Making Origami Swans for Peace and Ahimsa at Republic Day in Cleveland

At the celebration for 68th Republic Day of India at the Rainforest in the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo a young boy taught people how to make origami swans to celebrate peace and ahimsa.  Here are some highlights.

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Jana Gana Mana at 2017 Republic Day in Cleveland

I like the national anthem of India.  So many countries have unmelodic and/or somber anthems but Jana Gana Mana is different.

That's Michael Sreshta on the saxophone.  

Shiksha Daan explained at Republic Day

Shiksha Daan is a project of the Federation of India Community Associations of Northeast Ohio (FICA).  Shiksha Daan –translates to the 'gift of education.'

Sanjay Garg has been the leader opf the group and explains it in this video clip.

Ahimsa is the theme of Republic Day in Cleveland

The Federation of India Community Associations of Northeast Ohio (FICA) hosted a celebration for 68th Republic Day of India at the Rainforest in the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.  FICA president Sujata Lakhe Barnard welcomed the crowd to the 68th Republic Day and introduced Mistress of Ceremonies Sravanthi Vallampati.

She spoke about the theme of the evening – Ahimsa.

Ahimsa is a term meaning 'not to injure'. The word is derived from the Sanskrit root hiṃs – to strike; hiṃsā is injury or harm, a-hiṃsā is the opposite of this, i.e. cause no injury, do no harm.

Ahimsa is also referred to as nonviolence, and it applies to all living beings-including all animals-according to many Indian religions.

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Naga Nritya (Snake Dance) at India Republic Day

The Federation of India Community Associations of Northeast Ohio (FICA) hosted a celebration for 68th Republic Day of India at the Rainforest in the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.

Dhanya Rao and Debolina Ghosh from the Nritya Geetanjali School of Dance performed a Naga Nrityam Snake Dance choreographed by Shoba Narayan.


Indians in Cleveland

Patriotic Indian song Vande Mataram at 68th Republic Day

The Federation of India Community Associations of Northeast Ohio (FICA) hosted a celebration for 68th Republic Day of India at the Rainforest in the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.

Mr. Viswanathan Narayan sang the patriotic song Vande Mataram.

Vande Mataram is a poem from Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's 1882 novel Anandamath. An Ode to Mother Bengal as Mother goddess, it was written in Sanskrit and Bengali. It played a vital role in the Indian independence movement, first sung in a political context by Rabindranath Tagore at the 1896 session of the Indian National Congress.

Sri Aurobindo referred it as "National Anthem of Bengal".

In 1950 (after India's independence), the song's first two verses were given the official status of the "national song" of the Republic of India, distinct from the national anthem of India, Jana Gana Mana.

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Indian stick dance from Rockwell Automation group

The Federation of India Community Associations of Northeast Ohio (FICA) hosted a celebration for 68th Republic Day of India at the Rainforest in the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.

A group from Rockwell Automation performed a traditional dance with sticks at the event.

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Our Favorite Fresh Seafood from Live Tanks

Our favorite fresh seafood from live tanks is at Siam Cafe at the corner of East 40th (3951 St Clair) and  Saint Clair Ave NE, Cleveland, OH 44114

Had lunch there today and brought home dinner too.  (My sister Debbie loves their Pad Thai)

Siam Cafe is an authentic Asian restaurant that has been serving the Cleveland community for over 20 years. Their Chinese and Thai cuisine is true to their cultural roots but with a modern touch. They specialize in fresh seafood from live tanks such as Lobster, Vancouver Dungeness Crab, Fish and more. All of which can be prepared in a variety of different styles from salt baked, Cantonese, and Thai.

Call them at (216) 361-2323 or stop down at 40th and St Clair.

See more Cleveland Favorites at Cleveland101.com

2017 Hibernian of the Year Maire Kilbane Leffel

2017 Hibernian of the Year Maire Kilbane Leffel spoke at the 2017 Cleveland St. Patrick’s Day Hibernian of the Year at the annual Saint Brigid Day Mass and Breakfast put on by Our Lady of the Rosary Division of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians in Cleveland.

