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About The Asian reporter. (Portland, Or.) 1991-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2015)
Page 12 n THE ASIAN REPORTER This issue’s Community Calendar is brought to you by: “$5 Bucks Everybody Everyday” Through Dec 31 (Thu-Sun), 10am-5pm, World Forestry Center Discovery Museum (4033 SW Canyon Rd, Portland). Visit the World Forestry Center Discovery Museum during “$5 Bucks Everybody Everyday,” featuring discounted admission in honor of the center’s 50th anniversary. For info, call (503) 228-1367 or visit <www.worldforestry.org>. “Gambatte!” Through Jan 17, 11am-3pm (Tue-Sat), noon-3pm (Sun), Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center (121 NW Second Ave, Portland). View “Gambatte! Legacy of an Enduring Spirit,” a new travelling exhibit featuring historic images shot in 1942 by War Relocation Authority staff photographers Dorothea Lange, Tom Parker, and others juxtaposed with contemporary images of the same individuals taken by Sacramento Bee photojournalist Paul Kitagaki Jr. The display explores the Japanese concept of gambatte, or to triumph over adversity, to discover the ways in which multiple generations of Japanese Americans persevered through their incarceration during World War II. For info, call (503) 224-1458 or visit <www.oregonnikkei.org>. Mahjong group Dec 22 & 29, 1-4pm, Gresham Library (385 NW Miller Ave, Gresham, Ore.). Players of all skill levels are invited to attend a mahjong group. A coach is available to teach new players. For info, call (503) 988-5387 or visit <events.multcolib.org>. Talk Time at Gregory Heights Dec 27, 12:30-2pm, Gregory Heights Library (7921 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland). Join other non-native English speakers at an informal conversation circle for people who want to practice speaking English. Talk Time is not a class, but an opportunity to meet new people, share culture, and have fun. Only English is spoken. For info, call (503) 988-5386 or visit <events. multcolib.org>. Talk Time in St. Johns Dec 27, 1:30-3pm, St. Johns Library (7510 N Charleston Ave, Portland). Join other non-native English speakers at an informal conversation circle for people who want to practice speaking English. Talk Time is not a class, but an opportunity to meet new people, share culture, and have fun. Only English is spoken. For info, call (503) 988-5397 or visit <events.multcolib.org>. Whale watching on the Oregon coast Dec 27-31, Oregon Coast. Brave the winter weather for a sight of some of the estimated 18,000 gray whales expected to pass by Oregon’s coast during the last week of the year. Between 10:00am and 1:00pm each day, volunteers are stationed at 24 overlooks and parks along the Oregon coast designated as “Whale Watching Spoken Here” sites to provide information about the marine mammals and help spot them in the surf. For info, call (541) 765-3407, e-mail <whale.watching@oregon.gov>, or visit <www.whalespoken.org>. Pokémon Club at Gresham Library Dec 28, 4-5pm, Gresham Library (385 NW Miller Ave, Gresham, Ore.). Young people of all skill levels are invited to play Pokémon at the Pokémon Club. Participants are encouraged to bring their Pokémon cards. For info, call (503) 988-5387 or visit <events.multcolib.org>. Health insurance enrollment assistance Dec 29, 5:30-7pm, Multnomah County Central Library (801 SW 10th Ave, Portland). Oregonians are invited to ask questions about health insurance options and the enrollment process during an informational session held in partnership with the Multnomah County Health Department and several other organizations. The open enrollment period began November 1, 2015 and ends January 31, 2016. For info, or to register (required), call (503) 988-5234 or visit <events.multcolib.org>. Interpreters are available upon request. Gem Faire Jan 1-3, noon-6pm (Fri), 10am-6pm (Sat), 10am-5pm (Sun), Washington County Fairgrounds (873 NE 34th Ave, Hillsboro, Ore.). Browse an assortment of gemstones, jewelry, beads, crystals, and more at Gem Faire. Admission is valid for all three days. For info, call (503) 252-8300 or visit <www.gemfaire.com>. COMMUNITY December 21, 2015 Off the Menu: Asian America takes a roadtrip into the kitchens, factories, temples, and farms of Asian Pacific America Off the Menu: Asian America, a new film by Grace Lee, premiered this month on Oregon Public Broad- casting. The one-hour documentary is an exploration of food in changing communities, families, traditions, and faiths. Filmmaker Lee visits Houston, Texas; New York’s Lower East Side; Oak Creek, Wisconsin; and Oahu in Hawai’i in the film, seeking stories that reflect an evolving Asian Pacific America and the role food plays in peoples’ lives. “We wanted to find unexpected stories that embodied the Asian- American experience,” Lee said. “Asian America is already such a vast, complex, and contested idea. Focusing on food was a way to explore the deeper connections of culture, family, and ideas of authenticity and adaptation that link us all.” “Off the Menu brings audiences closer to