"Let the CAT out of the bag" with Pitt's Department of East Asian Languages & Litetaratures, March 26.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of East Asian Langauges & Literatures will present Chinese instructor Yiting Cheng and her colloquium "Let the CAT out of the bag" on March 26.

Dr. Cheng, a Chinese language instructor at UPitt and a NYS certified court interpreter, will introduce you to a translation tool that is required by most language service providers. This took is non-language specific so long as you are interested in translation. You are invited to see how this tool works.

The event starts at 2:00 pm on Zoom.

Pitt's ASA, Crisis Relief Club, and SASA present "Discussion on East / Southeast Asian Violence" on March 25.

The Asian Student Association, Crisis Relief Club, and South Asian Student Association invite students to a Discussion on East / Southeast Asian Violence" on March 25.

ASA x CRC X SASA present a virtual healing space for students to come and discuss the prevalent and ongoing anti-Asian hate crime and violence in the United States. We will be having a round table discussion and will also provide a resource toolkit on how to support the Asian American community and be an ally.

The event runs from 9:00 to 10:00 pm on Zoom (977 7619 2019) and is open to the student community.

"Japanese Culture through Video Games," March 31 with Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania.

The Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania will host Dr. Rachael Hutchinson and her talk "Japanese Culture through Video Games" on March 31, a talk that was scheduled last April at Pitt but ultimately postponed.

Japanese video games have had a significant impact on the medium worldwide. Dr. Rachael Hutchinson considers how ‘Japan’ has been packaged for domestic and overseas consumers, and how Japanese designers have used the medium to express ideas about home and nation, nuclear energy, war and historical memory, social breakdown and bioethics. She explores how ideology and critique are conveyed through game narrative and character design as well as user interface, cabinet art, and peripherals. Ultimately, she argues that Japanese artists have expressed similar ideas in the video game medium as in older narrative forms such as literature and film.

The online talk is free though seating is limited and registration is required.

PublicSource shares perspective on anti-Asianism in Pittsburgh and "how media, government and academia fail Asian women."

photo by Jay Manning for Public Source.

Alexis Lai in PublicSource shares perspectives on anti-Asianism in Pittsburgh: "As a Han Chinese woman in Pittsburgh, I see the Atlanta massacre exposing how media, government and academia fail Asian women."

The massacre has been infuriating on many levels, but not at all surprising to anyone who has been genuinely listening to Asians in America. In fact, a year ago, when the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Pittsburgh, I wrote that it wasn’t paranoid to wonder if there would be another Vincent Chin. An American of Chinese ancestry, he was beaten brain dead in Detroit in 1982 by two white men furious about the growing Japanese dominance of the auto industry. His murder, for which his attackers were merely fined $3,000, galvanized the Asian American civil rights movement.

What is perhaps even more outrageous than the Atlanta attack itself is the tepid overall response from the federal government, local law enforcement, the mainstream news media and the general public – all who still refuse to acknowledge the violence for what it is. Asian Americans are having to continually justify why the killing spree was unambiguously a hate crime against working-class Asian women – enraging, exhausting emotional labor that only compounds the indignity and injustice they are facing in a time of exquisite crisis.

As a Han Chinese woman of Hong Kong ancestry, as a journalist with a decade of professional experience, as an international graduate student in America, and as a journalism and creative nonfiction instructor at the University of Pittsburgh, I have been numb with fury by the culture of complicit complacence toward anti-Asianism.

More at PublicSource.org.

2020 Korean-American film Minari remains in Pittsburgh through (at least) March 30.

The 2020 Korean-American film Minari, which opened in Pittsburgh on February 11, will remain here through at least March 30. A synopsis, from the distributor:

A tender and sweeping story about what roots us, Minari follows a Korean-American family that moves to an Arkansas farm in search of their own American Dream. The family home changes completely with the arrival of their sly, foul-mouthed, but incredibly loving grandmother. Amidst the instability and challenges of this new life in the rugged Ozarks, Minari shows the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.

It will continue at numerous local theaters, including (on certain days) the AMC Loews Waterfront, AMC Mt. Lebanon, Waterworks Cinemas, Cranberry Cinemas, and the Cinemark in Monroeville. Tickets are available online.

Eddie Huang film Boogie continues in Pittsburgh, through March 30.

The Eddie Huang film Boogie, which opened in Pittsburgh on March 5, will continue here through at least March 25. From the distributor:

From acclaimed writer, producer and restaurateur Eddie Huang comes his directorial debut Boogie, the coming-of-age story of Alfred “Boogie” Chin, a basketball phenom living in Queens, New York, who dreams of one day playing in the NBA. While his parents pressure him to focus on earning a scholarship to an elite college, Boogie must find a way to navigate a new girlfriend, high school, on-court rivals and the burden of expectation.

