World's Largest Hindu Temple Being Built in New Jersey - NBC News

Did you know there is a Guinness Book of World Records holder for the world's largest Hindu temple? My article for NBC News on the next world's largest Hindu temple, coming soon to Robbinsville, NJ:

World's Largest Hindu Temple Being Built in New Jersey - NBC News

HBO's 'Jonah From Tonga' Latest to Stir Brownface and Yellowface Debate - NBC News.com

Thanks for the shoutout, this is a nice wide reaching article, but the Seattle Mikado was preschool compared to this. Watch the video in the last Twitter post in the article of Chris Lilley's Jen Okazaki character. all sorts of wtf.

HBO's 'Jonah From Tonga' Latest to Stir Brownface and Yellowface Debate - NBC News.com

Film Captures Last Year of Composer, Activist Fred Ho - NBC News.com

My article on the new documentary film on "Fred Ho's Last Year" on NBCNews.com.

“His legacy of thought and art is a rich resource for anyone interested in social justice,” notes composer and activist Francis Wong, “He contributed to cross-cultural understanding and presaged the diversity and multiculturalism that we have today….He looked at African American music for inspiration and tied it all back to the origins of the US.”

Film Captures Last Year of Composer, Activist Fred Ho - NBC News.com

Shout outs from Seattle Mikado and more updates

Shout outs from Seattle re Seattle Gilbert and Sullivan Society's The Mikado re my article on NBC News Stereotypes in 'The Mikado' Stir Controversy in Seattle - NBC News

shoutout from Brendan Killey in Seattle in The Stranger
The Problem with The Mikado by Brendan Kiley - Seattle Theater - The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper

shoutout from Sharon Chan's follow up piece in the Seattle Times
‘The Mikado,' yellowface and seeing the Seattle show | Opinion Northwest | Seattle Times

shoutout and actress Erin Quill's EPIC fierce takedown
I have “A Little List’ too – buckle up. #TheMikado #Gilbert&Sullivan | fairyprincessdiaries

and those poor theatre people still don't know what hit them
Guest: ‘The Mikado’ is worth performing | Opinion | The Seattle Times

Update 7/27/14: And now Richard Lui brings the first and only television cameras into the theatre
Operetta under fire as racially offensive | MSNBC
Critics accuse opera of depicting yellowface | MSNBC  with Melissa Harris Perry

Update 7/28/14: From Mu Performing Arts in Minneapolis, how it can be done
Guest: Making ‘The Mikado’ without Asian stereotypes | Opinion | The Seattle Times

Shoutout in larger context of yellowface and brownface
HBO's 'Jonah From Tonga' Latest to Stir Brownface and Yellowface Debate - NBC News.com

UPDATE 7/28/14: Here are earlier articles and resources from earlier in the process, starting with Sharon Chan's opinion piece in the Seattle Times, Jeff Yang's thoughtful piece in CNN, protests from OCA and JACL, and radio interviews with the Seattle Gilbert and Sullivan folks, and more:
The yellowface of “The Mikado” in your face | Opinion | The Seattle Times
Opinion: Yellowface staging of 'Mikado' has to end - CNN.com
Real-life yellowface! Now playing in Seattle. | Angry Asian Man
Seattle Revival of ‘The Mikado’ Insists on Bringing Yellowface Back With It - COLORLINES
Undoing “Mikado”: Japan is not an imaginary place, and I am not a metaphor | Reappropriate
Yelp and Yellowface: Nikkei Protests and The Mikado in 2014 – The Seattle Star
» OCA Greater Seattle on ‘The Mikado’ / OCA Seattle
JACL Criticizes ‘Mikado’ Production in Seattle – Rafu Shimpo
Japanese American Citizens League Website

Dave Ross defends allegedly racist play 'The Mikado' - Blog Posts - MyNorthwest.com

