First and third Wednesdays each month.
CELEBRATING 40 YEARS
FREE EST. 1974 ES T. 1974 —SEATTLE VOLUME 43, NUMBER 18 — SEPTEMBER 21, 2016 – OCTOBER 4, 2016
THE NEWSPAPER OF NORTHWEST ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. FIND YOUR INSPIRASIAN.
2 — September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016 — 3
IE OPINION
How I Remember Uncle Bob By Elaine Chu Special to the IE
“Uncle” Bob Santos passed away on August 27, 2016. • Photo by Joe Mabel
From BS-1: You gotta have passion By Bob Shimabukuro IE Columnist I met Bob Santos when I moved to Seattle in 1988 and started writing for the International Examiner. What struck me immediately was how respectful he was of me. I had come from Los Angeles where I had worked as, first, assistant editor, then later, acting editor, of the Pacific Citizen. I often took a lot of heat from the community (leaders), who thought I was, at various times, stupid, too brash, crazy, too impatient, too young (I was 39-40), and of course, too angry. So the respect that Bob Santos gave me was very welcomed. He was also very funny. A great sense of humor.
Shortly after I started writing “Bull Session,” a column for the IE (Ron Chew had picked the name for the column), Bob proclaimed to me, “Well, we’re both BS’s, but remember, you’re BS-2; I’m BS-1.” We had a good laugh about it.
What BS-1 didn’t know was that at the same period we were calling each other BS-1 and BS-2, my son Zenwa (and Alice, too) had been watching this absolutely insane (and inane) cartoon series, Bananas in Pajamas, about, well, two bananas in pajamas, (named B-1 and B-2) who would get into these terrible jams at the beginning of the show but would sort of come out okay at the end. So every time we called each other BS-1
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Established in 1974, the International Examiner is the only non-profit pan-Asian and Pacific Islander American media organization in the country. Named after the International District in Seattle, the “IE” strives to create awareness within and for our APA communities. 409 Maynard Ave. S. #203, Seattle, WA 98104. (206) 624-3925. iexaminer@iexaminer.org.
and BS-2, I was thinking of B-1 and B-2. Imagine that. Us two as bananas (yellow on the outside, white on the inside??!!) in pajamas. I never asked BS-1 if he ever watched Bananas in Pajamas. Principles I learned from BS-1:
• It’s not about yourself, it’s about the community.
• Never underestimate your ability to change community attitudes. One more, Catague who a lot of her organizing, so BS-1 also:
this one from Emma credited Bob Santos for thoughts on community this may have come from
• You gotta have passion.
I was helping Emma write a community organizing manual and as we came close to finishing, I asked her, “What should we title the book?” “What should be in a title,” she asked.
“What’s most important community organizing?”
about
“What do you think?” “Trust.”
She thought a moment, then replied, “No, Bob, ‘passion’ is. You gotta have passion.”
The book was titled, Organizing with Passion.
IE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Ron Chew, President Gary Iwamoto, Secretary Arlene Oki, At-Large Jordan Wong, At-Large Edgar Batayola, At-Large Heidi Park, At-Large COMMUNITY RELATIONS MANAGER Lexi Potter lexi@iexaminer.org
BUSINESS MANAGER Ellen Suzuki finance@iexaminer.org
DISTRIBUTORS Joshua Kelso Makayla Dorn Maryross Olanday Tiger Song Rachtha Danh
was right—the people I met in the community have been lifelong friends and my “job” doesn’t end right at 5:00 My dad worked at Tai Tung Restaurant p.m. If I have an idea for something at and every time I saw Uncle Bob, he would midnight, I am on email expressing my say, “Hey Elaine. Tell your dad Tai Tung thoughts to someone about it. is my favorite restaurant.” He had his Uncle Bob became an even larger birthday and Thanksgiving party there influence in my life when I was going every year. And ... that was the thing to graduate school for my Masters about Uncle Bob. You were family to him in Public Administration at UW because he would not only remember you, and I interned in his office at U.S. but everything about you! Department of Housing and Urban He showed me around the community Development. As I struggled to work when I came out of college and that was within the federal government, he 20-plus years ago. My first job was at taught me how you can still be effective International District Housing Alliance, in helping communities. “Think outside where my role was to facilitate landlord- the box, Elaine, think outside the tenant workshops for families and box.” He guided me through in how individuals in the International District. to gain a very detailed understanding My idea of reaching out to the residents of federal regulations and funding to was to slip flyers under their doors and effectively help communities such as expect them to “magically” attend the the International District. workshops. I failed miserably because What I learned from Bob was the workshops were in a room where full respect—we can still be very good capacity was 30 and only 7 showed up. friends, but have a level of respect for Bob would check on me from time the differences in opinions we have. to time at the office and I had told him In other words, don’t take things what happened. Uncle Bob shook his personally. It is OK to disagree! I head and he said, “Come to Bush Garden learned leadership—it isn’t about with me tonight.” Well, Bush Garden connecting with just certain groups of ended up being a weekly ritual of drinks people, it is about being able to connect and karaoke. And oh yes, discussions on with everyone for one purpose. I learned what community means, issues facing presence—the people you help or serve the community, who all the community want to physically see you. They do not leaders were, and what these people want to hear a voice or a piece of paper living in this community and in similar with your name on it. You must be there. situations mean to him and what it means And finally, I learned purpose—we are to me. all in community work because we see When I first met him, he said he will inequality in something—what do you show me the heart of the community. I want to change? asked what that meant and he said, “Don’t That question, Uncle Bob, taught worry, you will know when it hits you.” me, “What do I want to change?” has During one of those meetings, Bob came lead many of my earlier career choices over after singing his song and said, to improve underserved communities, “This is the heart of the community. The families who want opportunities for people you work with are not co-workers; a better life, and children who want they are family and will have your back. an equal shot at the same education The people you help are not your clients opportunities other children are having. or accounts; they are human beings who And this same question has allowed me look to you for change. Community is not to teach my own children the empathy an 8-5 job. It isn’t even work—it is your to make a difference. life.” For this, thank you, Uncle Bob. RIP. Well, I never left the community or the profession I went into when Uncle Elaine Chu is a Philanthropic Bob introduced me to communities and nonprofits over 20 years ago. He Advisor at Seattle Foundation.
EDITOR IN CHIEF Travis Quezon editor@iexaminer.org
NEWS EDITOR Izumi Hansen news@iexaminer.org
ARTS EDITOR Alan Chong Lau
arts@iexaminer.org
DIGITAL MEDIA EDITOR Rhea Panela rheapanela@iexaminer.org
CHIEF COPY EDITOR Anna Carriveau STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Isaac Liu
STAFF WRITERS Chetanya Robinson Alia Marsha INTERNS Anakin Fung Rosida Mohamathno CONTRIBUTORS Phillip Deng Jasmin Eng Tamiko Nimura Imana Gunawan Shaun Mejia Susan Kunimatsu Mahealani Smith
International Examiner 409 Maynard Ave. S. #203 Seattle, WA 98104 Tel: (206) 624-3925 Fax: (206) 624-3046 Website: www.iexaminer.org
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4 — September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
IE OPINION
International street food market the right fit for King Street Station Phillip Deng Guest Columnist
Built 110 years ago and beautifully restored in 2013, King Street Station is a majestic Seattle landmark that is waiting for the right concept to find a home in its vacant street-level floor. The station’s iconic clock tower presides over one of the busiest transportation hubs on the entire west coast, yet very few of the hundreds of thousands of people who move through the area each day ever pass through the front doors of King Street Station. That is because unless you’re catching an AmTrak train out of town, there simply is very little reason to go inside. Last October, MarketShare was introduced to the space as a potential home for our international street food market and we knew immediately that it was perfect. According to the Alliance for Pioneer Square, roughly 384,000 people move through the area each day, and that number doesn’t take into account the new light rail connections to Capitol Hill and the U District, as well as the streetcar.
After proceeding through the plaza from Jackson Street, you enter the station’s roughly 6,000 square-foot second floor, which has been painstakingly restored to preserve the character of the intricate brick and plaster work. The recently installed iron skeleton of seismic reinforcements is tastefully integrated throughout the building and, itself, alludes to new possibilities for an old building. High vaulted ceilings and a floor plan that can be opened dramatically with the removal of temporary cosmetic walls make it easy to imagine a bustling market full of happy patrons enjoying delicacies sourced from around the world, but made locally by low-income immigrant and
our community a year-round destination for top-notch authentic international cuisine, but would give local low-income immigrant and refugee cooks a new model for starting a business at a dramatically lower cost and risk than is currently possible without the market. Access to startup capital, language barriers, gaps in legal knowledge, and lack of commercial cooking space are the issues most frequently cited by would-be immigrant entrepreneurs as obstacles that prevent them from starting a small restaurant. The market at King Street Station would mitigate or eliminate all of these obstacles.
After speaking with thousands of our fellow community members and gathering more than 2,000 signatures of support to date, we can say with confidence that MarketShare members at the Seattle Street Food Festival. • Courtesy Photo most people in Seattle are not aware of the process underway to determine what we refugee cooks who operate the market’s Office of Arts and Culture (OAC) will should do with this empty and gorgeous eight to 10 food stalls. be utilizing the top floor of the station as public space in the heart of our city. Even if you were aware of the on-going After our initial tour, MarketShare’s administrative, studio, and gallery space, while the development of the street-level discussions at City Hall regarding King architects immediately began drawing up floor plans and representative renderings floor has been assigned to the Seattle Street Station, you may not have known of of the interior. We spoke with local restau- Office of Economic Development (OED) a way to join the conversation about our rateurs, business consultants, real estate to oversee. We presented our market historic train station. MarketShare is the experts, legal advisors, urban planners, concept to Randy Engstrom, director of grassroots movement striving to bring our and other nonprofit organizations serving OAC, and Brian Surratt, director of OED, entire community together to talk about refugee and immigrant populations to be- in April and it was apparent to everyone what we can build in that space—together. gin creating our business plan. This pro- in the meeting that much of MarketShare’s We, and thousands of our supporters, feel cess has confirmed to us that our Greater thinking is in line with the City’s. Since that an international street food market Seattle community contains all the pieces that time, we have refined all the parts of that incubates small restaurant startups needed to build a thriving international our business plan, which will be ready by run by low-income immigrant and refugee the time the City calls for proposals to be entrepreneurs gives everyone something to street food market. submitted. get excited about. Listen to your heart and More good news came in March when stomach by going to marketshareseattle.org At the beginning of July, MarketShare Seattle Mayor Ed Murray announced in to learn more about the Campaign for King launched our Campaign for King Street, the State of the City address, his intention Street, sign the petition, and contact us at which is a grassroots movement to to turn King Street Station into, “[A] info@marketshareseattle.org to get involved new public space for Seattle’s arts and demonstrate to city leaders how much with the movement! support there is for an international street culture community, and affordable space food market to be built in King Street Phillip Deng is the founder of Marketfor our small businesses.” The Seattle Station. This market would not only offer Share.
Dual language school Jing Mei Elementary continues to grow By Anna Carriveau IE Contributor
International Examiner an update on the burgeoning dual language school and the role she plays there. Here’s what she had Jing Mei Elementary is a public dual to say. language immersion (DLI) school International Examiner: Can you located in Bellevue. Since its beginning tell me a bit about the kind of work you as a small-scale dual language program do at Jing Mei? in 2011, Jing Mei Elementary has grown into the only school in Washington that Bogucharova: As the Principal of Jing follows a Mandarin dual language, two- Mei my primary job is to promote quality way model. Students are taught subjects in instructional practices and implement both English and Mandarin. The student the dual language model with fidelity. I body consists of a 50-50 split of students also lead my staff to advocate Bellevue proficient in Mandarin and students School District’s initiatives and prepare proficient in English still learning or students for college, career, and life. new to Mandarin. Such an education International Examiner: Jing Mei model ensures all students are fluent is the only Mandarin dual language in both languages, while familiarizing school in Washington that follows a them with new cultures. DLI schools two-way model. How does this model are also believed to curtail racism and work and which students will benefit de facto school segregation by bringing from it most? together a diverse group of students with Bogucharova: Our Two-Way 90/10 different economic, cultural, and social model is described as “An immersion backgrounds. program model in which students are Tina Bogucharova, the new principal instructed 90% of the time in the partner of Jing Mei Elementary, gave the
International Examiner: Why do you think dual language immersion schools are important and more effective than traditional education frameworks?
Tina Bogucharova
Bogucharova: Language learners develop more cranial agility than monolinguals. Think about the cognitive tasks we ask children to complete in an immersion setting; they have to codeswitch and quickly negotiate meaning and generate a linguistically and culturally relevant response. They do all this while learning traditional subject areas such as math, social studies, literacy, and science. Children have the ability to acquire language effortlessly and we should recognize that, the sooner we start the better their chance of reaching nativelike proficiency.
language and 10% in English in the first year or two, with the amount of English instruction gradually increasing each year until English and the partner language are each used for 50% of instruction (generally by third grade).” All students International Examiner: Deploying will benefit from it! We implement this such a model must be challenging, model at the K-5 level because children especially when teaching very young have the capacity and natural ability to children in two different languages. acquire a second language and reach native-like proficiency levels. JING MEI: Continued on page 5 . . .
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016 — 5
IE COMMUNITY
Fashion designer, blogger Thu Ngo focuses on petite stylings By Jasmin Eng IE Contributor
Ngo: Yes, I custom make all of my clothes. I don’t want it to go through mass production. There’s only five outfits you can get. I feel like sizing is important, and if you were to go to a store and someone bought my clothes and it didn’t fit—I would feel so embarrassed.
As a short person constantly plagued with pant hemming and visiting the kids’ clothing section, it was a privilege to interview Thu Ngo.
A fellow petite who channeled her stature into fashion designing, Ngo has charted her fashion journey on her blog, ThuTwoToo. She has also hosted fashion shows like the Northwest Asian Weekly Recycled Fashion Show and the Lunar New Year Fashion Show, hosted by the Chinese Post.
I have a fall/winter shoot coming up and I’m working with my photographer trying to launch a line for my blog so the readers can get something for the fall season. I’m also planning a trip to Vietnam to find makers who can do clothes for me, and I’m trying to go there to find fabrics for when I make my 2017 line. I feel like I’m at a good point to really get the ball rolling.
Jasmin Eng: So you and I are both very petite people, how did that inspire your clothing line? And how does your heritage influence your business?
Eng: So I’m going to be selfish and ask for some style advice. What are your go-tos for styling petites?
Thu Ngo: A lot of my friends are petite, and on this next project I am launching a petite line and I have those people in mind. It’s a struggle for me to find clothing that fits me and if you’re trying to find nice clothing that fits you have to go to an expensive store.
My mom came from Vietnam to the U.S., so the pressure of going to school and graduating helped me grow as a person. It changed my mindset to not give up, and even if you fall you have to try again. Of course, I have a job to do as a profession but I want to succeed with launching my line. A lot of Vietnamese people tend to be business oriented so I think that influenced me.
With my family history, I just live with my mom and brothers. Financially, we were always unstable and as the oldest I always wanted to be that breadwinner. With that pressure, I gotta succeed and keep pushing. So yeah, that’s how that influences me to work harder in the way that I do. Eng: How did you get your start in sewing? I always had the impression you knew how to sew, but you actually started in college! Ngo: Growing up, it was hard to find clothes. My family didn’t have a lot of
Anything cropped is an advantage for petite girls. A regular crop jacket would fit a petite girl and just fall off the waist money, and going to high school and fabric. But I also see a lot of trendier a bit. Even if it’s oversized—it’s all about middle school I didn’t have a lot of pieces with sharper edges. How would the waist for me so people can tell where my torso is. clothes like other people. In college, when you describe your aesthetic? I joined my sorority, we had so many Another style is cropped pants. Don’t Ngo: I think my style is more on the formals and I would go to Forever21 and girlier end. I try to combine what’s on wear pants that are too long for you, you Nordstrom—but nothing would fit me trend like a two-piece or lighter fabrics, can roll it up so it shows off your ankle a like I wanted it to. Even if it did fit me it but I try to incorporate my style into it. bit. You know how petite girls’ jeans are was nothing I would wear, like stuff from Very chic, but feminine at the same time. always too long? Get it hemmed! So it the kids’ section. It changes up depending on my mood, the doesn’t look like your pant is eating your Then my sorority big sis got me a more simple it is the better it is for me. I leg! Keep it at the waist and roll up your sewing machine, and I would try to go like a nice, clean hem with clean lines, pants! off of designs and make my own clothing it’s how people can tell it’s mine because *** for formals. I didn’t really go to fashion of the bias line. Before I wouldn’t hem it So there you have it: define the school and study it, but I feel like after with bias tape but now I do, bright pastels the experiences I’ve done so far it’s not on the inside of the hem make my product waistline, go for cropped, and for Ngo’s sake—roll up your pants! Or just check really necessary and I just had to open the way it is. out Ngo’s blog for some perfectly my own line. Eng: Do you custom make all of your proportioned clothing: https://thutwotoo. Eng: Your blog shows a lot of feminine clothes and what projects do you have com. clothing with floral overlays on sheer coming up?
have the support of Bellevue School District’s Curriculum Developers, with whom How does your school do it? Is it tough we consult our unit planning. We work for the students when they first begin? very closely with our K-12 Mandarin Curriculum Developer, Monica Lo, in develBogucharova: We have a very dedicat- oping our curriculum and assessments. ed, creative, and responsive teaching staff. International Examiner: Do you The teachers are encouraged to bring their own passion, cultural frames, and life ex- notice any big differences between the periences to make learning meaningful students at Jing Mei and students at for everyone in the classroom, including regular public schools you’ve worked at themselves. Under the leadership of our in the past? previous Principal Ms. Vivian Tam, we Bogucharova: The biggest difference started piloting a thematic unit approach that I have noticed is in our students’ to teaching in the immersion classroom. amazing ability to speak with nativeInstead of following one set of textbook- like fluency. Even little kindergarteners driven curriculum, our curriculum is cre- who come to us with zero Mandarin ated by teachers based on content area proficiency can speak and write in subjects. The language lessons are derived paragraph form by the end of one school from that particular unit of study. We also year. I also find that our students are able JING MEI: . . . Continued from page 4
Ngo: My number one rule is to always style something at the waist. There always has to be a defined line for the upper and bottom halves of your body. Everything has to go together and your waist has to be defined, your top has to be tucked in so you don’t lose your waistline.
Fashion designer, blogger Thu Ngo. • Courtesy Photo
to speak more easily on a wide range of topics and they are quick to form an opinion backed by reason. I’m not sure how it relates to language learning but I’m guessing that it’s because they are exposed to a wider range of literature and cultural norms.
International Examiner: Jing Mei is a relatively new school, but it appears to be growing fast. Do you believe the student body will grow any larger than the students currently enrolled? If so, how will you accommodate for the growth? Bogucharova: Our enrollment as of today is 325. Yes, we are expanding but we will cap our enrollment at about 450 when we reach full capacity of having three classes per grade level. We will reach full capacity in the 2019-2020 school year.
International Examiner: What are the major things you will be addressing or working towards this school year as Jing Mei’s principal?
Bogucharova: One of my goals is to train, retain, and recruit teachers who are professionally and locally trained as dual language teachers. I will be collaborating with Seattle School District and UW to advocate for more Dual Language trainings for teacher candidates. I will also be working towards building a school culture that is reflective of the teaching staff and the community. It is important to me that Jing Mei does not remain stagnant and that we always recognize and honor the funds of knowledge and interests of the staff, students and their families. Most importantly, I want to build capacity in my staff so that we can all lead together.
6 — September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
“Sensei-tional 3” celebration honors retirement of three Asian American Studies professors By Tamiko Nimura IE Contributor With a great deal of laughter and a few tears, more than 200 people gathered at Seattle’s Blaine Memorial United Methodist Church on August 27. They came to help the Nikkei community celebrate three professors— Tetsuden Kashima, Gail Nomura, and Stephen Sumida. The three professors retired from the American Ethnic Studies department at the University of Washington last spring. The program booklet included a list of eight major sponsors, a list of 26 community co-sponsoring individuals and organizations, and a dozen members on the planning committee. Planning for the celebration began back in April 2016, spearheaded by Bill Tashima of the Seattle Japanese American Citizens League (JACL). “Each of these distinguished scholars have imparted so much knowledge on the study of our Japanese American legacy,” he wrote, “[and] UW and the greater Seattle area is so much the better thanks to these three.” Although the three professors were “somewhat reluctant” to have an event in their honor, they did express wishes for an opportunity to gather with their friends and community. The planning committee grew to include members of the greater Seattle Nikkei community as well as immediate family members of the three professors. Partygoers were greeted by the sounds of ukulele music, provided by the Blaine Ukulele Group Seattle (“B.U.G.S.”) and accompanied by Elsie Taniguchi’s hula dancing. Sponsoring community members and organizations provided the “light refreshments,” which included pancit bihon, lumpia shanghai, tsukemono, lechon, chicken teriyaki skewers, fresh fruit, and rice. The Blaine church’s army of volunteers
UW emeritus professors Tetsuden Kashima, Gail Nomura, and Stephen Sumida at the 2015-2016 graduation ceremony at UW Husky Stadium. • Photo courtesy of Tetsuden Kashima
welcomed and registered attendees, made sure the buffet lines ran smoothly, cleaned plates, recycled chopsticks and composted food scraps. Toward the end of the program, they distributed slices of two large sheet cakes (guava and salted caramel/chocolate) to everyone. Harold Taniguchi served as an engaging master of ceremonies for the event program, which opened and closed with musical tributes by the ukulele group. Several people spoke during the “open mic” tributes, including members of the professors’ families. James Kashima, son of Testuden Kashima, praised his father’s ability “to always be there,” and confessed that he didn’t really know much about the impact of his dad’s work until 2008. The event that sparked his realization was The Long Journey Home, organized by the the professors and community members. The event honored Nikkei students at the University of Washington who were incarcerated during World War II, granting them honorary bachelor’s degrees.
Over 200 attended the “Sensei-tional 3” celebration to honor the retirement of three Asian American Studies professors on August 27, 2016. • Photo by Tamiko Nimura
“I saw [my dad] was a leader of the community,” the younger Kashima said, “and an agent of change.” Later in the program Irene Mano, president of the UW Nikkei Alumni Association, displayed a commemorative plaque in honor of the three professors for their work on The Long Journey Home. Emi Suzuki, the daughter of Nomura and Sumida, brought their oldest granddaughter to the microphone and thanked her parents for “connecting the importance of history with the sacrifices of my grandmother, the ancestors, those who came before.” Other speakers recounted memories of dinner parties, travels in Japan, and acting in Asian American plays. A short video retrospective, narrated by Lori Matsukawa, opened with a message from UW President Ana Mari Cauce. Addressing the three professors, she described this “bittersweet moment”: “You’re not really leaving. You’re retiring from your day jobs, but this is your real job, and it always will be. ... This is just a new beginning.” The video included testimonials and thanks from other members of the community, including Bill Tashima, National Parks Service landscape architect Anna Tamura, Densho executive director Tom Ikeda, Keiro Northwest CEO Jeffrey Hattori, Nisei author Cho Shimizu, community activist Sharon Maeda, and former student Anna Chang (now a clinical psychologist). (The video is available at https://vimeo.com/180674656.) Near the end of the program, the three professors then had a chance to respond briefly. Kashima cited the historical sea level changes that he has seen in his decades of teaching, changes that the Asian American “and especially the
Japanese American community” helped to inaugurate. “Without community support,” he said, “I truly believe that all of [this] would not have happened.” He listed the Committee on Wartime Relocation hearings, a Presidential proclamation of apology for the wartime incarceration, and the National Parks Service stewardship for four confinement sites. “Thanks to all of you in the community,” he concluded. “I have been playing all this time.” Nomura expressed her gratitude to the planning committee, including her daughter, and to the community for the event. “We would say that we don’t deserve all of this, but we will honor all of you and your honoring of us.” She concluded with a recurring theme of the afternoon: “We are not retiring from the community. We can all work together to build a more compassionate society of justice.” Sumida brought the gathering back to laughter several times, beginning with a quip that “his job [was] to make sure [this party moved] away from a threeway memorial service.” His characteristic talk-story response included memorable allusions to Martin Luther, the founding of the Association for Asian American Studies, and The Tale of Genji. He wanted to retire, as both he and his daughter said, “before I become a senile professor.” As for me, I must break journalistic “objectivity” here and say that I attended the event in large part as a gesture of gratitude to Steve Sumida, one of my dearest graduate school mentors. I walked up to him at the end of the event, gave him a hug, and thanked him for teaching his students that community feeds us well. As the program booklet reminded us, the the Nikkei community is often bound together by the grateful spirit of “okage sama de,” sometimes loosely translated as, “We are who we are because of you.” This gathering embodied one of the best values of Asian American Studies, and of American Ethnic Studies: feed your community, and your community will feed you well. For interested parties who may still wish to celebrate the three professors, donations are still being accepted for scholarship funds through the University of Washington. Donations may be made to the UW Nikkei Alumni Association Scholarship Fund (Kashima) and a scholarship at the American Ethnic Studies Department (Nomura/Sumida). Email aes@uw.edu or call (206) 543-5401 for more information.
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
Jill Mangaliman honored with Tatsuo Nakata Youth Award By Rosida Mohamathno IE Contributor The International Examiner honored Jill Mangaliman with the Tatsuo Nakata Youth Award as part of the 2016 Community Voice Awards. Mangaliman is a queer Filipino-American community organizer and writer from Seattle. Thanks to Federal Pell Grants, Mangaliman graduated from the University of Washington as a student of Human Geography. For six years they organized in local and national campaigns involving health care equity, immigrant rights, and protecting social services. In 2009, Mangaliman joined Got Green as part of the City Weatherization program. Here, they stepped into leadership, from founding board member to lead organizer, and instrumental in the formation and strategy of the Food Access Team. Mangaliman is also a member of GABRIELA Seattle and the winner of the 2013 Social Change Reporting award for the Seattle Globalist. The International Examiner caught up with Mangaliman to talk about their work in the community. International Examiner: What are the issues you care about and why? Jill Mangaliman: Definitely environmental justice, climate justice. I believe that everybody should have access to a living wage and green jobs, housing, food, transit, and a healthy environment, whatever that environment is. To recognize that race and gender are factors in your access to health and economic [stability] and the environment. More lately I’ve been getting involved with Asians for Black Lives to show true solidarity for Black Lives Matter and towards communities that are being criminalized and killed. ... How do we counter this narrative that people of color or working class folks don’t care about the environment, but our communities actually really do? IE: How did you get your start with Got Green? Mangaliman: In 2009, towards the end of 2008, I had just been laid off from my work. I had previously been doing canvassing, and I got a phone call from our founder Michael Woo, who invited me to join the City Weatherization project to basically create green jobs for youth of color and have conversations in our community about energy efficiency. ... I handed out light bulbs from Seattle City Light and low flow shower heads ... This introduced me to Got Green and other people. I joined their leadership team and eventually their food access team. Then I was on their board, and then in 2012, Michael Woo asked me to be his successor and we did a two-year leadership transition and I became director in 2014. IE: In terms of GABRIELA, what pushes you to advocate for women in the Philippines? Mangaliman: GABRIELA was during that time when I was trying to become an activist and when I just got politicized ... I wanted to reconnect with my roots and the Philippines. As a Filipino American, I grew up feeling out of place, not American enough, not Filipino enough. It as through the national democratic movement through GABRIELA where I could see where I could fit into this community. They do a lot of educational dialogue, direct action, cultural events, to really express the diaspora
September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016 — 7
IDEA Space’s Jamie Lee recognized for community service By Rosida Mohamathno IE Contributor
Mangaliman
and the real struggles of Filipinos. The real focus is gender justice. The Philippines was semi-colonial semi-feudal, so there was a lot of patriarchy, unfortunately, in the society. The way GABRIELA sees it is that we won’t all be free until the women are free. It is really acknowledging that violence against women happens in the home, it happens in the workplace, through the state. [It is about] trying to ensure that there is gender justice and that new democracy in the Philippines is critical. For a queer person, it is really close to my heart about gender justice and liberation. I had the opportunity to go on an exposure trip to the Philippines in 2013 and 2014 where I got to experience first-hand the conditions of the Philippines through a political lens—which I wasn’t able to [before] because I felt distant or my parents hid it from me. So now I have a better understanding. IE: What does it mean to be a Filipin@? Mangaliman: It means holding a history and resistance in our blood. Filipinos have been fighting for their liberation for years and decades, since the Spanish, since the Americans, and it’s been a continuation of that revolution. I know that my parents, my grandparents, and ancestors, all of them have experienced that injustice of not being able to “just be.” I think that I look back and think about what is my role as a person being from a colonized country living in the U.S. How do I maintain that connection and continue that fight alongside those folks who are on the frontlines and experiencing injustice. I remind myself that I have role to play here and I cannot forget that. IE: What’s your advice to someone who wants to act more on their social justice issues? Mangaliman: I think it’s really about building relationships and a commitment to the issues and causes in the long term. You really have to open yourself up and take a risk because it’s more than just being the best, it’s more about how can you contribute and what is your role and trying to figure that out. ... It’s hard to get started, and sometimes you feel like you don’t know anyone but if you see an event of interest just go and take a risk and talk to people and try to connect and talk to people. Find the community you belong in and opening up those conversations.
