AAJA’s anniversary cake photo by Lori Matsukawa
The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) held its lunar new year party and also celebrated its 25th anniversary at the Tea Palace Restaurant last Saturday.
It’s not easy to be 25. Despite all the sad news about journalism and the mass-closing of newspapers, the chapter is still going strong. Close to 80 people showed up at the party, many of them young.
I still remember when the AAJA folks came to town and met with local journalists about starting a local Seattle chapter. They asked former Wing Luke Asian Museum Executive Director Ron Chew, KING TV anchor Lori Matsukawa, and former KIRO newsradio reporter Frank Abe, now a communication director for King County Executive Dow Constantine, to organize a chapter. The three founders are still living in Seattle.
In fact, the founder of national AAJA, Bill Sing, is a former Seattleite.
Now in Los Angeles, Sing was a business editor with the LA Times. ♦