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Donna Leary introduces Hibernian of the Year Maire Kilbane Leffel

Donna Leary introduced Maire Kilbane Leffel as the 2017 Cleveland St. Patrick’s Day Hibernian of the Year at the annual Saint Brigid Day Mass and Breakfast put on by Our Lady of the Rosary Division of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians in Cleveland.

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2017 St. Patrick’s Day Parade Grand Marshall Roger Weist

2017 St. Patrick’s Day Parade Grand Marshall Roger Weist spoke at the 2017 Cleveland St. Patrick’s Day Grand Marshall at the annual Saint Brigid Day Mass and Breakfast put on by Our Lady of the Rosary Division of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians in Cleveland.

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Jim Weist introduces 2017 St. Patrick’s Day Grand Marshall Roger Weist

Jim Weist introduced his brother Roger Weist as the 2017 Cleveland St. Patrick’s Day Grand Marshall at the annual Saint Brigid Day Mass and Breakfast put on by Our Lady of the Rosary Division of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians in Cleveland.

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2017 Irish Mother of the Year Angela Murphy

2017 Irish Mother of the Year Angela Murphy spoke at the 2017 Cleveland St. Patrick’s Day Irish Mother of the Year at the annual Saint Brigid Day Mass and Breakfast put on by Our Lady of the Rosary Division of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians in Cleveland.

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Patrick Murphy introduces 2017 Irish Mother of the Year Angela Murphy

Patrick Murphy introduced his mother Angela Murphy as the 2017 Cleveland St. Patrick’s Day Irish Mother of the Year at the annual Saint Brigid Day Mass and Breakfast put on by Our Lady of the Rosary Division of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians in Cleveland.

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2017 Cleveland St. Patrick’s Day Co-Chair John Lackey

2017 Cleveland St. Patrick’s Day Inside Co-Chair John Lackey was represented by his daughter Sheila McDonald at the annual Saint Brigid Day Mass and Breakfast put on by Our Lady of the Rosary Division of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians in Cleveland.

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2017 Cleveland St. Patrick’s Day Co-Chair Margaret Lynch

2017 Cleveland St. Patrick’s Day Outside Co-Chair Margaret Lynch spoke at the annual Saint Brigid Day Mass and Breakfast put on by Our Lady of the Rosary Division of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians in Cleveland.

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Marilyn Madigan introduces St. Patrick’s Day Co-Chair Margaret

Marilyn Madigan introduced 2017 Cleveland St. Patrick’s Day Outside Co-Chair Margaret Lynch at the annual Saint Brigid Day Mass and Breakfast put on by Our Lady of the Rosary Division of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians in Cleveland.

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Saint Brigid as a role model for modern women

Sheila Murphy Crawford served as MC of the annual Saint Brigid Day Mass and Breakfast put on by Our Lady of the Rosary Division of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians in Cleveland.  This was also the introduction of the 2017 Cleveland St. Patrick’s Day Honorees.

 Sheila Crawford spoke about the life of St. Brigid and how she is a great example for today’s women.

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2017 Cleveland St. Patrick’s Day Honorees introduced

Sheila Murphy Crawford served as MC of the annual Saint Brigid Day Mass and Breakfast put on by Our Lady of the Rosary Division of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians in Cleveland.  This was also the introduction of the 2017 Cleveland St. Patrick’s Day Honorees.

Sheila Crawford introduced the people on the dais including Grand Marshall Roger Weist, Hibernian of the Year Maire Kilbane Leffel and Irish Mother of the Year Mary Angela Murphy and some dignitaries in the audience.


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St Brigid Prayer – "I would like a great lake of beer…”

Father Tom Mahoney, Chaplain of the Our Lady of the Rosary Division of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians in Cleveland led grace before the annual Saint Brigid Day Mass.

