Dopp Juice Archive

I’ve had the privelege of working with Brian Koval this year — a personal coach and financial life planner with an inspiring take on life. No, I didn’t enlist his coaching skills (although I did reap the benefits of his unique attitude). Instead, I helped him build a website. Normally, I’d say “I built him a website,” but Brian’s a special case. His introspection and creativity were central to the development of the site. This was truly a collaborate effort. BrianKoval.com went live this week. While it is his professional web presence, this site is no sales pitch. Brian is filling it with inspirational writings and creative representations of himself. He also has a biweekly newsletter, so people can stay connected with his frequent updates. His goal, as he says, is to engage people and spark inspiration. He wants to influence. He wants to be influenced. He wants to restore and transform people to their “divine beauty and purpose.” Brian is dialogue in a world without communication. Check him out and write to him. He’ll write you back.

My career as a web developer started with The Writ. My career as an editor and leader also started with The Writ. My career as a poet ended with The Writ. These are all great reasons to check out the site. Here’s a better reason, though: Today, we launched its new publication. Five short stories, thirteen poems, two reflections, one script, and a healthy slew of reviews covering book stores, current events, and various forms of art. There’s also a Writer of the Month, an Artist of the Month, and a Singer/Songwriter of the Month. The Writ has been a self-sustaining writers’ workshop for over a year now. Prior to that, it was monthly publication. Now it’s both. I manage the website, a programmer handles the database work, and a powerhouse-marketing-guru-madman named Julian Torres now manages the publication. It’s amazing. Go there.

Chinatown is by far my favorite place in San Francisco. It’s huge, it’s dense, and it’s diverse. You heard me. I called it diverse. Not just because you’ll find an international tourist on every other corner, but because the Chinese people themselves vary so significantly. Mandarin vs. Cantonese: A Quick LessonMandarin comes from Beijing and is the official language of China. Cantonese comes from Hong Kong and is the dominant language of most American Chinatowns. While they’re both “dialects” of Chinese, they’re entirely seperate languages. A speaker of one can’t understand a speaker of the other, but they can write to each other in Chinese characters. I study Mandarin. Cantonese goes right over my head.San Francisco Chinese Linguistics: A Quick LessonA century ago, nearly all of San Francisco’s Chinese households spoke Cantonese. Now, about 50% speak Cantonese, with the other half speaking Mandarin. Cantonese still dominates Chinatown, but most shopkeepers know enough Mandarin to do business with that population. Really, all Chinatown employees and business owners need to be trilingual to get by. In addition to Mandarin and Cantonese, they obviously need a little English in their bag of tricks.For most tourists, Chinatown is a slice of China. For me, it’s a mecca of multiculturalism. I hear various forms of Chinglish, interspersed with both Mandarin and Cantonese. Speakers switch between languages seamlessly. The older generations use loud, heavily accented Chinese, throwing in the occasional “okay” and “bye-bye.” The younger generations lean on their English, but switch to Chinese whenever the need arises. Throw in some multicultural locals, add a handful of African, European, Asian, and American tourists (who just have to see Chinatown while they’re in the city), and you have the very definition of diversity.