PRSRT STD U.S. Postage Paid Permit No. 746 Seattle, WA
VOL 38 NO 51 DECEMBER 14 – DECEMBER 20, 2019 FREE 37 YEARS YOUR VOICE
Top Contributors Dinner spreads goodwill to last throughout the year By Kai Curry NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
see TOP CONTRIBUTORS on 15
Photo by George Liu
Around the end of every year, there is a lot of conversation about how nice it would be if everyone maintained year-round the spirit of generosity and goodwill that is so prevalent during times of festivity. At the Northwest Asian Weekly’s annual Top Contributors Dinner on Dec. 6, it was clear that this holiday spirit Top Contributor Dinner honorees and sponsors.
ISRD election results challenged By Ruth Bayang NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY Citing “multiple election irregularities,” InterIm Community Development Association is challenging the results of last month’s International Special Review Board District (ISRD) election. The ISRD is coordinated by the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods (DON) Historic Preservation Program. It was created in 1973 to “preserve, protect, and enhance the cultural, economic, and historical qualities” of the Chinatown-International District. see ISRD ELECTION on 16
Scorecard handed out by InterIm.
Janice Deguchi —making an impact is what matters By Mahlon Meyer NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY It was doing what she hated that led her to doing what she loves. Janice Deguchi is three months into her job as executive director of Neighborhood House, one of the oldest social service organizations in Seattle. She’s been
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Recount done, Varisha Khan wins
Varisha Khan
By Staff NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY King County Elections certified the results for recounts for City Council positions in Redmond, Mercer Island, and Bothell on Dec. 6. see KHAN on 15
the leader of a number of nonprofits, transforming them in profound ways. But it was answering phones for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) straight out of college that taught her life must have more than this to offer. “It was soul–crushing,” she said. “And I knew I wanted to do something that would have an impact, that see DEGUCHI on 12
Andrew Yang qualifies for December presidential debate
Andrew Yang
By SARA BURNETT CHICAGO (AP) — Businessman Andrew Yang qualified on Dec. 10 to participate in next week’s Democratic presidential debate, making him the seventh candidate to make see DEBATE on 5
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asianweekly northwest
DECEMBER 14 – DECEMBER 20, 2019
37 YEARS
■ NAMES IN THE NEWS Asian American Santa
2, Squirrels and a Nut, On Point Pins, Sweet & Sour Jewelry, and Kela Designs.
Photos by George Liu
Celebrate Happiness Lantern Public Art unveiled
Children posed for photos with Asian American Santa
Photo by John Liu
Dozens of people gathered at the Wing Luke Museum on Dec. 7 to visit Asian American Santa! Al Young, 73, played the role of the jolly red elf for the first time and said, “it’s fun,” while Sarah Baker was his helper and elf. The Northwest Asian Weekly was there when the Nguyen and O’Flahrity families snapped photos with Santa. Celebrate Happiness Lantern at Hing Hay Park
Kela Wong (of Kela Designs) and Ben
While families waited their turn, they checked out the Wing’s first-ever local artists craft fair and browsed unique gifts featuring Aki Sogabe, Kimono Revivify
SCIDpda and Seattle Parks and Recreation unveiled the Celebrate Happiness Lantern at Hing Hay Park on Dec. 9. The design is an eight-sided aluminum red lantern with bright yellow signage and gold trim. On three faces, primary text is displayed. On two panels, adjacent on each side of primary text panels, are additional languages of communities within the Chinatown-International District. At night, the lettering is illuminated, and all of the same languages are projected below the lantern on the ground below. The art project was a collaboration between artists and the community to showcase the festivity of Hing Hay Park’s name for all to understand and appreciate in different languages, and in the sculptural, illuminated
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interpretation form of a sky lantern.
Beloved Seattle bartender Rocky Yeh dies
Friends and families are mourning the death of bartender Rocky Yeh who died peacefully at his home on Dec. 1, due to natural causes relating to a known heart condition. Yeh was 42 years old. A Taiwanese American, Yeh was a beloved institution on the international Rocky Yeh cocktail circuit. He described himself on his Twitter account as “Bon Vivant, eater, drinker, lover of all good spirits, obsessed w/ rum.” A frequent world traveler, Yeh was a graduate of the University of Washington—and a big fan of the Huskies and Seahawks. A memorial celebration for Yeh will take place at Seattle’s WithinSodo event space on Jan. 13, 2020, from 6 p.m. to midnight.
Chicken giveaway
A group organized by Jerry Lee donated 458 roasted chickens from Costco to the Asian Counseling & ReFrom left: Volunteers Emi Nakata, Hanna ferral Service Nakata, Charlene Lee, Andrea Nakata, food bank on Yan Mathison, and Mary Knell with bags of Costco roasted chickens. Nov. 27. Donors and volunteers included Emi Nakata, Hanna Nakata, Charlene Lee, Andrea Nakata, Yan Mathison, Mary Knell, and Wells Fargo. This is the 10th year the group has made this donation, which started in 2009 when Lee drove by the food bank and saw the long lines for food that year.
DECEMBER 14 – DECEMBER 20, 2019
YOUR VOICE
asianweekly northwest
■ COMMUNITY NEWS A ‘rat race’ that makes a difference
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Registration now open for ICHS Lunar New Year 5K By Staff NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY International Community Health Services (ICHS) opened registration on Dec. 4 for its annual Lunar New Year 5k Walk/Run. The fundraiser will take place along Interurban Trail in Shoreline on Feb. 23, 2020 in celebration of the Year of the Rat. “ICHS Foundation looks forward to a great event
that brings the community together in support of local families,” said Ron Chew, ICHS Foundation director. All proceeds will support health services for community members who could not otherwise afford them. Festivities will include a traditional lion dance for good fortune and firecrackers to chase away evil spirits in honor of the Lunar New Year. Registration is $35 with an early bird discount price of $30 until Dec. 31. Attendees under 14 or over 65 can
participate for free. Participants will receive a time chip, bib, Lunar New Year 5k t-shirt, and other special giveaways from ICHS and event vendors. Parking is free at Shoreline City Hall and ICHS Shoreline Clinic. To register, go to ichs.com/5k, and to learn how to become a volunteer, email foundation@ichs.com. Staff can be reached at editor@nwasianweekly.com.
Owners of Thai restaurant chain get prison for tax fraud SEATTLE (AP) — A couple that used software to hide more than $1 million in revenue at the Thai restaurant chain they owned have each been sentenced to several months in prison and ordered to pay thousands of dollars in fines. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle said on Dec. 5 that Chadillada Lapangkura and her partner, Pornchai Chaiseeha, were sentenced to six and four months in prison, respectively. The couple were part owners of a series of restaurants in Washington,
Oregon, and Hawaii that went by the names Bai Tong and Noi. Investigators said they used “zapper” software at restaurants in Redmond and Tukwila, Wash., and in Bend, Ore., to conceal cash sales, thus underreporting their income and fraudulently lowering their tax burden. The couple pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the government in August. They admitted they evaded about $300,000 in taxes—an amount they have since repaid. U.S. District
Judge James Robart ordered Lapangkura to pay a $10,000 fine and Chaiseeha $7,500. The IRS may still seek further penalties and interest. Investigators said the couple also paid some workers under the table and deposited some of the unreported cash proceeds in bank accounts in Thailand. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that because the couple has young children, they will stagger their prison terms to allow one parent to remain home at a time.
