Christopher John Stephens

Front Page July 22, 2023 0

Peace, Reunification, and Healing: an Interview with Crossings Director Deann Borshay Liem on the two Koreas and Hopes for Resolution after Seventy Years

Emmy Award-Winning documentarian Deann Borshay Liem’s new film Crossings examines the 2015 journey a group of female peace activists takes to call attention to the still unresolved issues between North and South Korea. It starts streaming on July 22 at midnight on worldchannel.org, WORLD’s YouTube and the PBS app ahead of the July 23 television broadcast on WORLD at 10pm ET. SAMPAN: Your work is often about identity and the repercussions of history. Crossings shows, among other things, how the […]

Front Page June 10, 2023 0

Stay True: Hua Hsu’s Memoir About Friendship, Identity, and Assimilation

Friendship memoirs can be a tricky genre to navigate. By definition, the writer is on the outside of the narrative: The focus is defining the importance of the relationship. Ann Patchett’s 2004 memoir Truth and Beauty comes immediately to mind. Its evocation of the writer’s relationship with poet Lucy Grealy worked because the focus rested on the symbiotic connection between writer and her subject. In Hua Hsu’s remarkable 2022 Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir Stay True, that symbiosis takes on an even […]

Boston May 27, 2023 0

Asian Hate in Boston: The Struggle for Justice Continues

The problem of Asian hate crimes in Boston and surrounding neighborhoods was the topic of a May 8 forum at the Asian American Civic Association. In attendance and speaking were City Council President Ed Flynn, Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Advancement Monique Tú Nguyen, Executive Director of Lawyers for Civil Rights Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, Boston Police Community Service Office Sgt. Paul Chevette, MBTA Transit Police Crime Investigation Sgt. Joseph Sacco, and Boston’s Senior Advisor for Community Safety Isaac […]

Boston May 26, 2023 0

Superstar Boston Red Sox Outfielder Masataka “Macho Man” Yoshida finds his home at Fenway Park

Editor’s Note: This interview was made possible by Daveson Pérez, Boston Red Sox Manager, Baseball Communications & Media Relations, and Mr. Yoshida’s English translator Kento Masumoto.Sampan speaks with the superstar Boston Red Sox Japanese outfielder about his life, goals, and baseball in the United States. One of the more exciting elements of the 2023 Major League Baseball season for the Boston Red Sox has been the acquisition of 29 year old Japanese outfielder superstar Masataka Yoshida, AKA “Macho Man” during […]

Boston April 22, 2023 0

Virtual Public Meeting Scheduled Regarding Cannabis Dispensary Proposal in Chinatown

When it comes to arguments about safety and community safety and the ethics of legalized drugs, sometimes it’s hard to immediately dismiss the financial advantages. Massachusetts legalized adult-use cannabis in November 2018, and since then the state has collected $3.9 billion in total gross sales. Between January 1 and December 18, 2022, the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission reported the sale of 1.42 billion dollars’ worth of cannabis and cannabis-related accessories. If we compare this to the other two members in […]

Jobs April 22, 2023 0

$800,000 Settlement Reached for Workers in Case Against C-Mart

Restitution, fair play, mediation, and equity are always the endgame goals for any management/labor conflict. In the case of several C-Mart supermarkets in Quincy and Boston’s South End and Chinatown neighborhoods, a settlement of $800,000 in restitution and penalties has been reached for employees of these supermarkets as a result of 15 citations and an investigation in 2021 started by Attorney General Andrea Campbell. In a press release, Campbell noted: “My office, and particularly our Fair Labor Division, will continue […]

Education April 8, 2023 0

Preparing for Nationals: Interview with Massachusetts Spelling Bee Champ Tanoshi Inomata and Coach Aaron Noll

The 85th Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee will be held on May 28, 2023 in National Harbor, Maryland. Ten year old Tanoshi Inomata, from Allston’s Winship School, will be among the 278 spellers competitors. Tanoshi has the opportunity to be only the second Massachusetts resident in 80 years to bring home the trophy. Sampan had the pleasure of speaking separately with Tanoshi and Aaron Noll, Winship’s librarian and Spelling Bee coordinator. What follows are edited transcripts of our email conversations. […]

Education February 11, 2023 0

“We Are All Searching For Meaning”: A Conversation with Professor Alan Lightman

“How do our complex human experiences arise from the atoms and molecules we are made of?” Professor Alan Lightman is an MIT theoretical physicist in search of purpose and answers to questions such as this. Lightman is one of the first at MIT to receive a joint appointment in both the sciences and the humanities, Lightman’s made significant contributions to both fields within scientific academia and creative literature. Themes from his 25 books, and contributions to The New Yorker, Harper’s, […]

Boston February 10, 2023 0

“The Embrace”: A Figurative Abstraction of Love Between Two People Who Loved the World

Boston played host to national media on Friday January 13th as the city unveiled “The Embrace” at the 1965 Freedom Plaza on Boston Common. This marked the start of 2023’s Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Day weekend. While the holiday itself is a testament to the life and works of the slain civil rights leader, “The Embrace” is something special, something distinct from the many statues to King that have surfaced in the nearly 55 years since his death. It’s […]

Boston January 21, 2023 0

Charting the Course for the Future of Boston Public Schools: Mary Skipper on the Road Already Traveled and the Roads Ahead

Mary Skipper became Boston’s new School Superintendent in September 2022. She is the 6th person to assume this critical role in the past ten years. Currently, the Boston Public School system teaches 49,000 students. Skipper had most recently successfully led Somerville’s schools as its Superintendent. Among other accomplishments in her career, including nine years as a Boston Public Schools Latin and Classics teacher, she helped found Boston Tech Academy which scores today in the top percentile on state testing and […]

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