Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Mauna Kea Telescope Opponents File Second Appeal to Hawaii Supreme Court - NBC News

my article for NBC Asian America
"You either let a bad thing go, or you try and stop the bleeding," Clarence Ku Ching, one of the petitioners told Hawaii Public Radio about why they were filing now before the ruling. "So we're trying to stop the bleeding."
Mauna Kea Telescope Opponents File Second Appeal to Hawaii Supreme Court - NBC News

Chinese Food: Customs and Culture class at WCC

Update: Class cancelled

Starting today! Fun class with field trips!

Chinese Food: Customs and Culture
Wednesdays, 11/30/2016-12/14/2016, 6:00-8:30 pm, 3 sessions, Washtenaw Community College

Explore Chinese food customs and culture in the classroom, grocery store and dinner table. Discover the customs, traditions and stories surrounding Chinese food and festivals. Challenge yourself to adventure beyond General Tso’s Chicken. Learn how to put together a Chinese meal and how to pick the freshest tofu. Understand the differences Szechuan and Cantonese cooking and where fortune cookies were invented. Find out the difference between Chinese and Western table manners as well as who General Tso was and why are we eating his chicken.


Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Eight Asian-American, Pacific Islander Groups to Donate to on #GivingTuesday - NBC News

my article for NBC Asian America
"While there are many worthy causes to support this Giving Tuesday, I hope people will consider [Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander] AANHPI organizations in particular, as our voices must be as strong as ever to protect our civil rights, immigrant rights, health care, and more," Christopher Kang, national director of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA), told NBC News. "When only 0.3 percent of foundation investments support AANHPI communities, it is up to individuals to help ensure that we can stand up and speak out."
Eight Asian-American, Pacific Islander Groups to Donate to on #GivingTuesday - NBC News

Century-Old Kamaka Hawaii Celebrates Four Generations of Ukulele Making - NBC News

my article for NBC Asian America
"The heritage of 'ukulele making at Kamaka Hawaii is preserved by second, third, and now fourth generation Hawaiian luthiers, as well as the many talented craftsmen at the Kakaako factory in Honolulu," a Kamaka Hawaii spokesperson told NBC News. "Four generations of Kamaka luthiers have developed 'ukulele-making techniques that create durable, exquisite koa instruments that improve with age," they added.
Century-Old Kamaka Hawaii Celebrates Four Generations of Ukulele Making - NBC News

Sunday, November 27, 2016

English Special Workshop: Dare to Dream - Washtenaw Community College Division of Economic & Community Development

Update: Class cancelled

Sat 12/3 at WCC all day workshop
Facing a big change or opportunity in your life? Terrified or thrilled out of your wits? Not sure if you trust that you know what you know? Learn simple but powerful methods to get the ideas out of your head and onto the page in order to write your way through this challenge. Part journaling, part business plan, lots of short writing exercises, this class aspires to create the space in your head and the courage in your heart to take those first dizzying steps as you dare to dream.
English Special Workshop: Dare to Dream - Washtenaw Community College Division of Economic & Community Development

Monday, November 21, 2016

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang | Drunken Boat

so excited to find my poem/creative non-fiction, "Poignant Truth, Precarious You (and preparing for the Sriracha Apocalypse)," published in Drunken Boat 23 in April 2016. Somehow I missed it back then. Even though they highlighted passages from my poem in their bulk email and introductory essay. This was originally written for the Asian American Women Artists' Association (AAWAA) and its annual art show and poetry reading in May 2014. Drunken Boat calls it "funny and heartbreaking."
Frances Kai-Hwa Wang | Drunken Boat

Here's what else they wrote about it:
In “Poignant Truth, Precarious You (and preparing for the Sriracha Apocalypse)” Frances Kai-Hwa Wang speaks in moments of tea. Teapots, tea cups, perfectly made Chai imperfectly remembered, and blue-pot part shattered across a kitchen floor. And she asks, “Or, did I imagine all that?” Not because—it is obvious—she doubts the edge of the shards on the floor, or the hands that made that perfect Chai, but all the subjective atoms between those facts. The magnetic fields and the bacteria and the gravity between them. The fictions we impose and depend upon to leap from nonfictional moment to nonfictional moment and maintain the semblance of a nonfictional self. She states, “I’m not sure,” because that’s what great nonfiction demands. Doubt.

