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The latest issue of The Asian American Literary Review is out. It’s a major step up in the young life of The AALR in terms of ambition and production. Guest editors Rajini Srikanth and Parag Khandhar, as well as Editors-in-Chief Lawrence-Minh Bui Davis and Gerald Maa, are to be congratulated heartily. The East Coast-based AALR commemorates a decade in Asian America after 9/11. The entire Asian community in New York has seen things change profoundly in obvious ways (racial profiling of South Asian, Arab, Middle Eastern and Muslim Americans; the conversion of Chinatown into a parking garage for the Feds) and in subtle ways (Afghani restaurants took down maps of the country from their dining rooms). It is a full-scale multimedia effort: The print journal collects first-person testimonies and transcribed discussions and interviews, while there are also visual art sections and an illuminating DVD. The pieces range from angry to somber to bitingly satiric. A long-time contributor to Time is eyed carefully after an airport customs official sees a Syria stamp on his passport and thinks the journalist’s chicken-scrawl handwriting is Arabic. A 13-year-old plaintively asks to live in a world “without having the thought of something bad happening to you.” In words, images and performance, we find that when we view the most unforgettable events from dozens of viewpoints, we not only honor the past but also contemplate our future. Pushkar Sharma‘s mindblowing “10 Little Coolies” spoken-word piece from the DVD.   One of five of Tomie Arai‘s works in the print issue.
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Chinatown NY. Once a tourist trap in NYC, now is facing tons of issues post 9/11. Not mentioned of course is the overall reaching national economic problems which appeared evident in NYC prior to LA or SF. The stats in the article sound fatal for the once vibrant area. Shops closed, traffic weaned away, tourist buses rerouted, and signs saying to stay away from Lower Manhattan. Granted, you can get the mix tapes, faux fashion items, and just regular fun goods, yet the tourists haven’t been there in the typical mass. The garment district is doomed. Out of it all, maybe an awakening of taking back the area! (NYDailyNews – Chinatown)
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When you try to change your restaurant’s name, remember the little sign, too. Let’s say the Chinese restaurant you run is already a couple years old — too old for you to call it “NEW GREEN BO.” Let’s say you want to change it to “NICE GREEN BO,” just so your  regulars aren’t thrown off too much. If your sign is translucent and lit from the back, it’s probably worth it to properly fix your sign instead of pasting on “NICE” over it, because at night, your restaurant becomes “NIECWE GREEN BO.” Not that that’s a bad name.
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The legend of the lens himself, Corky Lee. The Queens Museum of Art is currently exhibiting “Asian Pacifically New York: The Photography of Corky Lee” through August 14. In the city, everybody knows Corky. He’s at nearly every Asian Pacific American event. Has been for decades. His pictures have run everywhere from Time magazine, The New York Times, The Village Voice and the Associated Press. Corky’s 1975 picture of the old Pagoda movie theater in Manhattan’s Chinatown became the cover of my second book, This Is a Bust. Yes, the museum is in the outerborough of Queens, but you haven’t seen New York until you’ve seen Queens, and you haven’t seen Asian Pacific America’s story on the East Coast until you’ve seen Corky’s work. The Queens Museum of Art, New York City Building Flushing Meadows Corona Park Queens NY 11368 Telephone: (718) 592-9700 http://www.queensmuseum.org/ info@queensmuseum.org Corky likes cool cats. Jimmy Mirikatani, former homeless artist, concentration-camp internee and subject of the documentary “The Cats of Mirikatani,” in 2007. Another Corky classic. Sikhs at a 9/11 candlelight vigil in Central Park.  
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The cardiac kids of Asian cinema in the USA are still going after ten years. Every year there’s more directors, what seems like more films, and definitely more press. Congrats to the New York Asian Film Festival. It starts in just a few days. There’s a lot going on in July, and it looks to be an action packed month. (WSJ – Martial Art-House) (NYAFF site)  
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