The International Examiner has awarded SCIDpda’s IDEA Space Manager Jamie Lee with the 2016 Community Voice Award for Community Service. Lee manages the funding, reporting, and vision for all IDEA Space projects and initiatives. Prior to joining SCIDpda in 2014, Lee worked in the University District with Sanctuary Art Center, an arts organization for homeless youth and young adults. She holds a Master’s in Social Work and Public Administration from the University of Washington. Lee is passionate about poverty alleviation, racial justice, youth development, neighborhoods, and the important interplay of policy and practice. The International Examiner caught up with Lee to talk about her work in the community. International Examiner: What else have you been involved in outside of SCIDpda? Jamie Lee: I currently am about to step off the board of WAPI Community Services but I have been on their board for about five years. I’m on the board of a non-profit organization in the University District that serves homeless teens and young adults. I sit on a couple city committees—I’m on the Downtown District Council, I’m on the solid waste advisory committee, kind of this citizen review committee for the solid waste line of businesses of Seattle Public Utilities, which is basically garbage, compost, and recycling. I am also on the Association Recreation Council for the ID/Chinatown Community Center. IE: It looks like you’re involved in a number of organizations in the ID. Why is important for you to help this community? Lee: I used to work with youth development before coming to work with the PDA and actually interning at WAPI. I purposely wanted to be involved in the organization at the time. ... It was kind of my way of staying involved in the API community and the Chinatown/International District. I had a long history of working in the U-District with homeless youth and young adults but I always wanted kind of one foot in the door with the API community because it was just one of a number of organizations I had been involved in down in this neighborhood before working here. I have always thought it was important for youth development and to work with youth who kind of reflect who I used to be growing up. My work with homeless youth/young adults with an arts organization was for me because I am also an artist myself. I have a BA from the UW in art and did art all the time as a kid and see the importance of creative expression for dealing with trauma or everyday life and I like that we can offer that to youth who are living on the street and it’s like a form of basic need that is not as concrete as food or shelter, but also really necessary. IE: How do you balance your profession and community service? Lee: Something that I’ve been trying
to work toward more is focusing on my artwork. ... I’ve been trying to focus my free time on that work and just recently rented an art studio in Hillman City, actually. I use this as my processing and outlet for everything that happens at work, because it can be really stressful and disillusioned sometimes, especially when I see or read articles in the IE about issues we are having 30 or 15 years ago and we are still having them today. Having that outlet for me to is keep sane with that. ... Having that balance of not only being in the neighborhood just for work but to remember why I came here for the first 14 years of living in Seattle. Remembering my addiction to Mike’s Noodle House, and knowing more restaurants. Not only enjoying this neighborhood but enjoying with the people in the community that’s not work involved. IE: What is the most important thing needed for the neighborhood right now? Lee: I think the biggest issue is helping people to stay, and what that means is our businesses, the residents, development pressures and affordability is a real issue. ... Like improving our buildings, making them more accessible Lee to businesses because they are in better shape. ... Some people could argue that the authenticity of this neighborhood is that it’s grimey but I don’t think that’s true, because we can make things beautiful. A lot of our buildings are gorgeous, but they also need a lot of work. ... I think there’s a lot of dialogue around if it is nice, does that mean it’s still not Chinatown? I don’t think that’s what it means. It’s whether or not it is authentic to who we are. It’s the people and the community. It’s all nice and shiny, but we’re all still here.
8 — September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
Viet Wah continues history in the community at new location By Rosida Mohamathno IE Contributor
Opened in 1981, Viet-Wah has transformed from the small shop it once was, to the warehouse distribution and retail store it has become today. Under the care of founder Duc Tran, Viet-Wah has become more than just a store. It is the connection between Seattle’s International District and Asian and Pacific Rim countries. Tran came to Seattle as a refugee from Vietnam. He recognized the scarcity of familiar foods at the time, and started VietWah as a small shop in 1981 to provide Asian grocery items to others in the community. Viet-Wah now has three locations and serves over 10,000 customers weekly. Viet-Wah Group recently had a grand opening for the new location of their Renton store. Leeching Tran, vice president of VietWah Group, said of the change: “After being in Renton for the last 10 years, Viet-Wah is excited to announce the grand opening of our brand new store location on 2825 NE Sunset Blvd. The new, larger store now features a deli and many upgrades from our previous location.” The International Examiner honored VietWah with the Community Business Award as part of the 2016 Community Voice Awards.
Viet-Wah celebrates its grand opening at 2825 NE Sunset Blvd. in Renton on August 14, 2016. • Courtesy Photo
In the following message to the community, Tran talks about her role with the business, Viet-Wah’s history, and its recent expansion: “I am currently the vice president of Viet-Wah Group. I don’t have much of a daily routine—each work day is different depending on what current projects the company is working on. Generally I oversee the operations of the two grocery stores and our wholesale distribution center. Right now the company is updating our online presence
and in the midst of launching an online store, hopefully later this year. “My dad, Duc Tran, is the president and founded of the company in 1981. He came to Seattle as a refugee of the Vietnam War in 1975. After arriving here, he recognized the scarcity of familiar foods from his home country and sought a way to provide those items to others in the community. What started as a tiny shop grew into a full-service grocery store. So the very start of the company was born from a need to have difficult to find foods from home. A
warehouse and distribution center soon followed to not only supply our own grocery store, but other stores and restaurants in the area as well. The wholesale operation imports food directly from Vietnam, Thailand, and China. In our grocery stores, we carry a range of all Asian food products and some American food staples as well. “Viet-Wah has been lucky to have the support of the community over the last 30 years to grow to where it is today. It’s our duty to give back to the people and the communities who support us, too. This includes sponsoring events like Celebrate Little Saigon, Tet in Seattle, and the Thai Festival, donating food and supporting the ACRS Food Bank, and giving to organizations like ICHS, VFA, or ICRA that directly impact our community. Because of the support of our customers and community, we’re able to do things like expand the Renton store to better serve our customers. Being able to expand and grow reaffirms that we’re doing something right and providing something that people want. You can’t take food for granted, and it feels great that we are able to supply the things that people are looking for. Our hope is that we’re able to make all these great foods available to an even wider population and make Asian foods more easily accessible to everyone.”
Since 1935
Tai Tung Restaurant
Banquet Facilities - Catering - Delivery
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655 S King St, Seattle, WA 98104 (206) 622-7372 Mon-Thurs 11am-10:30pm Fri-Sat 11am-12am Sun 11am-10pm
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
Jasmit Singh recognized by IE for excellence in social justice By Heidi Park IE Contributor Dr. Jasmit Singh is the International Examiner’s Excellence in Social Justice Community Voice Awardee. Jasmit has a business process consulting firm in Washington and is a Founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of a mobile technology company in the Silicon Valley. Jasmit founded the Sikh Coalition, which is a national civil rights organization that works toward the realization of civil and human rights for all people. In particular, it works in ensuring that Sikhs may freely practice and enjoy their faith while fostering strong relations within their local community. Jasmit served on its board from 2001-2011. Jasmit has also been involved with various philanthropic projects across the world, such as the Hate Free Zone of Washington, which promotes pluralism; the Wing Luke Asian Museum, which promotes and preserves recognition of the art and history of Asian Americans; and the Nishkam Sikh Welfare Organization, which works on projects related to social welfare. Jasmit holds various graduate degrees from colleges in both India and the US, including a Ph.D. in engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. He currently serves on the board of Asian Counseling and Referral Service. Jasmit has been awarded numerous awards, including Seattle Japanese Ameri-
can Citizen’s Sam Shoji Unsung Hero Award, Champion of Diversity for outstanding service in the area of diversity to Kent Schools and the Kent/Covington community to name a few. He is not only known for his rolodex of remarkable achievements but for his commitment to social justice locally and nationally. But one of the worst kept secrets about Jasmit is how he shows up for community. His deep compassion and commitment to community are what makes Jasmit extraordinary. He has been integral to the International Examiner’s efforts to include diversity in our efforts. Jasmit has always been a willing participant in being a contributing writer to the IE and panelist for the IE community dialogues. Jasmit once wrote, “There have been Jasmit Singh countless individuals (leaders, teachers, community members, officials) who have stood by us [Sikh community] in solidarity and with a singular resolve to speak up against hate, violence, and discrimination. I came to understand what it means to live not just as an individual but be a part of something that is greater than the self. It has also taught me to persevere, hope, and have faith in what binds us all together.” The IE couldn’t agree more. Congratulations to our eloquent friend, Dr. Jasmit Singh, on his award for Excellence in Social Justice!
Celebrate with Chopsticks! Our party menu is great for birthdays, meetings, parties and more! Choose from party platters featuring sushi, sashimi, egg rolls, BBQ pork, and other delicious Asian appetizers and entrees. Visit ww www.uwajimaya.com for info
seattle | bellevue | renton | beaverton
September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016 — 9
APCC continues to strengthen bridge between communities Heidi Park IE Contributor As the International Examiner honors Asia Pacific Cultural Center (APCC) for its Excellence in Arts Community Voice Award, the woman leading APCC is none other than Faaluaina Pritchard, or sometimes referred to as Lua or Auntie Lua, who has been a community leader for decades. Lua has been in leadership roles with Korean Women’s Association as its executive director for 15 years. She has served as the chair to the Pierce County Asian Pacific Island Coalition and as a commissioner on the Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs for a decade. She’s also chair of the Board Lua Pritchard of Trustees for Clover Park Technical College, a board member of Tacoma Urban League, and member of the Sound Transit Citizen Oversight Panel. Most recently she was appointed Lua as a Commissioner to the Washington State Arts Commission by Governor Jay Inslee. She also served on the boards of DSHS Refugees Advisory Council for eight years and the National Coalition of Asian Pacific American Community Development. She is a member of the Finance and Fund Development Committee for International Congregational Christian Church of America Samoa. Her credentials are impressive without question, but the best thing about Aun-
tie Lua is her generosity, warmth, and her incredible ability to mentor young Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. While her professional schedule and family life continue to keep her busy, she always makes time for community. One young community member remembers meeting Lua in 2010 when she was a community organizer. She remembers being brand new to the community and was nervous to work with other well-respected and longtime Asian American and Pacific Islander community leaders. But the first person who welcomed this young community organizer into the fold was Lua. She fondly remembers Lua welcoming her and introducing her to her children and other youth who spent time at APCC. Shortly thereafter, the young community organizer felt at ease and was able to work with Lua and APCC. No doubt Lua Pritchard is a ferocious community advocate, an impressive community leader, and a wonderful mentor. Her special talent to lead with open inclusivity is one of the reasons APCC is being honored by the International Examiner. Lua’s extensive executive director experience in social services, community development, primary/ secondary education, and food/nutrition education has helped APCC to strengthens the bridge between communities and generations through art, culture, education, and business. APCC conducts multiple cultural and educational activities that showcase 47 Asia Pacific countries with over 50 cultures and hundreds of languages. Congratulations to APCC and the woman behind this great organization, Faaluaina Pritchard!
10 — September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
IE NEWS
Announcements Blaine Benefit Bazaar on October 1
Blaine Memorial United Methodist Church will host its annual bazaar on October 1 from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. There will also be a farmers market where handmade goods, flowers, produce, and fresh baked pies will be available. There will be food available for purchase including BBQ salmon, udon, and baked goods. A kids zone will also be open from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. so kids can make crafts and play games. This year a portion of the proceeds will help rebuild homes destroyed in the Okanogan complex fires in 2014 and 2015 through the Rebuild: Up from the Ashes, which is a United Methodist Project. Blaine Memorial Methodist Church is located at 3001 24th Ave. S. Seattle, WA 98144. They can be contacted at (206)7231536 or blaineoffice@yahoo.com.
2nd Annual Kenjinkai Day
The Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Washington (JCCCW) is
holding its 2nd annual Kenjinkai Day on Sunday, October 2, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at 1414 S. Weller Street, Seattle, WA 98144. Different prefectural groups will host displays with information about Japan’s prefectures. This is a perfect opportunity to learn more about what makes the different prefectures and prefectural groups in Japan so special. Be sure to invite friends and families to go. If you want to lend a helping hand on Kenjinkai Day, JCCCW is also looking for some volunteers. Send your email to Theob@jcccw.org to learn more about volunteering for the event.
Nominations for International Special Review District Board being accepted until Oct. 11
The election for the International Special Review District (ISRD) Board is Tuesday, November 15 from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. in the Bush Hotel, Hing
Answers to this puzzle are on Wednesday, October 5.
Hay Coworks (409 Maynard Avenue South). In 1973, the ISRD Board was created to preserve, protect and enhance the cultural, economic, and historical qualities of the area. The Board reviews both changes to individual businesses and changes that may impact the entire district. There are two positions open this year: one for a Business Person, Property Owner or Employee and one for an At-Large seat. Nominations are accepted until Tuesday, October 11. You may submit your nomination form by mail to: Department of Neighborhoods PO Box 94649, Seattle, WA 98124-4649, or in person at: Seattle
City Hall, 600 4th Ave., 4th floor. Voters must be registered at least 30 days prior to the election in order to vote on November 15. To request a voter registration form, contact the Board Coordinator at (206) 684-0226. The Board has seven members, five elected by the community and two appointed by the Mayor. Board members serve two-year terms. Additional information about the ISRD can be found a http://www.seattle.gov/ neighborhoods/programs-and-services/ historic-preservation/historic-districts/ international-district.
