University of Hawaii Hilo this summer

Excited to be teaching again at the University of Hawaii Hilo this summer! Come write with me! The stories are always so good in these classes. Then we can go get shave ice afterwards.

My initial response to Neal Rubin's terrible article in Detroit News re Vincent Chin case

I hesitate to give this terrible article by Neal Rubin in Detroit News any additional clicks, but here is my initial respose. He basically tries to rewrite the Vincent Chin case based on no new evidence and much mistaken and false information. Go to my other blog, RememberingVincentChin.com for more up to date information.

Hey Neal Rubin, According to the juror interviewed in the Academy Award winning documentary, "Who Killed Vincent Chin?" the jurors in Detroit federal trial found Ms. Racine Colwell to be THE most credible witness in the whole trial. You also forgot about the part where Ebens and Nitz paid Jimmy Perry $20 to help them hunt down "the Chinaman," before finally finding him at the McDonald's. Yes, Ronald Ebens was employed at Chrysler at the time (and Nitz had recently been laid off)--that was one of the reasons cited by Judge Kaufmann for the lenient sentence, that having a job gives one license to kill--but that does not mean that this case still was not all about race. Rather than relying on random third-hand information for a convoluted argument, you should do some research before launching your revisionist history and irresponsible journalism. The Michigan State Bar has deemed this case a Michigan Legal Milestone. You should talk to them.
--Frances Kai-Hwa Wang

Here is Neal Rubin's terrible article in The Detroit News (Note: the content has been changed several times since first publication April 29, 2014, 1:03 am ish without any editor's notes regarding the updates):
What we all assume we know about the Vincent Chin case probably isn't so | The Detroit News

And here is the almost as terrible article by Charlie LeDuff in the New York Times that started it all with a careless offhand comment re the Vincent Chin case:
A Beating in Detroit - NYTimes.com

Loving the Adjunct Life

Finals all graded now. Goodbye adjunct life (for now). Goodbye empty office (with three windows, sortof) That was the best fun I have had in a long time.  I so want to go to grad school now...

EATING CULTURES: Literary Sriracha - A Spicy Mix of Poetry, Mini-Memoirs, and Flash Fiction

I just named the poem that I will be reading on Saturday, May 17, 2014, 2:00-4:00 pm at

EATING CULTURES: Literary Sriracha - A Spicy Mix of Poetry, Mini-Memoirs, and Flash Fiction

I am so excited to be a part of the Asian American Women's Artists Association EATING CULTURES Art Exhibition, May 1-30, SomARTS, San Francisco. In addition to reading, my mixed media piece, "Did you eat? means...I love you," is included in the exhibition, my chapbooks are for sale at all associated events. Can't wait to see it! The full schedule is here:

Eating Cultures | Asian American Women Artists Association

Korematsu Day in the Japanese newspaper

Japan News Club, March 2014, re Korematsu Day in Michigan, which was held January 30, 2014:

Reading with poet Yang Lian

Reading the work of international poet Yang Lian at the University of Michigan Museum of Art




From International Institute | University of Michigan:

The Struggle of Memory Against Forgetting: Tiananmen 25 Years On

Apr
14
2014

Add to Cal

• Speaker: Yang Lian
• Host Department: Center for Chinese Studies
• Date: 04/14/2014
• Time: 6:00PM
  
• Location: Stern Auditorium
  University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA)
  525 S. State Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
  
• Description:

  6:00pm:  Reception ~ UMMA Commons Area
  7:00pm:  Poetry Reading ~ UMMA Stern Auditorium

   
  Yang Lian will be introduced by Kelly Askew, Director of the African Studies Center, and moderated by Professor San Duanmu, U-M Dept. of Linguistics.
  Yang Lian was born in Bern (Switzerland) in 1955, where his parents were in the diplomatic service, and grew up in Beijing. Like millions of other young people, he was sent to the countryside for re-education during the final years of the Cultural Revolution. After the death of his mother in 1976, Yang began to write poetry. Back in Beijing, as one of the leading experimental poets, he was associated with the underground literary periodical Jintian (Today).
  Yang Lian is best known as a poet, but he also writes prose, literary criticism and art criticism. His work, which comprises half a score of poetry collections and two volumes of prose, has been translated into over twenty languages. It includes: Dead in Exile (1989), Masks & Crocodile (1990), Non-person Singular (1995), Yi (2002), Notes of a Blissful Ghost (2002) and Concentric Circles (2006). He is regarded as one of the most representative voices of present-day Chinese literature.
  A recent passion and project of Yang Lian is to encourage the production and translation of poetry written in dialects of Chinese: Sichuan dialect, Shanghainese and Beijing dialect. There is currently no vehicle for writing poetry in these languages since Chinese orthography supports Mandarin only. Yang has been closely involved with a collective of Slovenian poets who, despite the small population of their country, support poetic production in nine Slovene dialects. He is currently working with Kelly Askew (U-M) and a formerly exiled Kenyan poet, Abdilatif Abdalla, on translating poetry composed in various dialects of Swahili into English and from English into dialect forms of Chinese. The idea is ultimately to produce a volume on ‘dialect poetry’, written in the shadows of dominant, politically powerful, languages (Mandarin and Standardized Swahili being but two examples).

