Demonstrations

You could say that US was escalating the Vietnam War during 1966 to 1968. Campus demonstrations against the war were a common scene during that period. In the late 1968, the whole Cater Hall Chemistry building windows on the first floor were boarded up by plywood, since these windows would be all broken otherwise by demonstrator's rocks. Why chemistry buildings? Because some chemicals, such as Nippon and agent orange, were used in the war. The chemical company which made the chemicals, named Dow Chemicals, was boycotted by students. The people from this company who came to interview students who were interested in working for the company had to hide their interview places, as some other students would give them a hard time.
Some state legislator, named Callaghan, were trying to stop these campus demonstrations by legislature. He was answered by more demonstrations. The anti-free speech legislature was not successful!!

Thanksgiving Dinner

Today is Thanksgiving day, 2011. I remembered that Janice started to cook Thanksgiving dinner soon after we got married. Since we usually did not visit Janice’s family at Thanksgiving time, we usually had Thanksgiving dinner at home. We tried to invite some friends to come to eat with us when possible, since there was usually more turkey than a few people could eat. It is the best time to share with your family and friends. The first Thanksgiving Janice and I had together, we were joined by Debbie and Yang. They came from Wyoming to spent the holidays with us. The second Thanksgiving we had Susan Hu, Adriane and Larry Ludwick, and and Janice classmate in the Math Department, another Janice, and Janice’s brother, Greg, with us for the big meal. This is the tradition we have kept up pretty much the same over the years. 

Chinese Lunar New Year Celebration

In 1968, the Chinese Lunar New Year was on Jan. 31st, which was a Monday. The Chinese Club at the University of Illinois celebrated the Lunar New Year on the Saturday before. Since I was active in the club, which included playing basketball on the weekends and participating in all international celebrations (such as performing at each year at the “International Fair”), I helped to set up quite a number of booths. Some of these sold different food items and some provided word puzzles for people to play. Janice played a Chinese fortunate teller at one booth. She had quite a number of “customers” - it was one of the most popular booths!

The Kasses

Bill Kass came to join Professor Peter R. Yankwich’s research group as a post doctorate after he graduated from Arizona. Dr. Yankwich was my thesis advisor. We invited Bill and his wife, Ann, to have dinner at our home. We liked them right away - they were easy-going and fun-loving people with open-minds. Later they learned how to play bridge. They progressed quickly in playing the game and we played quite a bit together. Bill later became a grand master in playing bridge in the USA.

Christmas Holidays

After Janice and I got married, we spent all our Christmas Holidays with Janice’s parents at their Winchester home until Margaret was born in 1969. Decorating the tree a few days before Christmas, opening gifts on Christmas day, and eating a big meal during the middle of Christmas afternoon - these routines became our own family tradition later. Everything else was very relaxed and did not follow any particular pattern. We played games or toys with Jimmy and\or Doug, and one year Dorothy Njeuma was with us. Sometimes, we would go out to have dinner at some restaurants, at least on New Year's Eve. We even went to a dance party once, I remember. Those few years gave both Janice and I a chance to know more about each other. We appreciated them!

Culture Revolution

In 1966, Mao Tze-dong started the culture revolution (we now know) to solidify his political position in China. Most people in the US thought that it only affected China. That was, of course, true for a decade. It changed China in every way you could imagine. It also changed the discussion focus in the US for students like us who had come to the US for educational purposes. Janice and I took one weekend and drove to Chicago to visit my classmates from Taida in Chemistry. George Ting and Chen Ming-yi were my study mates when we were in Taida. At the beginning, we did all the calculus exercises together during the freshmen year. Then we continued to study together until graduation. They were then both enrolled in the Chemistry Department at the University of Chicago. To our great surprise, both of them were much on our left side…  they supported everything Mao did, felt that Mao was the true salvation of China. Janice and I had a hard time there to argue the opposite. There were definitely two distinct camps in the US for us going-aboard students. Below is a picture of George at the U of Chicago, it was quite a weekend for us to be there!