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DECEMBER 14 – DECEMBER 20, 2019
37 YEARS
■ NATIONAL NEWS
Andrew Yang having fun, but Democrat’s message is serious By SARA BURNETT ASSOCIATED PRESS CHICAGO (AP) — Of all the many Democrats running for president, Andrew Yang is having the most fun. Unburdened by expectations and unbothered by political convention, the tech entrepreneur has spent months cruising around the country, mixing his Andrew Yang dark warnings about America’s new tech economy with doses of humor and unscripted bluntness. He has crowd-surfed, skateboarded and made memorable quips at nationally televised debates. At a new office opening in New Hampshire, he sprayed whipped cream from an aerosol can into the mouths of hyped-up supporters. This month in Las Vegas, he’ll raise money for his campaign at a high-roller poker tournament featuring World Series of Poker champions. The formula has made him one of this 2020 campaign’s phenomenons. His outsider bid is fueled by policy, personality and technology. It’s outlasted the White House campaigns this year of some governors and senators, and seems to be following the advice of a former state party chairman who said voters can tell whether candidates are enjoying themselves. Yang’s campaign may not have him on track to winning the nomination, but it may be delivering sober warnings to
conventional Democrats about the kinds of voters they’re leaving behind. “You can tell if someone’s like gritting their teeth or if they’re genuinely happy to be there and want to talk to you,“ Yang said between events at two Chicago universities earlier this month, including a rally that drew about 1,500 people. The former state chairman’s guidance, he said, has “made it easier for me to lean into just how I would naturally be as a person.“ “I think if people dig into my campaign they see it’s a very, very serious message,’’ Yang said. “We are going through the greatest economic transformation in our country’s history and we need to rewrite the rules of this economy to work for us. So people, I believe, are savvy enough to know that you can have a very, very serious message and actually enjoy yourself while you’re delivering it.’’ What started out as overwhelmingly online fan base of predominantly male techie types has broadened its appeal. After initially self-funding, Yang raised $10 million in the third quarter. That’s more than most rivals, and he said that “we are going to beat that by a mile’’ in the final three months of this year. His supporters, known as the Yang Gang, often say the other Democrats in the race to take on President Donald Trump aren’t speaking to them or their fears. Many of these backers are young people who say they don’t feel aligned with either party. Several who attended the Chicago events said they supported Sanders in 2016 but grew disillusioned after he didn’t win the nomination. Many supported third-party candidates or just stayed home that Election Day, when
Hillary Clinton led the ticket. And if Yang isn’t the party’s nominee, they may do so again in 2020. “A lot of people aren’t trusting the mainstream political candidates and pundits on TV. Yang is kind of like a breath of fresh air,’’ said Ethan Daniels, 23, who supported Sanders in 2016 but voted for Libertarian Gary Johnson in the general election. “I think that’s the reason why Trump won the election because a lot of people are kind of getting tired of the staleness of these politicians who come through, and then nothing in their life changes.’’ Daniels finished college with degrees in sociology and criminal justice but is still looking for a job in his field. He said he first learned about Yang on a podcast hosted by comedian and former TV host Joe Rogan; that interview has more than 4.5 million views on YouTube. Daniels likes what Yang has to say about artificial intelligence, universal basic income and video game addiction, topics he says other Democrats “don’t want to talk about.’’ Daniels was among the supporters at the Dec. 3 rally wearing blue caps and other items with MATH—for “Make America Think Harder’’—on them. It’s Yang’s twist on Trump’s “Make America Great Again“ slogan. Yang says it’s aimed at getting people to blame job losses across the Rust Belt on the changing economy, rather than immigrants. He argues Americans just need to “think harder’’ about solutions. Yang’s parents are Taiwanese immigrants. He says he was a “nerdy Asian kid’’ who skipped a grade in school and was especially scrawny. He was called racial epithets see YANG on 11
Google cofounders step aside as antitrust scrutiny heats up By RACHEL LERMAN AP TECHNOLOGY WRITER
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google’s co-founders are relinquishing their executive positions just as state and federal regulators, not to mention the Department of Justice and Congress, are taking a keen interest in possible abuse of its privacy practices and market power. But their long foreshadowed successor, Sundar Pichai, has been well prepped to serve as the public face of the company in addition to his current role as chief executive. Larry Page and Sergey Brin are stepping down as CEO and president, respectively, of Google parent company Alphabet. The move caps more than two decades during which the pair have
shepherded the one-time startup they founded in a Silicon Valley garage. Pichai, who has been Google’s CEO since 2015, will now also head up Alphabet. The company isn’t filling Brin’s position as president. Google is facing increasing criticism and investigations from authorities in the U.S. and Europe about its privacy policies and nature of its many-legged business. That will now fall to Pichai to wrangle and push through—though Brin and Page, both 46, have noticeably backed out of the spotlight already. Both stopped making appearances earlier this year at the regular questionand-answer sessions with employees, and Page didn’t attend this summer’s Alphabet shareholders meeting even though he was still in the CEO role. Last year, Google raised hackles in Congress by refusing to send Page or Pichai to a hearing on Russian manipulation of internet services to sway U.S. elections. Congressional officials left an empty chair for Page at the witness table; top executives from Facebook and Twitter, meanwhile, turned up to testify. see GOOGLE on 15
YOUR VOICE
■ WORLD NEWS
DECEMBER 14 – DECEMBER 20, 2019
asianweekly northwest
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Half-North Korean, half-Chinese kids struggle in South Korea By HYUNG-JIN KIM ASSOCIATED PRESS UIJEONGBU, South Korea (AP) — Song Hong Ryon looks like any other young woman in South Korea. But three years after her arrival from China, the half-North Korean, half-Chinese 19-year-old has made only two South Korean-born friends and says she’s often been hurt by little things, like when people ask if she’s from China because of her accent. “I’ve agonized about it a lot by myself,’’ she said. Song’s mother fled North Korea in the late 1990s in search of food and work in China, like tens of thousands of other North Korean women did to avoid a famine at home. Many women ended up being sold to poor Chinese
Pope names Manila Cardinal Tagle to major Vatican post
farmers as brides, before fleeing again and moving to South Korea, which considers the North part of its territory and therefore embraces North Korean refugees. Many of the children of these marriages, if they’re able to reunite with their mothers in the South, are alienated and frustrated as they struggle to navigate a strange culture, cut off from friends and many of their relatives. To tell their little-known stories, The Associated Press talked to three of the children, two of their North Korean mothers and an array of school teachers, experts and government officials. Many of the North Korean mothers lived in China in constant fear of being captured and repatriated to the North, where they could face torture and lengthy detention. When they made the risky trip to South Korea,
DEBATE from 1 the stage in Los Angeles—and the only person of color. The 44-year-old entrepreneur received 4 percent in a national poll by Quinnipiac University, meeting the polling threshold set by the Democratic National Committee. The other candidates who have met the DNC’s polling and fundraising requirements for the Dec. 19 debate are former Vice President Joe Biden, Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Amy Klobuchar, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and businessman Tom Steyer. Yang is the only non-white candidate to qualify for the debate so far. Sen. Kamala Harris, who is Black and Asian, had met the requirements but dropped out of the 2020 race last week, making it
they often left their children behind in China. The lucky ones, after getting jobs and saving money in South Korea, arranged for their children and husbands to travel to the country. But some children were abandoned, or their fathers refused to leave their hometowns and move to a place where they had no relatives or friends. Family reunions, if they happen at all, often take years, meaning many half-Chinese, half-North Korean children must fend for themselves during their adolescent years. Song said she was 10 when her mother left their home in the northeastern Chinese city of Yanji in 2010. A year later, her father also went to South Korea, leaving her with her grandparents. see RYON on 13
possible that only white candidates would be on the stage. Yang has been slowly gaining support in recent weeks, and topped several of his rivals when he brought in $10 million for his campaign in the third quarter—an amount he says he’s on pace to top in the last three months of this year. His signature policy is to provide a universal basic income of $1,000 to every adult—money he says will help Americans adapt to an economy that is rapidly becoming automated. At a debate earlier this fall he announced his campaign would begin providing the so-called “freedom dividends” to 10 people, drawing criticism from some that he was trying to buy votes. Yang is currently on a five-day bus tour of Iowa, the state that will kick off voting for the Democratic primary in February.
KING COUNTY REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has named Manila Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle to a major Vatican post, in a move that could boost the Asian prelate’s chances of perhaps someday becoming pontiff himself. The Vatican announced on Dec. 8 that Tagle, 62, will head the Congregation for the Evangelization of the Peoples. The appointment of Tagle as prefect of that office highlights the attention that Francis is giving to the church in the developing world. Vatican observers have long tabbed Tagle as having the qualifications of a “papabile,’’’ churchmen widely considered to have the makings to potentially be elected pope someday by their fellow cardinals. Tagle was raised to cardinal’s rank in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI. The Philippines is the country with the most Catholics in Asia. Transferring Tagle to the Vatican will give the prelate experience in the Holy See’s operations.
Proposals will be received for P00269P19, Construction Management Services for Snow Removal Equipment Building; by the King County Procurement and Payables Section, 3rd Floor, 401 Fifth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104, until 12:00 PM on January 6, 2020.
Total Estimated Price: $600,000 All solicitation documents are published at: https://procurement.kingcounty.gov/procurement_ ovr/login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fprocurement_ ovr%2fdefault.aspx Contact: Lourdes Bonifacio, lbonifacio@ kingcounty.gov, 206-263-3259
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DECEMBER 14 – DECEMBER 20, 2019
■ COMMUNITY CALENDAR THROUGH JAN 11, 2020 ART EXHIBITION, “BRIGHTER FUTURE” Top floor, Arts at King Street Station, 303 S. Jackson St., Seattle Free admission seattle.gov/arts
DEC 12
C-ID HOLIDAYS POTLUCK Pioneer Barber Company, 314 6th Ave. S., Seattle 6-10 p.m. cidholidays.splashthat. com
13 VIETQ: KARAOKE SOCIAL Beer & Wine Source, 9601 16th Ave. SW, Seattle 7-10 p.m. CID WINTER WONDERLAND International District/ Chinatown Community Center 719 8th Ave S Seattle, WA 6-7:30 p.m.