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016 — 11
12 — September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
2017 Feb 23-26
SIFF Cinema Egyptian & Northwest Film Forum
#StarringUs
seattleaaff.org facebook.com/SeattleAAFF
Welcome to the 11th Seattle South Asian Film Festival
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016 — 13
Welcome to the 2016 Seattle South Asian Film Festival, produced by Tasveer and presented by Zee Cinema. For the 11th year, Tasveer brings back another edition of thoughtful, provocative, and meaningful cinema from and about South Kiran Dhillon Asia and its diaspora. Being the largest South Asian film festival in the country, with a greater depth and range of programming than ever before, we expect the 2016 Festival to be an unprecedented success. Our theme, Love Wins (#LoveWins), encompasses narratives and documentaries from around the world, chosen and presented here Madhuri Kudaravalli to inspire, provoke, and delight. We look forward to seeing you at SSAFF 2016 and hope you enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed putting it together!
Best regards,
Kiran Dhillon & Madhuri Kudaravalli Festival Directors
When Love Wins, Everyone Wins This year’s Seattle South Asian Film Festival is organized around the theme Love Wins. Love Wins champions the idea that love can empower and elevate humanity during these difficult and dynamic moments, when fear and vitriol toward immigrants, Muslims and others runs rampant. All around the world, people are losing their lives because of who they love or the color of their skin or for no good reason at all. Promoting universal love alone can douse this darkness and show us that we share much more in common— aspirations and struggles—than we may believe. With the 11th SSAFF, we explore how Love Wins in all its forms. SSAFF films will showcase romantic love of all kinds, parental love, love for music, love for mankind, love for life and much more!
Opening Night Gala FRIDAY, OCT 14th, 2016 || 7:00PM || SEATTLE ART MUSEUM & THE TRIPLE DOOR Join us for the Opening Night Gala of the 11th Seattle South Asian Film Festival at Seattle Art Museum followed by reception in The Triple Door. For this preview event, we present to you a Bengali feature film, Aynabaji, and a short Tamil
*** AYNABAJI is a dark comedy about an obsessive actor who gets paid handsomely to serve jail time for the rich and powerful of Dhaka. It’s a great gig until he falls for the girl of his dreams. Aynabaji A RIDE TO REMEMBER is the film, A Ride to Remember, followed amazing story of Auto Annadurai, by music, hors d’oeuvres and who is also a TedX speaker. cocktails in The Triple Door, all For tickets and more information, included with your ticket. visit tasveer.org.
14 — September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
Tasveer presents Seattle South Asian Film Festival
Now is the time to deconstruct dominating narratives demonizing Muslims from South Asia and around the world By Talha Sabri SSAFF Contributor The 11th annual Seattle South Asian Film Festival (SSAFF) is less than a month away and this year it will host more than 3,000 attendees, 45 films, and 16 attending filmmakers. Organized by Seattle-based nonprofit Tasveer, it is the largest South Asian film festival in the country. The idea of Tasveer was born in the aftermath of 9/11 and over the years through digital storytelling it has attempted to dismantle stereotypes of South Asians in the media. Tasveer has been successful in creating a platform that provides a non-judgmental space for South Asian voices to be heard. In addition to SSAFF, Tasveer organizes a South Asian Women Festival (Aaina), South Asian International Documentary Festival, and various film screenings, community forums, and programming events. SSAFF is Tasveer’s most extensive annual production and it focuses on an exploration of issues that face South Asia and its diaspora in the United States. Through a series of film screenings, panel discussions, workshops, and cultural programming, the goal is to involve audiences not just with the film and video works presented, but to create a prolonged space where the social, political, personal, and international issues that form the core subjects of those works can be discussed and understood. Post 9/11, representations of South Asians in American popular television and news media have increased significantly. Due to the proliferation of unsympathetic portrayals of South Asians and Muslims in the media and oppressive government policies, there has been a significant increase in both the incidence of hate crimes and anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States. In June 2015, The New York Times published an article, which includes statistics that strongly suggest that post-9/11 white supremacists and domestic terrorism have posed a much graver threat than radical Islamic extremists. However, according to a Washington Post article Anti-Islam sentiments and hate crimes against Muslim communities in the United States are five times more common today as compared to 14 years ago. A 2010 Gallup Poll suggests that about 48% of all American Muslims
Left to Right: SSAFF Director Kiran Dhillon, Tasveer Executive Director Rita Meher, and SSAFF Co-Director Madhuri Kudaravalli at a sneak preview for SSAFF’s upcoming films, which will start screening on October 14, 2016. • Photo by Tasveer
said they have experienced racial or religious discrimination. Not only have Muslim families been victims of these heinous attacks, the Sikh, Hindu, and most other South Asian communities have all been targets of numerous hate crimes, profiling, harassment, and discrimination at work. These events are partly influenced by Countering Violent Extremism operations and the Strong Cities program implemented by the United States Government. U.S. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies profile subjects based on religion, ethnic background, and country of origin and carry out sting operations that are targeted at vulnerable members of the Muslim, Arab and South Asian communities. These programs and targeted operations are problematic for a variety of reasons but most importantly they lead Americans to believe that their AntiMuslim sentiments and actions are justified. The question remains: If the State can do it, why should we stop? However, oppressive government policies are not the only reason. A critical part is played by radical Western networks like Fox News and Newsmax and Hollywood productions such as Homeland and Zero Dark Thirty. In order to dismantle these stereotypes, the popular cinema in South Asia has made blockbuster movies such Karan Johar’s My Name is Khan and Shoaib Mansoor’s Khuda
Ke Liye. Although these movies made it big in South Asian communities, they lacked viewership in Western circles. This is evident by the fact that Shah Rukh Khan, the lead character of My Name is Khan and one of the most celebrated Bollywood actors of all time, has been detained at American airports twice after the movie’s release. However, the efforts of the independent cinema and the community of underground artists in South Asia have been fairly effective in humanizing the various South Asian communities. Facebook pages inspired by Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York have made their way in major South Asian cities, like the Humans of Karachi and the Humans of Bombay pages. This has opened up a completely new and unbiased phase of people to people contact. My project, “Karachi Hai Kya,” attempts to deal with some of the issues mentioned above. Through my project, I am exploring the history of immigration in the second most populous city in the world by focusing on themes of racialized and gendered discrimination. My guiding question for the project is: “Who does the city belong to?” With a population of approximately 24 million people, Karachi is the second largest city in the world by population after Shanghai. It is home to people of diverse backgrounds from across South Asia, comprising of over 40 different ethnic, sectarian, and religious
groups. Therefore, it is extremely important to situate Karachi and understand the city better in the current global political climate, post 9/11 and in the midst of the ongoing “War on Terror.” What does the case of Karachi illustrate vis-a-vis the perceptions of Muslims in South Asia, the Middle East and around the globe? How has this fostered a culture where institutional self-care is absent from one of the largest cities in the world? Specifically, how do representations of Pakistanis in dominant Western narratives, and the discrimination that ensues as a result, lead to continuing trauma for those who are ethnically profiled because of an imagined propensity to “terrorism”? What agency do individuals have in reclaiming their sense of identity, and representing themselves? Who does Karachi belong to in an urban context, but also in the context of the world? By learning about the experiences of a heterogeneous group of people from a multitude of backgrounds, I hope to enrich the existing discourse on deconstructing Islamophobia narratives about Pakistanis, an approach that can be extended to South Asia and the MENA region, more generally. Through this project, I intend to humanize the various minorities from the city I call home, and by bringing their unfiltered nuanced perspectives to a global audience, hopefully promote a more pluralistic and less biased narrative perception of the people who Western governments classify as “terrorist” by virtue of their place of origin. I used non-traditional cameras, like GoPro and 360 view cameras, in order to paint a raw, more authentic picture of life in Karachi. The 360-view camera allows me to share with my audience an experience that situates my subjects in their surroundings more intimately. I used these cameras to emphasize the centrality of geographical concepts of space and place to the lives of these individuals. Along with these visual documentations, my website will feature written testimonials of my subjects’ narratives to offer a more holistic understanding of their lives. Given the political climate of the past decade, and the continuing period of fearmongering due to the attack in Orlando this year and the San Bernardino attacks last year, I cannot think of a more important time to deconstruct dominating narratives demonizing Muslims from South Asia and around the world.
SSAFF 2016 TEAM Festival Director: Kiran Dhillon Festival Co-Director: Madhuri Kudaravalli Tasveer Executive Director: Rita Meher Bangladesh Country Director: Rashed Noman Event Manager: Archana Soy Festival Publicist: Sara Huey Partnership Lead: Suryanka Kalra Symposium Organizers: Alka Kurian, Keith Snodgrass (South Asia Center, UW), Lyle Pearson
Volunteer Coordinators: Shuba Iyer, Sheraz Malik Programming Committee Ananya Rabeya (Lead) Jayant Swamy Nalini Iyer Rashed Noman Rebeka Noman Tanushree Chowdhury Archana Soy Pallavi Somusetty Marketing Committee Linishya Sequiera Vaz Mithun Menezes Rumela Ganguly Nidhi Chaudhry Varun Gupta Sarah Bal
Website Committee Jitendra Joshi (Architect) Mudit Gupta (Lead) Pooja Galgali Abhishek Kulkarni Festival Writers Sumathi Raghavan Jayant Swamy Talha Sabri Festival Coordinators Rasanga Weerasinghe Sandhya Sridhar Meera Saxena Devyani Charde Ravi Sangha Faiza Ateeq
Guest Liaisons Tanushree Chowdhury Rumela Ganguly Anita Akerkar The Tasveer Board Rita Meher, Co-founder and Executive Director, Tasveer Farah Nousheen, Co-founder, Tasveer Alka Kurian, Board President Pallavi Garg, Secretary Rashed Noman, Treasurer Archana Soy Rituja Indapure Shahina Piyarali Sheraz Malik Tameem Ansari Uzma Khan Debadutta Dash Priya Frank
Tasveer presents Seattle South Asian Film Festival
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016 — 15
Himalayan Stories: The Song Collector || Tashi and the Monk
Pratham Youth Program
SATURDAY, OCT 15th, 2016 || 7PM || SIFF FILM CENTER
A collection of films that explore growing pains and challenges faced by South Asian youth: Lost in Transit, Help Wanted, Any Other Day, and Syaahi.
SATURDAY, OCT 15th, 2016 || 4:30PM || SIFF FILM CENTER
***
Mina Walking
LOST IN TRANSIT: An abstract version of how a child looses himself while he confronts the real world, which is the complete contrast of the world he aspires for.
SATURDAY, OCT 15th, 2016 || 2PM || SIFF FILM CENTER
Directed by Ajit Giri. Runtime: 2min. ANY OTHER DAY: It was just another Language: No Dialogue. Country: India. day for Kabir and Arnav. But their lives take Year: 2016. a turn for the worse when two cops decide to make a spectacle of them. HELP WANTED: Pavan, a Punjabi Directed by Vikrant Dhote & Srikant teenager, gets involved in his local gang Ananthkrishnan. Runtime: 12min. in order to support his fragmented family when his unemployed and abusive father Language: English, Hindi, Marathi (with fails to do so. When a drug deal goes wrong English subtitles). Country: India. Year: and tensions run high with his two-faced 2015. gang leader, Pavan must make a tough SYAAHI: A young boy. A quaint hilly decision that could ultimately threaten his town. Everything that can go wrong will go life and the family he has worked so hard wrong. Perhaps, that is what metamorphosis to protect. needs. Directed by Jacquile Singh Kambo. Directed by Varun Tandon. Runtime: Runtime: 16min. Language: English, 30min. Language: Hindi (with English Punjabi (with English subtitles). Country: subtitles). Country: India. Year: 2015. Canada. Year: 2016.
MINA WALKING tells the story of Mina, an impulsive twelve-year-old Afghan street seller saddled by a senile grandfather and a neglectful father, who sees her future slipping away when she is forced to neglect her education and walk the streets of Kabul to support her fragmented family. In the seven days that follow her life, Mina’s quest to emancipate her father from the claws of a local drug dealer and her attempt to secretly attend school underlines the current struggle of a young generation of Afghans trying to shake off the echoes of oppression from the Taliban ear that continues to haunt those who bore witness to it. Directed by Yosef Baraki. Runtime: 110min. Language: Dari (with English subtitles). Country: Afghanistan. Year: 2015.
Human interest stories from the Himalayan region, dealing with the delicate balance between cultural traditions and modernization, abandonment and compassion. ***
TASHI AND THE MONK: Former Buddhist monk Lobsang left a life as a spiritual teacher in the United States to create a unique community in the foothills of the Himalayas which rescues orphaned and neglected children. 5 yearold Tashi is the newest arrival.
Directed by Andrew Hinton & Johnny Burke. Runtime: 39min. Language: Hindi, Tibetan (with English subtitles). Country: USA/India. Year: 2014. THE SONG COLLECTOR: A Himalayan folk singer struggles to reconcile his culture’s decline with the advantages of modernization. Directed by Erik Koto. Runtime: 54min. Language: Ladhaki (with English subtitles). Country: India. Year: 2013.
The Farmer and I
SUNDAY, OCT 16th, 2016 || 12:00PM || SIFF FILM CENTER
Let Her Cry
SATURDAY, OCT 15th, 2016 || 7:00PM || SIFF FILM CENTER
LET HER CRY: A university Professor appears to be having an affair with a young female student. His behavior threatens the carefully established routines of his middle class family. Through their unusual correspondence, the student keeps the professor’s wife informed of the affair and activities. The professor seems torn and confused as he at times denies and then admits to seeing the girl. The wife caught in the middle is not sure what to believe. The young student claims she is willing to die for their love and wants the Professor at any cost. As her carefully composed life starts to unravel, the wife makes the ultimate decision. She brings the girl to their home to live with them. He is a man of the post-modern world who cannot be a true lover and must therefore live out the routines of a good, decent and responsible professor and father. Directed by Asoka Handagama. Run time: 104min. Language: Sinhalese (with English subtitles). Country: Sri Lanka. Year: 2015.
Erotic Shorts
SATURDAY, OCT 15th, 2016 || 9:00PM || SIFF FILM CENTER
A collection of films that explore the broad spectrum of sexuality. *** WHILE YOU SLEPT
Directed by Nadya Perera. Run time: 24min. Language: Sinhalese (with English Subtitles). Country: Sri Lanka. Year: 2015. TELL ME A STORY
Directed by Shobhna S Kumar. Run time: 22min. Language: English, Hindi (with English subtitles). Country: India. Year: 2016. THE WOMAN… AND THE MAN
Directed by Sarmistha Maiti and Rajdeep Paul. Run time: 18min. Language: Bengali (with English subtitles). Country: India. Year: 2016. MEMORIES OF A MACHINE
Directed by Shailaja Padindala. Run time: 10min. Language: Malayalam (with English subtitles). Country: India. Year: 2016.
German filmmaker Irja and Bhutanese farmer Sangay see how quickly Bhutan, after centuries of isolation, starts falling through the traps of unsustainable growth. Passionate and equally idealistic that this trend can be reverted, they team up to make a 25-episode fiction TV series for the only Bhutanese TVchannel, promoting an autonomous modern and sustainable agriculture. Irja and Sangay risk to fail when the very same forces that threaten Bhutan to collapse strain their relationship. Despite their shared vision, locals and foreigners can’t seem to agree on the very basics of collaborating on the project: no common working procedure, little money and time for Western standards, and challenging remote places without the comforts of modern life. For Bhutan a similar challenge lies ahead. Even though Bhutan has developed the admirable vision of Gross National Happiness, the implementation of sustainable growth clashes with the foreign influence of modernization. Both, filmmakers and country, mirroring each other’s paths, may overcome the challenges and thrive towards bigger goals if they re-define who they are while embracing change. Directed by Irja Bernstorff. Run time: 81min. Language: English, German (with English subtitles). Country: Bhutan. Year: 2016.
LGBTQ Program: Black Sheep || That’s my Boy
SUNDAY, OCT 16th, 2016 || 1:30 PM || SIFF FILM CENTER
Stories of family and adventure, rejection and courage. ***
BLACK SHEEP: An unflinching look into the lives of Transgender women living in the slums of India. Directed by Reshel Shah. Run time: 72min. Language: Hindi (with English subtitles). Country: India. Year: 2015. THAT’S MY BOY: A documentary on gender identity disorder portrays the successful and remarkable life of Sonu, a female to male transgender.
Directed by Akhil Sathyan. Run time: 24min. Language: Malayalam (with English subtitles). Country: India. Year: 2016.
16 — September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
Friday, 10/14 at 7:00 pm AYNABAJI A RIDE TO REMEMBER
Opening Night Gala at Seattle Art Museum • Bangladesh, India, Love Bangla (with English subtitles) Bangladesh 2016 Tamil (with English subtitles) USA/India 2016
90min 4min
Saturday, 10/15 at 12:00 pm LOST IN TRANSIT HELP WANTED ANY OTHER DAY SYAAHI
2min 16min 12min 30min
Pratham Youth Program at SIFF Film Center • Canada, India LGBTQ, Youth Stories No Dialogue India 2016 English, Punjabi (with English subtitles) Canada 2016 English, Hindi, Marathi (with English subtitles) India 2015 Hindi (with English subtitles) India 2015
Saturday, 10/15 at 2:00 pm
Mina Walking at SIFF Film Center • Afghanistan, Women’s Stories Dari (with English subtitles) Afghanistan 2015
Saturday, 10/15 at 4:30 pm
Himalayan Stories: The Song Collector || Tashi and the Monk at SIFF Film Center Hindi, Tibetan (with English subtitles) USA/India 2014 Ladhaki (with English subtitles) India 2013
Saturday, 10/15 at 7:00 pm
Let Her Cry at SIFF Film Center • Sri Lanka, Love Sri Lanka 2015
MINA WALKING
TASHI AND THE MONK THE SONG COLLECTOR
LET HER CRY
110min
39min 54min
104min
Saturday, 10/15 at 9:00 pm WHILE YOU SLEPT TELL ME A STORY THE WOMAN… AND THE MAN MEMORIES OF A MACHINE
Sinhalese (with English subtitles)
24min 22min
Erotic Shorts at SIFF Film Center • India, Sri Lanka • LGBTQ, Sexuality Sinhalese (with English Subtitles) Sri Lanka 2015 English, Hindi (with English subtitles) India 2016
18min 10min
Bengali (with English subtitles) Malayalam (with English subtitles)
India India
2016 2016
Sunday, 10/16 at 12:00 pm
The Farmer and I at SIFF Film Center • Bhutan • Social Issues English, German (with English subtitles) Bhutan 2016
Sunday, 10/16 at 1:30 pm
LGBTQ Program: Black Sheep || That’s my Boy at SIFF Film Center • India, LGBTQ Hindi (with English subtitles) India 2015 Malayalam (with English subtitles) India 2016
Sunday, 10/16 at 4:15 pm
Ringan at SIFF Film Center • India, Social Issues India 2016
THE FARMER AND I
BLACK SHEEP THAT’S MY BOY
RINGAN
81min
72min 24min
105min
Tuesday, 10/18 at 11:00 am CRY OUT LOUD
66min
Marathi (with English subtitles)
Symposium at Thompson Hall, UW • India, Social Issues English/Hindi (with English subtitles) India 2016
Tuesday, 10/18 at 2:00 pm PANEL: CENSORSHIP IN FILM AND ART IN SOUTH ASIA
2pm-4pm
Symposium at Thompson Hall, UW • Censorship Moderated by Dr. Alka Kurian
Tuesday, 10/18 at 4:00 pm INDIA’S QUEER CINEMA: NOT MANY SINNERS MY CHILD IS GAY AND I’M HAPPY 32min DANCING QUEENS: IT’S ALL ABOUT FAMILY 10min
Symposium at Thompson Hall, UW • India, LGBTQ Presented by Lyle Pearson Hindi/English (with English subtitles)
India
2016
Hindi/English (with English subtitles)
India
2016
Tasveer presents Seattle South Asian Film Festival
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
Tuesday, 10/18 at 7:00 pm THE UNNAMED
90min
September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016 — 17
Symposium at Thompson Hall, UW • Bangladesh, Immigration Bangladesh 2016
Bangla
Wednesday, 10/19 at 7:00 pm SONG OF LAHORE IT TAKES TWO HANDS TO CLAP
82min
Song of Lahore || It Takes Two Hands to Clap at Stroum Jewish Community Center Urdu, English (with English subtitles) Pakistan 2015
20min
Urdu & English (with English subtitles)
Thursday, 10/20 at 7:00 pm CENTERPIECE GALA: ANT STORY
92min
Friday, 10/21 at 7:00 pm MANY RIVERS HOME IN HER WORDS: THE JOURNEY OF INDIAN WOMEN RECITATIONS NOT FROM MEMORY
Pakistan
2015
Centerpiece Gala: Ant Story at Seattle Asian Art Museum • Bangladesh, Love Bangla (with English subtitles)
Bangladesh
2013
47min
Life Stories: Many Rivers Home || In Her Words || Recitations at Redmond Senior Center English Canada 2014
42min
English
India
2015
18min
English
US/India
2014
Saturday, 10/22 at 12:00 pm UNBROKEN GLASS STUCK IN TIME
56min 5min
Let’s Talk Mental Health: Unbroken Glass || Stuck in Time at Carco Theatre English USA 2014 Bangla (with English subtitles) Bangladesh 2013
Saturday, 10/22 at 2:00 pm
The Cart || Durga at Carco Theatre • Bangladesh, India, Youth Stories Bangla (with English subtitles) Bangladesh 2015 Hindi (with English subtitles) India 2015
Saturday, 10/22 at 4:00 pm
KrishnoPokkho—The Dark Fortnight at Carco Theatre • Bangladesh, Love
THE CART DURGA
KRISHNAPOKKHO—THE DARK FORTNIGHT
76min 14min
110min
Bangla (with Engish subtitles)
Bangladesh
2016
Saturday, 10/22 at 6:00 pm
Silvat || Zeal for Unity: Jeewan Hathi at Carco Theatre • Immigration, Love Hindi/Urdu (with English subtitles) India 2016 Urdu (with English subtitles) Pakistan 2016
Saturday, 10/22 at 8:30 pm
Gardaab at Carco Theatre • Pakistan, Love, Social Issues Pakistan 2016
SILVAT JEEWAN HATHI
GARDAAB
47min 55min
93mins
Sunday, 10/23 at 12:00 pm CITIES OF SLEEP HELLHOLE
74min 10min
Sunday, 10/23 at 2:00 pm KALO POTHI
90min
Sunday, 10/23 at 4:00 pm WAITING 90min BROTHER, OMAR MATEEN 5min
Urdu (with English subtitles)
The Unseen: Cities of Sleep || Hellhole at Carco Theatre • India, Pakistan, Social Issues Hindi (with English subtitles) India 2015 No Dialog Pakistan 2016
Nepali (with English subtitles)
Kalo Pothi at Carco Theatre • Nepal, Social Issues Nepal 2015
Closing Night Ceremony: Waiting || Brother, Omar Mateen at Carco Theatre • LGBTQ Hindi (with English subtitles) India 2015 English USA 2016
18 — September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
Censorship of Film & Art in South Asia
Cry Out Loud
TUESDAY, OCT 18th, 2016 || 6:30PM || THOMPSON HALL, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
Ringan
FRIDAY, OCT 16th, 2016 || 4:15PM || SIFF FILM CENTER
RINGAN: A debt-ridden farmer and his young son decide to visit Pandharpur, home to Vithal, Maharashtra’s beloved deity. The father is suicidal and the son is on a quest to find his mother. Throughout the story, the duo grapples with the daily struggles of a low-income family, and with emotional baggage.
Directed by Makrand Mane. Run time: 105min. Language: Marathi (with English subtitles). Country: India. Year: 2016
CRY OUT LOUD is a collaboratively produced feature length film that explores the challenges that African nationals face as they make their lives in Khirki Extension, Delhi, India. The film, a project conceived by anthropologist Ethiraj Gabriel Dattatreyan, puts cameras in the hands of a crew of young men from Somalia who live in Khirki Extension. Together, Dattatreyan and the crew narrate the stories of everyday life of Cameroonian, Nigerian, Ugandan, Ivorian and Somali students, entrepreneurs, and refugees that put into perspective the violent eruptions that occur during filming that targets Africans as undesirable outsiders and that have since catapulted Khirki Extension and Delhi into the media spotlight.
TUESDAY, OCT 18th, 2016 2:00PM–4:00PM || THOMPSON HALL, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON PANEL: CENSORSHIP IN FILM AND ART IN SOUTH ASIA
Directed by Ethiraj Gabriel Dattatreyan. Runtime: 66min. Language: English/Hindi (with English subtitles). Country: India. Year: 2016.
My Child is Gay and I’m Happy || Dancing Queens
TUESDAY, OCT 18th, 2016 || 4:00PM || THOMPSON HALL, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
INDIA’S QUEER CINEMA—NOT MANY SINNERS: Despite a rich tradition of queer mythology in India, Henry the VIII’s anti-buggery law took effect as part of British imperialism in 1860. Presently, many depictions of homosexuality in Indian film endeavor to overturn this law, known as Section 377, rather that to perpetuate it. Presented by Lyle Pearson.
MY CHILD IS GAY AND I’M HAPPY: A series of interviews of some remarkable parents whose children are from the LGBT community. It shows their journey from being unsuspecting and often accepting, to the caring, supportive parents they are today. The film
Despite constitutional guarantees, freedom of speech and press has long been under attack in South Asia. Examples range from banning or indicting films for their political, sexual, or cultural content (The Final Solution, Fire, Udta Punjab in India), charging artists with sedition or immorality (Assem Trivedi, M. F. Hussain in India), socially sanctioning writers for realism (Perumal Murigan in India), and murdering singers for blasphemy or honor (Amjad Sabri, Quandil Baloch in Pakistan), bloggers and public intellectuals for promoting secularism (Oyasiqur Rehman, Sabina Mahmud, M M Kalburgi in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India), or journalists for telling the truth (Syed Saleem Shahzad in Pakistan). Through the use of historical, archival and filmic material, a panel of scholars and filmmakers will interrogate the rise of cultural and intellectual intolerance in South Asia by looking at the role played both by state and nonstate actors in controlling and erasing ideas, creativity, and human lives. Moderated by Dr. Alka Kurian
is an important documentary which gives the viewer a peak into the lives of the LGBT community, in the conservative society of India, where homosexuality continues to be a crime.
Directed by Sopan Muller. Runtime: 32min. Language: Hindi/English (with English subtitles). Country: India. Year: 2016. DANCING QUEENS: IT’S ALL ABOUT FAMILY: A documentary short
The Unnamed
featuring bittersweet stories from Mumbai’s premiere professional LGBT dance troupe known as the “Dancing Queens.” Taking place over the course of five years, Dancing Queens captures the heartache of losing out to discrimination, the triumph of family, and all the dances inbetween.
Directed by Jeff Roy. Runtime: 10min. Language: Hindi/English (with English subtitles). Country: India. Year: 2016
Alka Kurian is a lecturer at the University of Washington Bothell. She teaches film studies, literature, human rights, and women’s studies. Her single author book Narratives of Gendered Dissent in South Asian Cinemas was published by Routledge in 2014. She is currently working on a co-edited book with Sonora Jha entitled New Feminisms in South Asia: Disrupting the Discourse Through Social Media, Film and Literature. She has volunteered for Tasveer since 2006 as co-director of Seattle South Asian Film Festival. Panelist info: Visiting Filmmakers from South Asia and local filmmakers who filmed in South Asia. Guests to be determined.
Song of Lahore || It Takes Two Hands to Clap
TUESDAY, OCT 18th, 2016 || 7:00PM || THOMPSON HALL, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
OGGATONAMA (THE UNNAMED) is a film about local Life, Love and Hope while portraying a strong message of global Humanity. The central character, a poor farmer from a remote Bangladeshi village facing challenges, from bureaucracy, from his peers and also from the traditional mindset after receiving the dead body of an ‘Oggatonama’ – the unnamed. Circumstances challenge him to face a situation involving the death news of his son who was an expatriate, working in the middle east as an unskilled labor. The story portrays a typical Bangladeshi village, its inhabitants and economic strength
Tasveer presents Seattle South Asian Film Festival
WEDNESDAY, OCT 19th, 2016 || 6:00PM || STROUM JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER Watch the amazing power of music—keeping traditions alive, building bridges across cultures.
SONG OF LAHORE: Lahore was once a haven for a musical culture passed down for centuries to the beat of the tabla drum. Today, Islamization, ethnic divisions, war, and corruption have torn apart the cultural fabric of Pakistan
through export of manpower but a lot of these exports involves illegal human trafficking, mistrust and broken hopes.
Directed by Tauquir Ahmed. Run time: 90min. Language: Bangla. Country: Bangladesh. Year: 2016
Directed by Andy Schocken & Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. Run time: 82min. Language: Urdu, English (with English subtitles). Country: Pakistan. Year: 2015. IT TAKES TWO HANDS TO CLAP: A group of folk musicians from Pakistan
visit small towns in America as part of a larger Muslim cultural engagement project Directed by Nadya Shah. Run time: 20 min. Language: Urdu & English (with English subtitles). Country: Pakistan. Year: 2015.
