HAPPY NEW YEAR! To all our Asian and Asian American DUers, Happy Year of the Ox [View All]

[HamdenRice]

It seems particularly appropriate that as George W. Bush skulks out of Washington, D.C., the Year of the Rat comes to a close. As a hardworking, incoming president arrives to face the most formidable tasks since Frankin Delano Roosevelt arrived, the Year of the Ox begins.

Today is New Year's Eve for followers of the Chinese (and pan-Asian) Lunar calendar. More people around the world are traveling home, in the biggest annual migration on the planet, to be with friends and family than during any other holiday.

As Asia Times phrased it, "Can the ox - the strong, hard-working symbol for next year, which begins on January 26 on the Chinese lunar calendar - carry us forward to better times?"

There's no way to know, but I just want to say anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR!