By Samantha Pak Northwest Asian Weekly Saraswati’s Way By Monika Schroder Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010 Akash, a 12-year-old boy living in a small village in the Indian desert, is not like the other kids. First of all, he loves school and would rather spend his days in a classroom absorbing knowledge than playing cricket […]
Stories of war and survival
By Samantha Pak Northwest Asian Weekly “Burmese Refugees: Letters from the Thai-Burma Border” Edited by T. F. Rhoden and T. L. S. Rhoden Digital Lycanthrope LLC, 2011 From former student activists and a monk escaping persecution, to a politician’s son and a typical teenage girl caught in a bad situation, the people who reside in […]
“Golden Slumbers”
Reviewed by Andrew Hamlin Northwest Asian Weekly Davy Chou’s documentary “Golden Slumbers” begins with a series of long, sweeping road shots so majestic that it takes the viewer a few minutes to realize that all the vehicles — motorcycles, mostly, and a few trucks — are going backwards. It’s a striking and strange way to […]
Author Sam Ung honors one-year anniversary of his book’s publication
Sam Ung, author of “I Survived the Killing Fields,” marked the one-year anniversary of his book’s publication on Tuesday, April 17, with a book reading at his restaurant, Phnom Phenh Noodle House.
The 10 best Asian films of the year
By Andrew Hamlin Northwest Asian Weekly 2011 gave us a wide variety of Asian cinema, from sweeping historical epics to smaller, more human-scaled studies of life. Seek out the following films wherever you can. They are ranked in order of excellence.
Ex-leader in court says Khmer Rouge not ‘bad people,’ blames Vietnam
By Sopheng Cheang The Associated Press PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A former leader of Cambodia’s brutal Khmer Rouge regime told a court that he and his comrades were not “bad people,” denying responsibility last Monday, Dec. 5, for the deaths of 1.7 million people during their 1970s rule and blaming Vietnam for any atrocities.
‘Red Earth, Gold Gate, Shadow Sky’ performances this Fri. and Sat.
“Red Earth, Gold Gate, Shadow Sky” is inspired by interviews with young Cambodian American men deported to Cambodia. These “returnees” survived a long journey between two cultures, only to lose their place once again. Drama professor Mark Jenkins and artist Don Fels conceived the project in 2004; envisioning a dramatic work that would speak to […]
Cambodia’s former king vows to stay in homeland
By Sopheng Cheang The Associated Press PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia’s ailing former King Norodom Sihanouk, his country’s dominant figure for half-a-century, vowed Sunday, Oct. 30, at a rare public appearance never to leave his homeland again. Sihanouk, his son King Norodom Sihamoni, and Prime Minister Hun Sen shared the podium at a ceremony […]
Restaurateur shares how he survived Killing Fields in memoir
By Irfan Shariff Northwest Asian Weekly Sam (Seng) Ung and Thomas McElroy have known each other for 15 years. They were neighbors in the same South Seattle neighborhood. Ung introduced himself to McElroy’s dog in Chinese. McElroy knew then, as his dog listened patiently to Ung, that this would be a long-lasting friendship.
Editorial: In life and work, relationships matter
Since Father’s Day is this Sunday, we thought it was only fitting to talk about relationships — the different kinds of relationships in our lives and why they matter.