Book: Asian American Assimilation: Ethnicity, Immigration, and Socioeconomic Attainment

Available @ Amazon Asian American Assimilation: Ethnicity, Immigration, and Socioeconomic Attainment

We were pleased to hear of the new book by a favorite past Village contributor, C.N. Le, director of Asian American Studies at U. Mass Amherst and the mastermind behind the excellent web site, Asian-Nation.org. Longtime readers may recall that Dr. Le, a sociology and statistics expert, tends to appear on the Village to help put some sense to numbers when new elections surveys, Census, employment and Asian American demographic data, although he has also written extensively on other aspects of (h)APA society and Vietnamese American culture.

In his new book, which uses comprehensive data from the U.S. Census, Dr. Le broadens the idea of assimilation to include socioeconomic and institutional examples of integration by analyzing outcomes such as income, occupational prestige, small business ownership, residential segregation, and intermarriage for five Asian American groups, with an emphasis on Vietnamese. The results show that many Asian Americans, especially Vietnamese Americans, have historically and continue to encounter several disadvantages, particularly compared to Whites, when it comes to achieving structural integration.

Nonetheless, Dr. Le observes, many have been able to overcome such initial challenges in a relatively short amount of time by using collective resources and maintaining ethnic solidarity to weave together a pattern of achievement, mobility, and tradition. In analyzing the interconnections between history, institutional conditions, and community solidarity, Dr. Le's book serves as a valuable reference point and resource for students, policymakers, and Americans from all backgrounds.

In this, the book adds hard evidence to the growing body of research and publications that have recently begun to chip away at the myth of Asian Americans-as-monolithic-Model-Minority. Other research we've covered include, most recently, a UCLA study on APA undergraduate educational attainment in particular.

Dr. Le's book was released by LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC as part of a New Americans series.

Jindal becomes first elected Indian American Governor

Well, for those who have been following our Bobby Watch, this past weekend's action in Louisiana answered our question.

Representative Bobby Jindal, Oxford-educated son of Indian immigrants, handily trounced a packed field of 11 opponents to become not only Louisiana's first non-white governor since the 1870s, but the first Indian American to be elected a state governor in U.S. history. He took 54 percent of the votes, which was enough to avoid a November 17 runoff.

According to the follow-up reporting by the Associated Press, Jindal, at 36 year, will also be the youngest state governor in the U.S.

Jindal had previously run for governor in 2003, losing to Kathleen Blanco by a narrow margin.

BTW, if you missed the Victory Speech...

9500 Liberty - Immigration Video Channel

What is 9500 Liberty? Call it “Macaca 2.0”.

We recently got a head's up from friends of the Village about an interesting project underway in Virginia that tries to bring some focus and dialogue to the immigration debates for those who want to give more independent thought to the issue.

A collective of activist filmmakers, many of them Asian Americans who had prominently pushed the charge to oust then-Virginia Senator George Allen during Macaca-gate, have again convened in the state to create a multivocal video documentary project about local government efforts to crack down on illegal immigrants in Manassas.

Calling itself 9500Liberty, the group has created a subscribable online video channel to form what it calls an "interactive documentary wall" comprising short guerilla videos that (to the group's credit) present multiple perspectives on the local immigration debate.

Although the project coordinators’ sympathies are clearly with immigrants in the area, 9500 Liberty publishes videos that convey the perspectives of both proponents and opponents of the anti-immigration measures. Videos range from interviews with Corey A. Stewart, Chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, to presentations given at public hearings to harrowing on-the-street confrontations between local whites and Hispanic and Asians.

The group has also crafted a network of discussions on Blogspot, Facebook, and MySpace as well as YouTube, aiming to “elevate dialogue…and inform the public, and investigate alternatives to the intense polarization that is hindering progress on the immigration issue.”

In this way, they say, they hope to help pre-emptively inform the public about a complex issue, rather than allow immigration to become the kind of emotional, polarizing issue in the next national election that gay marriage was in the previous one. Although some viewers may well leave the 9500 Liberty Channel still convinced of their own position on the immigration crackdowns -- whether pro or con -- the visit should leave them better aware of the real issues beyond the campaign rhetoric, and better equipped to make an independent decision.

Louisiana Watch: Jobs, and Could Jindal Just Plain Win?

