Memorial Day 2022, or How AAPI Heritage Month 2022 is Winding Down

Hope you’re having a meaningful Memorial Day. Take a moment to remember those who died in service for us and this country. And may we honor them by doing better ourselves for each other.

Meanwhile, AAPI Heritage Month 2022 is zooming by like a blink of an eye. We had parades (see here for the previous link about the info) and we have at least one museum exhibit (see the Museum of New York‘s ongoing exhibit of the work of Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya on “Raise Your Voice.

We are still in a pandemic. We are still struggling with the perpetual perceptions of being foreign in our own country. Plus, AAPI Heritage Month is Mental Health Awareness Month, so I suggest checking out A Brief But Spectacular Take by Christine Catipon, as a feature of the PBS NewsHour. Catipon, a clinical psychologist at the University of California, Irvine Counseling Center, has a succinct take on being Filipina and overcoming shame and teaching that self-care is important. Worth a watch/listen.

I meant to check out the link to Barnes & Noble’s post, April 28, 2022, regarding episodes from its podcast Poured Over regarding AAPI literature. But, it’s worth checking out all-year round (and for us at triscribe, AAPI Heritage is a year-round thing anyway).

For AAPI Heritage Month, Short Wave, an NPR podcast, explores the life of Chien-Shiung Wu: a physicist, Chinese immigrant, a woman, a wife, mother, grandmother, mentor. She should not be forgotten. The episodes are worth a listen. Part 1 is here and Part 2 is here.

Also, last but not least, check out FC’s post, from April 2022 – but still timely because FC, as triscribe founder, is our AAPI Heritage inspiration for all he has done for the AAPI legal community in bringing us – law students and practitioners – altogether.

As it says under the title of triscribe – “We’re still here!” Until next time… — ssw15

AAPI Heritage Month 2022

If you’re up in Manhattan, today, Saturday, May 14, 2022, was Japan Day, with a Japan Day Parade up at Central Park West/81st St to 68th St., with George Takei as a Grand Marshal.

Plus, tomorrow, Sunday, May 15, 2022, is the city’s first AAPI Heritage Parade. See more info over at Time Out New York.

It feels a bit last minute, since it was announced on May 11, 2022 (I linked to the Gothamist piece about the announcement) and the cynic in me feels like we can have better ways to fight AAPI hate. But, visibility is a way to deal with hate.

Our own local Asian American Bar Association of New York (AABANY) is seeking people to join the contingent to march for the parade. RSVP asap if you want to join us, by registering over at the AABANY website. – ssw15

(cross-posted to sswslitinmotion.tumblr.com)

Farewell to 2021…

A last minute post as we say good-bye to 2021, a strange year in which we kept hoping that the COVID-19 pandemic would get in control and yet… and yet… and yet…

Well, if you haven’t already done all of this: get vaccinated (plus booster!), wear a face covering, maintain something that looks like physical distancing, and wash hands, and keep hoping that things will get better.

I’m certain that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is the worst Transformer. I know that it’s a Greek letter, but it still sounds like a Transformer to me and now you know that I spent part of my 1980s watching a certain cartoon series…

A proper 2021 year in review may have to be done at another time. But, hey, Team Triscribe won the best screenwriting award for this year’s 72 Hour Shootout Film contest! That was some good news!

I did do National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) this year, but it was a hard slog, with me banging out a lot of crappy writing on the last day. Lesson: do NOT wait until the last day of NaNoWriMo to get through the last 7,000 to 10,000 words. It was sorely painful!

I remain someone who isn’t into watching Year in Review stuff around Christmas because one never knows what stuff happens at the end of the year.

But, the days after Christmas gave us the sad news of the passing of Desmond Tutu, Archbishop emeritus of South Africa; former US Senator Harry Reid of Nevada (former Democratic Party leader in the Senate); and former NFL commentator John Madden. Such news bummed me out, let alone the usual bad news of COVID-19, environmental crises, and so on.

And, then on New Year’s Eve 2021: the passing of Betty White – which just sad because we were all looking forward to seeing her 100th birthday celebration in January 2022.

I’m hoping to get to a post to review my Book Reading List of 2021, since I did read more in 2021 than in 2020. We shall see. But, best wishes to all for a happy and healthy New Year for 2022!