By Yvonne Lim Wilson At age 15, Maya said she had been having an ongoing identity crisis within the past few years. She was tired of having to explain who she was given her mixed background. Her mother is Jewish and her father’s family is originally from Northern India, but he was raised in Malaysia.…
By Yvonne Lim Wilson Local writer and liscensed professional counselor Irwin Tang drew from his own experiences to create “Cheese,” his new play about the generational conflicts within one Chinese American family. The play is based on a short story he wrote of the same name and makes its debut this weekend in a production…
By Yvonne Lim Wilson There’s a dramatic story behind the creation of the Center for Asian American Studies at UT Austin. In the Spring of 1999 ten students were arrested during a protest regarding the future director for the Center for Asian American Studies. The arrests were not the beginning or the end of the…
By Yvonne Lim Wilson Mark Singh,* 12, had been dealing with name calling at school: “Buddha,” “Ghandi,” and had been told “go back to Al Qaeda.” After one particularly bad harassment after school, his mother Amala* reported it to school authorities. The assistant principal asked Mark to stay after school to identify the harassers. Every…
With Asian Americans as the fastest growing ethnic minority in Austin and the nation (making up about 6.3 percent of the Austin population), it shouldn’t be so surprising to have multiple Asian Americans campaigning, but this is a major moment for Austin. It is with particular pride and excitement that we have four Asian American…
By Yvonne Lim Wilson Arthur Dong is a veteran filmmaker producing, writing, directing and editing independent social issue documentaries for more than 30 years. His latest film, “The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor,” is based on the autobiography of Dr. Haing S. Ngor, a survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia who…
By Yvonne Lim Wilson Listening to the music of AnDa Union, one can vividly picture life on the Mongolian grasslands, horses galloping, ancient sorrows and everyday joys. The sound is like nothing else, evoking the energy of Native American music, the operatic vocals of Chinese music, even strains of American country music, yet the sound…
By Yvonne Lim Wilson Long-time community activist and attorney Todd Wong recently announced his decision to run for Travis County Court at Law #1 Judge. He is a third-generation American; his grandparents emigrated from China in the early 1900’s and opened grocery stores in San Antonio. His wife Paula operates Paula Wong Piano Academy; their daughter Brennan is…
By Yvonne Lim Wilson Jim Yatsu has been actively involved in the Asian American community and broader Austin community through his work with the Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce, Keep Austin Beautiful, Tokyo Electron and the Japanese American community. As the Director of International Supplier Relations at Tokyo Electron America, Inc., Mr. Yatsu is…
By Yvonne Lim Wilson Jade Chang Sheppard came to America as a two-year-old girl whose Taiwanese parents sought a better life for their family and a shot at the American Dream. Her parents didn’t have much, but they pursued higher education, worked their way into the middle class, bought a home and saved enough to…
By Yvonne Lim Wilson Irwin Tang was born and raised in College Station, Texas, the son of Chinese immigrants employed by Texas A&M University. He has seen the great arc of Americans rising out of the shacks (literal shacks in College Station) that segregation had put them in, and the explosion of Asian Americans onto the Texas landscape. He is the co-author of “Asian…
By Yvonne Lim Wilson May, as Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, is a time to celebrate and recognize the contributions of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. What better way to celebrate than to profile Esther Chung, Community Archivist for the Asian American community at the Austin History Center. Since 2007, Esther…