It's been a while since we logged in here with a Louisiana note, although we've continued to run news tidbits in our ongoing "Bobby Watch" tracking gubernatorial candidate Bobby Jindal's continuing strong run up to Saturday's election.

Most recently, the AP is musing that Jindal Might Avoid Runoff for Gov, that is, "If he gets more than 50 percent of the vote in Saturday's primary, the 36-year-old, Oxford-educated son of Indian immigrants will become Louisiana's first nonwhite governor since Reconstruction and the youngest U.S. governor in office."

He would also become the first elected Indian American governor of a U.S. state. (Careful readers will recall that the title of First Indian American governor was recently scooped by New Jersey transportation commissioner Kris Kolluri.)

Turnout is already high in early balloting, propelled by a new law that "means anyone can cast a ballot during a designated seven-day period, without having to proffer an excuse or an explanation," according to The Times-Picayune's NOLA.com. So, keep an eye out on Saturday; history might just be made -- and early, to boot!

--------

ALSO

With its Katrina hangover not completely dissipated, Louisiana has a good deal at stake in the election. In a separate series this weekend, posted as a supplement in our Career Center news section, we're running an analysis of the jobs outlook in Louisiana, which on its flipside is paralleled by a serious labor shortage. We will also be highlighting Louisiana job opportunities that employers have posted on the job bank at IMDiversity.

Shen Wei Wins MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship

When Choreographer Shen Wei was recently in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for the University of Musical Society debut of “Second Visit to the Empress,” UMS President Ken Fischer was proud to announce that earlier that week Shen Wei had won the prestigious MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship.

Shen Wei, founder and artistic director of Shen Wei Dance Arts, is a choreographer who combines Eastern and Western influences and multiple artistic disciplines to create a bold and visually arresting form of dance-theater. Born in China’s Hunan province and trained from his youth in calligraphy, painting, and Chinese operatic performance, Shen Wei became a founding member of the Guangdong Modern Dance Company, the first modern dance company in China, prior to moving to New York in 1995. Through choreographed movements that are precise and inventive, he and his dancers perform highly stylized steps and gestures inspired by Western dance traditions as well as Chinese opera, acrobatics, and martial arts. With the compositional rigor of a visual artist, he incorporates vivid colors, striking costume design, and imaginative use of space into theatrical works that are, at once, kinetic paintings. Staging his dances on a grand scale with a high level of production detail, Shen defies expectations with each new work. Folding (2000) begins with dancers draped in dramatic red against a shimmering blue backdrop and concludes with the chanting of Tibetan Buddhist monks, while his Rite of Spring (2003) offers a spare, minimalist approach to a classic modernist score. In these and other works, Shen Wei fuses a diverse range of art forms into an aesthetically striking dance language that is all his own.

Shen Wei received degrees from the Hunan Arts Academy and the Guangdong Dance School. He performed with the Hunan State Xian Opera Company (1984-1989) and the Guangdong Modern Dance Company (1991-1994) prior to founding Shen Wei Dance Arts in 2000. His company has performed in festivals and at venues throughout the U.S. and internationally, including the Lincoln Center Festival, the American Dance Festival, Jacob’s Pillow, Sadler’s Wells, and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, among many others. A painter as well as a choreographer, Shen’s works have been exhibited in New York City and Hong Kong. He is now based in New York City.

Central Asian music and poetry event

Spiritual Sounds of Central Asia:Nomads, Mystics and Troubadours
Alim Qasimov Ensemble, The Bardic Divas, Badakhshan Ensemble
Wednesday, October 24, 8 pm, Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Some of the world's most ancient and mysterious music and epic poetry comes to Ann Arbor in a remarkable concert featuring 18 of Central Asia's greatest singers and musicians, many of them appearing in the US for the first time. Performed against a backdrop of vibrant projected images, this concert includes artists from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kalmykia.

Showcasing some of the most exotic musical traditions on the planet, the concert includes the legendary mugham singer Alim Qasimov (Silk Road Project) in a program of riveting duets with his daughter, Fergane, accompanied by a four-man ensemble; trance-inducing mystical songs based on texts by classical poets Rumi, Hafez, and Nasir Khusrow, performed by the seven-person Badakhshan Ensemble; and the once-taboo, all-female ensemble, Bardic Divas. This multi-media performance includes supertitles and a two-camera live-video feed that projects close-up images of the musicians, as well a brief documentary film preceding each performance group.

check out http://www.ums.org/ for ticket info.

