“Northwest news: Amy Chua, the author known as the Tiger Mom, heads to Seattle; FBI investigating unusually ...”

Northwest news: Amy Chua, the author known as the Tiger Mom, heads to Seattle; FBI investigating unusually ...

Posted: 19 Jan 2011 08:33 AM PST

Published: Wednesday, January 19, 2011, 8:44 AM Updated: Wednesday, January 19, 2011, 8:45 AM

Good Wednesday, Northwest News peeps.

We have two must-read clips to begin your day, beginning with a controversial author's planned book reading in Seattle. How controversial, you wonder? Well when The Wall Street Journal posted an essay about the book titled "Why Chinese Mothers are Superior" online last week it drew more than 7,000 comments -- more reaction than any story in the paper's 120-year history.

And we'll get to that story, right after this disclaimer about Pacific Northwest News: we scour newspapers, television networks, and online magazines for articles of interest to folks around the Pacific Northwest. Then we collect snippets of articles (below in italics) from our fellow reporters for you to enjoy. So read up, click over and then come back and share your thoughts with your community here on OregonLive. We appreciate remarks on topic and in good taste.

Something tells us, you might have an opinion about the Tiger Mother coming to Seattle this week to talk about how bullying and restrictions are the tools of good, Chinese parenting. According to Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat, Amy Chua's NW visit amounts to "bringing steak strips to a vegan potluck:"

I wonder: Will she be as ostracized here in our nurturing, every-kid's-a-winner culture as she was when she boasted to a shocked dinner party that she had once called her teen daughter "garbage?"

Will the Uptight Seattleite be called out of retirement to remind her, gently, of course, that it's not conducive to self-esteem, nor helpful in promoting intergenerational dialogue, to say, as the Tiger Mother reports it's OK to say to her own daughter: "Hey fatty — lose some weight?"

Something tells us Elliott Bay Book Co. will have a full house Friday night when she discusses "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother." What do you think -- is she advocating abusive parenting or a tried-and-true way of getting the most out of children?

From Seattle we sift focus to Spokane, where the FBI is investigating a foiled bomb attack along the route of the city's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day march through downtown. The Spokesman Review has the chilling story:

The FBI confirmed Tuesday that the Swiss Army-brand backpack contained a bomb that could have caused "multiple casualties" and credited Spokane city employees who noticed the suspicious bag and alerted authorities in time to re-route the parade. A $20,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.

"It definitely was, by all early analysis, a viable device that was very lethal and had the potential to inflict multiple casualties," said Frank Harrill, the special agent in charge of the Spokane FBI office. "Clearly, the timing and placement of a device – secreted in a backpack – with the Martin Luther King parade is not coincidental. We are doing everything humanly possible to identify the individuals or individual who constructed and placed this device."

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Wednesday, January 19, 2011