The International Examiner

Boom! Be Thi Luu stumbles as the hard metal floor of the ship beneath her starts to sway. Boom! A second blow to the ship’s left thrusts her up against the railings on the right as waters from the Gulf of Thailand splash onto the deck. Boom! As soon as Luu hears the frightening hollow [...]

The way people refer to the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975 epitomizes the difference in how the historical narrations of the Second Indochina War have evolved inside and outside of Vietnam. Those in Vietnam commemorate April 30 as Liberation of the South Day (Giai Phong Mien Nam). Those outside, overseas Vietnamese and Vietnamese [...]

Abandonment can happen to anyone. You can be single, married, divorced, come from a nurturing home or a dysfunctional one. The key issue in abandonment is honestly looking at loss. It can be a traumatic event like the death of a parent or a cumulative one such as the loss of a connection with your [...]

In China, people eat dogs. Yes, unfortunately, the stereotype of the Chinese eating, well…everything, is somewhat true even in the context of what we consider a household pet. Earlier this month, CNN published a video covering the dog meat market in Guangzhou, China. I cringed at the thought of my own family’s black lab and [...]

On March 21, over 200,000 people converged on Washington D.C. to demand comprehensive immigration reform in 2010. Asian Pacific Americans participated, including national Asian Pacific American civil rights organizations and Seattle’s Thao Tran, Many Uch and Cathy Pham. On April 10, Saturday at noon, in Occidental Park in Seattle’s Pioneer Square, the Washington Immigration Reform [...]

It was just like any other day for 19 year-old Mario del Fierro. He had practiced his dance routine — a mix of modern-day hip hop and Eskrima, a Filipino martial art class — to perfection. But during his performance, Fierro did a backhand spin and his knee landed on a pole. Life hasn’t been [...]

According to the Office of Minority Health, API populations are at higher risk for diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and stroke, and have been found to have a high prevalence of chronic pulmonary disease, Hepatitis B, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis. While academic achievement and income levels are common social measures of achievement, general health should [...]

1. Make sure you and your family get your yearly check-ups. Kids and adults need annual wellness check-ups. Whether it is for heart health, diabetes screening, or that odd-looking mole on your shoulder, plan ahead for 2010 and schedule your annual exam early. 2. Make sure you and your family are all current on immunizations [...]

In the summer of 1993, Janelle Le was about to enter her senior year at Lindbergh high school when she experienced something she had felt dozens of times before, a cold. A month later, a severe cough developed and doctors were perplexed after incorrectly diagnosing her with bronchitis and then pneumonia. Test after test was [...]

For some Asian Pacific Islanders, it might be surprising to find out the prevalence of Hepatitis B Virus among the API population in the United States. With approximately five to fifteen percent of Asian immigrants diagnosed with HBV (compared to .05 percent for Caucasians), the disease has impacted the API community in multiple ways, the [...]

In “Formosa Betrayed”, an FBI agent travels to Taiwan to investigate the murder of a Taiwanese professor that occurred on American soil. In his haste to make an arrest, the blundering agent stumbles into some thorny situations. Oblivious to Taiwanese customs, and relying on a possibly corrupt U.S. State Department employee, he solicits a local [...]

Vaginas are yucky, no? That is the common misconception but the female body is sacred, said Emma Catague, acting executive director of the Asian Pacific Islander Women and Family Safety Center (APIWFSC). The Safety Center is hosting and coordinating a production of the Vagina Monologues featuring some national performers and a local cast of power-hitters [...]

“I used to fish,” says dancer Sokvannara “Sy” Sar. “To dance a dance is to fish in the rice field” in Cambodia, Sar’s home country. Both fishing and dancing came naturally to Sar. In Ann Bass’s documentary, “Dancing Across Borders,” she traces Sar’s career as a dancer first in the Khmer tradition and later in [...]