As I wrote in the previous Lunar New Year posting, the editors have been banging away at our Lunar New Year section, our archive of readings from (lunar) years past and present, with new readings to welcome the Year of the Rat. Rolling updates will continue throughout this week and deeper into the month.
Additionally, we've compiled just for fun a supplemental of package of AP stories on the theme, (Re)Consider the Rat. Anchored by a report on Chinese astrologers' predictions for the apparently "turbulent" rat-year ahead, the package is really more a journalistic improv on the actual -- not zodiacal -- rodent.
Sure, maybe the success of the Disney-Pixar Ratatouille has helped raise the rodent's rep a notch, but they've got a long way to go before they are embraced as cuddly. (Hard to imagine something like March of the Rats... taking America by storm.)
But, as the AP reports, the much-maligned lunar symbol of the year has definitely made in-roads with a diverse fan-base, from rights activists to scientists, pet owners to ... umm ... chefs.
So, this New Year's Day, don't forget to hug a rat, and stop by the Village for more this week!
Also, a shout out: The image here is from one of our past New Year's articles, Chinese Lunar Calendar and Zodiac, by and courtesy of the SF Chinese Culture Center, which is planning a bunch of great New Year's programming for all ages this year, including a free, Pre-Party exhibit at the Center, 750 Kearny Street, starting the 21st, and a reading by Oliver Chin from his book for kids, Year of the Rat.