A Cambodian Magic Flute at University of Michigan

Pamina Devi: A Cambodian Magic Flute
Choreography, traditional music arrangements,and lyrics by Sophiline Cheam Shapiro; Performed by the Khmer Arts Ensemble (Phnom Penh)
Saturday, October 20, 1 pm [FAMILY PERFORMANCE]
Saturday, October 20, 8 pm
Sunday, October 21, 2 pmPower Center

The brilliant classicism of imperial Vienna meets the mythic-poetic splendor of ancient Angkor in Pamina Devi: A Cambodian Magic Flute, a contemporary re-imagining of Mozart's fantastical opera by Cambodian-American choreographer Sophiline Cheam Shapiro. Performed in the refined and elaborate movement language of the thousand-year-old Cambodian classical dance tradition and set to traditional musical motifs played out by a pin peat instrumental ensemble, 32 dancers, musicians, and singers take the stage to explore the themes of enlightened change and transformation that frame Mozart's masterpiece. Cultures meld as we follow Pamina's arduous journey to transcend the rivalries and betrayals from which she is born and seek out a middle path of justice, tolerance, and love.

Commissioned by Peter Sellars for his New Crowned Hope Festival in Vienna, Pamina Devi is "a must see. Sophiline Cheam Shapiro's exotic realm of bejeweled dancers and formal patterns, full of elegance, filled the stage. Every finger of each backwardly arched hand, each raised foot while kneeling, all were accomplished with a calmly deliberate and beautifully fluid motion. This was an amazing experience." (Salzburger Nachrichten)In Khmer with English supertitles.

http://www.ums.org/ for ticket info.

Çudamani comes to University of Michigan

Çudamani: Odalan Bali
I Dewa Putu Berata, artistic director
Friday, October 19, 8 pm Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

The Balinese music and dance ensemble Çudamani (pronounced SOO-duh-mahn-ee) makes its UMS debut with Odalan Bali, providing a unique window into the spiritual and cultural source of Balinese performing arts. Inspired by Bali’s timeless cycles of ceremony and ritual, Çudamani’s work transports the audience from the everyday world with its virtuosic detail, emotion, and energy. An exquisite synthesis of music, drama, and movement, Odalan Bali captures the exhilarating splendor of the Balinese temple festival, bringing to life vivid tales of gods and heroes of Balinese mythology and history. From the clamor of villagers working at dawn to the calm of prayer and worship, and from the meditative resonance of voice and flute to the breathtaking dances for which Bali is famous, this original work traces the life of a ceremony, from the awakening of the ritual site to purification, and, finally, to spiritual union.The performance features dazzling dancers, glittering costumes, and the shimmering polyrhythms of gamelan music, a living tradition in Bali. Beyond mere aethetic entertainment, Balinese arts capure and amplify the shifting dimensions of human emotion, nature, the spirit world, and the cosmos. Go to www.ums.org for ticket info.

A Related Event:
Roundtable: Traditional Modernity: A Panel Discussion on Identity and Culture in Asian Performing Arts, Thursday, Oct 18, 4-5:30 pm, School of Social Work Building, Room 1636 (1080 South University Avenue), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
A panel of experts on Asian performing arts and theater practitioners will discuss the “identity” of contemporary Asian performing arts and social and cultural function of the performing arts throughout the Asian continent. A collaboration with the the U-M Center for Chinese Studies, U-M Center for South East Asian Studies, U-M Center for World Performance Studies, U-M Institute for Humanities, U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance.

Tallahassee Asian Festival Coming 9/29/07

Experience Asia 2007 - 3rd Annual Asian Coalition of Tallahassee Festival

Sharing the Asian Experience

Saturday, September 29

From 10am - 5pm

Downtown Tallahassee, Lewis and Bloxham Parks

(across from the Downtown Market)

• View Experience Asia 2007 Poster (PDF)
• Experience Asia 2007, Entertainment and Demonstration program (PDF format)
• Driving Directions to Bloxham and Lewis Park

Other Recent Readings of Interest @ IMD & the Village

• Milwaukee Launches New Asian Festival this Weekend
• IMDiversity Jobs QuickSearch Section: Jobs for US - Florida

University of Michigan Dragon Boat Festival Launches ChinaNow Theme Year

Dragon Boat Festival
Sunday, September 30, 10:00am-5:00pm
Gallup Park (2970 Fuller Rd.)