Tasveer presents Seattle South Asian Film Festival
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016 — 19
Let’s Talk Mental Health: Unbroken Glass || Stuck in Time
SATURDAY, OCT 22nd, 2016 || 12:00PM || CARCO THEATER
Powerful movies holding a mirror to the ills of mental health, often a topic that is taboo within the community.
Centerpiece Gala: Ant Story
Life Stories
Ant Story, a critically acclaimed Bangladeshi movie, followed by reception with the director, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki.
Tracing social and emotional journeys, be it Indian women across the ages or South Asian parents that form the diaspora or gendered experiences in the urban Indian context.
THURSDAY, OCT 20th, 2016 || 7:00PM || ASIAN ART MUSEUM
***
ANT STORY is a wry comedy about Mithu, an incorrigible daydreamer who gets ever more embroiled in his fantasies. Everyday on the way back to his suburban home on the other side of the river, struggling young graduate Mithu keeps gazing at the dazzling city of Dhaka which is like a big pie. Everybody wants to have a stake in that pie. Mithu feels he is not properly equipped to win over his stake. So he starts to equip himself in an unusual and unethical fashion. He realizes when the world can not be changed according to his wish; it is easier to create a new customized world in his head! He embarks on a journey of faking, lying, and fantasizing. He feels the immense pleasure of creativity because ‘truth is what one has while lies are what one creates’. It then turns out to be a dangerously ‘creative’ game of sex-lies-and videotape. Directed by Mostofa Sarwar Farooki. Run time: 92min. Language: Bangla (with English subtitles). Country: Bangladesh. Year: 2013.
***
FRIDAY, OCT 21st, 2016 || 7:00PM || REDMOND SENIOR CENTER
STUCK IN TIME: A man decides to UNBROKEN GLASS: It is the story of end his life and quit his misery but soon filmmaker Dinesh Sabu’s journey to piece discovers his mistakes, when something together the story of his parents’ lives, 20 mysterious finds him. years after their deaths Directed by Nabhan Zaman. Run time: Directed by Dinesh Sabu. Run time: 5min. Language: Bangla (with English 56mins. Language: English. Country: subtitles). Country: Bangladesh. Year: USA. Year: 2014. 2013.
***
MANY RIVERS HOME: Documentary examining the ties that bind South Asian families in a Lower Mainland seniors’ residence.
Directed by Baljit Sangra. Run time: 47 min. Language: English. Country: Canada. Year: 2014. IN HER WORDS: THE JOURNEY OF INDIAN WOMEN: Documentary tracing the historical and social journeys of Indian women’s lives as revealed through the literature they created in every era.
Directed by Annie Zaidi. Run time: 42 min. Language: English. Country: India. Year: 2015 RECITATIONS NOT FROM MEMORY: An experiment in recounting gendered experience, and particularly gender discrimination, within the urban Indian context.
Directed by Sunita Prasad. Run time: 18 min. Language: English. Country: US/India. Year: 2014.
The Cart || Durga
SATURDAY, OCT 22nd, 2016 || 2:00PM || CARCO THEATRE
THE CART: This is the story of the indomitable dream of two young brothers and divorcee mother and their incredible journey in life and their hand driven cart that has never been defeated. The story of human spirit, sufferings and simple joy. Directed by: Ashraf Shishir. Run time: 76min. Language: Bangla (with English subtitles). Country: Bangladesh. Year: 2015
DURGA: This is the story of Bhola (an old artist who paints the eyes of the idols of Goddess Durga) and his 7 year old grand daughter, Durga, born blind. Bhola lived his life in this irony; an artist known to give eyes to lifeless idols could not do anything about the blindness of his precious granddaughter. In the end, Bhola makes a life-altering
choice and justifies his very existence and purpose in life not only towards his granddaughter but also his gifted skill as an artist.
Directed by: Vivek Kajaria. Run time: 14mins. Language : Hindi (with English subtitles). Country : India. Year: 2015.
KrishnoPokkho—The Dark Fortnight
SATURDAY, OCT 22nd, 2016 || 4:00PM || CARCO THEATRE
KRISHNOPOKKHO—THE DARK FORTNIGHT: A 2016 Bangladeshi Bengal romance drama based on novel of the same name written by Humayun Ahmed. The film’s adapted screenplay was written and directed by Meher Afroz Shaon and starring Riaz, Mahiya Mahi, Ferdous Ahmed, Azad Abul Kalam and Tania Ahmed. This is the debut fiction film by the director. The storyline revolves around two starcrossed lovers who are not destined to be together. Directed by Meher Afroz Shaon. Run time: 110mins. Language: Bangla (with Engish subtitles). Country: Bangladesh. Year: 2016.
Zeal for Unity: Jeewan Hathi || Silvat
SATURDAY, OCT 22nd, 2016 || 6:00PM || CARCO THEATRE
Directed by Tanuja Chandra. Run time: 47mins. Language: Hindi/Urdu (with English subtitles). Country: India. Year: 2016.
JEEWAN HATHI: A satire and black comedy on the world of media and its Zeal for Unity is a peace initiative in manufactured reality with absolutely which Indian and Pakistani filmmakers no bearing on anything except ratings. endeavor to bring together thought lead- Thriving on daily controversy and ers from across the borders. sensationalism, this film follows a symbolic tale of how the media generates *** and creates conflict in society. SILVAT: A young girl Noor, whose Directed by Meenu Gaur and Farjad husband works in the Middle East and has not visited her for long time and in Nabi. Run time: 55 mins. Language: between waiting for her husband, Noor Urdu (with English subtitles). Country: falls for someone else. Pakistan. Year: 2016.
Gardaab
SATURDAY, OCT 22nd, 2016 || 8:30PM || CARCO THEATRE
GARDAAB: Trapped in the web of ethnic strife in the brutal underbelly of Karachi, Gardaab is a tale of two lovers’ journey, as they struggle to break away from the unending cycle of violence that haunts the metropolis. Filmmaker Harune Massey will be in attendance for a post-film Q/A.
Directed by Harune Massey. Run time: 93mins. Language: Urdu (with English subtitles). Country: Pakistan. Year: 2016.
20 — September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
Tasveer presents Seattle South Asian Film Festival
SSAFF Staff picks for festival flicks Nalini Reddy’s picks:
Here are my top picks of the films I have viewed so far.
1. Cities of Sleep—It’s about homelessness, the problem of urbanization in Indian cities. It presents philosophy of sleep to commercialization of this basic human need.
2. Hellhole: Life of a sewer cleaner captured in a silent film that speaks loud and clear.
after having lost his mother to suicide just a month after losing his father to cancer as a child. As Dinesh talks to his siblings, several of whom raised him, and other family members, the rippling effects of mental illness and unearthing a difficult past become clear. This film is incredibly important to help facilitate conversation around this often difficult to talk about topic. Cities of Sleep—In the context of the housing/homelessness crisis in Seattle, this film provides a look into the struggle unknown numbers of people face finding a place to sleep at night by following a man looking for a bed at illegal outdoor “shelters” and another who lives in a flourishing “unseen” community under a busy bridge in New Delhi.
3. Unbroken Glass: About the effects of mental illness in two generations of an immigrant family and the journey of orphaned siblings living with past and ongoing influences of mental illness. It’s Erotic Shorts Program—Open an important topic to discuss in public discussion of sexuality is often tabooed in space to break the myth and taboo around South Asian circles. We present a series of mental disorders. beautiful short films that explore the topic from different angles and are sure to spark Jayant Swamy’s a lively discussion!
picks:
Anu Menon’s Waiting mesmerizes. Moments from the film linger long after the movie has ended. A sordid theme. Yet an air of hope and vivacity pervades. When a loved one is on the brink, should one let go or hang on? Waiting examines this existential question through the evolving relationship of two strangers from two different generations, bonding over their shared sorrow. Natural performances by Naseeruddin Shah and Kalki Koechlin add to the many merits of this sincerely crafted film.
Fanny Pack is an endearing laugh riot even as it unfurls the dichotomy of a father-daughter relationship. Brian George (of Seinfeld and Big Bang Theory fame) excels as the over indulgent patriarch who follows his daughter through the airport as he tries to convince her to follow his dreams. Director Uttera Singh, playing the millennial daughter at loggerheads, with him is the perfect foil. At some level this short film reminded me of my own relationship with my dear departed father!
Kiran Dhillon’s picks:
Aynabaji—A visually stunning, dark comedy about an obsessive actor who gets paid well to impersonate the rich and powerful of Dhaka and serve their time in prison. It seems like a great gig until he falls for the girl of his dreams. Let Her Cry–Beautiful film explores the complexity of love and relationships with a young woman who falls in love with her older, married professor. What happens when the professor’s wife invites the young woman to live with them?
Unbroken Glass—An incredibly powerful film where Dinesh Sabu explores the history of mental illness in his family,
Rita Meher’s picks:
sexual encounter captured on-camera by the subject. While we listen on it throws us in a dichotomy of whether to see her first encounter as a pleasure or abuse. The film is shot in a voyeuristic style and visually a treat. I instantly fell in love with the film and the actress Kani Kusruti. I think it was the first film selected for the festival.
Mina Walking: Watching Mina gave me hope. The heroine Mina’s grit to stay in school, besides all the odds is inspiring to watch. The movie is a story of triumph and victory over all hardships that is shot in a style that is hard to tell whether it is a narrative or a documentary. The Farmer and I: I really liked this film, as it is rare to get a feature documentary from Bhutan. It took us deep into the struggles of Bhutan, behind the curtain of happiness GDR they claim through the life of the subject of the film.
Madhuri Kudaravalli’s picks:
Unbroken Glass— Memories of It is a powerful story Machine—Inspired by of five kids raising Lars Von Trier’s My each other, having Sister Soul, this film lost their mother to took my breath away. suicide stemming It is stark and honest from schizophrenia, a revelation of the first month after losing their father to cancer.
SUNDAY, OCT 23rd, 2016 || 12:00PM || CARCO THEATRE
***
HELLHOLE: One strong gutter cleaner shows us what it is like to take your life in your hands everyday and reminds us of his oft forgotten humanity. Directed by Mobeen Ansari. Run time: 10min. Language: No Dialog. Country: Pakistan. Year: 2016
Tashi and the Monk—If you know a wild and naughty kid, you will easily relate to this film. Tashi and the Monk revolves around, Tashi, Jamtse Gatsal’s newest arrival. Jamtse Gatsal is a children’s community started by a former Buddhist monk Lobsang, trained under His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Lobsang brought in Tashi after her mother passed away and is abandoned by her alcoholic father. Wild and troubled, Tashi is struggling to find her place amongst 84 new siblings. This film embodies our theme #LoveWins as we see the transformation in Tashi though the love and compassion in this community.
SUNDAY, OCT 23rd, 2016 || 4:00PM || CARCO THEATRE
See the unseen. Struggling to find a place to sleep at night in New Delhi. Cleaning the gutters of Karachi to eek out a living.
Directed by Shaunak Sen. Run time: 74min. Language: Hindi (with English subtitles). Country: India. Year: 2015
Jeewan Hathi—This film is a satirical dark comedy about Pakistani Realty TV driven by ratings and sensationalism. The unique filing style cracks you up while driving the point across about the “manufactured” reality driven by such media. The film is being screened as part of the Zeal for Unity project, a peace initiative from Zee Cinema in which Indian and Pakistani filmmakers endeavor to bring together thought leaders from across the borders.
Closing Night Ceremony: Waiting || Brother, Omar Mateen
The Unseen: Cities of Sleep || Hellhole
CITIES OF SLEEP: The documentary takes us into a heady world of insurgent sleeper’s communities as well as the infamous “sleep mafia” in Delhi where just securing a safe sleeping spot often becomes a question of life and death for a large number of people.
The youngest of them all, Dinesh Sabu, through his film, explores the demons he is fighting about depression that might even be related to his family’s history of mental illness. This film makes the impact of mental health real.
Kalo Pothi
SUNDAY, OCT 23rd, 2016 || 2:00PM || CARCO THEATRE
KALO POTHI: To seek their lost happiness two young boys embark their journey relentlessly, completely unaware of the tyranny brought by broken ceasefire where they witness various unimaginable events that forces them to experience anger, blame, guilt, frustration, and finally hope which is beyond their missing hen and their chance to be happy again. Directed by Min Bahadur Bham. Run time: 90min. Language: Nepali (with English subtitles). Country: Nepal. Year: 2015.
WAITING: A film about a special relationship between two people who befriend each other unexpectedly in a hospital while nursing their individual spouses in coma. It is a film about grief, yes, but it is also about confronting it. Tenderly and humorously, the film besets you with its central query – what does it mean to love someone – is it to let go of your beloved in spite of your emotional need for them or is it to unconditionally accept them in whatever shape or form they are. Directed by Anu Menon. Run time: 90min. Language: Hindi (with English subtitles). Country: India. Year: 2015
BROTHER, OMAR MATEEN: A Muslim queer Pakistani immigrant to the U.S. empathizes with Omar Mateen, drawing parallels with his identities with that of the Orlando shooter. Directed by Saad Khan. Run time: 5min. Language: English. Country: USA. Year: 2016.
