Comments for Be the Ink

Comment on Sneak peek: Dublin loft living by Be the Ink

Be the Ink — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:48:29 +0000

[...] In 2011, they sold their 4-bedroom home–finally empty-nesters–and downsized to a one-bedroom converted loft in an old brick building on Main Street in Dublin, Georgia, as part of their larger plan to move [...]

Comment on Use for a vintage sari by Valerie Edens

Valerie Edens — Mon, 07 May 2012 00:10:06 +0000

Beautiful. Great backing you two found! I loved seeing the fabric pieces again in your composition. What a pleasure.

Comment on Community. My community. by Mark

Mark — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 02:58:35 +0000

Great write!!!!

Comment on Pinyin, created by Wayne Wong

Wayne Wong — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 17:36:12 +0000

Thanks for pointing out that languages change, and that the changes brought about in Chinese by the simplified characters and by pinyin have greatly improved literacy in China.

Re illiteracy in China, the current World Factbook published by the CIA says that China has a literacy rate of 92.2% among those age 15 and over, according to the 2008 census. That may sound not too bad, but in contrast Canada and the USA have literacy rates of 99% among those age 15 and over. Also, it means that 7.8% of those age 15 and over in China are illiterate. According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_People's_Republic_of_China, the 2008 census also says that those age 15 and over make up 79.9% of the total population of China, which the CIA World Factbook estimated at 1,336,718,015 (July 2011 est.). 79.9% of that works out to 1,068,037,694 people aged 15 and over in China, and 7.8% of that works out to about 83,306,940 people aged 15 and over in China who are illiterate—over 83 million people! That’s about two and a half times the population of Canada, and it’s over a quarter of the population of the USA! So, illiteracy is still a big problem in China.

It seems to me that perhaps pinyin is being underused, and that both Chinese and non-Chinese people could communicate more easily, more often, and more clearly in Chinese if they used pinyin more, rather than insisting on using Hànzì characters only, for the sake of tradition. After all, communication is the most important function of a language such as Chinese, is it not? And clear communication can at times even be of life-or-death importance.

Comment on Thousands of tiny stitches: my first quilt by Be the Ink

Be the Ink — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 23:29:27 +0000

[...] I’ve finished a baby quilt that is now my second foray into modern, improvisational quilting. But really, it is my first venture, as the other modern quilt I am thinking of, which I made for Ben, was based on an image in a book, and though each square was shaped differently from the last–each one unique–I had a much more methodical approach to that one. I knew as I was making it where I was going and what the result would look like. [...]

Comment on Touching the Quilt, learning its stories by Valerie Edens

Valerie Edens — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 03:20:50 +0000

You are so lovely. What a lucky mom I am.

Comment on 1988: “History will record…” by Be the Ink

Be the Ink — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 21:18:23 +0000

[...] politicians and heterosexual men and women to ignore it laying across the land–specifically explains in his memoir that this is not to be something to be tucked away and not seen, enjoyed, laid out in the grass, [...]

Comment on Visiting the AIDS Memorial Quilt by Be the Ink

Be the Ink — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 21:14:03 +0000

[...] I have seen small bits of it, but they were specific panels I had asked them to pull for me when I visited the headquarters of the NAMES Project Foundation in January. The difference this time was spending time as an [...]

Comment on On babies by Valerie Edens

Valerie Edens — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 15:38:01 +0000

I must not be average as I had you, my first, at 30.

Comment on My life is richer, simply because I asked by Be the Ink

Be the Ink — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 19:44:45 +0000

[...] I’ve been engrossed, in these last few months, in the lives of families who’ve built the…. Mothers who’ve battled infertility, been through endless IVF treatments, countless tears, serious conversations, and sad nights. Other mothers who’ve known from the start of their families that they wanted to adopt. Some with only one child, adopted; others with several adopted kids; and others with biological and adopted kids together. And what I’ve witnessed, truly seen in their lives and their stories, is that the love is the same. They are raising American kids in a complicated world, and that their daughters (and sons) are Chinese American is only benefitting–increasing the joy of–their experience as a family. Women have cried as they’ve explained the love they have for their adopted daughter or daughters. I want this. This is what I dream about when I daydream about my future kids. [...]