A couple of weeks ago, I attended the 2nd Annual Asian Summit here in Cincinnati, presented by the Asian Community Alliance and hosted by Northern Kentucky University. I went with an open mind, not really knowing what to expect. It was good to meet people within the Asian-American community, but there was something missing—young people. So here’s a recap. I hope my coverage encourages you to get involved with similar events in your city.

At the opening session, I scoped out the fruit and doughnuts, then looked around for a table to eat with. A couple of white college students sat at a back table, but I felt that NOT sitting with them was my personal stand against segregation. A bunch of middle-aged Asian women were very glad when I brought out my secret weapon—a brag book of my adorable sons, aged almost three and eight months. Now, if you’ve read my blog at all, you know that my husband is Korean. One of the ladies asked me, “Will you send your sons to Korean school?” I hedged a bit, feeling that decision was better left to hubby. More »

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James Yee, the former US Army Guantanamo Chaplain and 2008 National Delegate for Barack Obama was out doing some grassroots campaigning in Ohio from October 23-26 for the Democratic Presidential Nominee. He made stops in Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati.

During the four days, Capt Yee made several Get Out The Vote presentations at major Islamic centers in Columbus and Cincinnati, also focusing on Muslim Participation in the Political Process The American Muslim vote will make a serious impact this year in several key battleground, swing states which have significant Muslim constituencies - Ohio being one of them. More »

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Wayne Wang’s new feature film “The Princess of Nebraska” is hosted in its one hour and 19 minutes entirety on YouTube. At the time of this posting, it was on its way to 200,000 views since it’s debut two weeks ago. View counts on YouTube must be from a single unique IP address and a complete view. So with that in mind, that’s a lot of people who have sat down at their monitors and watched a movie about the identity differences of “New China” Chinese and Chinese-Americans who left “Old China.” (That’s my own take of the film. Wayne Wang’s interpretation, and yours, may be different. -David.)

It’s unclear what kind of business model this will evolve into for online distribution of films. Artistically, Wayne Wang has gotten more people to watch “The Princess of Nebraska” than a similar two-week art house run in LA and NYC could ever bring him. But these are 200,000 unpaid movie tickets. With an estimated quarter million production budget for the film, I’m sure YouTube and Magnolia Pictures will be doing some serious accounting on their returns on investment.

“The Princess of Nebraska” stars Li Ling, Brian Danforth, Pamelyn Chee, and Qing Lin. More »

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Learning Chinese Through Tone & Color presents a visual system for English speakers learning Mandarin. The book is currently in the Top 40 at Amazon.com for Asian language instruction. We got a hold of linguist and author Nathan Dummitt to talk about his new book.

Ningin: What’s your linguistic background? How many languages can you speak?

Nathan: I first realized that I had an intense interest in languages relatively late in life - after I finished college and was teaching English at a high school in Japan in my early 20s. Since then I’ve dabbled in a few languages, all for varying lengths of time and with varying degrees of success, including: Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Italian, Korean, French and Russian. I’m really only comfortable in the first three, due largely to the fact that my wife is Japanese and we live in a Chinatown (New York City). I am finishing my master’s degree in Linguistics at the CUNY Graduate Center this spring. More »

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http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/governorlocke/bios/bio.htm

http://www.mltsf.com/lawyer-attorney-1067081.html

On Friday October 3, 2008, James Yee and other notables attended an Obama Victory Fund event at the home of Laurie and Scott Oki in Bellevue, WA. The Asian American Finance Committee also headed the event.

Representative Mike Honda was scheduled to attend this event, but he was unable to attend, because he was voting on the Emergency Bill to bail out Wall Street. The first person that spoke at this event was Washington State Senator, Maria Cantwell. She talked about why Obama is good for Washington State and for America. There were several people who were there from the Microsoft community. It was not surprising, because Microsoft is headquartered in Seattle. More »

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Hello everyone on ningin! I recently talked to a trailblazer by the name of Laurence Louie who is the editor-in-chief of the hot new Asian American newspaper, Native Tongue. I was first introduced to him through another friend of mine. I began viewing his website and his newspaper online. I noticed how he and his staff desperately wanting to make a change in the Asian American community on campus, locally, and nationally. The interview that I have had with this wonderful man Laurence follows. More »

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This is an archived blog post. Jason Linetsky is no longer a Ningin blogger.

I was reading our forums and the Engrish shirts kicked a thought into my head I just had to post. It’s unusual that I post something I haven’t research or written a journalistic piece for but oh well. Patterns can be broken so here is my thought. More »

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If you follow women’s gymnastics, you know that Shawn Johnson finally got her gold medal Tuesday morning, edging out teammate Nastia Liukin with a fantastic balance beam routine. And the man supporting her is her coach, Liang Chow, himself a member of the Chinese national gymnastics team in the 1980’s. He’s the unsung hero behind her success—and her great attitude.

In the extensive news coverage I’ve seen on Johnson, she refers to her Chinese coach and his wife as “my second parents.” Teri and Doug Johnson, Shawn’s parents, appreciate the important relationship. In an article for the August 2008 issue of Guideposts, Teri recounts Coach Chow’s mastery in managing Johnson’s personality. Other gymnastics teachers were frustrated by Shawn’s hyperactive behavior. Chow, who owns a gym in West Des Moines, Iowa, knew how to harness it. “I love her energy. That’s what you need in this sport.” Teri stated, “He kept her interest by keeping her challenged.”

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