Films featuring Asian American actors, culture, and issues will be presented this year in five different venues across the Boston area.  The Boston Asian American Film Festival (BAAFF), facilitated by the Asian American Resource Workshop (AARW), will include 14 independent films and videos, five screening events, a workshop on Asian Americans in film, and 13 community presenting partners.  Ranging from comedies to dramas and short films, the festival will offer a wide breadth of topics for Greater Boston audiences.BAAFF kicked […]

What is influenza (flu)? Influenza, commonly called “the flu,” is a lung (respiratory) infection caused by the influenza virus.  Although someone with a mild case of flu may have symptoms similar to a cold, most cases of flu are more serious than the common cold. The flu virus changes slightly each year, so each year a new batch of vaccinemust be made. When does flu occur? Flu occurs in the United States most often in the winter. Flu-like symptomsin summer […]

The Chinatown Neighborhood Council met on October 18, 2010 for their monthly meeting.  The core of the meeting was on the Kensington Place and the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway. Mark Rosenshein, Senior Project Manager, represented the Kensington Place project.  Although the construction of Kensington Place started in 2003, the project was placed on hold due to drastic increases in construction and construction prices. Subsequently, construction prices have become more feasible.  Since the 2003 NPC approval, physical changes were made to […]

On November 2nd, the 2010 Boston ballots will include the following candidates for governor: Charles Baker (Republican), Timothy Cahill (Independent), Deval Patrick (Democratic), and Jill Stein (Green-Rainbow).  In addition, it will include the following three questions: 1) Should the alcohol tax be repealed? 2) Should the state law allow the issuance of a single comprehensive permit to build units that includes low- or moderate-income housing be repealed? 3) Should state sales tax be reduced to 3%?After conducting a random survey, […]

Language immersion programs have become increasingly popular in cities and towns across the country.  If approved by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), the Boston Chinese Immersion Charter School (BCICS) will launch in the Fall of 2011 and become Boston’s first Chinese immersion school program.Language immersion programs are not a new concept; they were first introduced in 1965 in Montreal, Canada to provide English-speaking students living in a predominantly francophone province of Quebec with the opportunity to […]

The following is adapted from an interview of Dr. BJ Magnani, Chief of Clinical Pathology at Tufts Medical Center on the See, Test and Treat Program. Reporter:  Dr. Magnani, I know that you are the Chief of Clinical Pathology at Tufts Medical Center.  What type of work does that entail?Dr. Magnani:  Many of the medical laboratories in the United States are overseen by board-certified pathologists.  Pathologists are physicians who study tissue, cells and fluids that are obtained from the body.  […]

The Quincy Mayor’s Asian-American Advisory Committee convened on October 16 to discuss several upcoming events and initiatives. The Quincy Fire Department is participating in a fire safety contest through Liberty Mutual Insurance to win a $10,000 fire safety grant.  Residents can participate in a short online quiz by October 30. The committee also wants to inform the community that free energy audits are available by calling 617-750-4329.  Sponsored by the City of Quincy in cooperation with National Grid and the […]

Only weeks away from Election Day, self-proclaimed “Quincy kid” Tackey Chan, recently sat down with the Sampan to discuss his candidacy for state representative. Sampan: Describe your story and background – who gave you the name Tackey? Chan: [Laughs] People are always curious about my name.  It comes from the Chinese name Chan “Duk Gei” 陳德基 – and my parents used the old Wade-Giles phonetics system (T=D; K=G), straight from the Cantonese, and got “Tackey.” My parents immigrated to the […]

Updates on three areas in Chinatown: the Chinatown Park, Parcel 24, and Kensington Place were the main topics at the recent Chinatown Safety Committee Meeting on October 6. Representatives from the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, the organization responsible for the stretch of greenway along Surface Road including the Chinatown Park, came to the meeting in hopes of starting a dialogue about the look and feel of the park with community members.  Having planted 1200 plants already, the Conservancy has […]