Asian-American culture through something we can all ap- preciate: food,” said Michael Isip, a co-executive producer of the film. “Grace takes us on a cultural journey with thoughtful observations of how Asian traditions around the prepara- tion, sharing, and creation of meals can bring people and communities together.” In Houston, Lee met two entre- preneurial food pioneers: third- generation Japanese-American Glen Gondo of Gondo Co., dubbed “the sushi king of Texas,” and Gary Chiu, whose family-run factory, Banyan Foods, has provided tofu in Texas since 1978. The two businesses have redefined Asian staples like sushi and tofu into uniquely Asian- American dishes that cater to the Texan palate, offering items such as sushi rolls with deep-fried jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese and spicy crab as well as Asian Tex-Mex fusion with tofu tamales. In New York’s Lower East Side, French-trained chef Jonathan Wu and his business partner Wilson Tang open Fung Tu, a modern Chinese restaurant based on family stories and recipes as well as Wu’s desire to cook food that’s personal to his upbringing. Wu applies classic French techniques to ingredients more familiar to Chinese cooking, which results in menu items he says have “an authenticity of spirit.” Just south of Milwaukee, a growing immigrant community at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin participate in OFF THE MENU. Off the Menu: Asian America, a one-hour documentary by Grace Lee, is an exploration of food in changing communities, families, traditions, and faiths. Through January 5, the film can be viewed online at no charge. Pictured are the Kawelos (top photo) in Hawai’i using tradi- tional Native Hawai’iian food practices such as spearing for octopus. In the bottom photo, a menu- development session is held in New York with chef Jonathan Wu of Fung Tu. (Photos courtesy of the Center for Asian American Media) langar, a centuries-old practice that shows how the making and sharing of a meal can feed a community spiritually. The temple made head- lines in 2012 when a gunman killed six people and wounded many others during a racially motivated shooting spree. In the documentary, temple members tell the story of how the people who were preparing the meal that morning continue with this tradition, and how langar became an essential part of the healing process for the tight-knit community. Finally, Off the Menu travels to Hawai’i, the only state in the U.S. where Asian Pacific Islanders make up the majority, to explore how native Hawai’ians are working to make their food system sustainable. On the island of Oahu, where most food is imported, Hi’ilei Kawelo is dedicated to preserving her family’s tradition of fishing for octopus, but it is her commitment to restoring an 800-year-old fishpond that will Become an online reader! Speak Ups! Jan 11, 7:30pm, University of Washington (UW), Commu- nications Building, Room 120 (4109 NE Seasons Way, Seattle). Listen to a moderated panel of experts, activists, scholars, and artists discuss the deeper themes addressed in the play Disgraced, which is playing through January 31 at the Bagley Wright Theatre in Seattle. At the event, panelists Lesley Hazleton, the author of The First Muslim; Behzad Dabu, an actor in Disgraced; and Monica Cortés Viharo, a Ph.D. student in the UW School of Drama) explore what the reality is today of being a Muslim American. For info, call (206) 543-5140 or visit <www. drama.washington.edu>. BOLD program Jan 31 (application deadline). Apply to the BOLD (Beaverton Organizing and Leadership Development) program to learn about community organizing, public policy, issues faced in the Beaverton community, and more. The cohort, which is organized by the Center for Intercultural Organizing in partnership with the City of Beaverton, includes three, eight-hour classes, held once per month (February 20, March 19, and April 16). All program costs are covered for participants. For info, call Mee Seon Kwon at (503) 753-6331 or e-mail <meeseon@inter culturalorganizing.org>. Visit <www.asianreporter.com> and click on the “Online Paper (PDF)” link to download our last two issues. resurrect a long-lost Hawai’ian practice. Neglected over the last 100 years, Kawelo’s organization has rebuilt an 88-acre pond designed to grow fish for the community. Across the island, young adults work the land at MA’O Organic Farm, the largest on the island. Cheryse Sana, the farm co-manager, along with other young people working the fields express how they’re following in the footsteps of their ancestors who took care of the land, with hope that the land would take care of and provide for them. “So many times, people associate food with Asian or Asian-American culture,” Lee said. “With Off the Menu, I hope we can expand the conversation to explore our stories as well.” To learn more about Off the Menu: Asian America, or to view the docu- mentary online at no charge through January 5, visit <caamedia.org> or <www.pbs.org/video/2365618573>. The staff at The Asian Reporter wish you and your family a safe and happy holiday!