  Organized by the African Studies Center and co-sponsored by the Center for Chinese Studies, the International Institute, and the Confucius Institute at the University of Michigan.

International Institute | University of Michigan

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Children's storytelling and reading at Bookbound in May

Bookbound is starting Children's Book Week early as well as celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month with a reading and storytelling event with local writer and speaker Frances Kai-Hwa Wang who will share some of her favorite stories and books about growing up Asian in America. Intended for children, appropriate for all ages. Saturday, May 10, 2:00 pm, Bookbound, Ann Arbor.

I will tell some original stories, read some books they carry, and bring some other books too. My intention is to focus on stories set in America that deal with issues Asian Pacific American (and many other) children have to deal with here. so these will not be stories set in an ancient land far far away once upon a time. Here are some of my favorite books for your reference, and anything by Lee and Low Books is also good:
http://www.papertigers.org/personalViews/archiveViews/FKWang.html

If you can't wait that long, check out my good friend La'Ron Williams at the Ann Arbor District Library next week:

National Library Week Wrap-Up Event: Storyteller La'Ron Williams,
Saturday April 19, 2014: 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm -- Downtown Library Multi-Purpose Room
This event is intended for age six to adultNational Library Week concludes with a special performance for elementary-age youth through adults featuring nationally-known Storyteller La'Ron Williams.
La'Ron is a nationally acclaimed, award-winning storyteller, earning a reputation as one of the finest storytellers in the state of Michigan. His salient gift is his remarkable rapport with audiences of all kinds, as he uses dialect, facial expressions and movement to breathe life into tales which transcend the boundaries of class and age.
La'Ron also believes that multiculturalism is an important part of life and that the power and beauty of African culture should be shared.

http://www.aadl.org/node/253169

UPDATED with a better photo. :)

"The Struggle of Memory Against Forgetting: Tiananmen 25 Years On," Monday, April 14

I was just invited to read poetry in translation of/for Chinese poet Yang Lian, "The Struggle of Memory Against Forgetting: Tiananmen 25 Years On," Monday, April 14, 6:00 pm, at University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA), with University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies University of Michigan International Institute Confucius Institute and African Studies. Part of a three-day exploration of the events of Tiananmen Square.

http://www.ii.umich.edu/ccs/eventsprograms/specialpresentations/ci.thestruggleofmemoryagainstforgettingtiananmen25yearsonmon14apr2014_ci.detail

Diversity talks

best compliment today, "Thanks for making a lot of people in the room very uncomfortable." Ha!

Photos coming soon. Today in Dearborn:

Open Mic and Share at Bookbound Thursday, April 10

On Thursday at Bookbound:

If you are in California, check out May-lee Chai curated Eating Cultures: Literary Sriracha with Asian American Women Artists Association in San Francisco in May. Should be a spicy time...

https://www.facebook.com/events/1407203209547810/

Bowling Green State University Inaugural APA Heritage Week

for those in Bowling Green, Ohio:

Speaking at the 11th Annual Images and Perceptions Diversity Conference

I will be speaking at the 11th Annual Images and Perceptions Diversity Conference this Thursday, April 10, 2014, "Embracing Diversity, Empowering Communities," in Dearborn, MI, with Keynote Edward James Olmos https://www.facebook.com/events/234559753396797/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming

Register today http://www.3dconsults.com/images.html

Eating Cultures, May 1–30 — SOMArts

So excited to be a part of the Asian American Women's Artist Association (AAWAA) EATING CULTURES art exhibition and Literary Sriracha Poetry Reading May 1-30, 2014. SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA.

Eating Cultures, May 1–30 — SOMArts

Kimchi for Life

So pleased to be included in the third anthology, Kimchi for Life, of the A Melting Pot of Thoughts series. Book release party on May 31, 2014 at Access Group Media, at 7:00 PM, in Orange County. More info at https://www.facebook.com/AMeltingPotOfThoughts.

GenAPA 2014

Gen APA is always a great show. This Sunday at 6 at University of Michigan Michigan League Mendelssohn Theatre. Check out Lauren Peng's video for a preview: Video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkFev8QxGmw

#notyourracistpotato

Love this. An upside to last week. Brilliant. Effective. Actually funny. h/t Jeff Yang.

V3con: June 14-15, 2013

Yay that's me and Eric Ignacio and Nelson Wong and Quincy Surasmith (not paying attention as always...except for Nelson) in the thumbnail. Can't wait for V3con: V3 Digital Media Conference presented by AAJA-LA!