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016 — 21
22 — September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016 — 23
IE COMMUNITY
The gifts of my grandfather, Justice Charles Z. Smith By Mahealani Smith Special to the IE My mother took a photograph on Father’s Day, 1987. Granted, she took a lot of photographs to document my earliest years, but this one was notable for the reaction it received when she showed it to people who knew my grandfather. “Is that Charles? On the floor?” The answer, shockingly, was “yes.” My grandfather was lying on his side in his living room, playing with a six month old me. The smile on his face is the same one I was fortunate enough to see for almost 30 years, every time he mentioned me or glanced my way. It’s the same smile that he wears in a photo of us that was featured in The Seattle Times in 1988, when he was appointed to the State Supreme Court. Every time my grandfather would introduce me, it was with a proud declaration that I was his “first-born grandchild.” Even at a young age, I felt an obligation to live up to that pride, even before I began to realize the larger significance my Grandpa Charles held outside of our family. I understood that my grandpa had an important job as a Justice on the State Supreme Court. I was vaguely aware of the fact that he must have had a long and illustrious career to get there. But really what I understood was that sometimes as a baby, my photo had been in the paper with him, and that sometimes I would put on nice clothes and go to a dinner with a lot of adults who were talking about him. I learned to be polite and courteous at these events, to keep my elbows off the table and my napkin in my lap, and to always speak clearly. I can remember being about seven, sitting around the table in my grandparents’ dining room for a family holiday. I was excitedly telling my grandpa about something, when he insisted that I “e-nun-ci-ate,” as he was having a hard time understanding me. When I responded with a blank stare, he asked if I knew what that word meant; when I answered that I did not, he explained—not just the dictionary definition, but the larger importance of it. I think of it fondly now as his lawyer-speak, his methodically timed speech with crisp, clear consonants. As a child, it was what I tried to emulate from that point on whenever I spoke with him. As an adult, I now realize what a crucial skill it is to get people to not only listen when you’re speaking, but to understand it. When I was in middle school, we went to a dinner in his honor hosted by the JACL. I remember being confused that it was my non-Japanese grandfather who was being celebrated, because I had no idea yet of the history of his involvement with the community. I had no idea then that his work had helped secure redress for incarcerated Japanese Americans, including my mother’s parents and grandparents. Now, I smile, knowing that his legacy has been preserved through Densho and has been included at The Wing. It reminds me that the love my grandfather held for me was only one facet of his great compassion and drive to make the world better for everyone, especially people of color. I consider myself extraordinarily fortunate that I had so many years with my grandfather, and so many of them as an adult. Even as a teenager, after my
Justice Charles Z. Smith and Mahealani Smith on Father’s Day, 1987. • Courtesy Photo
grandfather had retired from the court, I still didn’t really understand exactly what his legacy meant. By that age, I knew he was the first—and at that point, only— person of color to sit on the court, and I could appreciate the enormity of that. I knew that he had taught at the University of Washington School of Law, which was neat, and that there was now a scholarship in his name, which was somehow cooler to me than his status as a professor emeritus. I knew that he had worked for Robert F. Kennedy, although I didn’t quite grasp all the details. Mostly, it was youthful bragging rights—my grandpa is cooler than yours. In October 2005, the Hispanic National Bar Association held its annual gala at an upscale hotel in DC. I had just started my freshman year of college there, so my grandfather swung by my residence hall to pick me up as his date for the night. As we mingled before the dinner, a man in a white tuxedo jacket came up to greet my grandfather. We chatted for a few minutes, and he graciously described what an icon and mentor my grandpa was, and how happy he was to see him. Then he excused himself, and my grandfather leaned in to inform me that he was being sworn in as the association’s new president. That night was the first time that I recognized the sphere of influence around my grandfather was much, much larger than I had realized. It was the just the beginning. When I spent a year studying American Sign Language, he told me all about how he had helped write legislation to bring interpreters into the courtroom, after he had needed an ASL interpreter for a Deaf witness. He had such a genuine love for the Deaf community, and we signed together through the manual alphabet, which he still remembered from when he was a child.
Two years ago, a portrait of my grandfather by Alfredo Arreguin was hung at the University of Washington School of Law. It was one of the last times I saw him speak in public, and I remember being in awe of how many people came out to recognize him. It wasn’t just legal professionals of my parents’ generation who admired him, it was law students my age as well. A friend of mine in her first year of law school texted me one day to tell me that they’d been discussing my grandfather in her class. I couldn’t help but smile; it’s a rare and special thing to have that kind of a legacy in your family. I have found myself returning frequently to a poem called “Epitaph” by Merritt Malloy that I came across by chance just a few days after my grandfather’s passing. They were the very words that I needed to
hear, because it struck me as a message he would try to pass on: “…when all that’s left of me is love, give me away.” All I have now are photos of my grandpa’s smile, memories of visiting on the weekends to find him in his Superman t-shirt and zori, or of eating gumbo seasoned with Tabasco. These are the gifts his gave me, and the pride in his eyes when I assured him I was saving money he had provided for the future. These are all the moments I hold in my heart. I cannot hug him or kiss him again, but I can give that love we shared to the communities he cherished. Lani Smith is the oldest of Justice Smith’s six grandchildren. She is a photographer on the side, and is currently pursuing her Masters in Information Management at UW.
Justice Charles Z. Smith and family. • Courtesy Photo
24 — September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
IE ARTS
Fall Into Arts In This Year Of The Fire Monkey becomes one of the first females in her family to hunt eagles.
Dear Readers,
ELEMENTARY EDUCATION AGES 5-11 A rich academic environment where creativity and imagination thrive.
2016-2017 OPEN OPEN HOUSES 2015-2016 HOUSES DECEMBER 3, 2015, 2016, 10AM 10AM DECEMBER 5, JANUARY JANUARY 7, 9, 2017, 2016, 10AM 10AM
It’s fall, that time of the year when everyone rolls out their new plans for the arts. Our art stories this issue look at every category of the arts and highlight some local artists as well. We preview Seattle Kokon Taiko and their director, Stan Shikuma, as they get ready to celebrate their long presence in the community with a special concert. We talk to Northwest writer Sayantani Dasgupta who comes out with a debut collection of essays. In the visual arts, we cover Miya Ando’s unique paintings on metal. Below you’ll find some of my picks that look interesting enough to check out in every genre of the arts. Of course for the full comprehensive listing of the arts, go online to www.iexaminer. org/category/arts. Have fun and whatever you do, don’t forget to include the arts.
The ruler of North Korea kidnaps a famous South Korean director and his leading lady and makes them make movies in “The Lovers and the Despot” opening October 6 at Sundance.
See Juzo Itami’s “Tampopo” about the hunt for the best ramen in Japan and get a free bowl of noodles too? Yes, it is true, November 23 at SIFF Uptown.
Korean bad boy director Park Chanwook takes on a British lesbian romance and places it in Japan opening in October.
Lav Diaz’s “The Woman Who Left Nothing” won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Seattle South Asian Film Festival October 14 to 23 all over Puget Sound puts the spotlight on Bangladesh this year.
Best,
Located in Downtown Seattle
Alan Chong Lau IE Arts Editor
914 Virginia Street | Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 621-9211 ***
www.SpruceStreetSchool.org
Visual Arts
“Art Interruptions” is taking art outside as you can see public art in the neighborhoods. Up until January 2, 2017. Go to www.feetfirst.org. “9e2 Seattle” dares to bring together arts and science for some exciting times. October 21 to 22 at King Street Station. Go to 9e2seattle.org for details.
Miya Ando’s subtle shades of dark and light in her paintings on metal at Winston Wachter until October 29, 2016.
Wonderful quilt art from Japan through October 2, 2016 at La Connor Quilt & Textile Museum.
“Tatau/Tattoo” show and “Day in the Life of Bruce Lee,” part III of the story of this martial arts legend both at the Wing. Sleigh-of-hand video artist Tabaimo from Japan opens at Seattle Asian Art Museum in November 2016.
Performing Arts
Seattle Kokon Taiko celebrates their 35th anniversary with a concert October 1, 2016. Kishi Bashi, singer/songwriter and eerie violinist hits Seattle October 18.
Book It Repertory takes on Ruth Ozeki’s post-tsunami novel until October 9.
Inventive, inspiring music at Earshot Jazz Festival October 7 to November 11 with many Asian/Asian American musicians.
SIS Productions explores the glory of love in Dipika Guha’s play directed by David Hsieh at Theatre Off Jackson October 19 to November 5. Tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain lights up the stage on October 23.
Performance artist Arahmaiani from Indonesia at SE Asian Symposium at PLU in Tacoma on October 29, 2016.
A nice ghostly autumn leaf sculpture titled, “sCosmic Leaf #3,” by Kanetaka Ikeda part of his show at Blackfish Gallery in Portland from October 4 to 29. For more information, visit www.blackfish.com.
Written Arts
“Are You An Echo?” looks at the children’s poet Misuzu Kaneko. September 29 at Queen Anne Books. At Elliott Bay, catch a panel of scholars talking about Japanese American incarceration during WWII on Bora Yoon, inventive magician of sound October 23 and Donna Miscolta reads from and space creates another world of sound a new novel about the Mexican American at Cornish’s Poncho Hall on November 4, side of her family on November 12. 2016. At Hugo House hear young talented poet Qui Nguyen, Vietnamese American Jane Wong read from her debut collection playwright, hits two Seattle stages in “Overpour” on October 21. December—Seattle Rep and UW LAB Local literary treasure, Chinese Project. immigrant poet Koon Woon reads Lauren Yee’s most personal project, an from his memoir, “Paper Son Poet,” on ode to her father in “King of the Yee’s” September 28 and November 10. October 13 to 22 in Richmond BC, Filipino American novelist Patty Enrado Canada. reads about Filipino American labor organizers in the grape fields and local Film poet/playwright Robert Flor remembers Korean Canadian Michelle Kim his days working the canneries in Alaska explores love in “The Tree Inside” on on October 20 at Third Place Books in September 24 at 9:00 p.m. at Northwest Seward Park and other sites around the state. Film Forum. Look out for Shaun Tan’s new book “Miss Hokusai” is a lovely animated feature from Japan coming in October on the Brothers Grimm and Madeleine Thien’s “Do Not Say We Have Nothing,” about a talented woman artist in hiding. a novel about a musical family before and “The Eagle Huntress,” a fascinating after Tiananmen was short-listed for the documentary about a teenage girl who Man Booker Prize.
The International Examiner website is updated seven days a week. Visit iexaminer.org for the extended Fall Arts Guide and more daily online content!
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016 — 25
IE ARTS
Exploring multiplicity of the Indian diaspora with Sayantani Dasgupta By Imana Gunawan IE Contributor
Leaving home to make a new one is a bittersweet process, often leading to conflicts and balancing acts across continents. But Sayantani Dasgupta—born in Calcutta, raised in New Delhi, and currently based in Moscow, Idaho—explores themes of living in the diaspora with such honesty and wit in her anthology Fire Girl: Essays on India, America and the In-Between. The International Examiner reached out to Dasgupta to talk about the process behind Fire Girl, her challenges as a writer, and the act of embodying multiplicity inherent within every person. International Examiner: How did the idea for Fire Girl come about and how did it come to fruition? Sayantani Dasgupta: My MFA thesis was also a collection of essays. But they weren’t fitting together properly. So I started sending them out individually for publication in journals and magazines. I also began working on brand new ones. When I recognized the recurring themes of some of these essays, it made sense to try and put them together in a new collection. Also, as it so often happens, your friends see the potential much before you do. In my case, I have the poet Jordan Hartt, to thank. IE: How would you describe the essence of Fire Girl? What are themes that connect these essays together? SD: I think the essence of Fire Girl is “multiplicity.” We are all made up of multiple building blocks—culture, nationality, identity, food, so on and so forth. The recurring themes in Fire Girl, rather the multiple building blocks that make me me are terms such as “home” and “abroad”
and what they mean, and gods, monsters, mortals, books, travel, gender, and the history and religions of South Asia. IE: How do you hope readers, whether they are living in the Indian diaspora or coming from vastly different cultures, approach your work? Any hopes for their takeaways? SD: I hope Fire Girl makes its reader a little curious, whether it is to explore authors completely outside their comfort zone or try an unfamiliar food. I hope in spite of our (potentially very) different lives, Fire Girl is able to provide some common questions to dwell upon. IE: Are there any stories particularly dear to you, or ones that are challenging for you to write/publish? SD: The essay “Oscillation” was especially hard to write. I wrote it after the brutal gang rape of a medical student in New Delhi in 2012. There were many elements of her story that struck a chord, not the least of which was the fact that I myself was almost abducted in a bus when I was 23. Even though it’s been more than 10 years since that day, I am still haunted by that memory. IE: How has your writing changed between living in New Delhi and now in Moscow, Idaho? SD: Prior to coming to the [United States], I only wrote fiction. I didn’t know anything about creative nonfiction. I used to think of nonfiction as memoirs written by old, retired politicians. But in grad school here, I was introduced to the stunning and heartbreaking writings of luminaries such as Abigail Thomas, Debra Gwartney, Maxine Hong Kingston, and many others. I fell in love with the form, with the freedom it offered in terms of themes and structures,
Sayantani Dasgupta. • Photo Courtesy of Heather Woolery
and the permission it gave me to tell a wide variety of hard stories. I was hooked. I didn’t want to stop. So I switched my emphasis from fiction to non-fiction, a step I couldn’t have ever anticipated. IE: How are the challenges different as a writer in the two cities? SD: It is hard to be an artist of any sort, anywhere in the world. Our day-today existence finds infinite and insidious ways to throw in challenges, whether they are enormous such as money or health or miniscule ones such as when shall I do my laundry. In my case, when I lived in New Delhi, it was with my parents. I didn’t have to take care of regular day-to-day home affairs. Yes, I admit, I was spoiled, but the two-hour commute each way between home
and work killed every urge to put pen to paper and write something meaningful. So in terms of volume, I produced very little creative work. In Moscow, my husband and I take care of ourselves and our home. But because my commute is essentially a nice, long walk, there are evenings when post dinner, I can will myself to revise one page or get up an hour earlier the next morning to draft something new. IE: Any favorite writers or books you would recommend? SD: Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake, which I have read more times than I can count. Other favorite writers include Jules Verne, Mohsin Hamid, R. K. Narayan, Abigail Thomas, Bill Bryson, Aravinda Adiga, Daphne Du Maurier. Have you read Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge? The sentences in that shine like jewels. I am currently also in love with Sy Montgomery’s fascinating book The Soul of an Octopus. And I adore Roald Dahl’s short stories for adults. They are deliciously wicked. IE: What’s next for you? SD: I am working on two novels and a collection of seven short stories. I am especially excited about the short stories because each features a female protagonist, who in her role as mother/daughter/ wife/sister/friend/lover does something unforgivable. I am having a lot of fun figuring out these women. Sayantani Dasgupta is the author of ‘Fire Girl: Essays on India, America & The In-Between.’ It is published by Two Sylvias Press, an independent publisher in the Seattle area. For more information on the author, go to www.sdasgupta. com. To contact the publisher, go to twosylviaspress@gmail.com.
