A Grain of Sand in Smithsonian Folkways Magazine

Sojin Kim recently wrote an excellent, in-depth article on the legendary A Grain of Sand album by Chris Iijima, Nobuko Miyamoto and Charlie Chin. Progressive Asian American music pretty much starts with this album. In the Smithsonian Folkways Magazine cover story, Sojin provides a background on all three artists as well as the movement that inspired them. A must read! Read it here.

Who is Melissa Roxas?

Please watch and learn about Melissa's story. Her bravery is inspiring and her continued community work deserves the support of all of us.



CLICK HERE to sign an open letter to demand justice for Melissa Roxas.

Winners of the JACCC Power of Community Video Contest

The JACCC recently announced the winners of the Power of Community Video Contest. It's great to see API filmmakers creating spots that promote the importance of community instead of selling product. All three directors have different perspectives about the concept of community and took their own approach to trying to capture it on video.

Hey!

This was pretty cool to see!

PBS Broadcast of Pilgrimage & A Song For Ourselves, May 8-15

Pilgrimage and A Song For Ourselves will be broadcasting together on multiple PBS affiliate stations starting on Mother’s Day, May 8th through the 15th. Two Films by Tadashi Nakamura is the official title of the program. Not every PBS station will be airing the show but it will be broadcasting on 1,104 stations, covering 45% of the country including; San Francisco, Dallas, Boston and New Orleans. Some broadcasts will happen at odd hours of the day so hopefully you made the upgrade to that DVR.

Click to download PDF of cities and dates of all broadcasts

Bows & Grindz

It was the summer of 2000, 6 weeks in Honolulu with 30 other students and I was 20 years old. Alice DJ and Destiny's Child ("Better off Alone" & "Jumpin Jumpin" to be exact) was the knock in the club and Three Plus was the bump in the ride. It was my peak of substance tolerance and student self-righteousness all at the same time.

I was participating in the UCLA/UH Asian American Studies Summer Program. I took classes taught by Dr. Erin Wright and Prof. Rod Labrador which opened my eyes to the crippling effects of settler colonialism in Hawai'i and forced me to reflect on my own privilege as a Japanese American on the island.

11 years later, Prof. Rod and a collective of organizations at UH brought me back to campus to screen my films and run a workshop. It was great, Rod now has some gray hair and I have some facial hair, kinda. Special thanks to Ethnic Studies Student Association of UH.


Cindy and I hit up our favorite food spots but made time in the belly schedule to try some new places. The pork belly bowl at Your Kitchen was pretty amazing:


The fries and dipping sauces lived up to the hype at Hank's. But I would take a $2 dirty dog in LA over their $6 bacon wrapped then deep fried hotdog:


We got our skank on at the Waikiki Shell and got to see Katchafire, Ho'onua and Ooklah The Moc! It was fun but unlike my Birthday Bash experience in '00, we stayed in the old people section.


Hit up the fellas on the North Shore...


The Previas stay rollin on Oahu...

Screening Trilogy at Univ. of Hawai'i on 4/14

8 Clap!

Honored to get a write-up on the UCLA alumni site! Read article HERE.