This is at once a specific story —one day in Boston Chinatown during the lunar new year parade — and an expansive one, which has played out time and time again in cities around the world. This is a story about colors, red fabric draped over a dancer’s back, golden sequins that catch the light, yellow fur in the lion’s mane, the whites of its eyes. This is a story about sound, the bright crash of red tasseled cymbals, the […]
A red snake with gold “scales” is winding through the walls of the Pao Arts Center in Chinatown as part of a celebration of the Lunar New Year. “We invited people to come and cut out scales from a gold shimmery paper, and then we prompted them to write or draw their Lunar New Year wish,” said artist Amanda Beard Garcia, who painted the indoor mural over several days in January. “Some people made one wish and a few people […]
With additional reporting by Harmony Witte and D.Y. In the spring of 2024, students at colleges all over Greater Boston called out what they viewed as a campaign of genocide in Gaza. The students objected to the U.S. paying for much of Israel’s military expenses. They protested their universities’ ties with U.S. companies who build the weapons and fighter jets used by Israeli forces, by calling for divestment and boycott. And they marched against Israel for dropping bombs and flying […]
Tax season, regardless of the year, is both confusing and stressful. This can lead to some families putting off their taxes, incurring needless fees and penalties. However, tax season is also an opportunity for families to claim a number of tax credits that can be highly beneficial to them. A common misconception is that individuals don’t believe they have earned enough income to be eligible for tax credits. The reality is that every person’s individual situation is different and working […]
One of the most common questions I hear as a pediatric dentist is, “When should I start bringing my child to the dentist?” I remember a dad walking into my office, his chubby-cheeked one-year-old daughter perched on his hip. He glanced around, a bit unsure, and asked, “So… am I too early? Too late?” I smiled. “Actually, you’re right on time.” He raised an eyebrow. “Wait—you’re telling me my baby, who barely has any teeth, already needs a dentist?” I […]
Despite the fear and chaos created across the U.S. as immigration raids detain and deport more and more people, those living in the U.S. still have constitutional and legal protections, such as against illegal searches and warrantless home entries. That was a key takeaway from the media briefing “ICE Is Knocking. What Are Your Rights?” conducted by Ethnic Media Services. Just in the past few weeks, more than 200,000 people have been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and at […]
Sometimes the thrill of a strange novel comes in fits and starts. It’s less thrilling in its explosive consistency than it is in its ability to sustain a mood, to build and maintain a premise. Sayaka Murata’s new novel Vanishing World succeeds in more ways than it probably knows. It’s a novel of suppositions. It’s a speculative dystopian story in which society reproduces solely by artificial insemination. Traditional reproduction between a husband and wife is considered incest. As we come […]
Looking back on 2024, Sampan’s arts writer, Harmony Witte, compiled the following list of influential and important films of the year with connections to immigration in some way, or with foreign cast members. Some have immigration-focused stories, others have immigrant directors or actors or other cast members. Witte’s list includes hard-hitting documentaries, a martial arts adventure, both tense and funny crime stories, a surreal art romp and even a big-budget mystery thriller.“This selection of films,” writes Witte, “is of the […]
Already outspoken on genocide of indigenous peoples, doctor took deep dive into Palestine studies at Harvard While at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health a couple years ago, Dr. Yipeng Ge faced a dilemma – and the decision he would make would profoundly influence the following years of his life. Already outspoken on the genocide of indigenous people and racism in North America, Dr. Ge, during graduate studies at Harvard, discovered the Palestine Program. Also taking courses in […]
Thousands of clinical trials are run in cancer research every year to test new treatments and gather data about their effectiveness. But these studies can lack a diversity of participants, new research has indicated.For example, Dr. Heather Ann Edwards, an associate professor of otolaryngology-head & neck surgery at the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, found in a new study that over time, diversity in head and neck cancer clinical trials has decreased. This is bad news, because […]
