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October 25, 2024 0

Adoptees Torn Over China’s End to Overseas Adoptions

When Emili Van Volkinburg learned in early September that China is ending international adoptions, she felt conflicted. Van Volkinburg, a 25-year-old Brighton resident, was adopted from southeast China at age two-and-a-half by white parents from Ohio. Growing up, she had open conversations with her mom about being adopted. Her parents enrolled her and her older sister, who was also adopted from China, in Chinese language and culture classes to keep them connected to their Chinese heritage. They took dance classes […]

October 25, 2024 0

Korean Americans Celebrate Nobel Prize to Han Kang in Literature First

by Ava Belchez

Han Kang won the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2024—the first writer from South Korea to be awarded this prize. Yet, she has “declined to hold a press conference, citing the global tragedies of the Ukraine-Russia war and the Israel-Palestine conflict,” according to The Korea Times, citing a letter from her father.Korean-American software engineer Todd S.J. Simmer said this move was “commendable for her to take a step back to recognize the struggles and tragedies that are unfolding in those […]

October 25, 2024 0

Story of New Americans from Haiti Lost Amid Election Rhetoric

by Milourdes Augustin

As immigration has taken center stage in the presidential election, it now feels like all eyes are on Haiti, my home country. That nation in turmoil — like Mexico and Latin America before, and even China in the distant past – has been unfairly singled out as a poster child for all kinds of America’s ills, with immigrants serving as scapegoats. Trump once stated that Haiti was a “shit hole country” and he opposed extending aid to the country as […]

October 25, 2024 0

We Must Guard Our Rights to Free Speech and Dissent

by Adam Smith

This election has been portrayed as critical for the future of our democracy. But a key part of that democracy, our First Amendment rights, will no doubt remain under attack – no matter who wins. Republican candidate and former president, Donald Trump, openly threatens those who do not agree with him. At the same time, vice president and Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris – and Pres. Joe Biden – are guilty of doing little to protect the rights of those who […]

October 25, 2024 0

Sampan Readers Give Their Take on Key Election Issues

by Christopher John Stephens

It’s been over 30 years since famed Democratic strategist James Carville tried to provide a pithy summary to all that concerned the American voting public: “It’s the economy, stupid.” Carville’s way with a slogan helped his candidate Bill Clinton start the first of two terms as president of the United States. Carville remained a feisty political strategist in the decades that followed, and Clinton weathered a notorious sex scandal in his second term that led to his impeachment. By the […]

October 25, 2024 0

Gov’s Emergency Gun Rule Triggers Debate Around Second Amendment Rights in State

by Esther Wang

Gov. Maura Healey signed an emergency preamble early this month that effectively put a new gun law into immediate effect, expanding Massachusetts’ preexisting firearms regulations—already some of the strictest in the country. The move will crack down on private-made “ghost guns”; criminalize possession of “bump stocks” and trigger cranks; require a gun license for live-fire training; prohibit people outside of law enforcement from carrying guns at schools, polling places, and government buildings; ban the possession, transfer, and sale of assault […]

October 25, 2024 0

‘More Than a Village’ Explores Changing Climate Through Chinese Woodblock Prints

by Yuchen Hong

In an exhibit at Boston College’s Carney 203 Gallery using traditional woodblock printing, artist Cina He explores the effects of climate change in her hometown. Born in Liuzhou in Guangxi province, He moved to Buenos Aires at age 12. Her artistic practice is deeply informed by these two distinct cultural landscapes. Now a senior at Boston College, she is pursuing a double major in transformative education studies and studio art, with a minor in film studies. Her show, “More Than […]

October 25, 2024 0

Warmer World Brings Dengue Close to Home

by Kristen Si

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning that after years of climate change, the global incidence of dengue fever has reached a record peak this year – reaching several parts of the U.S.In a recent Health Alert Network Health Advisory, the CDC reported that nearly 9.7 million dengue cases were spotted in the Americas for the first half of 2024, double the number of cases in 2023. According to the Pan American Health Organization, Latin America is experiencing […]

October 11, 2024 0

Filipino Festival Serves Up Flavors,Memories of Home

by Ava Belchez

Mary Crown – who moved from the Philippines to Boston two decades ago – stood amid the chatter of Tagalog and English, the smell of barbecuing pork, and the voice of America’s Got Talent semi-finalist Roland Abante singing “Dynamite.” “I’ve never seen so many Filipinos,” she joked. Crown was among the throngs gathered at the Church Street parking lot in Cambridge for the 3rd Annual Filipino American Festival on Oct. 6. The event was organized by the Harvard Square Philippine […]

October 11, 2024 0

WWII Pvt. Woo Returns for Burial After Nearly 80 Years

by Esther Wang

A full 79 years after his death, Private Kwack Keung Woo of the U.S. Army has finally been brought home to Agwam, Massachusetts. After falling in action in Biesdorf, Germany, in 1945, the private’s remains were not recovered until 1951 and only identified recently. “Once a soldier is identified, the family is given the option to have their loved one buried in a designated overseas military cemetery or repatriated to the United States to a local cemetery or a veterans […]

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