He read the famous prayer of St, Brigid (one of the 3 patron saints of Ireland) that begins “I would like a great lake of beer for the King of Kings.”


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Judge Raymond Pianka

Karen and Judge Raymond Pianka

Judge Raymond Pianka was a great friend to Cleveland and he never forgot his beloved Polonia. He will be greatly missed. Our prayers are with him and his family. RIP Your Honor. More photos and videos from when Judge Pianka was Grand Marshall of the Polish Constitution Day Parade in Slavic Village.

Scottish Poet Robert Burns anniversary celebration

Shano (Scottish Heritage Association of Northeast Ohio) hosted the 258th Robert Burns Anniversary Dinner & Dance at the American Croatian Lodge in Eastlake.

Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known as Rabbie Burns, the Bard of Ayrshire, Ploughman Poet and various other names and epithets, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide.

Some nice photos from Amy Kenneley from the Robbie Burns dinner

Amy K recalls when old tech was new

We stood around the wet square of film as the magic happened. Moments ago we had held our pose as my father-in-law aimed his camera. A click, and then he pulled, and out came the still-wet square. Now we hovered over it as the black and white image of us slowly appeared.

Now we didn't need to take a roll of film down to the drug store to have it developed. With a Polaroid camera we could see ourselves right away.

Magic!

Read the rest of Amy Kenneley's look back and forward,

Chinese Tangram Puzzle

Mathematician Dan Hanson spoke at the ClevelandPeople.Com Food Adventure to The Pearl Asian Kitchen.  The Food Adventurers travel to authentic ethnic restaurants in the Cleveland area and, besides enjoying a special traditional menu, learn about the culture of the country.

Dan told about and demonstrated the popular Chinese Tangram Puzzle whcih was as popular as the Rubik's Cube when it came out.

Cleveland Chinese community

Great Lakes Geek Science and Math



Here is a duck made of the 7 Tangram puzzle pieces

Say Happy New Year in Chinese

As we get close to Chinese New Year (Year of the Rooster) Luling Li taught the audience how to say Happy New Year in Mandarin.

Cleveland Chinese community

Chinese Math and the Abacus

Mathematician Dan Hanson spoke at the ClevelandPeople.Com Food Adventure to The Pearl Asian Kitchen.  The Food Adventurers travel to authentic ethnic restaurants in the Cleveland area and, besides enjoying a special traditional menu, learn about the culture of the country.

Dan told some basics about Chinese mathematics and the Chinese abacus which is able to do hexadecimal calculation as opposed to abacuses from other countries.


Cleveland Chinese community

Great Lakes Geek Math and Science

 

Counting in Chinese

Luling Li teaches Chinese language at Shaker Heights High School. She spoke at the ClevelandPeople.Com Food Adventure to The Pearl Asian Kitchen.  The Food Adventurers travel to authentic ethnic restaurants in the Cleveland area and, besides enjoying a special traditional menu, learn about the culture of the country.

 Luling taught the audience the characters and pronunciation of numbers in Mandarin.

  Cleveland Chinese community

Why Cantonese and Mandarin languages in China

Luling Li teaches Chinese language at Shaker Heights High School. She spoke at the ClevelandPeople.Com Food Adventure to The Pearl Asian Kitchen.  The Food Adventurers travel to authentic ethnic restaurants in the Cleveland area and, besides enjoying a special traditional menu, learn about the culture of the country.

Luling showed a map of China and told why the Cantonese language is popular but that Mandarin is the official main language.

Cleveland Chinese community

5 basic Chinese characters

Luling Li teaches Chinese language at Shaker Heights High School. She spoke at the ClevelandPeople.Com Food Adventure to The Pearl Asian Kitchen.  The Food Adventurers travel to authentic ethnic restaurants in the Cleveland area and, besides enjoying a special traditional menu, learn about the culture of the country.

Luling showed 5 important Chinese characters.



