“We need more job security, more raises and benefits,” said female Korean American Lee*, 43, an electrician at the Everett-based Boeing plant.
Asians come together to empower
Looking for something to do the weekend of Sept. 26? It may be a little difficult to choose between the National Federation of Filipino American Associations’ (NaFFAA) 8th Empowerment Conference and the Korean American Coalition (KAC) 6th Annual National Convention, which begins on Thursday, Sept. 25. These conventions are to be held at the Westin Hotels in Seattle and Bellevue, respectively.
Lensey Namioka: Pioneer in Publishing
Lensey Namioka is a woman of many talents, but with a great passion. Now a unique storyteller, Namioka started off in mathematics. “I realized early that I wasn’t going to do any original, creative work in math,” she said. “At first, I did some translation of Chinese mathematics into English, but that was kind of boring so I started writing articles, humorous articles at first.”
Local bartenders pour out new niche
On Wednesday, Aug. 13, guests at the Lake Union Armory got more than the usual quick drink at the bar. Glass bottles were spun, tossed and juggled, all in an effort to impress guests and take a shot at winning $15,000 in prize money at Battle in Seattle 3, presented by DList magazine. Battle in Seattle 3 is a bartending contest that put the best flair bartenders from around the world head to head in a competition.
Seattle Artist makes dishware that won’t last
Diem Chau does not make art to last. Her embroidered chinaware is delicate and gauzy. Eventually the threads will disintegrate and the colors will fade. This is not by any defect of the materials, but rather in accordance with the artist’s intention to represent the ephemeral nature of memories.
Cage film has too much bang and little else
The Pang brothers turned in a credible grimy thriller with 1999’s original “Bangkok Dangerous.” Eight years later, only the brothers and the city remain the same. Western screenwriter Jason Richman took the Pangs’ original and pumped up the volume, the budget and the violence, losing most of the pathos in the stampede.
Communication goes beyond language in Wang film
Filmed in Spokane, Wash., Wayne Wang’s new film “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers” marks the director’s return both to independent filmmaking and to telling stories about the Chinese experience in America.
Novel deals with suicide, abuse, and the legacy of being Japanese American
Working within the emotionally associative forms of poetry and memoir, award-winning poet David Mura has already created a body of work that tackles head-on complex issues such as sexual desire and addiction, race relations and the unspoken consequences of U.S. WWII internment camps on later generations of Japanese Americans.
Clearing up controversies of Cambodian festival
On Friday, Aug. 22, Chanda Sovan was having a good day. That is until she received word of an unflattering Northwest Asian Weekly article about the organization that she is president of, Asian American Dragon Boat Association (AADBA). Sovan couldn’t believe it. The article depicted their pageant and race as rigged and said that a slur was thrown around casually.
Shawn Wong: Pioneer in Publishing
The 1960s were a formative time for a second generation Chinese American like Shawn Wong. As an undergraduate student at UC Berkeley, he joined the nation in trying to grasp the evolving notion of identity.