| Vol. 7 No. 3 FEBRUARY 9, 2012 |
The Capital City Hues (608) 241-2000 gramling@capitalcityhues.com Subscription Information: The Capital City Hues PO Box 259712 Madison, WI 53725 ($45 a year) Contact Number: (608) 241-2000 Advertising: Claire G. Mendoza sales@capitalcityhues.com |
EDITORIAL STAFF Jonathan Gramling Publisher & Editor Clarita G. Mendoza Sales Manager Contributing Writers Rita Adair, Ike Anyanike, Paul Barrows, Alfonso Zepeda Capistran, Theola Carter, Fabu, Andrew Gramling, Lang Kenneth Haynes, Eileen Cecille Hocker, Heidi Pascual, & Martinez White |
Reflections/Jonathan Gramling
End of China Dispatch
End of China Dispatch
This edition of The Capital City Hues is a bittersweet edition for me. On the one hand, this is the
largest issue of The Hues we have issued, with the exception of our graduation issue, in a very
long time. The strong advertising for this issue was a pleasant surprise, which allowed us to
publish an expanded edition. If you are ever in the position to do so, please tell our advertisers
thank you for me. We are only able to publish The Hues because of our advertising revenue, which
accounts for about 95 percent of our annual revenue.
We were also able to publish a larger paper because of all of the editorial content that we received,
whether it is columns from our regulars or special columns that were submitted by others. And
what sealed the deal of expanding to 24 pages was the Monday night presentation of MMSD
Superintendent Dan Nerad of his Building Our Future plan for reducing the achievement gap
between students of color and the student population as a whole. Our coverage couldn’t wait for
two weeks. We had to interview people who were there and let their voices be heard on this very
important subject.
So we made a couple of pots of coffee and put our nose to the grindstone. I feel very good about the
intent of this issue in terms of the content and the stories that we covered. I just hope the writing is
up to par. After staying up all night writing, it’s hard to evaluate one’s own writing. I hope people do
find this issue readable and interesting.
I say this issue is bittersweet because my son Andrew Gramling’s column, China Dispatch, has
come to an end. For five years now, Andrew has written a column about his experiences in China
in almost every issue. It is close to 100 columns that he has written.
I have enjoyed Andrew’s columns immensely. And while I am hardly an objective observer of the
subject, enough of you have passed on your feelings about his columns that I know Andrew has
educated and informed many of us about China. He is such a good writer, potentially much better
than I could ever be.
His eye for detail is amazing. People would often ask me how Andrew is enjoying China because
he would write as if he is right in the moment. They are surprised to learn that Andrew has actually
been back in the United States since November 2010. He is presently living in Madison, working as
a cook and studying to be an electrical engineer. I think he has plans to return to China one day with
credentials that will be very much in demand.
One question that I know lingers in at least several readers’ minds is what happened to Ursula?
The beauty of Andrew’s columns has been his personal life playing out with the modernization of
China occurring in the background within the context of the international community he was a part
of. Well I asked Andrew and he does not plan on finishing that part of his story in the public eye.
In my opinion, what made Andrew’s column so fascinating is the particular point of view that he
brought to his writing. Andrew was neither an advocate nor a detractor of China. His comments and
observations were not written with the broader political tug-of-war between the United States and
China in mind. Rather Andrew wrote it the way he saw it, sizing up the people he met one person at
a time. I often felt that I was right there with Andrew, especially when he richly described the
architecture and the streets of Hefei or Nanning. It has been so easy to visualize things as if I was
watching from the lens of a camera.
I have also watched my son grow as he wrote about his experiences over the past five years. At
first, his writing was filled with a sense of innocence and wonder as he took the romanticism of
China in for the first time. But as the years progressed and reality took hold, he became a little more
seasoned and skeptical about things.
But even as that skepticism grew, one could see the profound respect that grew in Andrew for the
ancient traditions and values of China and his sense of loss as he felt those traditions and values
were being tossed aside in favor of Western consumerism. I feel like I understand China today
because of Andrew’s writings. And that, to me, is a sign of a good, if not great, writer.
So while I feel a loss with this issue of Andrew as a writer, I am glad as a father that he returned
safely back home, if only for a time before he sets out once again.
Thank you Andrew for the education and enjoyment that you have given us.
largest issue of The Hues we have issued, with the exception of our graduation issue, in a very
long time. The strong advertising for this issue was a pleasant surprise, which allowed us to
publish an expanded edition. If you are ever in the position to do so, please tell our advertisers
thank you for me. We are only able to publish The Hues because of our advertising revenue, which
accounts for about 95 percent of our annual revenue.
We were also able to publish a larger paper because of all of the editorial content that we received,
whether it is columns from our regulars or special columns that were submitted by others. And
what sealed the deal of expanding to 24 pages was the Monday night presentation of MMSD
Superintendent Dan Nerad of his Building Our Future plan for reducing the achievement gap
between students of color and the student population as a whole. Our coverage couldn’t wait for
two weeks. We had to interview people who were there and let their voices be heard on this very
important subject.
So we made a couple of pots of coffee and put our nose to the grindstone. I feel very good about the
intent of this issue in terms of the content and the stories that we covered. I just hope the writing is
up to par. After staying up all night writing, it’s hard to evaluate one’s own writing. I hope people do
find this issue readable and interesting.
I say this issue is bittersweet because my son Andrew Gramling’s column, China Dispatch, has
come to an end. For five years now, Andrew has written a column about his experiences in China
in almost every issue. It is close to 100 columns that he has written.
I have enjoyed Andrew’s columns immensely. And while I am hardly an objective observer of the
subject, enough of you have passed on your feelings about his columns that I know Andrew has
educated and informed many of us about China. He is such a good writer, potentially much better
than I could ever be.
His eye for detail is amazing. People would often ask me how Andrew is enjoying China because
he would write as if he is right in the moment. They are surprised to learn that Andrew has actually
been back in the United States since November 2010. He is presently living in Madison, working as
a cook and studying to be an electrical engineer. I think he has plans to return to China one day with
credentials that will be very much in demand.
One question that I know lingers in at least several readers’ minds is what happened to Ursula?
The beauty of Andrew’s columns has been his personal life playing out with the modernization of
China occurring in the background within the context of the international community he was a part
of. Well I asked Andrew and he does not plan on finishing that part of his story in the public eye.
In my opinion, what made Andrew’s column so fascinating is the particular point of view that he
brought to his writing. Andrew was neither an advocate nor a detractor of China. His comments and
observations were not written with the broader political tug-of-war between the United States and
China in mind. Rather Andrew wrote it the way he saw it, sizing up the people he met one person at
a time. I often felt that I was right there with Andrew, especially when he richly described the
architecture and the streets of Hefei or Nanning. It has been so easy to visualize things as if I was
watching from the lens of a camera.
I have also watched my son grow as he wrote about his experiences over the past five years. At
first, his writing was filled with a sense of innocence and wonder as he took the romanticism of
China in for the first time. But as the years progressed and reality took hold, he became a little more
seasoned and skeptical about things.
But even as that skepticism grew, one could see the profound respect that grew in Andrew for the
ancient traditions and values of China and his sense of loss as he felt those traditions and values
were being tossed aside in favor of Western consumerism. I feel like I understand China today
because of Andrew’s writings. And that, to me, is a sign of a good, if not great, writer.
So while I feel a loss with this issue of Andrew as a writer, I am glad as a father that he returned
safely back home, if only for a time before he sets out once again.
Thank you Andrew for the education and enjoyment that you have given us.
