The International Examiner

When artist Nam June Paik died earlier this year, we lost a real pioneer of media art. Because of his work, I could never peer into the face of a TV screen or video monitor the same way. I will never forget Paik’s tower of TV’s stacked up in the middle of a Seoul modern [...]

Samoan Art & Artists: O Measina a Samoa by Sean Mallon University of Hawai’i Press Review by Anne O’Rourke “Samoan Art and Artists” looks generally at art in the Samoan culture. Sean Mallon has chosen to look at traditional arts and how they have moved into contemporary Samoan society both in Samoa and abroad. There [...]

The 1.5 Generation – Becoming Korean American in Hawai’i by Mary Yu Danico University of Hawai’i Press Review by Joomi Lee I wasn’t born or raised in Korea and didn’t grow up in Hawai’i. But, I still found much that I could identify with in Mary Yu Danico’s thoughtful treatise on the 1.5 generation of [...]

Living Pidgin: Contemplations on Pidgin Culture by Lee Tonouchi Tinfish Press Review by Amy Nishimura Lee Tonouchi’s “Living Pidgin: Contemplations on Pidgin Culture” argues that Pidgin speakers are as intelligent as those who use Standard English. Editor of the local journal Hybolics and author of “da word,” Tonouchi, a.k.a. “Da Pidgin Guerilla,” demonstrates a creative [...]

Kamehameha: The warrior king of Hawaii By Susan Morrison Illustrated by Karen Kiefer University of Hawaii Press Ages 10 and up Review by Doug Ing A highway, a shopping center and a private school are named for Kamehameha. He united all of the Hawaiian Islands under one rule. There is a statue of him across [...]

“You Got Poi, Bra’?” Every Thursday without fail, there is a familiar question put to me where I work in the produce department of Uwajimaya in Seattle’s International District. “You got fresh poi, bra’?” That question is always accompanied by a beaming smile and a “mahalo” when the answer is positive. Hawai’i is often forgotten [...]

The Asian Pacific Islander Community Leadership Foundation (ACLF) was founded in 1998 to meet a growing need to train and mentor emerging leaders in the API community. In 2000, ACLF organized its inaugural Community Leadership Program (CLP). Tatsuo Nakata was a graduate of this first CLP class, served ACLF as a past board member to [...]

Elderly residents get pre-holiday gift Volunteers from ek Real Estate Group help elderly residents with car washing on Dec. 5. The 53 residents of Nikkei Manor, a predominantly Japanese-American assisted living facility in Seattle’s International District, received an early holiday gift this year. Closing their Fisher Plaza office doors on a sunny November day, the [...]

BY HIROKO SPEES NAPAWF Earlier this year, 200 Asian Pacific Islander women gathered at the Loyola Marymount University campus in Los Angeles, shouting “Justice now!” and “Power now!” Power for API women? YES! They have been silenced for too long and are demanding their share of power. They are hard-working women who are nice and [...]

Washington, D.C. – President George W. Bush honored the recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation’s highest civil award, on Dec. 15. One of the recipients is Norman Mineta. Mineta has served as a mayor, congressman, and Cabinet Secretary under two Presidents. The longest-serving Secretary of Transportation, he worked to improve the security [...]

BY KEN MOCHIZUKI Examiner Assistant Editor Washington, D.C. – The Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), a national Asian Pacific American organization dedicated to ensuring social justice for Asian Pacific Americans, questions the tone and intent of Rosie O’Donnell’s apology for comments made on the morning talk show, “The View” on Dec. 5, and its implications [...]

Na Lei Makamae; The Treasured Lei by Marie A. McDonald; Paul Weissich Photographs by Jean Coté; Roen McDonald; Kenneth R. Wood University of Hawai`i Press Review by Juliana Ki’apuowaimakanalani Wolfe As a lei maker and student of “Hula Kahiko” (ancient hula), I found this book to be a “must have” in my collection. This is [...]

alchemies of distance (poems) by Caroline Sinavaiana-Gabbard subpress/Tinfish Review by Tarisa A.M. Matsumoto No one will ever accuse Caroline Sinavaiana-Gabbard of being timid or resigned. Instead, she is a warrior, an image often evoked in her collection of poems “alchemies of distance.” It is this mood of power and critique that drives Sinavaiana-Gabbard’s poems forward, [...]

BY WINNIE WONG Examiner Contributor The “Vanished Kingdoms” exhibit takes us on a tour of 1920s Mongolia, Tibet and other parts of northwestern China. And, insofar that our past informs the present, this exhibit is fitting of the Burke Museum’s mission to create a better understanding of the world. Prints from 39 hand-painted lantern slides [...]

“Whetu Moana: Contemporary Polynesian Poems in English”Edited by Albert Wendt, Reina Whaitiri & Robert Sullivan Review by M.J. Knecht “Whetu Moana” is the first anthology of contemporary indigenous Polynesian poetry written in English and edited by Polynesians. Potent and far-reaching, the collection surveys the vibrant and eclectic work of more than 60 poets from seven [...]

They Who Do Not Grieve by Sia Figiel Kaya Press Review by Robert Seward The terrifically talented Samoan writer Sia Figiel has penned an epic chant of a novel about three generations of Samoan women. At the heart of the story are the issues of gender, family and community that dominate Samoan life — at [...]

Highlights China is a country that is waving goodbye to the past at quickly as it is throwing itself into the wave of the future. No more is this better reflected than in their film. The University of Washington’s East Asia Center and China Studies Program presents a fascinating series of documentary films with English [...]