The Mother of Mother's Day

To contact us Click HERE
Bill Brown  ...  Xiamen University
 Happy Mother's Day from Amoy!
  I wrote this article for Common Talk in 2006.

When Anna May Jarvis's mother died on the second Sunday of May 1906, Anna May wished she had heeded the warning to, “Lavish your flowers on the living, not the dead.” Driven by remorse, the gentle, easy going Anna May became obsessed with the desire to see her mother and motherhood honored throughout the world.

After a year’s planning, the first Mother's Day was celebrated on the second anniversary of her mother’s death, May 10, 1908, at St. Andrew’s Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, where Anna’s mother had taught Sunday School. A year later, Philadelphia became the first city to proclaim an official Mother’s Day. Three years later, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed Public Resolution 25, establishing the second Sunday of each May as Mother's Day. And then, to everyone’s surprise, Anna May retired and spent the remaining 34 years of her life, and her fortune of over 100,000 dollars, fighting against Mother’s Day!

The problem was that from day one, Mother’s Day had become a great commercial extravaganza to boost the incomes of card and candy makers, and a salve to soothe the consciences of those who each May made mother a “queen for the day” but neglected her the other 364 days.

Anna May complained, “Mother’s Day has nothing to do with candy. Candy is junk. A maudlin, insincere printed card or a ready-made telegram means nothing except that you’re too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone else in the world. You ought to go home and see your mother on Mother’s Day. You ought to take her out and paint the town red...You ought to give her something useful, something permanent...Is she sleeping warm at night? Could she use an eiderdown? Maybe the stairs in her home need fixing...”

For 30 years, Anna May fought for the integrity of Mother’s Day. She finally died in a sanitarium — old, tired, deaf, blind, penniless, and having never married nor been a mother herself!

Sixty years later, mothers may be more neglected than ever. Statistics show one half of Americans, which of course includes one half of our mothers, live in poverty. Where are the children? More than ever, mothers deserve more than cards and candy one day a year and anonymity the other 364.

My appreciation of motherhood only began as I watched my wife, Susan Marie, in both sickness and health, unselfishly spend herself on her two sons (and her husband as well!). I also slowly came to better appreciate my own mother, and though she’s 12,000 miles away, I am now careful to not only send her the obligatory Mother’s Day card and flowers but also to regularly write and phone her.

Fortunately, most Common Talk readers are not 12,000 miles away from home! So as Mother's Day catches on in China, let us seek to make Mother’s Day not a card-and-candy substitute for well-deserved love but the crown and pinnacle of a full year’s expression of love and appreciation for the one who gave us life: our mother.
www.amoymagic.com

World's Largest Organ Museum

To contact us Click HERE
Bill Brown


Hu Youyi, the Gulangyu-born piano collector who now resides in Australia and founded Gulangyu's Piano Museum (the largest in Asia, and the only one in China), has also built the world's largest organ museum on Gulangyu (no, it is not a museum for the world's largest organ, but the largest museum for organs; I just know someone would grab hold of that).

The museum has more than 100 organs,  including over 30 varieties of reed organs, accordions, pianicas and three large-scale pipe organs.

It is in the Bagua Lou (Eight Diagram Building--the prominent domed building that resembles a consulate). 


Xiamen University
www.amoymagic.com

For Unto Us a Charlie's Born

To contact us Click HERE
Early this morning I got word that Johanna and Chaz Bulbuk, grandson of John Bulbuk and  Chuck & Donna Saunders, (whom I knew while I was in the Air Force in Taiwan, and who introduced Sue and I in Pasadena), finally had baby Charlie.  About time!  We thought he was coming ten days ago.   Below is a poem to celebrate...
(Click pics of Charlie for larger images!)

