Backstage – A True Story by Charlie Chin
By Charlie Chin. Posted January 14, 2023. It took me a minute to realize what the ringing sound was. In 1970, 10:00 AM in the morning was too early for me to be alert. I crawled out of bed and answered the phone. Through my hangover, I could just make out a familiar…
An (Atypical) Angel Island Story
by Linda Wing. Posted January 6, 2023 In 1922, my grandfather, Wong Gin Wing, brought my grandmother, Mah Yel Sen, from China to the United States. They departed from Canton on the S.S. Nanking. Thirty days later, after stopovers in Shanghai, Yokohama, and Honolulu, Gin Wing and Yel Sen docked at Angel Island. Entering the…
MOSF 17.15: The Whitney Plantation: Creating Identity in the Miasma of Historical Feelings
A visit to the Whitney Plantation near New Orleans, Louisiana, reminds me of swamps as alternate geographies of freedom for the enslaved, history as a swamp, and the red threads that connects us.
MOSF 17.14: Young, Asian American, and All the Feels: Hua Hsu’s Stay True (EAAPAAO Part 2)
Hua Hsu’s Stay True is a memoir, but also a cultural and mental health intervention, emphasizing that we stay true to the people in our lives and what truly sustains us. It is of particular interest for Asian American men and those who care about them. This review also contains particular notes for Asian American grief, and some snark thrown at therapists by Asian American memoirists!
Culture is My Home: Interview with Leon Sun, Artist and Photographer
By Eddie Wong. Posted December 21, 2022. Intro: Leon Sun’s exhibit “Back to the Culture: A Silkscreen Print Exhibit” concludes on Dec. 31, 2022 at the National Japanese American Historical Society, 1684 Post St , San Francisco. Sun, a longtime activist and community-based artist, shares his views on artwork and politics in this interview with…
Remembrances of Betty Yao-Jung Chen, Filmmaker and Artist
Tribute organized by Eddie Wong. Posted December 14, 2022. Introduction: Betty Yao-Jung Chen was an artist, filmmaker and community activist. Several of her friends, classmates, and colleagues share their remembrances of this remarkable woman who left us earlier this year. Nobuko Miyamoto – Betty Y. J. Chen was an artist who “served the people,” as…
John Cho’s Troublemaker: A Children’s Book for Adults Too
By Linda Wing. Posted December 13, 2022. Preface One day I met a fourth grader whom I will always remember. I was visiting a special education classroom in an elementary school on the South Side of Chicago. The teacher had focused the morning’s lesson on prepositions. Afterwards she asked the students to choose a preposition…
Our American Cousins – Short Story by Charlie Chin
By Charlie Chin. Posted December 8, 2022. There was a popular and very well-known folk singer in 1977, you might know his name. He wasn’t very good, but he paid well and was easy to get along with. He got booked in big venues but needed a sideman musician to make his show work.…
Asian Americans Are Key Voters in Georgia U.S. Senate Run-off : Interview with Chany Chea, Communications Director of Asian American Advocacy Fund
By Eddie Wong. Posted December 2, 2022. The midterm elections in Georgia garnered national coverage because of the tight race between Sen. Raphael Warnock and football star/Trumper Herschel Walker and the electrifying rematch between former State Rep. Stacey Abrams and Governor Brian Kemp. Abrams’ strong run in 2018 sparked a massive Black, Latinx, Asian American…
A Kpop primer: Ten random facts to get you started
by Valerie Soe. Posted November 30, 2022. #1: The term Kpop was first seen in print back in 1992 but Korean music industry insiders had used the term before then. The literal translation in Korean, gayo, (가요), just means Korean popular music, and Kpop is only one aspect of South Korea’s large pop music universe.…