Asian American/Pacific Islander Month Activities Set for April at WSU

Note to news media: With a population of about 12,000, Koror is the capital of Palau, an island nation in the western Pacific Ocean. Koror lies on Koror Island.

Asian American/Pacific Islander Month Activities Set for April at WSU

PULLMAN, Wash. — Faustina K. Rehuher-Marugg, curator-director of the Belau National Museum, Koror, Republic of Palau, will speak at Washington State University in April as part of Asian American/Pacific Islander Month activities.

All activities during the month are open to the public. Some, where noted, have a charge. For more information and tickets, contact the WSU Asian American/Pacific Islander Student Center, 509/335-1986.

Rehuher-Marugg will be guest speaker at Pacific Islands Showcase, 6 p.m. April 6, at Pullman’s Lincoln Middle School. It is sponsored by the Pacific Islanders Club, Association for Pacific and Asian Women, and Asian American/Pacific Islander Faculty and Staff Association. Showcase will feature traditional Pacific Islander foods and different Micronesian and Polynesian dancing and arts. Admission is $10 each.

In addition, Showcase serves as the first day of the APAW-sponsored Community and Pride Today … to build Identity, Vision and Achievement Tomorrow…Empowerment (CAPTIVATE) AA/PI Women’s Leadership Conference focusing on understanding Asian/Pacific Islander women’s issues. Rehuher-Marugg will be keynote speaker at 9 a.m. April 7 in WSU’s Wilson Hall, Room 13. The conference is free to WSU students and $10 each for others. A ticket to CAPITAVE includes admission to Showcase.

Asian American/Pacific Islander Month gets a head start March 30 and 31 with 7 p.m. showings of Ang Lee’s film, “The Wedding Banquet,” in the Compton Union Building Auditorium on campus. It is sponsored by the ASWSU Films Committee. Following the March 31 showing, there will be a Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgendered Alliance-sponsored panel discussion about the film.

The month’s opening ceremony begins at noon April 6 on Glenn Terrell Mall. It will include a Chinese lion dance and other contemporary Asian American/Pacific Islander performance groups.

At noon April 10 in the CUB Auditorium, the film “Slaying the Dragon,” a comprehensive look at media stereotypes of Asian and Asian American women since the silent era, will be shown. A panel discussion follows the showing.

Producer/director Frank Abe of Seattle will be guest speaker during a 3-5 p.m. April 10 event in Todd Hall, Room 130. He will discuss the Japanese American experience during World War II and his work with Independent Television Service. WSU’s Department of Comparative American Cultures, Multicultural Student Services, AA/PI Faculty and Staff Association, and AA/PI Student Center sponsor the event. For many years, Abe was an award-winning reporter for KIRO radio and television in Seattle. He later served as press secretary for then King County executive Gary Locke, now Washington governor.

Laureen Mar, an award-winning Seattle writer/poet, will do a reading at 7:30 p.m. April 10 in Avery Hall’s Bundy Reading Room. Her work has been widely anthologized, including in “Charlie Chan is Dead,” “Breaking Silence” and “MacMillan Women Poets of the World.”

From April 11-13 on the Pullman campus, the Shaping High-School Asian Pacific Islanders For the Next Generation (SHAPING) High School Student Outreach Conference will be held. The conference is a WSU outreach effort to Spokane-, Seattle- and Tacoma-area Asian Pacific Islander juniors and seniors to learn about higher education through the “lenses of ethnic diversity.”

Filipino Cultural Night will be held at 7 p.m. April 11 in Stevenson Hall Down Under. Sponsored by the WSU Filipino American Student Association, the night will explore traditional and contemporary Filipino American culture expressed through dance, food, spoken word and poetry. Tickets prices will be announced later.

On April 17, two events on campus will be held. At noon in the CUB, Room 220, an “Examining Multiracial Identity” panel session and discussion takes place. It is sponsored by the AA/PI Student Center. At 7 p.m. in Wilson Hall, Room 13, Comparative American Cultures will show the film “Chan is Missing,” followed by a discussion led by WSU faculty member Rory Ong.

During WSU Mom’s Weekend, the WSU Hawaii Club annual luau, “Hui Haouli O Hawaii Shares the Spirit of Aloha,” is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. April 21 at Pullman’s Sunnyside Elementary School. The annual event features traditional Hawaiian food, dance and music in a two-hour show. Tickets are $14 in advance or $20 each at the door.

The “Blue Collar and Buddha” video will be shown starting at noon April 24 in the CUB, Room 220. A panel discussion follows. It is sponsored by the AA/PI Student Center.

Award-winning Los Angeles-based playwright Alice Tuan will present some of her work from 2-4 p.m. April 26 in a location to be announced later. The presentation is entitled “Beyond Asian America.”

Indian Night will be held starting at 7 p.m. April 26 in the CUB Auditorium. The event will explore traditional and contemporary East Indian American culture expressed through dance and music.

Portland Taiko, a dynamic, multiethnic, Asian American drumming group from Oregon, entertains at 7:30 p.m. April 26 in Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum. Its appearance is part of Beasley’s Premiere Performance series. Tickets are $8 for students and $10 for others. Call 1-800-325-SEAT for tickets.

Asian American/Pacific Islander Month activities conclude with a closing ceremony/banquet, sponsored by the Asian Pacific American Student Coalition, from 3:30-6 p.m. April 29 in the CUB Cascade Room. The banquet will feature a slide show of the past year’s events in the AA/PI community and a keynote address by J.D. Hokoyama, CEO of Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics. LEAP is a nonprofit group based in Los Angeles that strives to increase Asian Americans’ profile in the public and private sectors. Tickets are $15 each.

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