BOOM! Seattle Kokon Taiko celebrates with a Concert By Shaun Mejia IE Contributor
Taken from mythological origins in Japanese folklore, taiko, which translates to “drums,” refers to the type of music played by large ensembles composed primarily of drums and percussion instruments. It has evolved into a folk art over the last several hundred years, rooted in history as a social awakening for Japanese Americans when it was first introduced in the states. “In the late ’60s and early ’70s, it was a time of great social and political upheaval, awakening, and consciousness,” says Stanley Shikuma, a Board Member and teacher of the oldest taiko group in Seattle, Seattle Kokon Taiko. “Asian American studies were just getting started because of demand from the community and students wanted their histories to be part of the curriculum. The early people that started these taiko groups were also involved in these types of things.” Taiko played a role in breaking the mold of stereotypes within the community. “For a young Japanese American, how do you express your Japanese American-ness? The stereotype we were trying to get away from was that the Japanese American was the model minority—the quiet American. What better way to break those stereotypes than to get up screaming, jumping up and down, and hitting these big drums? We’re
not quiet. It provided this way of making a social and political statement about who we are in opposition of what mainstream Americans thinks we are or ought to be.” Shikuma, who works as a registered nurse, has been with Seattle Kokon Taiko since its inception. He remembers the early days when they first started playing on tires. “It started as the Seattle Taiko Group in 1980. It took us a year to get enough money and expertise to build an actual drum. The first 6 to 8 months we were playing on tires. Then Donnie Chin gave us our first drum. He donated it to the group to have something to play on.” In 1986, Shikuma and members Michio Teshima and William Satake Blauvelt left the Seattle Taiko Group over artistic differences and formed their own group, Kokon Taiko Ensemble. “The three of us had this idea that maybe we could do something smaller. It was more challenging. Part of the unhappiness was we felt like we ought to be able to do more artistically and musically with taiko.” While they were up for the challenge, they realized that the smaller group proved difficult and took away the richness and spectacle of a full ensemble. Then, as the Seattle Taiko Group began losing members, Michio Teshima contracted stomach cancer.
“While Teshima was going through treatment, he realized he’s one of the integral people in this ensemble and wasn’t sure if we could continue without him. He got the idea to merge with the Seattle Taiko Group.” The two groups reconciled and formerly merged in 1992 renaming itself as the Seattle Kokon Taiko. With more taiko groups appearing all over the US, the Japanese drum has begun showing up in mainstream media. “Cirque du Soleil started using taiko in their Las Vegas shows. You start hearing it in movie soundtracks. Katy Perry was even using taiko in her songs.” For their 35th anniversary; the Seattle Kokon Taiko is putting on a concert entitled Rhythm Movement and Spirit on October 1st at the Shorewood Performing Arts Center. “We’re kind of fudging because actually it’s our 36th year of existence but it’s our 35th year of performing,” Shikuma laughs. “The last time we did a concert was ’97 so I’m not saying it’s going to be 20 years till our next one, but they are not easy to do. If you miss this one, it might be quite a while till we do another one. It’s been a lot of work, but it’s been a lot of fun.” The Seattle Kokon Taiko understands the need for innovation, enlisting guest artist Unit Souzou, singer-songwriter Aura Ruddell, and even local indie rock band Ravenna Woods.
“We like to think of taiko as both ancient and modern, new and old at the same time so the first half is more traditional pieces in both the sense of songs we have written that we always play as well as classical pieces. The second half is the newer part with our guest artists.” For those looking to support the concert, Seattle Kokon Taiko have started a GoFundMe campaign on their website. “Besides just the production cost, we are renting a theater and making new costumes. We’re also buying a new drum, which will be debuting at the show.” With popularity growing steadily for taiko, Shikuma hopes to see it taught in schools as part of their music curriculum. He recalls the first time he saw taiko live. “It was probably when I was in college. I always loved the taiko—the sound and performance. But I never thought about actually trying to play it because I see these guys on stage that are wild and crazy and I think ‘I wish I could do something like that.’ Once I started hitting the drums, it was love at first sight. Well, first hit.” For information on the concert and how to get tickets, go to http://seattlekokontaiko. org/skt35. For information on how to donate to the group, go to https://www.gofundme.com/ kt35.
26 — September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
IE ARTS
Tasogare/Twilight: Looking beyond the surface By Susan Kunimatsu IE Contributor At first glance, the art of Miya Ando appears simple: large-scale squares of elegantly graduated color. But Ando is a metal artist and sculptor, not a painter. Her “metal canvases” have visual depth and cultural complexity that extend beyond the surface. A descendant of Bizen swordmakers, Ando spent part of her childhood in Okayama, a small town in Japan where her grandfather was the head priest of a Buddhist temple. Her family also lived for a time in rural northern California. After majoring in East Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley and in graduate school at Yale, she returned to Okayama to apprentice with a master metalsmith, to strengthen her connection with that side of her cultural identity. But as an artist, her metalwork is not traditional. The techniques she uses draw on industrial processes and materials. It is her philosophical approach to the material that is traditional and craftsman-like. “I probably respect metal because of my family, but also as a natural element,” Ando says. “The nature of the material is strong, hard, pure, but also reflective, soft, delicate.” While Ando’s work shares some visual elements with the color field paintings of the 1960’s, her execution is intentional and controlled, not spontaneous. “I know exactly what’s going to happen with the color and
Courtesy of Winston Wachter Fine Art
Courtesy of Winston Wachter Fine Art
composition of each piece, then I execute. There is not any serendipity in my work.” Ando’s techniques demand that level of control. She works on aluminum or steel, materials that are inherently reflective. She sands or grinds the bare surfaces to create texture. Color is applied through one of two processes. To anodize aluminum, dye is applied to the metal, which is then immersed in an acidic liquid that conducts an electric current through the piece, bonding the color to the metal. Alternatively, Ando layers pigments with a urethane coating used on cars, suspending the color in the urethane. Both processes create visual depth and reflectivity. Colors move and change when viewed from different angles and in
changing light. The works in this show are two-dimensional, but unlike paintings, they have a three-dimensional presence that cannot be experienced in a printed or online image. “I like this word, twilight,” says Ando. “It’s such a fleeting time of day and the light is so particular.” Tasogare translates from the Japanese as twilight, but Ando uses it as a metaphor for change, as from day to night. The works in this show are mostly seascapes in which the horizon is barely distinguishable. They share a stark simplicity of composition and repetition of imagery. It is the variations in color from piece to piece that evoke different times of day, seasons, or weather. The changing
quality of light within each piece recreates the mesmerizing depth that one experiences staring at the ocean. Ando aspires to make work that is not just visual but experiential; less a literal landscape than a portal through which the viewer can access a mood or a feeling, or sense the passage of time. Art that speaks to emotions or cultural connections has interested Ando since her childhood in the Buddhist temple, surrounded by objects of spiritual power. In college, she studied iconography, the abstract vocabulary of belief systems. In the recent years, she has ventured out of the gallery and into the world of public art. Her most prominent commissions have been monumental works in London and California, memorializing 9/11 using steel salvaged from the ruins of the World Trade Center. She has created installations for several religious and community spaces, using seascape imagery to facilitate an atmosphere of peaceful meditation. She feels a duty to engage a wider public through this work, where she says, “the onus is on me to understand how to put forth abstract concepts.” ‘Tasogare/Twilight (The Time of Moonlight, Sunlight and Starlight)’ runs through October 27 at Winston Wächter Fine Art in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood. for more information, call (206) 652-5855 or visit www. WinstonWachter.com.
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016 — 27
28 — September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016 — 29
30 — September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
IE COMMUNITY RESOURCE DIRECTORY Arts & Culture
Professional & Leadership Development
Asia Pacific Cultural Center 4851 So. Tacoma Way Tacoma, WA 98409 Ph: 253-383-3900 Fx: 253-292-1551 faalua@comcast.net www.asiapacificculturalcenter.org Bridging communities and generations through arts, culture, education and business.
Education For more information: Ph: 206-767-8223 Email: info@deniselouie.org Website: www.deniselouie.org Offering home visiting services for children birth to 3 and full & part-day multicultural preschool education for ages 3 to 5 in the International District, Beacon Hill and Rainier Beach.
Housing Services HomeSight 5117 Rainier Ave S, Seattle, WA 98118 ph: 206-723-4355 fx: 206-760-4210 www.homesightwa.org HomeSight creates homeownership opportunities through real estate development, home buyer education and counseling, and lending.
InterIm Community Development Association 310 Maynard Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104 Ph: 206-624-1802 Services: 601 S King St, Ph: 206-623-5132 Interimicda.org Multilingual community building: housing & parking, housing/ asset counseling, projects, teen leadership and gardening programs.
Executive Development Institute 310 – 120th Ave NE. Suite A102 Bellevue, WA Ph. 425-467-9365 • Fax: 425-467-1244 Email: edi@ediorg.org • Website: www.ediorg.org EDI offers culturally relevant leadership development programs.
Senior Services
Social & Health Services
Cathay Post #186 of The American Legion Supporting veterans for over 70 years Accepting new members - contact us today to learn more! P.O. Box 3281 Seattle, WA 98144-3281 Email: cathaypost@hotmail.com Phone: (206) 762-4058
1601 E Yesler Way, Seattle, WA 98122 ph: 206-323-7100 www.keironorthwest.org rehabilitation care | skilled nursing | assisted living | home care | senior day care | meal delivery | transportation | continuing education | catering services
International District Medical & Dental Clinic 720 8th Avenue S, Seattle, WA 98114 ph: 206-788-3700 email: info@ichs.com website: www.ichs.com
We make leadeRS Queen Anne Station, P.O. Box 19888, Seattle, WA 98109 info@naaapseattle.org, www.naaapseattle.org Fostering future leaders through education, networking and community services for Asian American professionals and entrepreneurs. Facebook: NAAAP-Seattle Twitter: twitter.com/naaapseattle
Senior Services Horizon House
900 University St Seattle, WA 98101 ph: 206-382-3100 fx: 206-382-3213 marketinginfo@horizonhouse.org www.horizonhouse.org A welcoming community in downtown Seattle, offering seniors vibrant activities, independent or assisted living, and memory care.
The Kin On Team is ready to serve YOU! www.kinon.org
Southeast Seattle Senior Center 4655 S. Holly St., Seattle, WA 98118 ph: 206-722-0317 fax: 206-722-2768 kateh@seniorservices.org www.sessc.org Daytime activities center providing activities social services, trips, and community for seniors and South Seattle neighbors. We have weaving, Tai Chi, indoor beach-ball, yoga, dance, seniororiented computer classes, trips to the casino, and serve scratch cooked lunch. Open Monday through Friday, 8:30-4. Our thrift store next door is open Mon-Fri 10-2, Sat 10-4. This sweet center has services and fun for the health and well-being of boomers and beyond. Check us out on Facebook or our website.
Social & Health Services Asian Counseling & Referral Service
3639 Martin Luther King Jr. Way S, Seattle, WA 98144 ph: 206-695-7600 fx: 206-695-7606 events@acrs.org www.acrs.org ACRS offers multilingual, behavioral health and social services to Asian Pacific Americans and other lowincome people in King County.
601 S King St. Seattle, WA 98104 ph: 206-682-1668 website www.apicat.org Address tobacco control and other health justice issues in the Asian American/Pacific Islander communities.
Kawabe Memorial House 221 18th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98144 ph: 206-322-4550 fx: 206-329-3330 connie.devaney@gmail.com We provide affordable, safe, culturally sensitive housing and support services to people aged 62 and older.
Bellevue Medical & Dental Clinic 1050 140th Avenue NE, Bellevue, WA 98005 ph: 425-373-3000 Shoreline Medical & Dental Clinic 16549 Aurora Avenue N, Shoreline, WA 98133 ph: 206-533-2600 Holly Park Medical & Dental Clinic 3815 S Othello St, Seattle, WA 98118 ph: 206-788-3500 ICHS is a non-profit medical and dental center that provides health care to low income Asian, Pacific Islanders, immigrants and refugees in Washington State. Fearless Asians for Immigration Reforms (FAIR!) ph: 206-578-1255 Info@ItShouldBeFair.com www.ItShouldBeFair.com
Free and confidential support for undocumented Asians and Pacific Islanders. DACA screenings, financial assistance, legal help, scholarships, DACA renewals, and consultations for service providers. Benefits include: work permit, $$ for school, protection from deportation, driver’s license.
7301 Beacon Ave S Seattle, WA 98108 ph: 206-587-3735 fax: 206-748-0282 www.idicseniorcenter.org info@idicseniorcenter.org IDIC is a nonprofit human services organization that offers wellness and social service programs to Filipinos and API communities. ph: 206-624-3426 transia@aol.com
Merchants Parking provides Chinese Information & Service Center 611 S Lane St, Seattle, WA 98104 ph: 206-624-5633 fax: 206-624-5634 info@cisc-seattle.org www.cisc-seattle.org Creating opportunities for Asian immigrants and their families to succeed by helping them make the transition to a new life while keeping later generations in touch with their rich heritage.
Seattle Chinatown/International District Preservation and Development Authority ph: 206-624-8929 fx: 206-467-6376 info@scidpda.org Housing, property management and community development.
Legal Services
Organization of Chinese Americans Asian Pacific American Advocates Greater Seattle Chapter P.O. Box 14141 Seattle, WA 98114 www.ocaseattle.org
Legacy House
Public Interest Law Group, PLLC 705 Second Avenue, Suite 1000, Seattle WA 98104 Ph: 206-838-1800 Email: info@pilg.org www.pilg.org PILG attorneys Hank Balson, Wendy Chen, and Nancy Chupp provide information, advice, and representation in areas such as employment discrimination, unpaid wages, and other violations of workers’ rights.
convenient and affordable community parking. Transia provides community transportation: para-transit services, shuttle services, and field trips in and out of Chinatown/International District, and South King County.
803 South Lane Street Seattle, WA 98104 ph: 206-292-5184 fx: 206-838-3057 info@legacyhouse.org www.scidpda.org/programs/legacyhouse.aspx Description of organization/services offered: Assisted Living, Adult Day Services, meal programs for lowincome seniors.
Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs GA Bldg., 210 11th Ave SW, Suite 301A Olympia, WA 98504 ph: (360) 725-5667 www.facebook.com/wacapaa capaa@capaa.wa.gov www.capaa.wa.gov Statewide liaison between government and APA communities. Monitors and informs the public about legislative issues.
OCA—Greater Seattle Chapter was formed in 1995 and since that time it has been serving the Greater Seattle Chinese and Asian Pacific American community as well as other communities in the Pacific Northwest. It is recognized in the local community for its advocacy of civil and voting rights as well as its sponsorship of community activities and events. 2500 NE 54th Street Seattle, WA 98105 ph: 206-694-4500 info@youthcare.org www.youthcare.org
Working to prevent and end youth homelessness with services including meals, shelter, housing, job training, education, and more.
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INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016 — 31
32 — September 21, 2016 – October 4, 2016
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER