Yesterday, February 8, was the Lunar New Year. Many Asian cultures celebrate this holiday, including the Chinese (春节chūn jié), Koreans (설날 Seollal), Vietnamese (Tết). My family celebrates by going out to eat for Chinese food, decorating the house a little with Chinese ornaments, and of course, red envelopes of money given to the children and unmarried. I was unable to join my family to celebrate with them this year, but I found ways to celebrate at Bryn Mawr.
Calligraphy by Maple Lee ’17
Last night was the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival‘s centerpiece event at International House Philadelphia— Strength In Numbers: Sights and Sounds of the Asian American Hip Hop Generation. The event consisted of a screening of select music videos, a panel discussion on Asian Americans in Hip Hop, and live performances by artists included in the Strength in Numbers project.
The panelists included the Mountain Brothers (Scott CHOPS Jung, Chris PERIL-L Wang, Steve STYLES INFINITE Wei), Catzie Vilayphonh of Yellow Rage, rappers Rekstizzy and Joanlee, and singers JL Jupiter and Ann One. The panel was moderated by Dr. James Peterson (Director of Africana Studies and Associate Professor of English at Lehigh University, Founder of Hip Hop Scholars, Inc and a frequent Guest Commentator on MSNBC and CNN).
On Monday, the Bryn Mawr Film Studies department welcomed mixed media experimental film artists duo Lin + Lam. Lana Lin (Associate Professor in the School of Media Studies, The New School) and Lan Thao Lam (Assistant Professor of Fine Arts at Parsons) have been working together for over 15 years making arts that examine culture, history, colonialism, globalization, and citizenship. Professor Hoang Tan Nguyen, who teaches Asian American Film, invited Lin + Lam to Bryn Mawr to discuss their projects and working methodologies.
This past weekend was Haverford’s Weekend of Musical Celebration honoring the Class of 1965, funded by the Kessinger Family Foundation. This year’s theme was East Meets West – West Meets East, a blend of Asian and Western style music. There was a concert on Saturday night and a concert on Sunday afternoon, but I only attended the Saturday night concert featuring North Indian Classical Music by Kala Ramnath (violin), Ken Zuckerman (sarod), and Abhijit Banerjee (tabla).
I recently joined a student-led Asian / American Reading Group at Haverford sponsored by the Hurford Center. Although there are occasional topic classes, the Tri-Co does not have a formal Asian American Studies Department. This leaves it up to the students to form their own seminars like this one. Affinity groups like the Bryn Mawr Asian American Students Association (A/ASA) have also had to step up to educate and promote cultural, social, and political awareness of Asian and Asian American perspectives.
PC: Taryn Marshall | Facebook
What does it mean to be Asian American? How do we distinguish between these various identities? Where do we draw the line between fiction and reality?
Last night, the Asian American Students Association (A/ASA) and South Asian Students (SAS) hosted a discussion on skin color discrimination within Asian communities. This is a very serious problem within our communities, and I was glad both affinity groups joined together in solidarity to share experiences and different perspectives.
Colorism: Discrimination against individuals with darker skin tone, typically among the same ethnic or racial group.
Some of the questions we considered were: Continue reading
Tonight, Chinatown’s streets were transformed into a crowd of food trucks and food stands, music, entertainment, and more for the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp. Night Market. 
Night markets are popular food and entertainment attractions in Asia, especially among the young people who like to go out late. Unlike tonight’s temporary pop-up night market in Philly, night markets in Taiwan, Korea, Japan, China, etc. are permanent structures. I hope to travel to Asia someday to experience an authentic night market, but for now, this is the closest I will get.