Cleveland Chinese community

Confucius Institute of Cleveland State University

Anthony Yen introduced Dr. Xu, director of the Confucius Institute at Cleveland State University and Professor Xuhong Zhang, Associate Director of the Confucius Institute at the ClevelandPeople.Com Food Adventure to The Pearl Asian Kitchen.  The Food Adventurers travel to authentic ethnic restaurants in the Cleveland area and, besides enjoying a special traditional menu, learn about the culture of the country.

The group learned about the many important works of the Confucius Institute including Chinese New Year’s celebrations and scholarships.

Cleveland Chinese community

Powerful distilled Chinese liquor called Maotai

Anthony Yen and Dr. Wang Yunmei spoke about the Chinese Garden, part of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens.

Yen mentioned that some workers wanted to try Maotai which is very strong distilled Chinese liquor, made in the town of Maotai in China's Guizhou province.

   

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Cleveland Chinese community

Cleveland Cooks
 

Chinese Cultural Garden in Cleveland

Anthony Yen and Dr. Wang Yunmei spoke about the Chinese Garden, part of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens.  They emphasized the importance of teachers who are honored in the Chinese Garden each year.  

They also spoke about the huge 7.5 ton granite Confucius statue and the male and female lion statues which protect the Chinese Garden.  


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Cleveland Chinese community

4 famous novels of China

Lt. Colonel Joseph Meissner spoke to the ClevelandPeople.Com Food Adventurers at The Pearl Asian Kitchen.  The Food Adventurers travel to authentic ethnic restaurants in the Cleveland area and, besides enjoying a special traditional menu, learn about the culture of the country.

Meissner spoke about the 4 most famous novels:

1. Romance of the Three Kingdoms,
2. Dream of the Red Chamber,
3. Water Margin and 
4. Journey to the West

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Cleveland Chinese community

Flaming Sweet & Sour Fish at The Pearl Asian Kitchen

It was pretty cool to see the servers light up the plates at the Food Adventure to The Pearl.

This short video clip shows the lighting of the Flaming Sweet &adve Sour Fish presented to the diners.


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Cleveland Chinese community

Cleveland Cooks


 

Difference between American and Chinese dining

Chef Rose Wong told of a fundamental difference between American and Chinese dining.

For example, in Chinese dining it is impolite to fill the plate.  Everything goes into a small bowl bite sized pieces at a time.

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Cleveland Chinese community

Cleveland Cooks
 

Chinese Bird’s Nest Soup

Chef Rose Wong of the Pearl Asian Kitchen Restaurant (formerly Pearl of the Orient) in Shaker Heights Ohio, explained Chinese food to the ClevelandPeople.Com Food Adventurers.  The Food Adventurers travel to authentic ethnic restaurants in the Cleveland area and, besides enjoying a special traditional menu, learn about the culture of the country.

Chef Rose Wong told of the expensive delicacy called bird’s nest soup.


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Cleveland Chinese community

Cleveland Cooks

 

Lucky Chinese Red Envelopes

As we approach Chinese New Year you will undoubtedly see red envelopes at Chinese restaurants and stores.  In this video clip Chef Rose Wong told of the lucky red envelopes with money in them that are for good luck.


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Cleveland Chinese community

Cleveland Cooks
 

Lucky names for Chinese Food

Chef Rose Wong told of some of the colorful names of Chinese food that come from pronunciation, legend and superstitions.

For example, they always have fish because the word for fish rhymes with surplus.  The head of the fish should face the guest of honor.

The word for lettuce is raw vegetable which rhymes with growing wealth.

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Cleveland Chinese community

Cleveland Cooks

 

Strange Chinese Food Names – Ants Climbing Tree

Chef Rose Wong of the Pearl Asian Kitchen Restaurant (formerly Pearl of the Orient) in Shaker Heights Ohio, explained Chinese food to the ClevelandPeople.Com Food Adventurers.  The Food Adventurers travel to authentic ethnic restaurants in the Cleveland area and, besides enjoying a special traditional menu, learn about the culture of the country.

