Features

June 21, 2024 0

Asian American Ballet Project Dances to a Beat of Its Own

Elizabeth Mochizuki, the Asian American Ballet Project’s artistic director, distinctly remembers what was going through her mind during the group’s first time on stage. “I remember being like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s really happening. It’s just us. We’re doing ballet,’” Mochizuki told the Sampan of the all-Asian-American performance. “It was something I’ve never seen before. I just wanted to bring people together to create this idea, share our stories and our experiences.” Prior to the debut, Mochizuki said, she felt […]

June 21, 2024 0

Chinatown Nonprofit Celebrates57 Years at Its ‘Gala of Dreams’

by DongDong Yang

The Asian American Civic Association (AACA), publisher of the Sampan newspaper, celebrated its 57th anniversary with an annual gala on June 14 at the University of Massachusetts Club in Boston. This year’s theme was the “Gala of Dreams.” Among the many highlights of the night, Gov. Maura Healey was presented with the Dream Maker Award in recognition of her dedication to making Massachusetts a place of equity, opportunity, and inclusion.For nearly six decades, AACA has been working with immigrant communities […]

June 21, 2024 0

Special Guest Opinion: Rev. Dr. William Alberts Sacrificed Career, Reputation for Gay Rights

by Eva Alberts and Amy Warren

When celebrating Pride Month, we recall the major milestones, such as the June 25, 2015 decision that made gay marriage legal. But perhaps lesser known are the hard-fought struggles that led to that moment in history. One such monumental struggle began on April 7, 1973 at the Old West United Methodist Church, in Boston’s West End, when Rev. Dr. William E. Alberts performed the marriage of Bob Jones and Harry Freeman. The marriage was a well publicized event, covered by […]

June 21, 2024 0

BCNC Set for Quincy Family Fair

by Admin

The Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center will hold its Family Fun Fair, a free event open to the public on June 22, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Joseph W. Koch Field at 200 Newbury Ave. in Quincy.Marking its 10th anniversary of working with families on the South Shore, the BCNC’s fair will include games and entertainment for children and families. The afternoon event will include arts and crafts, a bouncy house, petting zoo, face painting, games and prizes, balloon […]

June 21, 2024 0

‘Yellow Face’: A Play Ahead of Its Time

by Harmony Witte

“Yellow Face,” which is now performing at Boston’s Lyric Stage Theater on Clarendon Street, was written some 17 years ago. But in many ways, it’s just now fully enjoying the spotlight. The play, by award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang, will mark its Broadway premiere starring Daniel Dae Kim this fall and an Audible version is currently available. “Issues that are at the center of it, issues like representation and appropriation and whitewashing and casting, they were still relatively obscure issues […]

June 21, 2024 0

Director Yang Qiu Explores Humanity With Artistic Eye, Despite China’s Long Gaze

by DongDong Yang

Chinese director Yang Qiu presented his first feature film “Some Rain Must Fall “ at this year’s Tribeca Festival in New York. The film depicts the story of Cai, a mother and housewife who deeply values her family, but whose life loses track and spirals out of control after an unexpected accident. The film received the Encounters Special Jury Award at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival and premiered at the festival’s International Narrative Competition. Yang Qiu, a prominent filmmaker […]

June 21, 2024 0

Report: When It Comes to Tapping Into Foreign-Educated Talent, Here’s What the State Can Do

by Adam Smith

When it comes to tapping into a large number of educated workers, many of whom are bilingual, Massachusetts appears to be missing out. Big time. That’s a takeaway from a new report on the some 240,000 foreign-educated immigrants in the state – 106,000 of whom hold a bachelor’s degree and 134,000 of whom have completed at least some grad school. Many of these immigrants earn less than their U.S.-educated peers and work in jobs that fail to fully use their […]

June 7, 2024 0

‘Yellow Face’ Explores Identity Across Generations, Continents

by Harmony Witte

“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 […]

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