14 PHILIPPINE HOLIDAY LANTERN FESTIVAL Dr. Jose Rizal Park 9 p.m.
16 ANDREW YANG IN SEATTLE 2.0 Home of Jeffrey & Grace Roh 6-8 p.m. https://bit.ly/2YiGBOz
17 ASSESSING U.S. – CHINA RELATIONS in the 2020 Election Year Perkins Coie Law Firm, 1201 3rd Ave. #4900, Seattle 12-1:30 p.m. Register at https://bit. ly/2rtCgfE
20 WINTER SOLSTICE NIGHT MARKET Magnuson Park Hangar 30, 6310 NE 74th St., Seattle 4-10 p.m.
21 A BONSAI SOLSTICE Pacific Bonsai Museum, 2515 S. 336th St., Federal Way 4-7 p.m.
JAN 4 THE DANNY WOO GARDEN’S
COMMUNITY SERVICE DAY Danny Woo Community Garden, 620 S. Main St., Seattle 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
19 U.S.-JAPAN FRIENDSHIP COMING OF AGE CELEBRATION Bellevue College 1-3:30 p.m. japaneseinamerica.org
30 MODEL MINORITY, AN ASIAN WOMXN COMEDY SHOW Columbia City Theater, 4916 Rainier Ave. S., Seattle 8-10 p.m. caracolcreative.com
FEB 1 THE DANNY WOO GARDEN’S COMMUNITY SERVICE DAY Danny Woo Community Garden 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
37 YEARS
■ COMMUNITY NEWS
What I plan to do… Compiled by Staff NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY We asked newly elected and re-elected Asian American officials how they intend to use their role to benefit the Asian community. Here are some responses.
David Chan, Snohomish County South Sno. Co. Fire & Rescue RFA
I was elected as a fire commissioner to represent all residents who live within the area we serve in Snohomish County. One thing we cannot ignore is that 20 to 30 percent of our residents are from the Asian community. I am the chair of our Diversity Committee and will continue reaching out to all underrepresented and underserved communities by focusing on: • Finding out Asian community’s special needs • Maintaining close contact with community leaders • Hiring more firefighters from Asian communities • Using the major languages in our education program for fire and medical emergency prevention • Visiting schools to educate all students early about opportunities for fire service in our community
Dr. Tam Dinh, Mercer Island School Board
For over 25 years, my professional and volunteer work has centered around education, mental health, and improving accessibility and equity in the API community. As a school board director, I am committed to using the diversity, inclusion, and equity lens to ensure that our Asian American experience is embedded within the core curriculum. I am excited to lead the discussion on the implementation of the Ethnic Studies Curriculum and look
forward to engaging the Asian community in this process. I am also committed to ensuring that the diverse needs of our Asian students are met in a culturally responsive manner.
Maggie Tai Tucker, Mercer Island School District
I hope to help increase awareness of all the diverse cultures represented within our district, and to make sure we are doing our best to meet the needs of immigrant students and of those for whom English is not their first language. I have been pleased to see our district lately working to introduce more books with historical perspectives from groups, including Asians and Asian Americans, that have historically been underrepresented. I just got to sit in on a high school class discussing “The Best We Could Do,” a memoir in graphic novel form by Thi Bui about her family’s journey from South Vietnam in the 1970s. Books like this are helping to provide a richer curriculum experience for all students.
Dr. Francine Wiest, Bellevue School Board
As an elected official in education, I serve as a role model for youth in a school district where the plurality of students identify or are identified as Asian. Within this category, there are many different cultures and perspectives. We need to celebrate both the diversity and commonalities among Asians, as well as with other groups. In our schools, we seek to nurture students as individuals. As a representative, my presence challenges historical assumptions about leadership. Our collective work is to challenge historical and contemporary assumptions about Asians, while promoting a vibrant and welcoming community.
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The only weekly English-language newspaper serving Washington’s Asian community. The NW Asian Weekly has one simple goal: “To empower the Asian community.” The Editorial Board reserves the right to reject any advertisement, letter or article. Subscriptions cost $40 for 52 weeks of the NW Asian Weekly and $30 for 52 weeks of the Seattle Chinese Post. The NW Asian Weekly owns the copyright for all its content. All rights reserved. No part of this paper may be reprinted without permission. 412 Maynard Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98104 • t. 206.223.5559 editor@nwasianweekly.com • ads@nwasianweekly.com • www.nwasianweekly.com
YOUR VOICE
■ AT THE MOVIES
DECEMBER 14 – DECEMBER 20, 2019
asianweekly northwest
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The Whistleblower
Will the whistle blow before the hero blows up?
By Kai Curry NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY Mark Ma is a Chinese citizen in Australia, waiting for his residency, and working for a natural gas company called GPEC, when one night of infidelity at a company schmooze fest goes south (as these things tend to do). By morning, the Chinese VIP guests who GPEC had invited to the party in order to smooth a deal, are dead in a plane crash—including Ma’s lover, the wife of the CEO of the company that GPEC had been wanting to woo. Soon after, it is discovered that the GPEC representative assigned to broker the deal has committed suicide. Now Ma, the only other Chinese person in the company, is given the uncomfortable, and even unethical, task of flying the remains to China and salvaging relations enough to get the Chinese CEO to sign. So begins CMC Picture’s “The Whistleblower,” and if you think that was complicated, just wait. The biggest Chinese-Australian co-created film made to date, “The Whistleblower” stars Lei Jiayin as Ma, and Tang Wei as Zhou, Ma’s ex-girlfriend and new complication (did I mention Ma is married and has a son?). Dubbed an eco-thriller, the movie centers around the cover-up of a natural gas explosion in Malawi, Africa, which was erroneously identified as an earthquake— a convenient error until dead people start multiplying, incriminating documents start surfacing, and people that were supposed to be dead, like Zhou, come back to threaten Ma’s marriage, and throw Ma into a James Bondian role for which he is surprisingly well-equipped. It’s possible the movie has one too many twists and turns, yet they do serve to make us as confused as Ma, which might be a good thing—after all, why should we be able to easily figure everything out? The facility with which Ma and Zhou, and all of Ma’s friends, adopt the roles of super spies, while unbelievable, is achieved with such ease that we just do believe it. For instance, how does Ma know to turn off the fan before he and Zhou jump into an air chute? How does he even know where the switch to turn off the fan is? How does he know there is a fan? I’m just saying. Yes, there are some typical bits. The bad guys always find them. Tracking devices are left on innocent civilians in crowded marketplaces. CEO’s wives fall neatly from tall buildings into
comfy piles of laundry sacks in the backs of moving trucks. Yet the movie is not as heavy-handed as many when it comes to its themes, and the white head of GPEC speaks pretty good Chinese—he could teach a few YouTuber’s a thing or two. “The Whistleblower” is a study in good things coming to those who wait. Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, you don’t. Just when you think it should be over, it isn’t, and the payoff turns out to be more rewarding than you imagined it would be at the start. Directed by Chinese female director Xue Xiaolu, of “Finding Mr. Right” and “My People, My Country,” the film alternates between slick action and unexpectedly moving moments. The emphasis on family throughout the film is heartwarming, even when it’s being used as a threat. “Family is everything, Mark,” says one of the members of the evil corporation—so play along or we might take yours! The concern for the environment, which at first seems like just a trendy thing to make a film about, comes through as sincere and passionate by the film’s conclusion. It is also made very clear that one should not lie. Just don’t. Lying is bad. And infidelity, basically a form of lying, is definitely not good either. The way that the public and media respond in the movie to Ma’s indiscretion is on par with the explosion of outrage that happened when Hong Kong celebrity Andy Hui made out with actress Jacqueline Wong in a taxi. Don’t break up families. And don’t mess with the planet. Nuff said. But the gem of the film, in my view, was the incredible acting job done by Xi Qi, who plays Judy, Ma’s wife. Her responses when her husband comes home late with a bunch of lame excuses —more than once—her clenched-fist, dry-mouthed devastation when the truth about his cheating comes out, it makes your throat go dry. She is really what the film revolves around. Protecting what’s important. Not giving into temptation if it hurts others, be it sex or money. According to the press release about the film, director Xue is becoming known for her ability to combine “important social issues within the framework of a commercial crowdpleaser.” This might be just the kind of ability needed in a movie maker these days, when important subjects do need to be raised, yet audiences also expect to be entertained by fast action and attractive visuals.
“The Whistleblower” does both. It delivers a conscientious message in a palatable package about integrity and seeing through what’s important, not just for today, but for generations to come. When Judy says, “I don’t know what the future holds, but everything we do now is for our conscience,” it hits you right in the feels. You know she is talking about not just her marriage, but also our responsibility to take care of nothing less than the continued existence of humanity. Before the final credits, there is an explanation of whistleblower laws
around the world, including in China. The idea is that a person should be able to speak up about wrong-doings without being hauled through multiple car chases and shot at. But even better, the movie seems to tell us, is for everyone to do the right thing in the first place, for each other and for the planet. The Whistleblower is playing now in cinemas in the Greater Seattle area. Kai can be reached at editor@nwasianweekly.com.