The first ever University-sponsored Chinese dragon boat race comes to Ann Arbor as part of a campus/community festival to launch the ChinaNow LSA Theme Year – a series of ground-breaking lectures, exhibitions, symposia, films, and performances building up to the 2008 Olympics.

Dragon boat races (the second most popular water sport in the world) are the heartbeat of the festival, a centuries old tradition in China. Teams of twenty paddlers per boat comprised of U-M departments, student organizations, and the community will race to drummer's beats in heats throughout the day. Activities on the banks of the river include a drum and gong procession (U-M Percussion Ensemble), lion dancing (Asian Martial Arts Studio), performances by high energy percussion group Groove, Chinese opera-style face painting, kite making, yo-yo spinning (Ann Arbor Chinese Center of Michigan), food, and more. The festival is a green event to bring about greater awareness of natural resources, particularly water.

A collaboration with the U-M Center for Chinese Studies. Part of the ChinaNow LSA Theme Year series of outreach events.

Shen Wei Dance Theatre, "Second Visit to the Empress"

ANN ARBOR, MI (August 13, 2007) – Chinese choreographer Shen Wei makes his University Musical Society (UMS) debut with Second Visit to the Empress, a work that marries the traditions of Chinese Opera with contemporary dance. The three performances, Friday, September 28 through Sunday, September 30, open UMS’s 07/08 season in Ann Arbor’s Power Center for the Performing Arts. In addition to his trademark visual and modern movement style, Shen Wei brings nearly ten years of opera training at its highest level in his native China to this production. Considered one of the best written music and vocal pieces in the entire Chinese Opera repertory, Second Visit to the Empress is a pillar of the Beijing Opera canon. Shen Wei’s production represents the first known new staging of the work in over 200 years.

For Shen Wei Dance Arts, Second Visit to the Empress represents a multi-year dedication to the celebration of a traditional form rarely seen in the West, and increasingly neglected in China. The overall vision at once recalls and re-casts the form — a treasure of world heritage — through the lens of Shen Wei’s landmark visual style. As such, the dance-opera represents Shen Wei’s most “total” work to date.

The four traditional Beijing Opera luminaries appearing in this production — Ms. Zhang Jing, Mr. Deng Mu Wei, Mr. He Wei, and Ms. Song Yang — are widely regarded as seminal interpreters of the repertoire. Each has a knowledge and aptitude for the form unavailable to non-native performers. Because Second Visit to the Empress features an unusually demanding vocal score, each vocalist was selected for his or her mastery of roles embodied by distinct vocal styles: the wife (female soprano); the intellectual/philosopher advisor (male soprano), and the military advisor (baritone).

The production is fully-staged, including sets, costumes, and make-up design by Shen Wei, and lighting by Jennifer Tipton. The challenging music is played by sixteen musicians (on twenty traditional Chinese instruments). A corps of twelve dancers form a characterless visual counterpart to the score, embodying the music through movement.

The music and lyrics to Second Visit to the Empress were developed approximately 300 years ago by anonymous artists. Zhenguo Liu revised the music for this new production and Shen Wei edited the lyrics. Original material was taken from the Anthology of Classical Peking Operas.

Shen Wei’s production of Second Visit to the Empress was performed at the Lincoln Center Festival in New York City in July. The work premiered in 2005 at the American Dance Festival. University Musical Society (UMS) hosts the only other U.S. engagement this season.

For performance tickets or additional information, contact the University Musical Society at 734-764-2538 or online at http://www.ums.org/.

Milwaukee Launches New Asian Festival this Weekend

With its long, hard winters, the city of Milwaukee on Lake Michigan really lets its hair down during the summer months, and has come to be known in the region as the city of festivals for its chock-a-block series of food, ethnic, music and fireworks fests that run in its parks and public squares pretty much every weekend. In years past, Asian Moon Fest, generally held in April, kicked off the seasonal celebrations, gathering a diverse array of Asian American cultural, culinary, and social organizations from throughout the region at the city’s massive lakefront Summer Fest complex.

For the past two years, however, the city has lacked a pan-Asian cultural festival. So, a coalition of local organizations and business sponsors banded together to launch a new event this year -- Silver City’s Asian Festival: East Meets West National – to be held this weekend on September 22, from 10AM – 6 PM.

The celebration has moved away from the highly commercialized lakefront, finding a home in the city’s southern neighborhood, home to a significant and vibrant, mostly Southeast Asian American community. In many ways, “taking it to the streets” may be more beneficial for the community, bringing visitors to its commercial heart. On the schedule is a parade, martial arts program, dance performances in many ethnic styles, kids’ events, raffles for Milwaukee Bucks and other goodies.

On the more serious side, a noon screening of the film Who Killed Vincent Chin? by Christine Choy and Renee Tajima-Pena will bring some focus to the issue of hate crimes, which has been freshly on the minds of Asian Americans throughout the region following recent incidents in the Wisconsin Northwoods area. The screening is contributed by the national organization Asian Pacific Americans for Progress, which has been organizing a series of townhalls on hate crimes nationwide throughout this summer, in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the murder of Detroit autoworker Vincent Chin.

For more information and full schedule of events, times and locations, see http://www.silvercitymainstreet.org/News807.html or the MySpace page, or download the Vendor Packet in PDF format.

Other links of sort-of-related interest at IMDiversity & Elsewhere:

• Location QuickSearch: Jobs for US - Wisconsin
• APAs for Progress Announces Wrap Up, Outcomes of National Townhalls on Hate Crimes

NYC Arts: Esther K. Chae Spy Story; Vanja; IAAC Film Fest

A few promsing-sounding items for your calendar if you live in or are visiting the Apple:

-- This note about a "ripped from the headlines" story, sent in from our friend and occasional contributor, actress and producer Erin Quill:

"I wanted to let you know that after a busy summer working, I am turning my hand to producing for a dear friend of mine, Esther K. Chae, in her solo show - SO THE ARROW FLIES. I saw it in L.A., and I felt I wanted to work on it, because it's a very intriguing show - with laughter and high-stakes drama. Esther is a Yale grad and asst., taught for her mentor, Anna Deveare Smith this past fall at NYU. This show is placed now, and based on current events. It involves a Korean spy and the Korean American FBI agent that captures her. I am attaching the flier in hopes that you will turn out and support. We run Sept 19 -24th in cooperation with the Estrogenius Festival."

The show takes place at Stage Left Studio, 438 W 37th Street, 5A in New York.

(The site's Flash does not allow us to link directly to or copy anything from the page on Chae, so we'll attach the postcard below. Click it for larger printable image.)

AND

Coming up with a little more lead time ... two for film buffs sent in by IAAC:

Vanaĵa

A film by Rajnesh Domalpalli

NR, 111 minutes

In Telugu with English Subtitles

Set in rural South India, a place where social barriers are built stronger than fort walls, VANAJA explores the chasm that divides classes as a young girl struggles to come of age while experiencing her sexual awakening and pursuing her dream of becoming a dancer. Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/emergingpics. Info: www.vanajathefilm.com.

Opening Friday, Sept. 14th - ImaginAsian - 239 E. 59 St. - (212) 371-6682 - www.theimaginasian.com. AND..."After winning a remarkable 15 awards from over 60 film festivals around the world, the acclaimed film VANAJA will begin its theatrical run in the United States on August 31 when it opens in New York City at Cinema Village. Winning more film festival awards than any other Indian film in 2007, the coming-of-age drama about a teenage girl in rural South India will then open in Los Angeles and Chicago on September 14 and will debut in Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Austin on September 21. VANAJA will continue to expand across the country with openings in San Francisco, Seattle, San Diego, Washington D.C., Atlanta, and other cities."

AND

Check out the Seventh Annual IAAC Film Festival (now titled 'The Mahindra IAAC Film Festival' marking partnership with big new sponsor Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.) to be held November 7 -11, 2007 in New York City.

Release about the partnership here. Festival postcard here.

Video: Ann Curry Q&A with Brad Pitt on Katrina Recovery

As we were saying in our posts from last week, expect a theme to emerge this week as we cover New Orleans' volunteer and Katrina commemorations this week ...

This one impressed us on the real tube first before we found it on YouTube -- a cool and articulate Brad Pitt talking about what he's seen and felt in La., in an interview with anchorwoman Ann Curry. (Curry, by the way, has recently been tapped to also host a fourth hour of NBC's "Today" beginning Sept. 10, according to the Asian American Journalists Association.)

KorAm head of embattled DoJ Civil Rights division quits

Top story in the Village news: The AP reports Assistant Attorney General Wan J. Kim, the Justice Department's top civil rights enforcer, resigned Thursday after more than a year of criticism that his office filled its ranks with conservative loyalists instead of experienced attorneys. Seoul-born Kim was the first immigrant and first Korean-American to head the department's civil rights division, his job for just over two years.

According to the DoJ website, he was sworn in as the Assistant Attorney General on November 9, 2005. "Immediately prior to his nomination, Mr. Kim served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division. He has spent most of his career at the Department of Justice, having entered through the Attorney General's Honors Program as a Trial Attorney in the Criminal Division, and later serving as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. Mr. Kim also has worked on the staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee for former Chairman Orrin G. Hatch, and as a law clerk to Judge James L. Buckley of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Mr. Kim graduated with honors from both the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Chicago Law School. He has served as an enlisted soldier and a rifle platoon leader in the United States Army Reserve."

Other headlines: Our continuing "Bobby Watch" stories, plus condemned killer Johnny Ray Conner becomes Texas' 400th executee, the new BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in suburban Atlanta will be the country's largest Hindu temple, and Taiwanese-American director Edward Yang posthumously named Asian filmmaker of the year in Busan.

BR Advocate: Jindal seen as ‘shoo-in’ but that could change

I keeping with this week's Louisiana theme, some predictions of the state's maybe-first Asian American governor, from the Baton Rouge Advocate: Though the Oct. 20 primary is still two months away, much of the talk in Louisiana political circles is speculation about Republican Bobby Jindal’s chances of winning the race for governor without a runoff. Pearson Cross, assistant professor of political science at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette, was one of two political analysts who predicted Jindal will capture the office in the primary and avoid a Nov. 17 runoff.

Read: Jindal seen as ‘shoo-in’ but that could change -- Baton Rouge, LA

Watch the video

Katrina Second Anniversary - News, Actions

As long-time Villagers may know, our cyberspace resource is produced by New Orleans-based publisher, IMDiversity, Inc., so over the past 2 years we've made a special effort to provide news and views on the goings-on in the region. Approaching the anniversary of the one-two Katrina/Rita punch that swept through and destroyed, damaged or dispersed so much in the Gulf, including our own HQ and staff, we will be posting information throughout our network, on IMDiversity.com and THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online, about a number of events, as well as follow-up analyses of the rebuilding progress -- or lack thereof -- throughout the week.

Just a few items of interest this week is a supplemental package of AP News stories at our Career Center focusing on the ongoing impact of the hurricanes on regional employment, small business planning, insurance and housing. Among the bad news is a new study by LSU finding that even after 2 years, employment in areas hit by the storm remains woefully down. In N.O., for example, employment is still down nearly a third after the city lost nearly 21% of companies. Our section will also include featured job opportunities in Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi that employers have posted to our job bank.

As a company, we're also supporting as series of actions, including a coalition call for A DAY OF PRESENCE in New Orleans on 8/29, which aims to invite a multicultural gathering of concerned citizens from nationwide to gather for a whirlwind of events ranging from scholarly conferences and policy panels to mass demonstrations demanding a "Marshall Plan" for restoring the Gulf Coast. Among other interesting activities to commemorate Katrina is an ambitious observance by the African-American Leadership Project, "Hands Around the Dome," on September 1, which envisions a multicultural throng of thousands joining hands to encircle the Superdome, as just the crowning activity following a week of observances and volunteer service activities.

On Asian American Village, we're also interested in some other developments, and have been on a kind of "Bobby Watch" -- as in Bobby Jindal's trials and progress towards possibly becoming the first Asian American governor of Louisiana. After his easy reelection in November, partially credited to his resolute conduct during the Katrina crisis, he may have a better chance than in his first strong 2003 run against now-outgoing Governor Blanco.

We also want to give a shout to the great organization, SOS Boatpeople, which did a great job with providing relief centers in multiple locations throughout the Gulf, and made headway in the past year with rebuilding projects. SOSBP reports that many of the 30,000 Vietnamese in the Gulf Coast region are still seeking timely help and information, and invites the national community to read more about and support its relief & recovery efforts.

(On a related front, see the recommended Refuge From The Storm from Nguoi Viet, a Q&A by Anh Do: "Two years ago this month, the deadliest and costliest catastrophe in U.S. history unfurled just as Tram Nguyen started her new job with the much-lauded Virginia-based charity, Boat People SOS. Nguyen, now 26, recounts the drama on the second anniversary of the storm that resulted in more than $80 billion in damages.")

Finally, we'd also like to keep up with local community news and views, and invite people to share their stories or comments about the anniversary and recovery on the blogs. If you hear of any more resources like SOSBP or know of commemorative events in the community, please let us know.

Profiled: Heidi Shyu, VP Corporate Technology and Research, Raytheon

Of interest from our sister-site, the Professional Women's Village, a profile of Heidi Shyu, the recently appointed Vice President, Corporate Technology and Research, of Raytheon Company.

A recipient of the 2004 Asian-American Engineer of the Year Award, among many others, Shyu describes her path to the senior circles of the industry giant, where she also serves as Chair of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board. In a Leaders Corner Q&A from Raytheon's Technology Today, Shyu discusses her approach to "creating an enterprise-wide technology vision and direction, the importance of disruptive technologies and radical innovation, and her penchant for taking on – and reaching – 'unachievable' goals."

The piece is of real interest to those concerned with high-level discussion of innovation and leadership in technology, but IMDiversity additionally invited Ms. Shyu to write for us on a topic of strong personal concern to her in America’s New Deficit: A Shortage of Technology Specialists.

In this original op-ed, Ms. Shyu observes that what she calls a 'holistic approach' is key to solving what is becoming a critical national technologists shortage, and particularly in attracting more women and minority scientists and engineers to pursue leadership roles in the industry. Underscoring the challenges of global competition and educational differences between the U.S. and countries like China and India, the Taiwanese-American Shyu stresses the necessity of promoting science education in our schools. While this call is becoming commonplace among leaders in science and technology industries of all kinds, Shyu's prescription is not merely "more funding for more science classes," although this is important. She also calls for the use of corporate programs and the use of media targeting young people -- especially girls -- to foster a respect for scientists, who may be considered role models in other countries, while too often considered just "geeky" here in the U.S.

She recalls from her own experience:

As a young girl growing up in Taiwan, I was mesmerized by science and
mathematics. I read books on female and male scientists and they became my role models. In America, we need to do the same for our kids, especially girls.
Earmarking additional resources for students to help them discover and enjoy
math and science would make the technology fields far more appealing and not
“boring.” Children are naturally curious, so interactive explorations of
our planet and learning how things work in our solar system can create a lot of
excitement. Look at how fast digital animation has advanced in films in
just the last 10 years. We can now visualize things that were impossible
to perceive just a few years ago. Media helps to shape our lives in many
other ways, so why not in the science and engineering field?

In this, the editors found Shyu's insights in these two linked articles doubly valuable -- both their the global and Asian-specific perspectives arising from her personal background, as well as for the authority of her role at a $20.2 billion industry leader in defense and government electronics, space, information technology, technical services, and business and special mission aircraft. She has a great deal to say about how America can keep its edge as a global technology leader, and says it with great style and clarity. Check it out.

Announcement: AAV Launches Secret Asian Man DAILY

Quick note to all the long-time SAM-Fanatics who have written us over the years.

You dreamed of it.
You asked for it.
You got it!

We're going daily with this baby! Stop in for your daily dose at the New Secret Asian Man DAILY section, with a new short black-and-white strip from UFS every day.

We'll still have the archives, big full-color specials, and Random SAM, of course. For those who missed it earlier this month, check out Open Letter to SAM Fans by Tak Toyoshima for a preview of what's in store with the strip.

Census: More than 300 counties now 'Minority-Majority'

Food for thought courtesy of the Census Bureau, via the IMDiversity.com Career Center Home Page:

A new release by the Census gives further food for thought about what it means to be a "minority" and a "majority" in the U.S. The Bureau today announced its findings that more than 300 counties now has a 'minority-majority' -- that is, nearly one in every 10 of the nation’s 3,141 counties is now home to population that is more than 50% minority, which includes all those who are not "white" alone. The release follows another release from earlier this year reporting that the U.S. minority population had topped 100 million.

Full release, broken down by ethnicity and details on select counties