It plays locally at many theaters, including (on certain days) the AMC Loews Waterfront, AMC South Hills, Waterworks Cinema, and Cinemark Monroeville. Tickets are available online.

"Hatsune Miku, DTM, and Niconico: Exploring Media Ecosystems in Contemporary Japan and Beyond," March 31 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will host Dr. Keisuke Yamada and "Hatsune Miku, DTM, and Niconico: Exploring Media Ecosystems in Contemporary Japan and Beyond" on March 31.

In the virtual presentation, Dr. Yamada discusses the Vocaloid and DTM (desktop music) phenomena through the lenses of media and fan studies, looking at online social media platforms, the new technology for composing, and fans of the Vocaloid character. He provides a sense of how interactive new media and an empowered fan base combine to engage in the creation processes and enhance the circulation of Vocaloid works. The question of how today’s DTM culture expands in scale hinges upon such lively collaborations and interconnections, not just between individuals, but also among individuals, technologies, and distribution infrastructures.

The talk starts at 6:30 pm and is free and open to the public, though registration is required.

"Salon Conversation with Cathy Park Hong," March 24 at Carnegie Mellon University.

Carnegie Mellon University's Miller Institute for Creative Art will present "Salon Conversation with Cathy Park Hong" on March 24.

Questions for Cathy Park Hong can be emailed in advance of the event at miller-ica@andrew.cmu.edu

This conversation between facilitator Dana Bishop-Root and writer Cathy Park Hong, will continue the Miller ICA salon series of conversations with individuals who imagine and actualize possibility on the other side of the pandemic portal.

Cathy Park Hong’s book of creative nonfiction, Minor Feelings, was published in Spring 2020 by One World/Random House (US) and Profile Books (UK). Minor Feelings is a ruthlessly honest, emotionally charged, and utterly original exploration of Asian American consciousness and the struggle to be human. The book has garnered praise from literary legends such as Claudia Rankine who said, “Cathy Park Hong’s brilliant, penetrating and unforgettable Minor Feelings is what was missing on our shelf of classics....To read this book is to become more human.”

Cathy Park Hong is also the author of poetry collections Engine Empire, published in 2012 by W.W. Norton, Dance Dance Revolution, chosen by Adrienne Rich for the Barnard Women Poets Prize, and Translating Mo'um. Hong is the recipient of the Windham-Campbell Prize, the Guggenheim Fellowship, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. Her prose and poetry have been published in the New York Times, New Republic, the Guardian, Paris Review, Poetry, and elsewhere. She is the poetry editor of the New Republic and is a full professor at Rutgers-Newark University.

Dana Bishop-Root lives in gratitude, is guided by relationships, listening deep and expansive possibilities with an ever present commitment to justice. She is the Director of Education and Public Programs at the Carnegie Museum of Art, a founding member of General Sisters, Transformazium and a huge advocate for the Braddock Carnegie Library Association.

The online event runs from 7:30 to 8:30 pm and registration is required.

UPPDA Coffee Hour: Addressing Anti-Asian Racism at Pitt, March 26.

The University of Pittsburgh Post Doctoral Association (UPPDA) will host "UPPDA Coffee Hour: Addressing Anti-Asian Racism at Pitt" on March 26.

At the University of Pittsburgh, we are dedicated towards supporting Asian postdocs and faculty during this difficult time. UPPDA will be hosting a Coffee Hour this Friday, March 26th at 5PM, dedicated to addressing anti-Asian racism at Pittsburgh and in our society. Daniel Jacobson López, Chair of Diversity and Inclusion, will be available to respond to any inquiries and communications regarding this imperative matter. Daniel is a trained anti-bias facilitator with the Anti-Defamation League and Licensed Social Worker.

The onilne event runs from 5:00 to 6:00 pm and advance registration is required.

"Pittsburgh Rally for Solidarity," March 24 on Flagstaff Hill.

"Pittsburgh Rally for Solidarity" is scheduled for Wednesday, March 24, starting at Flagstaff Hill and moving to Schenley Plaza in Oakland.

Meet at Flagstaff Hill (Across from Phipps Conservatory) 3:00pm
3:00pm Sign Making
4:00pm Rally Begins
4:15pm Speakers
4:45pm March to Schenley Plaza
(8 mins of silence for the 8 victims)
5:30pm Closing Remarks

Community members in Allegheny County: join us in solidarity with organizers from marginalized communities as we continue their legacies and uphold their work. Violence against Asian/Asian Americans is not new, and it is rooted in the same state-sanctioned sources of harm that impact all of our communities, including racism, xenophobia, sexism, police, white supremacy, cisheteropatriarchy.