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DECEMBER 14 – DECEMBER 20, 2019
Photos by George Liu
■ PICTORIAL TOP CONTRIBUTORS DINNER 2019
37 YEARS
Top Contributor Dinner honorees, elected officials, and sponsors.
From left: State Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos, Larry Gossett and his wife Rhonda Christine Oden
Charlene Grinolds fans
From left: Peter Tsai, Michael Itti, and Erica Buckley
From left: Dr. HUiwu Lai, Frank Song, Kelly Imus
Dr. Tam Dinh and family From left: Seattle Senior Deputy Mayor Mike Fong, Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best, and Seattle Assistant Police Chief Steve Hirjak
From left: Mai Nguyen, Sinh Tran, and Alex Fan
DECEMBER 14 – DECEMBER 20, 2019
YOUR VOICE
■ ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
asianweekly northwest
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Photos by Cheryll Leo-Gwin
Monument created by Seattle artist will honor Asian Americans
Braid weave cultures together
Welding the interior structure
Model for View from Gold Mountain
By Carolyn Bick NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
of the monument she and fellow Chinese American artist Stewart Wong created to stand in front of the courthouse in Albuquerque, N.M. The monument, called “View from Gold Mountain,” will be unveiled in January 2020. Both artists hope the monument can be used to raise awareness of what Chinese immigrants and their ancestors went through, because most people, even those of Chinese descent, don’t even know about the act, Leo-Gwinn said. For Wong, this project is a “positive entity” that informs and documents in physical form the struggles of Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans, and has helped him become a more informed individual, when it comes to his own understanding of his heritage. Wong himself has also faced discrimination and racism, since relocating from Honolulu, Hawai’i, to Seattle in the 1980s. He has been called “Buddha Head,” and was told to go back to his country. He has also been kicked from behind, during a Fourth of July fireworks display at Gasworks Park. “I recall a situation as a Seattle college student with no traffic citations on record. At my court hearing in Cowlitz County, the judge slapped me with the full fine amount and recommended I get cruise control on the car, although it was a borrowed car,” Wong said in an email. “When I am out shopping with my partner, who is Caucasian, [he] is often acknowledged by the store staff, and he notices I am not acknowledged with equal treatment.” Though he hasn’t been able to talk with his family about the issue, given that they are scattered throughout the United States and on the Hawaiian islands, Wong said he hopes some of his family members will attend the unveiling in January. He also hopes the background information he sent to them about the monument and the act will prompt them to start asking questions, and dig into their own history. Because of her artistic use of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Leo-Gwinn has had the opportunity to talk about the act, as well as discrimination and racism with her family. But prior to her work as an artist, Leo-Gwinn said her family just didn’t talk about such things. She remembers being turned down at age 18 for a typist job, because the potential employer “didn’t hire Chinese.” “And so, just because I was used to it, I said, ‘Okay, thank you very much,’ and
I left,” Leo-Gwinn said. “And I never mentioned anything to anybody, because that’s just the way we lived. There was no questioning it. That’s just the way it was. And when we got turned away for housing, that’s just the way it was. So, we didn’t talk about it to each other.” Over the last several years, though, Leo-Gwinn’s family has started to open up about the issue. Though her parents have passed, she said she has spoken about discrimination with her sister, and
Photo provided by Cheryll Leogwin
As a fourth generation Chinese American who grew up in a then-white Beacon Hill, Cheryll Leo-Gwinn said she “really didn’t know what it meant to be Chinese.” In Leo-Gwinn’s family, this isn’t unique. Her grandmother, who was born in San Rafael, Calif., in the 1850s, didn’t know much Chinese, either. All she wanted to do back then was fit in––and survive. “It was legal to shoot the Chinese. It was legal to hang them, to kidnap them, to torch them out of their homes,” the fulltime artist and Seattle resident said. “And a lot of my ancestors didn’t want to speak Chinese, because they wanted to fit in, so they didn’t know, and didn’t hand down the Chinese culture to their descendents.” But Leo-Gwinn didn’t even come to discover this, until the early aughts, when she learned about the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, a federal law created under President Chester A. Arthur that prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers. It built on the 1875 Page Act, which banned Chinese women from immigrating to the United States. Though the latter was meant to prevent forced labor and forced sex work, the Chinese Exclusion Act was in response to U.S. citizens’ resistance to Chinese immigrants taking part in the gold rush, as gold supplies began to dwindle, as well as Chinese immigrants taking lowpaying jobs, which certain labor factions claimed depressed wages for everyone. The act has since served as a point of departure for much of Leo-Gwinn’s artistic work, and serves as the foundation
Gourds become 3 branches of government
persecution with her aunt, who lived in Wyoming in the 1920s. “She said she remembered the wagons would come into town, pick up all the Chinese men, put them in a wagon, take them out of town, they would hear gunshots, and the wagons would come back empty, and they would be looking for more Chinese men,” Leo-Gwinn said. Carolyn can be reached at editor@nwasianweekly.com.
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DECEMBER 14 – DECEMBER 20, 2019
■ AT THE MOVIES
37 YEARS
‘The Farewell,’ ‘Parasite’ top AP’s 2019 best films list
By LINDSEY BAHR and JAKE COYLE AP FILM WRITERS Associated Press Film Writers Lindsey Bahr and Jake Coyle name their choices for the best films of 2019.
LINDSEY BAHR 1. “Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood”: Quentin Tarantino’s movie business fairy tale, featuring all-time performances from two of our great living movie stars, and the shadow of one’s spirit, is his most warm-hearted and tender and a complete joy to watch and watch again. It’s hard to glean whether a film will stand the test of time, but “Once Upon a Time...’’ has the makings of a modern classic. 2. “Little Women”: For a story so rooted in its post-Civil War time, it’s an astonishing feat that Greta Gerwig was able to make “Little Women,’’ a book with no shortage of adaptations, into something that’s downright modern. With an eye toward warm details and sharp dialogue, Gerwig, along with a terrific cast, makes the maturation of the March sisters more than just wistful nostalgia, but an urgent piece about the economics of being a woman and the worthiness of their stories. 3. “The Farewell”: In an industry that favors safe bets (and fewer and fewer of them at that), it’s no wonder that a batch of smaller, intensely personal films stood out in 2019. But Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell,’’ a sensitive and wry account of the time her family decided to not tell her grandmother that she was dying of cancer, is at the top of the pack. Not only did we get to see Awkwafina in a different light and meet the phenomenal Chinese actress Zhao Shuzhen, but see ourselves and our own relationship with death and grief in the specificity of a different culture. 4. “1917”: The whole “one take’’ construct of Sam Mendes’ sumptuous
World War I epic “1917’’ is a neat trick, but that alone isn’t exactly a reason to see it. In fact, “1917’’ works so well because you’re so wrapped up in the story of this impossible, real-time mission across across No Man’s Land. Soldiers desperately race to stop an attack that the British have learned is doomed to fail. Immersed in their frantic sprint, you don’t even notice the gears behind the engine. 5. “Marriage Story”: The ugliness of the modern divorce industrial complex gets an achingly human face in Noah Baumbach’s tragicomic “Marriage Story,’’ which although it’s about the dissolution of a marriage is one of the funniest and most alive perhaps because it is so real—not to mention the wonderful turns from Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver and a crackling supporting cast. 6. “Maiden”: A hidden gem of a documentary, “Maiden’’ is an exhilarating and uplifting adventure film about the first all-female crew to compete in a `round the world yacht race with harrowing archival footage and terrific present-day interviews with the women who raced and the men who doubted them. 7. “Honey Boy”: I’d wager that the biggest sell of “Honey Boy’’ is also its biggest deterrent: That it’s Shia LaBeouf’s story. For those in the latter camp, I have one thing to say: See it anyway. This is a lyrical and immensely moving portrait of a child actor (Noah Jupe) and his complex relationship with his toxic father (LaBeouf) and a stunning fiction debut from director Alma Har’el. 8. “Parasite”: Writer-director Bong Joon Ho keeps the audience guessing in this twisty, comedic and trenchant film about two families—one working class, one wealthy—whose stories become intertwined in a modernist palace. It’s a film that should be seen knowing as little as possible, but also one that gets richer with every view.
9. “Joker”: Was “Joker’’ an agent of chaos? Sure, but not in the way people suspected. It didn’t incite violence; It was simply successful. And that’s not a bad thing! It’s a sneakily elegant film that dared to make something serious and adult out of a comic book character.
contains one of the most shocking depictions of violence I’ve ever seen—so disturbing that I found myself looking for the door— and yet her film, which wants the viewer to be challenged by its violence, hate and ultimately empathy, is one that not only provokes, but sticks.
