Rosalyn Koo, 94, dies; fund-raising powerhouse for Chinese communities
By Penelope Green New York Times,Updated March 5, 2021, 5:37 p.m.
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Roz Koo, second from right, with some of the girls from Chinaâs rural Shaanxi Province whose education beyond third grade was provided through the Spring Bud Program.VIA SELF-HELP FOR THE ELDERLY/NYT
Rosalyn Koo, a powerful fundraiser for the Chinese community in the San Francisco area and for schoolgirls in China, died Jan. 30 at her home in San Mateo, California. She was 94.
The cause was chronic kidney failure, her daughter Debbie Soon said.
Ms. Koo had had a successful career as the chief financial officer and a partner of MBT Associates, a large architectural firm based in San Francisco, when in 1988 she retired, at age 62, to devote herself to good works. She became the kind of funding angel of whom nonprofits dream.
Anna Nordberg March 4, 2021Updated: March 5, 2021, 3:48 pm
Dr. Seuss children’s books “If I Ran the Zoo,” “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” “On Beyond Zebra!” and “McElligot’s Pool” are among the books that will no longer be published because of racist and insensitive imagery. Photo: Christopher Dolan, Associated Press
When Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced on what would have been the author’s 117th birthday that it would stop publication of six of Seuss’ most problematic children’s books, the internet lost its collective mind.
On one end, educators and writers applauded the move as a thoughtful step to remove racist imagery of Black and Asian people from Dr. Seuss’ catalog and preserve the author’s legacy, which spans more than 45 children’s books. Others saw it as an alarming effort to cancel a beloved American figure.
Annice Jacoby on Hosting a “Poets Kaddish”
March 3, 2021
In spring of 1997, Nancy Peters, the remarkable publisher at City Lights Books, called with the sad news that Allen Ginsberg had died. It was hard to imagine the world without him. Allen and I were allied as poets and pacifists over decades of reasons to rally. The world knew Allen as a rapturous poet who vigorously opposed militarism, materialism, and sexual repression. My freshman year, a college senior, the emerging poet Anne Waldman, took me to a New Year’s Eve party in downtown Manhattan. At midnight, Allen led an ecstatic circle of rolling
Anne Schrager February 26, 2021Updated: March 18, 2021, 7:17 am
Cynthia Ling Lee in “Blood Run” as part of the Deborah Slater Dance Theater Studio 210 Residency Performance. Photo: Diana Chen, Deborah Slater Dance Theater
The month of March is typically dedicated to honoring mighty women and shining a light on the impactful ways they have brought change and contributed to the improvement of equal rights through the ages.
Women’s History Month is celebrated across the U.S. and around the world and corresponds with International Women’s Day (March 8). Bay Area organizations plan to recognize the celebration with a variety of virtual performances, activities and lectures aimed at highlighting women’s and girls’ power all month long.
By Steve Cottrell | Special to The Union
In the summer of 1850, when 20-year-old William Garratt dipped a pan in Deer Creek, he had no way of knowing that he would later manufacture one of the most famous gold objects in American history.
As a teenager, he worked alongside his father, who owned a brass foundry in Cincinnati. But when he heard about gold in California, he left Ohio, arriving in San Francisco on July 20, 1850. From there, he took a steamboat to Sacramento, then headed up into the mountains.
“When I made my first trip from Sacramento to Nevada City,” Garratt once wrote, “I was weighed and paid 12-1/2 cents a pound to ride there on a six-mule wagon, one of the conditions being I would walk up all the hills and help hold back the wagon on downgrades. There were eight or ten passengers,” he recalled, “and we all traveled on the same conditions.”