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!