10. “The Nightingale”: Jennifer Kent’s harrowing film about a young Irish woman on a quest for revenge in 1825 Tasmania
see AP BEST FILMS on 14
DECEMBER 14 – DECEMBER 20, 2019
YOUR VOICE
■ EDITORIAL
asianweekly northwest
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Can you say: conflict of interest? By Ruth Bayang NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY If you read this newspaper’s front page story, you saw that InterIm is challenging the results of the recent International Special Review District (ISRD) election. InterIm had two employees, Henry Liu and Lizzy Baskerville, running for two of three seats available. Liu was born and raised in Seattle and works as a community organizer for InterIm. He ran against M. Faye Hong—the co-chair for the Kin On Community Health Care Center and founding member of the Chinatown-International District Business Improvement Area. Baskerville is the garden manager for the Danny Woo Community Garden. She ran against Matt Chan who volunteers with community newspapers, InterIm, and the Wing Luke Museum. Neither Liu nor Baskerville won, and now InterIm is claiming that the “will of many voters was unfairly compromised.” The complaint goes on to name Beth Ku and
others who “were telling the seniors who to vote for, mostly in Chinese,” which violates election rules. One of the people who told InterIm about Ku’s alleged actions (telling seniors who to vote for) was Zhu Hua Huang, the grandmother of candidate Liu. Hmmm. Also, I wonder if the non-Chinese-speaking people who saw Ku speaking to seniors actually know what she was saying? The Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, which oversees the ISRD, had a Chinese and Vietnamese translator on-site who was within earshot of Ku. That translator, Anna Tang, along with election monitors, did not notice anything amiss. Or if they did, did nothing to stop Ku. Oh, and let’s not forget that InterIm has a project—Uncle Bob’s Place at the site of the Four Seas Restaurant—that is under review by the ISRD board. Could it be that InterIm wants its own people on the board so it can get a favorable outcome for its project? It seems to me like a major conflict of interest. If Vibrant Cities (owner of the Bush Garden building)—
which also has a project (Jasmine) under review by the ISRD board—had any of its employees running for the ISRD board, I’d bet my bottom dollar that InterIm and their friends at CID Coalition would have raised hell and staged protest after protest after protest. Does InterIm have a right to have a seat at the table? Absolutely. But not during a time when that table is deciding on a project in which InterIm has a vested interest. Maybe the election results will be nullified, maybe not. It’s in the city’s hands now. Either way, it stinks to me of conflict of interest, nepotism, cronyism, favoritism... how many other ways can I say it? InterIm needs to withdraw its challenge, honor the results, and move forward to co-creating a more harmonious Chinatown. Nobody thinks homelessness, gentrification, or displacement are great. How about starting from that common ground? This ‘us versus them’ mentality is getting old and benefits no one. Ruth can be reached at editor@nwasianweekly.com.
* Update: At the Dec. 10 ISRD board meeting, it decided to approve the demolition of the Four Seas Restaurant.
YANG from 4 and got in a lot of fights, “which I generally lost.’’ After college at Brown University and law school at Columbia Yang worked in the tech industry before starting a nonprofit that provided money to entrepreneurs. As he became focused on the toll of automation, he decided the best and necessary policy solution was a universal basic income. He decided that the fastest way to promote the ideas was “to run for president and win.’’ The “Freedom Dividends’’ that are now the signature policy of his campaign would provide every adult $1,000 per month, no strings attached, through a new tax on the companies benefiting most from automation. Yang says the money would give people breathing room to pay off debt, care for a sick family member or buy things, and would improve Americans’ mental health by alleviating financial stress. His campaign has been trying it out, giving the $1,000 monthly checks to about a dozen people, That plan,
announced during a debate this fall, led to questions about whether he was trying to pay for votes. Joy McKinney, a Republican and evangelical, said she carefully researched universal basic income and Yang’s other policies before joining the “Yang Gang.’’ The 50-yearold financial planner didn’t vote in 2016 because she didn’t like either Trump or Clinton. But she’s been moved to tears by videos of the people receiving those first $1,000 checks. “Can you imagine a U.S. where everybody matters?’’ McKinney said. That’s what’s compelling to me.’’ Presidential campaigns have long been a stage for new personalities or novel ideas that may catch on for a time. The 2012 cycle had Herman Cain and his “9-9-9’’ tax plan. The 1992 campaign had Ross Perot and his debt charts. Still, Yang’s durability has caught many people by surprise. That may be a product of Yang’s tech and marketing savvy, said presidential historian Mike Purdy. “I think for most people he’s still an aberration,’’ he said. But Yang said he sees the race in terms of odds. His odds of winning, he says, are better than the odds he had of
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it mattered if I showed up the next day for work or not.” She was inspired by mentors in the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) to consider social activism. With their guidance, she wrote a grant for curriculum development about the internment of Japanese Americans in concentration camps during World War II, which her family had lived through. “Where else is a 20–something–year–old going to get an opportunity to chair a committee, run a project, be an officer on the board of directors, and you’re surrounded by all these people in the community that really want you to succeed and they’re willing to help you, open doors for you, have coffee with you?” She changed jobs, and with the help of Al Sugiyama, the late community leader and activist, worked for the Seattle Vocational Institute as a registration and recruitment specialist. “I felt I was having an impact,” she said. “I was helping people connect to jobs or training that was going to lead to jobs, and it mattered whether I showed up to work.” With this realization, she set a goal that she wanted to become the executive director of a nonprofit. Also through the JACL, she got to know women that were making a difference in their community. “I saw people, women, that looked like me that were leaders, and I wanted to be like them,” she said. In the interim, she had several other jobs, and then in 1996, she applied to be executive director of the Denise Louie Education Center (DLEC), which provides preschool for low–income children. “I wanted to work for an organization that I could really believe in,” she said. But they hired someone else. She waited another year and applied again. “I got it the second time,” she said. She soon faced a major crisis. In 1999, the federal government was looking to take away funding for the Head Start early childhood education program. There were five grantees in the area at the time. The government wanted to cut it to two. That could have meant the end of the organization. With the help of her board, Deguchi sprang into action. She learned that the national Head Start director was in Seattle for the national conference. “We went on a full–court press, we had a huge parent meeting,” she said. She and her board arranged for KING 5 to come to the parent meeting. They interviewed her and some parents. She collected letters from parents in multiple languages and sent a stack two–inches thick to the regional office. The next day they were awarded a site visit, the first step needed to gain funding, which they eventually got. “That was a hugely pivotal moment for us,” said Deguchi.
farm,” she said. When World War II broke out, they were sent to Tule Lake, a concentration camp in northern California. Because Deguchi’s great aunt was an American citizen and the farm was in her name (Japanese Americans could not own land), the farm was not taken away. However, when they returned, “it was a mess,” said Deguchi. According to the book, “Strawberry Days: How Internment Destroyed a Japanese American Community,” by David A. Neiwert, modern Bellevue is paved–over Japanese American farmland taken from the original Japanese American farmers who cleared it. On her father’s side, her grandmother was a seamstress, doing piecework, in the International District. Her husband died when she was pregnant with her sixth child. “So she was very poor,” said Deguchi. Her dad struggled, she said, and made it to the University of Washington (UW). But when the war hit, he was expelled and sent to Minidoka, a concentration camp in Hunt, Idaho, with the rest of his family. Eventually, he enlisted in the U.S. military and became an interpreter in the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) in the Pacific. One of his duties was to interrogate Japanese prisoners of war. Ten years ago, the UW awarded him an honorary degree. Deguchi grew up in South Seattle. She remembers walking by Holly Park and other communities that were served by Neighborhood House. In middle school, she was bussed to West Seattle, as part of desegregation. “The idea was to mingle and intermix kids of color with white kids,” said Deguchi. But as with so many others, the results were less than ideal. “I had to go to a school that was far from me, I did feel like I didn’t really want to participate in school activities because it was so far away,” she said. “But everyone made the best of it, we made friends with kids we wouldn’t have made friends with.” Deguchi went to high school at Rainier Beach, and this time the white kids were bussed there. But many white parents took their kids out of public school at the time and enrolled them in private school, in what was called “white flight.” Rainier Beach, at the time, was “a school divided,” she said, with kids in the highly capable classes and others in general education. Deguchi enjoyed English. “I thought I tanked at math, but actually I probably didn’t. I was in Calculus and did all the usual stuff,” she said. “I just doubted my ability.” In college and over the rest of her life, she would gain that confidence. At the UW, she studied business administration and learned about, “income statements and balance sheets and risk and ethics,” among other topics, she said. These would come in handy for her future career.