'The Mikado' debate: Dave Ross vs. Seattle Times' Sharon Pian Chan - Local - MyNorthwest.com
The ‘Mikado’ controversy: A call for calm discourse | The Arts | The Seattle Times
‘Asian Blackface’ in The Mikado Stirs Controversy in Seattle - WQXR
Opera's Old-Fashioned Race Problem - Gwynn Guilford - The Atlantic
Why Evangelicals Should Care About 'The Mikado' Controversy If They Care About Reconciliation in the Church - Bo Lim | God's Politics Blog | Sojourners
It’s time to take the offensive yellowface of “The Mikado” off the stage | NIKKEI VIEW: The Asian American Blog - GIL ASAKAWA'S JAPANESE AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE ON POP CULTURE, MEDIA & POLITICS
Lodestone presents THE MIKADO PROJECT (Mar07)
The Mikado Project

And because that list was way longer and more depressing than I anticipated, let's watch a video and give The Mikado Project some love (available on DVD from Amazon):

This Asian-American Book Collection Is On the Move in Seattle - NBC News.com

My article about this great travelling APIA community library in Seattle, "API Flying Books" (that I'm totally going to steal elements of for a new project)

“The stories within our Asian and Pacific Islander American communities have long been invisible,” say co-founders Chen and Dizon, “We believe our communities can be empowered through reclaiming and rediscovering our own histories and narratives.”

This Asian-American Book Collection Is On the Move in Seattle - NBC News.com

How to Find Time to Write When You Have 11 Children « the open book

So she had 11 children, homeschooled them, AND made time to write? ok ok no more excuses...

I don’t have a daily writing routine like some writers: waking up at 5 am, going for their morning run, eating a cup of yogurt topped with homemadegranola, then sitting at their desk, with the picturesque mountainous view, and writing several pages of their next best-selling novel for 5 hours. Instead, my day begins with waking 11 excessively sleepy children, facing mountainous heaps of laundry, in between cleaning, cooking, homeschooling, and potty training. You get the point. So here’s how I steal prioritize my time for writing. When I homeschooled my children...

How to Find Time to Write When You Have 11 Children « the open book

A Campaign to Disaggregate Data and Ensure All Students Count - NBC News.com

My article in NBC News about the #allstudentscount rally for data today in Washington DC

The simple checkbox on the most forms, denoting "Asian" or "Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander," belies the diversity behind those labels -- ranging from"Mixed Filipino," and "Hmong American," to "Samoan," and "Chinese/Japanese." That's the argument of those backing the #AllStudentsCount movement.

A Campaign to Disaggregate Data and Ensure All Students Count - NBC News.com

The Writers’ Retreat - NYTimes.com

Beautiful.

The Writers’ Retreat - NYTimes.com

Study Debunks Myths Surrounding Sex-Selective Abortion Bans - NBC News.com

Fabulous study, very clear and well-laid-out. I am surprised how much people can just make stuff up  to further their own agenda (I look up and verify and double check everything!)

"We find that this legislation is based on myths and misinformation," wrote Professor Sital Kalantry."In fact, while sex-selective abortion bans have proliferated based on a supposed concern over Asian immigrant birth patterns, the reality is that Asian Americans tend to have more girls than white Americans."

Study Debunks Myths Surrounding Sex-Selective Abortion Bans - NBC News.com

John Cho Calls Casting Revolutionary, But Will He Get The Girl? - NBC News.com

I got to write about John Cho in NBC News! swoon :)

Bruce Lee never got the girl. Jet Li never got the girl. Lieutenant Sulu got a hug once, but that was a ruse in an alternate universe. Could John Cho leap the "romantic lead" hurdle?

John Cho Calls Casting Revolutionary, But Will He Get The Girl? - NBC News.com

When Defending Your Writing Becomes Defending Yourself : Code Switch : NPR

Great article by Mathhew Salessas in NPR

What happens when the workshop pits a person of color's lived experience against a white perspective of how that experience should read on the page? For a writer of color, the defense of one's work can quickly become a defense of the self.

When Defending Your Writing Becomes Defending Yourself : Code Switch : NPR

Asian American Writers' Workshop - Serve the People at the Bottom: Yuri Kochiyama

Great article by Scott Kurashige on Yuri Kochiyama in AAWW.org

Yuri’s indefatigable effort to build solidarity among all activists and oppressed people is what many will likely see as the hallmark of her legacy.

Asian American Writers' Workshop - Serve the People at the Bottom: Yuri Kochiyama

UHH Memoir Class extended to Aug 31

"Jumpstart your Memoir" at UHH class has been extended one class session to August 31. Yay!