"What do you mean you don't vote? How can you not vote?" - NAM EthnoBlog

We came up over the rise as the highway curved and my breath caught in my throat. The Washington Monument. The Jefferson Memorial. So beautiful and serene in the morning mist.

My uncle was driving me into Washington DC for the day, and I suddenly realized that I have not been here since I was a child. I quickly flashed through my memory of our family photo albums and I recalled that photo of me and my cousins and aunties standing on the steps of the National Zoo after seeing the pandas. My brother was in a stroller, so I must have been nine, at most ten. “I don’t think I’ve been here since that last family reunion in 19-when-was-it?” Could it be? My uncle and I flipped through our collective memories of family reunions past. We recalled another family reunion for my grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary, but that was in suburban Maryland, so we never went into the city.

But Washington always seems so present; like the cousin you never see but whose mom constantly keeps you up-to-date.

click on link for whole article: "What do you mean you don't vote? How can you not vote?" - NAM EthnoBlog

"We're a Culture not a Costume" campaign by Ohio University's Students Teaching Against Racism in Society (STARS)

Remember last year's great "We're a Culture not a Costume" poster campaign by Ohio University's Students Teaching Against Racism in Society (STARS)? They're back! This year's message: "You wear the costume for one night. I wear the stigma for life." Six powerful new posters. http://www.ohio.edu/orgs/stars/Poster_Campaign.html

Poster Campaign

Chicago is the World » “What do you mean you don’t vote? How can you not vote?”

idealistic musings, washington adventure stories, shoutouts to get out the vote folks:

We came up over the rise as the highway curved and my breath caught in my throat. The Washington Monument. The Jefferson Memorial. So beautiful and serene in the morning mist.

My uncle was driving me into Washington DC for the day, and I suddenly realized that I have not been here since I was a child. I quickly flashed through my memory of our family photo albums and I recalled that photo of me and my cousins and aunties standing on the steps of the National Zoo after seeing the pandas. My brother was in a stroller, so I must have been nine, at most ten. “I don’t think I’ve been here since that last family reunion in 19-when-was-it?” Could it be? My uncle and I flipped through our collective memories of family reunions past. We recalled another family reunion for my grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary, but that was in suburban Maryland, so we never went into the city.

But Washington always seems so present; like the cousin you never see but whose mom constantly keeps you up-to-date.

click link for whole article: Chicago is the World » “What do you mean you don’t vote? How can you not vote?”

Events - Asian & Pacific Islander American Vote - Michigan

APIAVote-Michigan event today: A Community on the Rise: Asian Pacific Islander Americans in Metro Detroit Today Friday October 12 2:30-5:00 pm. Keith Center for Civil Rights, Wayne State Law School

Events - Asian & Pacific Islander American Vote - Michigan

On Pvt. Danny Chen on Huff Post Live

thanks to the inimitable Jen Wang, I was able to take part in a panel discussion on HuffPost Live today (between cello/piano lessons and crew practice) on the Pvt. Danny Chen case with OCA-NY's Liz Ouyang and teen blogger @ErrieWirriams (both of whom are really great here). http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/504fdccc78c90a6f4000029b