Family background and childhood
Onward
DEGUCHI from 1
Part of what made her fight so hard for her clients was that she and her family in an earlier time might have been clients themselves. “I’m not that far removed from the immigrant experience and some of the experiences that our clients have had,” she said. “I had the privilege of being born in the United States, but my parents and grandparents suffered a lot of discrimination and a lot of hardship.” Her great grandparents and grandparents on her mother’s side came over from Japan for economic opportunity in the early 1900s and became farmers in Bellevue. “They lived in Bellevue before it was a city. It was forest and trees, and they cleared the land,” she said. They took a ferry across Lake Washington to sell produce at Pike Place Market. Her grandmother had nine kids. Seven survived. “But they had enough food because they lived off the
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After remaining at Denise Louie for 17 years, she had left it utterly transformed. When she came into DLEC, she was the seventh executive director in five years. By the time she left, however, the organization had expanded in almost every way. Besides securing the Head Start grant, she added additional Head Start slots for more students, implemented three major renovations through a $2.1 million capital campaign, tripled the budget, and built a four–month cash reserve, among other changes. Her signature mark, perhaps, was the care she showed not only for clients but for her employees. By the time she left, she had instituted an employer– matching contribution for employees’ retirement fund, flexible spending accounts, long–term and short–term disability leave, an employee assistance program, and a
37 YEARS tuition reimbursement programs. Now she wanted a new challenge. “I’m constantly seeking to learn and grow as a leader,” she wrote in response to the interview committee at Neighborhood House. “One of the reasons I left DLEC was so that I could grow and DLEC could grow.” She now went from caring for kids to caring for seniors. She took up the position of Chief Operations Officer at Keiro Northwest for several years. During this period, she wrote grants that helped alleviate social isolation for seniors, helped start a new home care program, and expanded the senior travel business. Using her business background and experience, she revamped the outdated fee structure to be more equitable and generate more revenue. After three years, she moved to become Executive Director of Community for Youth (CfY), a nonprofit providing mentorship to young people. While she had built partnerships throughout her career, at CfY it became an absolute necessity. “Community for Youth receives no government funding,” she wrote, in her response to the interview, which she shared with Northwest Asian Weekly. “We rely on the generosity of our supporters.” Serving as executive director gave her an “appreciation for the importance of relationships to fulfill the mission and all the hard work that goes into building and maintaining positive relationships with supporters,” she wrote. During her tenure there, she personally called to thank every person that donated more than $1,000. One call— and the subsequent support she found from the donor—led to a gift of $30,000 and a promise of ongoing commitment. All this prepared her for her current role at Neighborhood House. During a recent board meeting, for instance, she put up chart paper around the room so that board members would walk around and write comments about board goals. “We did a survey of board members,” she said, “then we did a gallery walk about the goals that board members should have.” The topics that she asked board members to consider included fund raising, advocacy, linkage (back to the community), and board operations. She is also a strategic advocate through outside organizations. She serves as the chair of the Asian Pacific Directors Coalition (APDC), which will be convening a meeting with several state legislators this month to discuss education, human services, and housing issues. One critical issue she’ll be advocating for is increased funding for early learning. Neighborhood House enrolled 160 children in Washington’s Early Childhood Education Assistance Program (ECEAP). The state pays them a set amount. But in providing teachers, TAs, food, supervisors, family support, parent meetings, family goal setting, and many more services, the organization is subsidizing the program $150,000 each year. Always the advocate for the marginalized, Deguchi comes across as warm and open, yet at the same time tenacious and quietly girded for action. One of the questions she was asked, as part of her interview was: “Why do you think poverty is so difficult?” After recounting the genocide of Native Americans, the enslavement of Africans and massive institutional racism, she wrote,” Poverty and inequality are baked into our systems and will continue until there is sufficient outrage and advocacy to counteract the vast power and influence of the top 1 percent.” “Unlike corporations and the 1 percent, clients served by Neighborhood House don’t have lobbyists,” she added. But they do have an effective advocate. Mahlon can be reached at editor@nwasianweekly.com.
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YOUR VOICE
■ ASTROLOGY
DECEMBER 14 – DECEMBER 20, 2019
asianweekly northwest
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Predictions and advice for the week of December 14–20, 2019 By Sun Lee Chang Rat — Don’t let a difference of opinion on an insignificant issue sour an otherwise fruitful relationship.
Dragon — Accustomed to taking a lead role? The power you wield in that position is greater than you realize.
Monkey — While it might slow you down some, what your partner brings to the table is worth bringing along.
Ox — A major decision should not be rushed. Instead, take your time to thoroughly consider your options.
Snake — You want to direct the flow. However, in this instance, you will have to let nature take its course.
Rooster — Haven’t yet met your ideal match? Depending on how important it is to you, hold out for the best one.
Tiger — Far from fearing the limelight, you relish standing out from the crowd. You will soon have reason to shine.
Horse — Blazing your own path means taking chances. Your next one is about to pay off quite well.
Dog — A homecoming of sorts has you seeing things a bit differently than before. Luckily, the view is a welcome one.
Rabbit — Rather than an all or nothing approach, it is much more advantageous to embrace the parts that work for you.
Goat — A series of events has brought you here. You get to chart the course on where you go next.
Pig — Has someone come to you with an interesting proposal? If accepted, it could lead to a wild adventure.
WHAT’S YOUR ANIMAL SIGN? RAT 1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008 OX 1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009 TIGER 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010 RABBIT 1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011 DRAGON 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012 SNAKE 1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013 HORSE 1918, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014 GOAT 1919, 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015 MONKEY 1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016 ROOSTER 1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017 DOG 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018 PIG 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019
*The year ends on the first new moon of the following year. For those born in January and February, please take care when determining your sign.
RYON from 5 “When my mom left, I didn’t cry. But when my dad left, I cried a lot,’’ Song said. “I think it was because I felt I was truly alone then.’’ She only reunited with her parents in 2016 in South Korea after a six-year separation. Last December, her mother died of lung cancer. “I came to blame God,’’ said Song, a devout Christian. “I asked why this had to happen to me.’’ In South Korea, children like Song often face crises in identity, a language barrier, public indifference and poor government assistance. Many of them feel like outsiders and get left behind academically and socially. Some return to China, parting again with their North Korean mothers. They’re often confused about whether they’re Chinese, South Korean or North Korean refugees. Because neither parent is originally from South Korea, they don’t have help assimilating into the country’s brutally competitive and fast-paced society. “Combined with South Korea’s social bias against them and their own distorted views about (the South Koreans around them), they mostly give up on opportunities to develop themselves, and this eats away at them fulfilling their potential,’’ said Kim Doo Yeon, the principal of the alternative Great Vision School in Uijeongbu, just north of Seoul, where Song was enrolled for two years. Another half-Chinese, half-North Korean young woman—who wished to be identified only by her family name, Choe, because she worries that media publicity could damage her life in South Korea—came to Seoul from China last year to reunite with her North Korean refugee mother. The 20-year-old speaks only a little Korean and has no South Korean friends. She has yet to travel alone beyond Seoul and often spends time chatting online with her friends back in China. Her mother fled their home in
Dunhua city in northeastern China in early 2017 after seeing a fellow North Korean woman in their village being arrested and sent back to North Korea. “I was very saddened,’’ the daughter said through tears about her separation with her mother. Her mother, who asked to be identified as Choe H.Y. because of similar privacy issues, said brokers lured her to cross the border into China with the promise of a job before selling her to her husband for 5,000 yuan ($710) in 1998. Song said her mother was also almost sold to a stranger before she ran away and met her father. Upon arrival in South Korea, these children are given citizenship because their mothers are now South Korean nationals. But because they don’t have a direct link to North Korea, they cannot legally receive some other special favors that North Korea-born refugees enjoy. Those missed benefits include the right to bypass the highly competitive national university entrance exam, get a college tuition waiver and, for men, choose whether to perform two years of mandatory military service. Choe said her brother is still in China because of worries that he’ll have to serve in the military. Choe wants to improve her Korean and go to a South Korean university, which means she must compete with South Korean students in the university entrance exam. But language is a problem. “If I try to go deeper in our conversation in Korean, she won’t understand, so I become impatient and start speaking Chinese to her,’’ said Choe H.Y. The fact that these children’s mothers mostly began slipping into China about 20 years ago suggests their children are now reaching adulthood and that their plight could soon become a bigger social issue in South Korea. According to the South Korean Education Ministry, about 1,550 such children were enrolled in primary, middle and high schools in South
Korea as of April this year, compared with about 980 North Korea-born students. The true number is likely higher. In recent years, the government has tried to help by providing 4 million won ($3,390) to their families and dispatching more bilingual instructors to schools. In May, an opposition lawmaker proposed providing China-born North Korean children with the same assistance given to North Korea-born refugees. Shim Yang-sup, principal of the Seoulbased alternative South-North Love School, said the children should be supported because they represent an untapped resource, with the ability to often speak two languages and navigate both Korean and Chinese cultures. Kim Hyun-seung, 20, from Tianjin, China, arrived in South Korea three years ago to reunite with his mother, who came six years earlier. Kim’s 52-year-old mother, Kim Soyeon, described him as “a great, loyal son,’’
who tried not to talk much about his suffering and once cooked special foods for her on her birthday. Tall and slim, Kim said he wouldn’t mind serving in the South Korean military and dreams of being a chef in a French restaurant. But he doesn’t want a serious girlfriend out of fear they’d “become a couple like my father and mother that gives pain to their child, fails to live together and worries about many things.’’ Song’s bilingual ability helped her receive special admission to a university near Seoul. Her first semester starts in March, and she’s excited and nervous about meeting her mostly South Korea-born classmates. “I’m seeing things positively ... because even if I complain about some difficulties that I have, they aren’t resolved,’’ she said. “I’ve sometimes gotten sick after brooding alone. As time goes by, I’m missing my mom more than ever.’’
