Boston

June 7, 2024 0

‘Yellow Face’ Explores Identity Across Generations, Continents

“I’m always thinking about, ‘why are we doing this play now?’,” actor Michael Hisamoto told the Sampan of the Lyric Stage production of “Yellow Face.” Hisamoto has a key role in the play, written by David Henry Hwang. The semi-autobiographical show is about the playwright, who appears in the play and is the narrator. It’s about Hwang’s life, his father, and the period of the 1990s and the 2000s. It covers big themes like the “yellow peril” and the Asian […]

June 7, 2024 0

An Untold Victim of Anti-Immigrant Speech: Latino Teens and Families

by Esther Wang

Naikiry, a 20-year-old community college student and full-time worker, knows first-hand the trauma that can be caused when a Latinx family falls apart as it moves the U.S. Her family began to unravel when they emigrated from the Dominican to the U.S. in 2015 and were forced to leave behind her mother, who has yet to join them here. The separation, along with the shock of arriving in a new country, caused Naikiry’s family to fall into depression, loneliness, and […]

June 7, 2024 0

Sometimes Hard Work is Not Enough: So Expand Earned-Income Tax Credit

by Angela Divaris

The Earned-Income Tax Credit has been widely hailed as one the most successful antipoverty programs in the country, and it’s time our state allowed immigrants without Social Security numbers to benefit from the credit, too. The EITC is aimed at boosting the incomes of low-to-moderate earners, especially those with minor children. There is a rich body of research showing how the EITC lifts millions of households out of poverty and encourages employment. Massachusetts is among the 31 states that have […]

June 7, 2024 0

Fond Memories of Jasper White Served Up by Local Chefs, Others

by DongDong Yang

Jasper White, who died last month at age 69, was a pioneering chef who significantly elevated New England cuisine through his restaurants, Jasper’s and the Summer Shack. White’s culinary legacy is deeply rooted in seafood, particularly his signature dish, pan-roasted lobster. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, White honed his skills in dining rooms of several Boston hotels. He opened his first restaurant, Jasper’s, in 1983. At Jasper’s, White focused on modern American dishes using local ingredients, earning […]

June 7, 2024 0

Lunar New Year Now Holiday in Quincy As School Vote Bypassed

by Harmandeep Singh

Groups in Quincy fighting to establish the Lunar New Year as an official school holiday made a major win last month – but not in the way many expected. Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch overrode the decision of the school committee to oppose the proposal for a Lunar New Year school holiday, following an earlier city council vote to recognize the day. But that move surprised the school board, which saw the mayor’s decision as undermining the school group’s authority.Quincy residents […]

June 7, 2024 0

In Face of Protest, Skip Schiel Wants You to Picture the Plight of Palestinians, Refugees

by Adam Smith

Photographer Skip Schiel keeps a photo of a boat full of refugees hanging on his wall in his home in Cambridge. It’s not a photo that he took, but one that was sent to him in a fundraising campaign. “I’m looking at it right now,” he said during a phone call with the Sampan. “It was made by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. It’s a boat full of people of different colors, maybe a 100 or more, looking […]

June 7, 2024 1

Palestinian-American Speaks Out After Library Photo Reception Taken Over

by Adam Smith

Laila Kassis had never heard of Skip Schiel’s photography before she was asked to talk at the reception in mid-May for the exhibit “The Ongoing and Relentless Nakba, the Palestinian Catastrophe of 1948 to the Present.” Kassis, a Palestinian-American, said when she did see the 14 or so photos in the show, she noted how underwhelming it all was, given the subject. “It was very simple and innocuous.” There was no big statement or in-your-face message, just photos of the […]

June 7, 2024 0

Pride Month, and a Ways to Go for Some

by Tracy Huang

Two decades after Massachusetts legalized gay marriage and after decades of battles for equal rights for gays and lesbians, the struggle for acceptance still continues for some, especially in Asian American communities. “I came out to my parents in high school, where I hoped that they would be accepting of the fact that I had a girlfriend, instead of their Christian Korean boyfriend standard,” a Korean-American Boston College student, who wishes to keep her name private, told the Sampan recently. […]

May 24, 2024 0

AstraZeneca’s Jab Ends; Officials Urge Getting Covid Boosters

by Kristen Si

AstraZeneca is pulling its Covid-19 vaccine, Vaxzevria, which had been OKed in several nations in Europe and elsewhere.The U.K. company’s official reason for withdrawing the vaccine was a lack of demand, as the pandemic has largely cooled since it first flared up in China after the first cases were detected in late 2019. The vaccine was granted full marketing authorization in the European Union in 2022.But just before the vaccine’s run was to end, AstraZeneca publicly admitted in court documents […]

May 24, 2024 0

Preview: Immigrant History Trail Paves Way for Chinatown’s Legacy

by Anita Yip

The Immigrant History Trail celebrates Boston Chinatown’s resilience and enduring cultural heritage on June 8 at 1 p.m. with its launch, marking a significant milestone toward efforts to designate Chinatown as a cultural district.Following decades of urban renewal, zoning injustice, and institutional expansion, Chinatown faces one of its biggest threats yet: the erosion of cultural identity. As luxury developments encroach, surging housing prices and rising rents are displacing long-standing residents and small businesses. Consequently, both the immigrant, working-class residential and […]

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