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About The Asian reporter. (Portland, Or.) 1991-current | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2020)
COMMUNITY / A.C.E. June 1, 2020 Oregon provides $8.5 million for rent relief in Oregon communities The economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has left many Oregon families without resources to pay rent, buy food, make utility payments, and provide other necessities. Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) has a COVID-19 Rent Relief Program that provides much-needed rent assistance for people who have experienced a loss of income and are at risk of homelessness due to COVID-19. “Through no fault of their own, many Oregonian families are facing an abrupt loss of income and find themselves unable to pay their rent during this pandemic,” said governor Kate Brown. “Through Oregon Housing and Community Services, we can deliver immediate rent relief so that more families can stay housed as we work to build a safe and strong Oregon.” Many Oregonians are struggling to pay rent, and low- income Oregonians and communities of color are more likely to be rent burdened than their white counterparts. For these reasons, OHCS has distributed thousands of dollars in funds to local community action agencies across the state, and Oregonians are encouraged to apply. For more information about the COVID-19 Rent Relief Program, please reach out to the agency serving your county. Oregon Human Development Corporation (OHDC) – Statewide: 1-855-215-6158 ACCESS, Inc. – Jackson County: (541) 779-6691 Lane County Human Services Commission (LCHHS) – Lane County: (541) 682-3798 Community Action (CAO) – Washington County: (503) 648-6646 Mid-Columbia Community Action Council (MCCAC) – Hood River, Sherman, and Wasco Counties: (541) 298-5131 Community Action Program of East Central Oregon (CAPECO) – Gilliam, Morrow, and Umatilla Counties: 1-800-752-1139 Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency (MWVCAA) – Marion and Polk Counties: (503) 585-6232 Community Action Team, Inc. (CAT) – Columbia, Clatsop, and Tillamook Counties: (503) 397-3511 Multnomah County Department of Human Services – Multnomah County: (503) 988-7453 Community Connection of Northeast Oregon (CCNO) – Wallowa, Union, Baker, and Grant Counties: (541) 963-3186 NeighborImpact (NIMPACT) – Jefferson, Crook, and Deschutes Counties: (541) 548-2380 Clackamas County Social Services Department (CCSSD) – Clackamas County: (503) 655-8575 Community in Action (CINA) – Harney and Malheur Counties: (541) 889-1060 Oregon Coast Community Action (ORCCA) – Coos and Curry Counties: (541) 435-7080 Community Service Consortium (CSC) – Linn, Benton, and Lincoln Counties: Benton County: (541) 752-1010 Lincoln County: (541) 574-2280 Linn County: (541) 928-6335 United Community Action Network (UCAN) – Douglas and Josephine Counties: (541) 672-5392 Klamath/Lake Community Action Services (KLCAS) – Klamath and Lake Counties: (541) 882-3500 Yamhill Community Action Partnership (YCAP) – Yamhill County: (503) 472-0457 To apply for rent relief, contact your local community action agency. Be sure to have your loss of income documented and ready to share. Please note that rental assistance payments are made directly to landlords on behalf of tenants. “The last two months have been trying for many in our communities,” said OHCS director Margaret Salazar, “Oregonians were already struggling to find a safe, stable, and affordable place to call home. As families grapple with lost wages, the need is even greater. I am so grateful to get this assistance in the hands of our friends and neighbors in need, including farmworkers and their families who are facing unique housing challenges.” The $8.5 million was allocated by the Oregon Legislature through the Joint Emergency Board. OHCS anticipates additional resources from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act will be made available in the weeks ahead. To learn more, visit the website of Oregon Housing and Community Services, <www.oregon.gov/ohcs>. THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 13 Kumail Nanjiani is finding his way through “The Weirds” By Jake Coyle AP Film Writer EW YORK — Kumail Nanjiani has a few names for quarantine life. He has divided time firmly between “pre-Hanks/Wilson” and “post- Hanks/Wilson,” referring to the early COVID-19 diagnosis for Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson. And he has settled on calling the strange, bewildering days of lockdown “The Weirds.” This applies to all the confusion and just plain odd parts of life since the pandemic began. Like when Nanjiani was on “Good Morning America” in May. “I did that over Zoom from my garage. It’s New York time, 5:00am, so the sun’s not out. I’m wearing pajama bottoms,” says Nanjiani. “It’s just a strange reminder of how different everything is right now.” With his wife, screenwriter Emily V. Gordon, Nanjiani has been chronicling all the mood swings, anxieties, and small comforts of quarantine life from their home in Los Angeles in their for-charity podcast “Staying In.” Right now, after more altruistic periods, Nanjiani considers himself in his “most selfish phase.” Like everyone else, he wants his life back. But the quarantine has also given Nanjiani a chance to contemplate a whirlwind few years. Since his breakthrough in 2017’s Oscar- nominated The Big Sick, an autobiographical romantic comedy he wrote with Gordon about the