For Unto us a Charlie's Born                     September 2, 2011Upon this brightand cheery morn,an angel on aHarley,Said, "To usall a child is bornAnd he shall becalled Charlie."
And how thischild has come to be,Is a tale thatmust be told,So here's thestory straight from me,If I may be sobold.
Old Eden had itsendless fruits,Israelis hadtheir manna,David had hisbread and wine,And Chaz? He hasJohanna!
And from thatmarriage made above,And the union oftheir hearts,We see the fruitof faith and love,As today aJourney starts.
We waited longfor the little guy,And Johanna grewyet rounder.The doctorchecked, and heaved a sigh,"He'sprobably a 20 pounder!"
But at long last,the doctor sawa small head fullof hair.That child lookedround in awe and said,"I've beenlong enough in there."
8 pounds and 7ounces,The kid was bornhalf grown,And like a lionpounces,Charlie struckout on his own.
20 inches full oflife,And hungry fromthe get-go.He headedstraight for mom's sweet breast,And still hehasn't let go.
Now some may saythat we've evolved,That life ischance or luck,But we know thatour life's a gift,Especially when aBulbuk!
So here's toCharlie, parents too,And for you threeI pray,That every dayour Lord renewThat love we seetoday.
With love &
thanksgiving,  Uncle Bill
Bill BrownXiamen Universitywww.amoymagic.com
Click Here to learn more about Chuck and Donna Saunders of the Asia Evangelical Mission

The Mother of Mother's Day

To contact us Click HERE
Bill Brown  ...  Xiamen University
 Happy Mother's Day from Amoy!
  I wrote this article for Common Talk in 2006.

When Anna May Jarvis's mother died on the second Sunday of May 1906, Anna May wished she had heeded the warning to, “Lavish your flowers on the living, not the dead.” Driven by remorse, the gentle, easy going Anna May became obsessed with the desire to see her mother and motherhood honored throughout the world.

After a year’s planning, the first Mother's Day was celebrated on the second anniversary of her mother’s death, May 10, 1908, at St. Andrew’s Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, where Anna’s mother had taught Sunday School. A year later, Philadelphia became the first city to proclaim an official Mother’s Day. Three years later, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed Public Resolution 25, establishing the second Sunday of each May as Mother's Day. And then, to everyone’s surprise, Anna May retired and spent the remaining 34 years of her life, and her fortune of over 100,000 dollars, fighting against Mother’s Day!

The problem was that from day one, Mother’s Day had become a great commercial extravaganza to boost the incomes of card and candy makers, and a salve to soothe the consciences of those who each May made mother a “queen for the day” but neglected her the other 364 days.

Anna May complained, “Mother’s Day has nothing to do with candy. Candy is junk. A maudlin, insincere printed card or a ready-made telegram means nothing except that you’re too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone else in the world. You ought to go home and see your mother on Mother’s Day. You ought to take her out and paint the town red...You ought to give her something useful, something permanent...Is she sleeping warm at night? Could she use an eiderdown? Maybe the stairs in her home need fixing...”

For 30 years, Anna May fought for the integrity of Mother’s Day. She finally died in a sanitarium — old, tired, deaf, blind, penniless, and having never married nor been a mother herself!

Sixty years later, mothers may be more neglected than ever. Statistics show one half of Americans, which of course includes one half of our mothers, live in poverty. Where are the children? More than ever, mothers deserve more than cards and candy one day a year and anonymity the other 364.

My appreciation of motherhood only began as I watched my wife, Susan Marie, in both sickness and health, unselfishly spend herself on her two sons (and her husband as well!). I also slowly came to better appreciate my own mother, and though she’s 12,000 miles away, I am now careful to not only send her the obligatory Mother’s Day card and flowers but also to regularly write and phone her.

Fortunately, most Common Talk readers are not 12,000 miles away from home! So as Mother's Day catches on in China, let us seek to make Mother’s Day not a card-and-candy substitute for well-deserved love but the crown and pinnacle of a full year’s expression of love and appreciation for the one who gave us life: our mother.
www.amoymagic.com

World's Largest Organ Museum

To contact us Click HERE
Bill Brown


Hu Youyi, the Gulangyu-born piano collector who now resides in Australia and founded Gulangyu's Piano Museum (the largest in Asia, and the only one in China), has also built the world's largest organ museum on Gulangyu (no, it is not a museum for the world's largest organ, but the largest museum for organs; I just know someone would grab hold of that).

The museum has more than 100 organs,  including over 30 varieties of reed organs, accordions, pianicas and three large-scale pipe organs.

It is in the Bagua Lou (Eight Diagram Building--the prominent domed building that resembles a consulate). 