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asianweekly northwest
DECEMBER 14 – DECEMBER 20, 2019
AP BEST FILMS from 10 Honorable Mentions: “Pain and Glory,’’ “I Lost My Body,’’ “Jojo Rabbit,’’ “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,’’ “Luce,’’ “Ad Astra’’ ———
JAKE COYLE 1. “Portrait of a Lady on Fire’’: In a year defined by mammoth masterworks, nothing took my breath away like Celine Sciamma’s exquisite, soulshattering romance. A female painter (Noemie Merlant) in 18th century France is sent to paint, on the sly, the portrait of a spirited noble woman (Adele Haenel) before her arranged marriage. The movie assembles itself as a series of stolen glances, as art and love mingle for a blissful but tragically unsustainable moment. The parting shot, a kind of portrait itself, is a devastation I won’t soon recover from. 2. “Rolling Thunder Revue’’ and “The Irishman’’: A simply astonishing double feature from Martin Scorsese, one consumed with life, the other with death. Scorsese spoke urgently and eloquently about how movies should be more than they often are: a corporatemade product with little of the humanity that makes films worth debating, worth loving. But as well and as passionately
as Scorsese argued for cinema, nothing made his case better than these two remarkable, colossal films. 3. “Honeyland’’: Directors Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov were initially commissioned just to make a video about nature conservation in Macedonia, about one of Europe’s last wild-beekeepers. Instead, they spent three years and collected more than 400 hours of footage with Hatidze, a heroically indefatigably middle-aged woman who lives in an abandoned rural village in North Macedonia where she ekes out a meager living for herself and her bedridden mother by sustainably harvesting honey. The filmmakers whittled their footage down to a 85-minute fable of startling intimacy (the candle-lit scenes of Hatidze and her mother are among the most stirring you’ll ever see) that reverberates with larger ecological allegory. 4. “Parasite’’: There’s not a misplaced moment in Bong Joon Ho’s social satire, a so perfectly and intricately engineered genre contraption that it’s downright frightening. 5. “Marriage Story’’: Noah Baumbach, too, is working at the very top of his game, telling a delicately, even profoundly constructed tale of divorce—a subject not so easy to be clear-eyed about—with a miraculous
37 YEARS
steadiness and compassion. For a horror story—and with lawyers breathing fire and brimstone to go with it—it’s remarkably funny, tender and true. A deeply humane masterpiece.
9. “Last Black Man in San Francisco’’: An almosttoo-beautiful fable of displacement and gentrification that ultimately wins you over with the sincerity of its anguish and the soulful performances of Jimmy Fails, Jonathan Majors and Rob Morgan.
6. “Pain and Glory’’: A master filmmaker looks back, rewarding us with one of his richest and most luminous films. Pedro Almodovar’s warm spirit vibrates throughout this time-skipping drama of self-reflection. Almodovar has never felt so close at hand, and the film’s final image is one of poetic summation.
10. “ Atlantics”: Writer-director Mati Diop’s feature debut is preternaturally assured. It’s a ghost story, set in Senegal among grieving women after a boat of emigrating young men has disappeared into the sea. The film’s mythic power is heightened by Diop’s already fully-formed cinematic language.
7. “Little Women’’: Greta Gerwig’s Louisa May Alcott adaptation is a feast of a movie. Every frame is alive. By remixing the book’s timelines and expanding Jo’s arc to encompass Alcott’s, too, Gerwig hasn’t just made “Little Women’’ contemporary, she’s made it sing.
Honorable Mentions: “Dolemite Is My Name,“ “Apollo 11,’’ “Booksmart,’’ “Knives Out,’’ “High Flying Bird,’’ “Amazing Grace,’’ “Uncut Gems,’’ “The Nightingale,’’ “1917’’ SOLUTION from SUDOKU on page 6.
8. “Once Upon a Time . in Hollywood’’: Quentin Tarantino has said he aims to retire after making 10 films; he’s disinterested in becoming an old filmmaker or doing anything to dull the vibrancy of his earlier films. He should rethink that. His radiant and poignant 1960s Hollywood fable suggests that Tarantino, when he slows down and soaks up the California sun, can be even better as he grows older.
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DECEMBER 14 – DECEMBER 20, 2019
YOUR VOICE TOP CONTRIBUTORS from 1 does exist all year in Seattle’s Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, and that it is embodied especially by our elected officials and other prominent community members. The Top Contributors Dinner is an opportunity to honor these “movers and shakers” as Asian Weekly publisher, Assunta Ng, described them —and to celebrate a shared mission of achieving equal representation and success for AAPI men and women. And, there was lobster. So joked Ng by way of highlighting the generosity of the evening’s sponsors, as under the sparkling chandeliers of the China Harbor Restaurant, attendees mingled. Some caught up with long-time friends, while others took advantage of the opportunity to network and to extend the support system that is key to the accomplishment of individual and group goals. After standing for the National Anthem, sung beautifully by Rosa Leung, several of 2019’s AAPI newly elected officials were recognized and celebrated. 2019 was a banner year for the election of people of color into office in the United States, and as Ng explained, the Asian Weekly added this recognition of elected officials to the program. It’s important to support those who worked so hard to get elected so they can support us. “We want to recognize the courage to run, and the desire to serve,” said Ng. “It’s very challenging for people of color to run for office…We are very excited and proud of their achievements.” Co-emcee Kathy Hsieh, an award-winning actor, writer, and director, commented that when she was growing up, she “never got to see anyone who looked like me” on television. It was one reason Hsieh chose an acting career, and no doubt a reason many people in the room stepped up to advocate for increased representation of AAPI in all spheres of society. Representing the Asian Pacific Directors Coalition (APDC), Michael Itti, executive director of the Chinese Information and Service Center, discussed the role of APDC in undoing the divisive stereotype of the model minority, fighting for equality, and ensuring the success
KHAN from 1 The victor in the Redmond City Council Position 1 race was Varisha Khan, a second-generation Pakistani American, after a machine recount on Dec. 5. Khan beat three-term incumbent Hank Myers by 66 votes. She is a community organizer and former political-action-committee director for OneAmerica Votes.
GOOGLE from 4 Offended lawmakers derided Google as “arrogant.’’ Although longtime tech analyst Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies said he doesn’t believe Brin and Page are leaving “because the fire is getting hotter,’’ he said Pichai’s role at Google has been preparing him for the increased government scrutiny. Pichai testified before Congress last December for the first time, defending the company against claims from Republicans that the search service is biased against conservatives. Alphabet has been positioning Pichai as the de facto leader for quite some time. It has also made him the top executive voice at shareholders meetings and on earnings call. Recently, Pichai changed the format of the employee question-and-answer sessions from a weekly occurrence to a monthly one. Pichai, a 47-year-old immigrant from India, has worked at the company for 15 years, serving as a leader in projects to build Google’s Chrome browser and overseeing Android. Pichai, who has an engineering background, took over as the head of Google’s products before being promoted to CEO when Alphabet was created. He is known as a soft-spoken and respected manager. Google has been facing pressure from privacy advocates over its
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of all segments of the AAPI community. Co-emcee John Chen, CEO of Geoteaming, backed up the conversation by providing statistics that highlight the importance of getting more AAPIs into top positions. “On average,” he said, “Asian Americans have 200 percent of the professional degrees in America, but Asians have 50 percent or less of the executive jobs…So each contributor you see up here is breaking the odds and setting a path for [AAPI] leaders.” APDC was one of seven remarkable contributors honored at the dinner. The first contributor to receive recognition was HUiwu Lai, a medical inventor and philanthropist, who gave a rousing speech in a Chinese dialect in which he extolled the values of strength, respect, honesty, and loyalty. Lai, whose company, 505 Group, is based in China, also encouraged the audience to maintain healthy relations with China. His words seemed to hearken to the current conflict in Hong Kong when he said, “Long live the friendship between the U.S. and China. Love live world peace.” Throughout the evening, the honorees and the presenters were sure to give credit to those who came before, and urging everyone to support the next generation. Many already do. Lai endowed the University of Washington (UW) with a scholarship for students. Charlene Grinolds, co-chair of the Executive Development Institute’s board of directors, said that “giving back means a lot” to her, and asked that the young people she brought to the dinner stand for applause. Andrés Mantilla, the director of the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, introduced the Tet Founders, and described how much he cherished being able to share Vietnamese culture with his children through events such as Tet in Seattle, which the founders established. Yenvy Pham, one of three siblings who operates Pho Bac restaurant for her parents and the restaurant’s founders, Theresa and Augustine, laughed when the presenter asked her how she and her siblings would improve upon what her parents had already done. “We can’t do that!” Larry Gossett, Metropolitan King County Council member since 1993, and one of the founders of the UW
Black Student Union, answered this question: As an activist yourself, when you look at the young people today, how are you hopeful for the future? “I am very hopeful of our future,” Gossett replied to a round of applause. Gossett allowed that young people today are not the same as those from the 1960s and 1970s, yet assured the crowd that today’s young people have “the same ideological commitment to racial justice and empowerment of people of color, and to making this country truly democratic for all residents of our community and our nation.” Gossett also asked the community to support his successor at the King County Council, Girmay Zahilay. One way of supporting the next generation is by setting good examples. Seattle Deputy Mayor Mike Fong, who introduced honoree Carmen Best, the first Black woman to become Chief of the Seattle Police Department, stressed Best’s commitment to giving young women something to aspire towards, in addition to her responsibility to uphold diversity, be a voice for the underserved, and protect the community. “She is also a role model for so many young people.” Fong described a day when his nieces visited Chief Best in her office, who by her example gave them “a reminder that they can do anything and be anything they want to be.” All of those honored at the Top Contributors Dinner were humbly inclined to praise those who had helped them along the way, to describe the efforts of those who are helping them now, and to show their continued support for those who will help the cause of diversity and equality in the future. Their combined sense of giving, and of looking out for others in the community, was clearly in the spirit of the dinner’s theme, which was “Unity and Celebration.” Yet without these contributors, and their parents and grandparents, we would not have had a chance to bring forward so many newly elected AAPI officials, or to look forward to further representation of AAPIs in the near future. “Thank you for making our community a better place,” Ng said.