dramatic beginning of their relationship, Nanjiani has morphed into a leading man. He played an Uber driver with Dave Bautista in Stuber. He voiced a tiny CGI alien in Men in Black International, and a mischievous ostrich in Dolittle. He’ll co-star in the upcoming Marvel movie The Eternals. And now, he’s starring alongside Issa Rae (“Insecure”) in The Lovebirds, a comedy in which a couple, just after splitting, become embroiled in a deadly crime saga. It debuted on Netflix after the streaming company acquired the film from Paramount Pictures due to the pandemic. Not all the projects have worked. But even in the disappointments, the 42-year-old Nanjiani has been a bright spot of unrelenting deadpan sarcasm, spiralling neurosis, and authentic sweetness. He tends to make anything he’s in better. As a Pakistani-American stand-up comedian-turned-actor, Nanjiani is unlike any star before him. He’s now N KUMAIL’S QUARANTINE. Pakistani-American stand-up comedian-turned-actor Kumail Nanjiani has a few names for quarantine life. He has settled on calling the strange, bewildering days of lockdown “The Weirds,” which applies to all the confusion and just plain odd parts of life since the pandemic began. Nanjiani is seen on the right in this scene from The Lovebirds alongside Issa Rae, left. (Skip Bolen/Netflix) finding his way in a Hollywood where feel that safe.” South Asian actors, when they’re cast The Lovebirds is also a result of a at all, have usually been typecast. So trusted relationship. It’s directed by right now, when Nanjiani isn’t Michael Showalter, who directed The freaking out about the pandemic, he’s Big Sick and has collaborated with contemplating what kind of movies Nanjiani going back to the 2009 he wants to make. series “Michael and Michael Have “It’s honestly during this Issues.” quarantine that I sat down and sort of For Showalter, the appeal of The thought, ‘What do I want the next five Lovebirds was predicated largely on years of my life to look like?’” he says. the combination of Nanjiani and Rae. “Sometimes you just do things “I just love that they’re 21st-cen- because people are asking you to do it tury movie stars. They’re not what and it’s a big-budget thing. The last we’re used to seeing,” says Showalter. few years, I’ve gotten to do some stuff “The idea of a movie with these two that I really enjoyed, that I loved, and actors playing romantic opposites in a some stuff that I didn’t enjoy that fun action movie felt like a really didn’t turn out great.” invigorating, fresh piece of casting Nothing captured Nanjiani’s trans- that makes the whole thing feel formation more than a photo he interesting.” posted in December on Instagram It’s clear that Nanjiani is displaying his new chiselled motivated partly by taking roles that physique, a result of training for The others might not expect him to. He’s Eternals. The photo — a good drawn to subverting stereotypes distance from the computer nerd of because he doesn’t fit them, anyway. his “Silicon Valley” character — “I don’t feel like I belong in any kicked off a storm of debate about specific group. I don’t say that as a body image and “the twilight of the way of being like, ‘You can’t put me in schlubs.” a box. I’m so weird.’ I would like to “To me it was important. I was belong to a specific group,” says playing the first Pakistani superhero Nanjiani. “But I don’t feel Pakistani in a Hollywood movie, in a Marvel because I don’t live in Pakistan. I movie no less,” says Nanjiani. “And it don’t feel American because a lot of was very important to me that this Americans don’t think of me as guy looked like he could hang with American. I do comedy but I also Thor or Captain America.” other things.” Nanjiani considers The Eternals, During quarantine, Nanjiani went slated for release next year, a new back and watched three movies he direction he’s eager to continue — not hadn’t seen since he was 10: Krull, just because it’s a step outside of Beastmaster, and The Thief of comedy but because of the experience Baghdad. working with the director, Chloé “Suddenly there would be an image Zhao (The Rider). “She’s really one of and you’re like, ‘Oh, my god. This is the great filmmakers of our time,” he part of my DNA,’” says Nanjiani. “I says. “Working with her changed my realized that the things I loved about perspective. I realized: I want to be movies when I was eight years old are working with someone who makes me still the things I love about movies.” Spike in coronavirus cases in Oregon traced to gatherings Continued from page 12 Morgan Emerson, preparedness coordinator with Deschutes County Health Services, told the TV station that 18 of the county’s 25 new cases were traced back to family or social gatherings, including some of the coronavirus cases in Redmond. “Some of this rise is due to multi- household gatherings,” Emerson told KPTV. “We have seen similar trends of cases associated with attending family and social gatherings in other areas of Deschutes County as well.” Emerson said the new cases predated Deschutes County’s recent approval for Oregon’s Phase 1 reopening plan. The majority of new cases came from known contacts, not strangers, she said. State officials urged people to stay close to home during Memorial Day weekend and to avoid large gatherings with anyone outside of their own household. “Even if you’re healthy, going to … a large event [with] many extended households getting together — this isn’t the year,” Emerson said.