> AsianWeek Market Report
> Asian Pacific Fund Creates K-12 Lesson Plans for Heritage Month
> Indian Company Tries to Grab 200 U.S. Movie Theaters
> Kearny Street Workshop Names new Executive Director
> Two Lowell Students Win the SF Young Playwrights Festival
> US Senate honours Burma’s Suu Kyi
> Chinese Cyber Nationalists Hit the West Where it Hurts
> Chinese students clash with demonstrators at Olympic torch relay
Compiled by Irene Aranya
AsianWeek Market Report
BAY: Asian Pacific Fund Creates K-12 Lesson Plans for Heritage Month
SAN FRANCISCO - The Asian Pacific Fund announced on Friday that new, free educational materials are now available for teachers to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in their classrooms. This is the first time lesson plans have been created for grades kindergarten through 12 that cover multiple Asian ethnic groups.
The lesson plans were designed to meet national education standards and are designed specifically for four grade categories: K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12. The activities share with students the achievements of highly accomplished Asian Americans and teach them about the many countries that Asian Americans in the U.S. originally came from.
Two of the lesson plans address geography and mapping, and the other two discuss Asian American heroes.
The mapping activities introduce students to 15 Asian and Pacific island countries, and the lesson plans about heroes include profiles of Asian
Americans who have distinguished themselves in a variety of fields.
ARTS: Indian Company Tries to Grab 200 U.S. Movie Theaters
Adlabs Films, a subsidiary of leading Indian entertainment company Reliance Entertainment, is making a grab for American audiences with the acquisition of more than 200 cinemas in 28 U.S. cities.
The Indian conglomerate Reliance, which has $29 billion in assets and interests in power, telecom and financial services among other areas, teamed with Phoenix Theatres, a mainstream American exhibitor based in Knoxville, Tenn.
The new theater chain will likely be branded as Big Cinemas and will program a mix of Hindi, South Indian, and first-run and second-run Hollywood movies. They will also renovate each theater, making them “nicer and newer” and upgrading their sound systems and air-conditioning.
The new Big Cinemas will not only offer Indian films in the mix with American ones, but will also stock samosas and chai in their snack bars.
Some of the regions that will get Big Cinemas in the coming months include San Jose, Calif.; Chicago, New York, New Jersey, Atlanta and Detroit.
–New America Media
ARTS: KEARNY STREET WORKSHOP NAMES NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
SAN FRANCISCO – Kearny Street Workshop, the oldest Asian American multidisciplinary arts organization in the US, on Friday announced the appointment of Ellen Oh as executive director where she will oversee the organization’s program direction, fundraising, marketing, and day-to-day administration.
Having worked in nonprofit arts organizations for the past 10 years, Oh has a strong background in arts management. Her experience includes positions in fundraising, event coordination, and volunteer management. Most significantly, she spent nearly five years conducting marketing and community outreach at the Asian Art Museum during its move from Golden Gate Park to Civic Center.
Vid Prabhakaran, president of the Kearny Street Workshop board of directors said, “Over our 35 years, KSW has had a long line of passionate and well-respected executive directors. Ellen Oh is the newest member of this esteemed group and has been charged with ensuring that the organization will continue to grow in new directions while remaining true to its mission and constituencies.”
ARTS: Two Lowell Students Win the SF Young Playwrights Festival
Kalson Chan and Benson Ma, seniors at Lowell High School, are among the winners of the 2008 San Francisco Young Playwrights Festival. Each year, this nationally acclaimed competition selects and stages outstanding plays submitted by San Francisco high school students.
Chan and Ma’s winning work, “Within The Walls of Sand,” is a “Twilight
Zone”/”Waiting For Godot” inspired work about a couple who encounter unusual situations in a hotel. Their play, along with three other winning student works, will be performed this weekend on May 15th, 17th, and the 18th at the annual three day Festival held at City College of San Francisco.
Benson says the play took about two months to create. “We’d have spurts of creativity, and then go maybe a week or two without doing much of anything.”
Benson, who intends on majoring in social sciences in college, has several literary influences. “Edgar Allan Poe’s works have always enthused me, and recently, I’ve been absorbed by James Joyce’s works. But really, I just like anyone who can spin a good story.”
NATION: US Senate honours Burma’s Suu Kyi
The US Senate has voted to award Burmese pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. its highest honour, the Congressional Gold Medal.
The bill, which was approved by the House of Representatives last December, was passed unopposed in the Senate.
US-based Burma campaigners welcomed the move, saying the imprisoned opposition leader “richly deserves” the award.
Burma’s generals have held Ms Suu Kyi for more than 12 of the past 18 years, mostly under house arrest. Her National League for Democracy (NLD) won polls in 1990 but the junta never handed over power.
“This Congressional Gold Medal is a tribute to Suu Kyi’s courage and conviction, and a symbol of solidarity with the oppressed people of Burma,” said Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein.
–BBC News
GLOBAL: Chinese Cyber Nationalists Hit the West Where it Hurts
When the Olympic torch lit the way for international anti-China protests the Chinese cyber nationalists are flexing their power as a nation of consumers by calling for a series of boycotts.
The Chinese have identified Carrefour, the French supermarket chain, as a symbol of France, especially because a big shareholder of Carrefour, the LVMH group, has donated money to the Dalai Lama.
Urged by cyber nationalists, there have been protests outside of Carrefour markets in nine Chinese cities. To offset the boycott, Carrefour announced a 50 percent off promotion starting that day. Also, Carrefour’s employees are now wearing a new uniform that shows the colors and design of the Chinese national flag.
But regardless of Carrefour’s efforts, the boycott escalates. There is a call to boycott McDonald’s and KFC on June 1st. German publisher Bertelsmann Group and French cosmetic brand L’Oreal were added to the boycott list because media outlets owned by Bertelsmann reported inaccurately about the Chinese crackdown on Tibetan protestors.
–New America Media
GLOBAL: Chinese students clash with demonstrators at Olympic torch relay
SEOUL - A North Korean defector, Son Jong Hoon, 45, tried to set himself on fire to halt the Olympic torch relay Sunday in Seoul, while Chinese students clashed with anti-Beijing demonstrators by throwing rocks and punches at the latest troubled stop on the flame’s round-the-world journey.
Son had led an unsuccessful public campaign to save his brother from execution in the North, where he was accused of spying after the two met secretly in China. About an hour into the relay, Son poured gasoline on himself in the middle of a street, but police quickly surrounded him and carried him away before he could set himself alight.
Scuffles broke out near the relay start between a group of 500 Chinese supporters and about 50 demonstrators criticizing Beijing’s policies. The demonstrators carried a banner reading, “Free North Korean refugees in China.” The students threw stones and water bottles as some 2,500 police tried to keep the two sides apart.
–AP