Chef Rose Wong told of some of the colorful names of Chinese food that come from pronunciation, legend and superstitions.

For example, the dish called Ants climbing tree is basically ground beef or pork over fried vermicelli. Field Chicken is really frogs.  Spring rolls are lucky because they look like gold bars.  Glutinous rice is good for family unity.

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Cleveland Chinese community

Cleveland Cooks
 

Chinese Food Sauces – No such thing as Duck Sauce?

Chef Rose Wong of the Pearl Asian Kitchen Restaurant (formerly Pearl of the Orient) in Shaker Heights Ohio, explained Chinese food to the ClevelandPeople.Com Food Adventurers.

The Food Adventurers travel to authentic ethnic restaurants in the Cleveland area and, besides enjoying a special traditional menu, learn about the culture of the country.

 Chef Rose Wong explained one of the appetizers being served and then the sauces that were on the table.  She said there is no such thing as duck sauce and they don’t put soy sauce on the table.


Cleveland Cooks

Chinese in Cleveland

Chinese Food – 5 different flavors and geographical differences

Chef Rose Wong of the Pearl Asian Kitchen Restaurant (formerly Pearl of the Orient) in Shaker Heights Ohio, explained Chinese food to the ClevelandPeople.Com Food Adventurers.  The Food Adventurers travel to authentic ethnic restaurants in the Cleveland area and, besides enjoying a special traditional menu, learn about the culture of the country.

Chef Rose Wong told of the 5 different flavors of Chinese food and how the food varies in different parts (North, South, etc.) of China.

She said that Chinese will eat anything that moves and everything inside and out of whatever moves.

Cleveland Cooks

Cleveland Chinese

Food Adventurers

Shaker Heights Mayor Leikin at Food Adventurers event

Shaker Heights Mayor Earl Leikin welcomed the ClevelandPeople.Com Food Adventurers to the Peal Restaurant and applauded them for their commitment to diversity.

The Food Adventurers travel to authentic ethnic restaurants in the Cleveland area and, besides enjoying a special traditional menu, learn about the culture of the country.

The Pearl (formerly Pearl of the Orient) is run by Chef Rose Wong and the evening included many glimpses into the culture of China. Debbie Hanson from ClevelandPeople.Com introduced the Mayor.

Food Adventurers

Chinese in Cleveland

The Manga Guide to Physiology

The Manga Guide to Physiology by Etsuro Tanaka and Keiko Koyama

I asked lightheartedly on Twitter "Is there something wrong in getting medical advice from a Manga comic book?" because I have found the information in The Manga Guide to Physiology  to be more complete and understandable than many medical websites. Of course the book should not replace a medical professional but it does give a very comprehensive look at the workings of the human body. And, of course, the format of the book (Manga comic book with an interesting story line and great illustrations) makes it more readable than a textbook. I found myself saying "Just one more chapter" which would never have been the case in a typical physiology text book. Like the other Manga guides the information is presented using young characters involved in something to keep your interest. In The Manga Guide to Physiology a Nursing School freshman named Kumiko needs to pass a test on the human body in order to compete in the campus marathon which she is simultaneously training for. She is tutored by a young professor who turns out to be someone unexpected. Don't be fooled and think that because of this background story the information is fluff. The information presented is detailed but presented in a clear manner with examples that will make you understand the subject rather than help you memorize facts. In addition there is always an "Even More About…" section that gets into more details for those who want it. The sections give a complete look at how the body works: The Circulatory System The Respiratory System The Digestive System The Kidneys and Renal System Body Fluids The Brain and Nervous System The Sensory Nervous System The Musculoskeletal System Cells, Genes and Reproduction The Endocrine System The No Starch Press Manga series and in particular this book, The Manga Guide to Physiology, have become a valuable platform to learn some complicated subjects in an engaging way. Great Lakes Geek Rating: 4.5 out of 5 pocket protectors. Read more Book Reviews from the Great Lakes Geek