Dave Rosenbaum defeated Daniel Thompson by 40 votes in an election recount for Mercer Island City Council Position 1. There was also a hand recount for the Bothell City Council Position 2 race between Leigh Henderson and Mason Thompson. That is a multi-county race, shared with Snohomish County. The Snohomish County recount was set to take place on Dec. 9. The two candidates were separated by only five votes.
In order for a race to qualify for a mandatory hand recount, the candidates must be fewer than 150 votes and less than 0.25 percent apart. To qualify for a machine recount, candidates must be fewer than 2,000 votes and less than 0.5 percent apart.
collection and use of personal information to target advertising. It also faces allegations that it abuses its dominance in search and online advertising to push out rivals. The company is the subject of antitrust inquiries from Congress, the Department of Justice, a group of U.S. state attorneys general and European authorities. The company has also faced harsh criticism about the material on its services. Its video streaming business, YouTube, was fined $170 million to settle allegations it improperly collected personal data on children without their parents’ consent. In its early days, Google focused on only one business—cataloging the growing internet. Page and Brin started Google soon after they met as Stanford University graduate students in 1995. The company has now become one of the most influential companies in the world. Google dominates online search and digital advertising and makes the world’s most widely used operating system for smartphones, Android. Bajarin doesn’t expect much to change with the executive shuffle. And if anything does, he said, it will be due to government regulation. Pichai assured employees in an internal email that his new job wouldn’t mean he was taking a step back from Google. “I want to be clear that this transition
Kai can be reached at editor@nwasianweekly.com.
Staff can be reached at editor@nwasianweekly.com.
won’t affect the Alphabet structure or the work we do day to day,“ he wrote. “I will continue to be very focused on Google and the deep work we’re doing to push the boundaries of computing and build a more helpful Google for everyone.“ Alphabet—an umbrella corporation that the two created in 2015—still boasts Google as its central fixture and key moneymaker. But it’s also made up of what are known as “other bets,“ or longshot projects. That includes drone company Wing and self-driving car firm Waymo. Page and Brin, in announcing the news on Dec. 3, said the company has “evolved and matured“ in the two decades since its founding. Both promised to stay active as board members and shareholders. Brin and Page still hold a majority of voting shares of Alphabet. According to a regulatory filing in April, Page holds 26.1 percent of the Google shareholder vote, while Brin holds 25.2 percent —both thanks to so-called “super voting’’ shares. According to Forbes magazine, Page has a net worth of $52.4 billion and Brin $56.8 billion. Google’s longest serving CEO is still Eric Schmidt, the former executive brought into the role in 2001 as a socalled “adult supervisor“ for Brin and Page. Schmidt stepped into the position as the company’s board worried about
the relative inexperience of Brin and Page to manage the growing company. He remained CEO until 2011, when Page once again became chief executive. Schmidt stayed on the board until this year.
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asianweekly northwest
DECEMBER 14 – DECEMBER 20, 2019
ISRD ELECTION from 1 The election was held on Nov. 19 with 160 ballots cast. Voters decided who will fill three positions and the results were Russ Williams, Position #1 for a Business owner, Property owner or Employee; Matt Chan, Position #2 for Resident, Tenant or Community Participant; and M. Faye Hong, Position #4 for Resident, Tenant or Community Participant. On Nov. 26, Seattle DON director Andrés Mantilla received InterIm’s challenge of the election results within the seven-day challenge period following the election, as allowed in the ISRD Board Election Procedures. Hong called the move “bullshit.” He called InterIm “poor losers” and said their challenge is politically motivated. “They want to get their own people elected and they lost. Now they’re just looking for a reason to challenge it.” Hong added that his challenger, Henry Liu, is an InterIm employee. InterIm also had another employee and candidate, Lizzy Baskerville, who was defeated by Matt Chan. InterIm has a project—Uncle Bob’s Place —that is currently under review by the ISRD board. Derek Lum, the policy analyst for InterIm, wrote the challenge letter. “Zhu Hua Huang, Pei Lan Wu, Hui Lan Huang, Cui Ping Zhong have all spoken to us (InterIm) about how Beth Ku and others associated with the family associations told them which candidates to vote for in both the ISRD voting room and the hallway outside.” Lum continued, “Eliza Guan has stated that she had elders share with her that they were told who to vote for. She tried to tell the elders that they had other options, however volunteers told the elders to ignore her and continued advocating for the volunteers’ chosen candidates. Video evidence taken by city staff show that Beth Ku was present and talking to seniors, and an account by Michael Itti also show that she was in the room talking to seniors in Chinese.” The ISRD Election Procedures state that “there shall be no campaigning or distribution of endorsement materials within 30 feet of the building housing the polling station.” Additionally, translators for the ISRD
elections are “allowed to assist with voter registration or the marking of ballots, but not influence the choices of voters.” Chiang Hwa Liu, 80, was one of the seniors who voted on Nov. 26. “When I went there to vote, Ms. Ku was there. She didn’t say anything inappropriate. I didn’t hear her say anything other than telling the elderly to line up properly, and not push the other voters. She was trying to keep order.” Ku confirmed to the Northwest Asian Weekly that she was only trying to help seniors, including those 90 years or older, and those who couldn’t stand for long periods of time, move to the front of the line. She also helped with voter registration, at the request of ISRD coordinator Rebecca Frestedt who had asked for her help two months prior. Ku told the Northwest Asian Weekly that Anna Tang, a translator from DON, was seated just a couple feet away from her. Tang speaks Chinese and Vietnamese. “She could hear me and if I had said anything inappropriate, she would have stopped me.” Ku added, “Rebecca (Frestedt) who is in charge of the voting... whenever there is any issue, she will stop it right away. I don’t think a city officer will let anyone do anything inappropriate in the room.” “No one (including Ku) was asked to leave,” asserted Hong. Qiu Feng Peng, 88, said she did not see Ku when she arrived to vote. She stated that some seniors really needed help because they cannot read English or Chinese, and needed someone to explain the ballot to them. Volunteers for InterIm handed out fliers to voters on the day of the ISRD election, though it is not clear if they did so within 30 feet of the building housing the polling station. The flier included an ISRD candidate scorecard, which contained “important information on where the candidates stand on issues.” Those issues were equitable development, support small business, preserving and upholding Asian heritage and culture, and fair hotels and fair apartments for our community. Lois Mag of the Seattle DON told the Northwest Asian Weekly, “Given the complexity and seriousness of the
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37 YEARS challenge, DON will be consulting with community members, staff, and City Attorney’s Office... to discuss next steps in response to the challenge.” In its letter, InterIm said the city should “null this election and hold a new election because that is what is right for our community to make an informed vote on this issue. The will of many voters was unfairly compromised because of the actions of a few people, namely Beth Ku and others.” Matt Chan, whose election to the ISRD board is now being challenged, told the Northwest Asian Weekly, “Although I am disappointed I cannot begin the important work of the ISRD board, I also believe that everyone who participated in the election process needs to believe that the results were fair and equitable.” Chan said the community needs to have full confidence in the process of how the board members were elected. Hong said that the ISRD board should suspend all meetings and decisions until this matter is resolved, but it appears that his plea has fallen on deaf ears. The ISRD board met on Dec. 10 with only three board members (out of the normal seven) seated. Among the items on the agenda was InterIm’s Uncle Bob’s Place project. Ruth can be reached at editor@nwasianweekly.com.
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