Sunday, November 20, 2016

Fun class! Chinese Food: Customs and Culture at WCC

Fun class with field trips!

Chinese Food: Customs and Culture
Wednesdays, 11/30/2016-12/14/2016, 6:00-8:30 pm, 3 sessions, Washtenaw Community College

Explore Chinese food customs and culture in the classroom, grocery store and dinner table. Discover the customs, traditions and stories surrounding Chinese food and festivals. Challenge yourself to adventure beyond General Tso’s Chicken. Learn how to put together a Chinese meal and how to pick the freshest tofu. Understand the differences Szechuan and Cantonese cooking and where fortune cookies were invented. Find out the difference between Chinese and Western table manners as well as who General Tso was and why are we eating his chicken.

Friday, November 18, 2016

Sikh-American Truck Drivers Reach Settlement after Religious Discrimination - NBC News

my article for nbc asian america
"Our clients repeatedly asked for alternatives within the drug testing regimes that would allow them to follow their religious tenets, and those requests were denied," Harsimran Kaur, The Sikh Coalition legal director, said in a statement to NBC News. "Thankfully J.B. Hunt has finally switched gears and moved into the right lane to comply with federal anti-discrimination law."
Sikh-American Truck Drivers Reach Settlement after Religious Discrimination - NBC News

Thursday, November 17, 2016

Guest lecture today at University of Michigan

Just back from guest lecturing in University of Michigan Prof Manan Desai's Intro to APIA Studies class re "APIA media and new media landscape" -- almost didn't get all my toys back :)

Monday, November 14, 2016

California Celebrates Fifth Consecutive Sikh Awareness and Appreciation Month - NBC News

my article for nbc asian america
"As an attorney, activist, and Community Development Manager for the Sikh Coalition, I feel it is imperative for the California community to actively organize and participate in local activities this month," Harjit Kaur, The Sikh Coalition's community development manager, told NBC News. "Now more than ever, it is important to show solidarity amongst our diverse communities and to celebrate our collective contributions to the history of California."
California Celebrates Fifth Consecutive Sikh Awareness and Appreciation Month - NBC News

Friday, November 11, 2016

Chinese-American History Finds Permanent Home in San Francisco - NBC News

my article for nbc asian america
"This is the most comprehensive exhibition on Chinese American experiences," Pam Wong, CHSA deputy director, told NBC News. "Though Chinese have been a part of this country from the very beginning, we're still seen as foreigners, as if we do not belong. This exhibition allows for us to tell our story. This is America's story."
Chinese-American History Finds Permanent Home in San Francisco - NBC News

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Essay: The Day after Election Day, What Do I Tell My Son? - NBC News

my essay for nbc asian america
This vote feels like a referendum on who gets to belong, who must stay out in the cold.
But this is my home. I should not have to fight to belong.
Now what am I going to tell my son?
Essay: The Day after Election Day, What Do I Tell My Son? - NBC News

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Essay: Vote — This Is Our Story, Too - NBC News

my essay for NBC Asian America
These days, when I teach about the arguments American politicians made in the late 1800s and early 1900s about how Asians and Native Hawaiians were not the Americans our founding fathers intended, I always juxtapose that with an image of the founding fathers writing the musical, "Hamilton."
Essay: Vote — This Is Our Story, Too - NBC News

Saturday, November 5, 2016

Finding Your Voice: Intensive Writers Workshop at WCC today

Today all day at WCC
Where can writers learn to improve their craft and receive that all-important feedback? In a creative writing class, of course! Through the guidance of an experienced writer and in the company of similar aspiring writers, gain that much-needed practice and thoughtful, constructive critique in a genial but structured environment.
Finding Your Voice: Intensive Writers Workshop - Washtenaw Community College Division of Economic & Community Development