at the Hard Rock Hotel:

Over 22,000 people joined me for the China Day Parade!

Chicago’s Chinatown isn’t the country’s biggest but it’s authentic and perhaps the friendliest.  I usually drop in when I can for dim sum and Asian groceries.  But today, I was there to emcee the China Day Parade marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

With China's Consul General Ping Huang & Chicago Alderman Danny Solis.

As I walked the parade route with Ping Huang, China’s Consul General to Chicago, he remarked “This is fantastic.  Just amazing!” We were both impressed by the turnout of tens of thousands of people lining both sides of Wentworth Avenue up to the Chinatown arch.

I’m certain the China Day Parade in Beijing won’t be anything like the one in Chicago.  Along with groups and representatives from every Asian community, there were rockin’ high school marching bands and even the Shannon Rovers in their traditional kilts.

Lots o' Lion Dances.

Emceeing a parade can be a challenge.  The list of participants seldom matches the actual parade lineup.  And it never fails – big gaps develop between groups so the emcee has to fill the time.

Thank goodness for Gene Lee, Deputy Chief of Staff to Mayor Daley.  He’s a key member of the Chinatown community so he’s awesome to banter with. Sure beats me tap dancing or singing Chinese nursery rhymes!