Xiamen University
www.amoymagic.com

For Unto Us a Charlie's Born

To contact us Click HERE
Early this morning I got word that Johanna and Chaz Bulbuk, grandson of John Bulbuk and  Chuck & Donna Saunders, (whom I knew while I was in the Air Force in Taiwan, and who introduced Sue and I in Pasadena), finally had baby Charlie.  About time!  We thought he was coming ten days ago.   Below is a poem to celebrate...
(Click pics of Charlie for larger images!)

For Unto us a Charlie's Born                     September 2, 2011Upon this brightand cheery morn,an angel on aHarley,Said, "To usall a child is bornAnd he shall becalled Charlie."
And how thischild has come to be,Is a tale thatmust be told,So here's thestory straight from me,If I may be sobold.
Old Eden had itsendless fruits,Israelis hadtheir manna,David had hisbread and wine,And Chaz? He hasJohanna!
And from thatmarriage made above,And the union oftheir hearts,We see the fruitof faith and love,As today aJourney starts.
We waited longfor the little guy,And Johanna grewyet rounder.The doctorchecked, and heaved a sigh,"He'sprobably a 20 pounder!"
But at long last,the doctor sawa small head fullof hair.That child lookedround in awe and said,"I've beenlong enough in there."
8 pounds and 7ounces,The kid was bornhalf grown,And like a lionpounces,Charlie struckout on his own.
20 inches full oflife,And hungry fromthe get-go.He headedstraight for mom's sweet breast,And still hehasn't let go.
Now some may saythat we've evolved,That life ischance or luck,But we know thatour life's a gift,Especially when aBulbuk!
So here's toCharlie, parents too,And for you threeI pray,That every dayour Lord renewThat love we seetoday.
With love &
thanksgiving,  Uncle Bill
Bill BrownXiamen Universitywww.amoymagic.com
Click Here to learn more about Chuck and Donna Saunders of the Asia Evangelical Mission

The Mother of Mother's Day

To contact us Click HERE
Bill Brown  ...  Xiamen University
 Happy Mother's Day from Amoy!
  I wrote this article for Common Talk in 2006.

When Anna May Jarvis's mother died on the second Sunday of May 1906, Anna May wished she had heeded the warning to, “Lavish your flowers on the living, not the dead.” Driven by remorse, the gentle, easy going Anna May became obsessed with the desire to see her mother and motherhood honored throughout the world.

After a year’s planning, the first Mother's Day was celebrated on the second anniversary of her mother’s death, May 10, 1908, at St. Andrew’s Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, where Anna’s mother had taught Sunday School. A year later, Philadelphia became the first city to proclaim an official Mother’s Day. Three years later, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed Public Resolution 25, establishing the second Sunday of each May as Mother's Day. And then, to everyone’s surprise, Anna May retired and spent the remaining 34 years of her life, and her fortune of over 100,000 dollars, fighting against Mother’s Day!

The problem was that from day one, Mother’s Day had become a great commercial extravaganza to boost the incomes of card and candy makers, and a salve to soothe the consciences of those who each May made mother a “queen for the day” but neglected her the other 364 days.

Anna May complained, “Mother’s Day has nothing to do with candy. Candy is junk. A maudlin, insincere printed card or a ready-made telegram means nothing except that you’re too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone else in the world. You ought to go home and see your mother on Mother’s Day. You ought to take her out and paint the town red...You ought to give her something useful, something permanent...Is she sleeping warm at night? Could she use an eiderdown? Maybe the stairs in her home need fixing...”

For 30 years, Anna May fought for the integrity of Mother’s Day. She finally died in a sanitarium — old, tired, deaf, blind, penniless, and having never married nor been a mother herself!

Sixty years later, mothers may be more neglected than ever. Statistics show one half of Americans, which of course includes one half of our mothers, live in poverty. Where are the children? More than ever, mothers deserve more than cards and candy one day a year and anonymity the other 364.

My appreciation of motherhood only began as I watched my wife, Susan Marie, in both sickness and health, unselfishly spend herself on her two sons (and her husband as well!). I also slowly came to better appreciate my own mother, and though she’s 12,000 miles away, I am now careful to not only send her the obligatory Mother’s Day card and flowers but also to regularly write and phone her.

Fortunately, most Common Talk readers are not 12,000 miles away from home! So as Mother's Day catches on in China, let us seek to make Mother’s Day not a card-and-candy substitute for well-deserved love but the crown and pinnacle of a full year’s expression of love and appreciation for the one who gave us life: our mother.
www.amoymagic.com