‘On the Outside’
September 26, 2003
Whether it’s a blond-headed American living in Asia, a cancer patient struggling to survive or a lonely foster child longing for his brother, the characters in Being on the Outside, a Shikina and Three Wise Monkeys production, know the meaning of “other.” The 10 short acts, comprised primarily of monologues and directed by Alice Shikina, are linked together using a broad definition of the term “outsider” that ranges from the humorous to the sublime. Read more
New and Notable Books
September 26, 2003
Brick Lane
By Monica Ali (Scribner)
A runaway bestseller in its native Britain and quickly climbing the charts on this side of the pond, Ali’s assured debut novel follows the life of Bangladeshi-born Nazneen, who arrives at age 18 in London as the arranged wife of a fat, older man. Read more
Princess Kicks Butt: And heroine is able to show her depth
September 26, 2003
Where have the kick-ass girl heroines gone? Read more
Plaque is Rallying Point
September 26, 2003
A couple blocks from the busy markets and foot traffic of San Francisco’s Chinatown, along a quiet stretch of Powell Street, sits Cathay Post No. 384, a Chinese American veterans chapter of the American Legion. Inside the cream-colored stucco building, a Slight of stairs invites visitors to revisit a forgotten chapter of U.S. history. Read more
Parent Group Fights for Neighborhood Schools: Kids boycotting schools in San Francisco
September 19, 2003
As students get accustomed to the start of a new school year in the San Francisco Unified School District, a handful of seats still remain empty. Some 23 students are refusing to attend school in response to not having received their school assignments in the Sunset and Richmond districts. Read more
Still Waiting: A Month After School has Started
September 19, 2003
A look at the San Francisco Unified School District’s final school assignments of 2003-2004 for students still on wating lists. These students were on waiting lists for schools — with limited spaces — they had indicated as their top choices. Read more
Learn From the Recall Decision
September 19, 2003
In the recent Los Angeles gubernatorial debate, independent Arianna Huffington and Green Party candidate Peter Camejo effusively supported applying instant runoff voting to California elections. If IRV applied to the Oct. 7 recall election, Californians could be ranking Huffington and Camejo among the 135 gubernatorial replacements for Gray Davis. Read more
UpFront News Briefs
September 19, 2003
Overheard
“I don’t see any reason why a Chinese woman can’t be as good a pilot as anyone else. We drive automobiles. Why not fly planes?” Read more
Breaking Through Our Shadow Democracy
September 19, 2003
When we last left Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, he was desperately trying to do something with the $3.8 million he received in campaign contributions from Indian casino interests.
He was trying to “politically launder” it. Read more
Letters to the Editor
September 19, 2003
Diversity Index
DEAR EDITOR: The editorial “Lead, Not Divide” (Aug. 29) implies that San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Arlene Ackerman should somehow be responsible for a long history of racism dating back to 1850. Read more
National Leaders Warn APAs on Civil Liberties: Financial institutions turn into ‘state informers,’ says Honda
September 19, 2003
The nation’s most influential Japanese American political leaders warned last week that Asian Pacific Americans could once again be stripped of civil liberties, 61 years after the incarceration of Japanese Americans. Read more
Concerns Linger Over Sept. 11
September 19, 2003
The second anniversary of the Sept. 11 disasters gave us more of both on-the-ground details of the horrors of that day and high-level perspective on what happened and why. Read more