Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's "Stretched Thin" profile on Everyday Noodles and the challenging quest of finding, and training, qualified noodle-pullers.

Melissa McCart of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a profile on Mike Chen and Everyday Noodles, and the challenges that US immigration policy has posed to finding and keeping qualified noodle-pullers.

With luck comes challenge. In the case of Everyday Noodles, Mr. Chen’s challenge has been finding Taiwanese staff who know how to hand-pull noodles and assemble soup dumplings, skills that typically take years to master.

Hiring international workers with H-1B visas solved Mr. Chen’s problem at first. He now has new problems that are affecting his ability to hire cooks. The Trump administration overhauled immigration policies, tightening eligibility. The changes are being carried out by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

In April, USCIS announced it reached the congressionally mandated 85,000 H-1B visa cap for fiscal year 2019, according to the agency website. The cap was met within five days — with over 190,000 applications received, less than past years, according to USCIS — which activated a lottery system. Specialized restaurant work generally no longer qualifies for an H-1B visa.

Mr. Chen’s experiences are an example of how these policies are affecting the Pittsburgh area: They are shrinking already small immigrant communities and stagnating the labor pool.

Pitt still hiring Assistant Instructor of Korean for Fall 2019 start.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures has reposted for a second time its advertisement for an Assistant Instructor of Korean position that begins in Fall 2019.

The Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures at the University of Pittsburgh (http://www.deall.pitt.edu) invites applications for an Assistant Instructor position in Korea studies, pending budgetary approval, beginning September 1, 2019. The position is non-tenure stream with the possibility of renewal for a multi-year contract. The successful candidate is expected to contribute significantly to the Korean language program and teach language courses on all levels. The successful candidate should hold an MA in teaching Korean as a foreign language or in an allied field, possess native or near-native competence in all skill areas of Korean and English, and have at least one year of teaching experience at a North American institution of higher education.

The new hire should be prepared to teach classes for both undergraduate and graduate students. Instruction to graduate students may involve PhD and MA students whose focus may be on literature, history, art history, religion, anthropology, etc. Preference will be given to candidates who possess linguistic knowledge of the Korean language, and who demonstrate familiarity with theories in second language acquisition and current practices in Korean pedagogy in North American higher education settings. Any expertise in non-language areas such as film, popular culture, literature, etc. will be a plus. Duties include teaching both recitations and lectures of language courses as well as working closely with the language coordinator to contribute to the overall effectiveness of the Korean language program. The appointee should expect to collaborate with Asianists in other units (e. g., the Asian Studies Center) to promote Korea studies.

The new application deadline is December 10; additional application details and requirements are available on the job posting.

"The Art of Noh: Woodblock Prints by Tsukioka Kōgyo," through December 15 at Pitt's Hillman Library.

The University of Pittsburgh's University Library System will host an exhibit of woodblock prints by Tsukioka Kōgyo through December 15.

Noh, a theater form that originated in the fourteenth century, was associated historically with the ruling warrior class, who made up about 5% of Japan’s pre-modern population in the late feudal period between 1600 and 1868. Kōgyo’s paintings and prints are more than reproductions of what he saw and sketched in the noh theater. He tried to capture what he saw as the essence of a play, which led him to make additions, subtractions, and various other changes to the actual performance in his prints. He even went so far as to put his ideas of the real-life facial expressions of the characters he depicted on the masks the actors in his prints wore. And he added to his prints scenes and texts from the stories of the play that were not portrayed in the play on stage. In one print he showed the play’s primary character performing under water, even though he obviously did not do so on stage. Kōgyo was not a camera; he was an artist.

The exhibit is located on the ground floor of Hillman Library (map) and is open to the public during the library's hours.

"Instead of Disaster: Cinema After '311'" at Pitt, November 30.

The University of Pittsburgh's Film and Media Studies Program will host Akira Mizuta Lippit and his talk "Instead of Disaster: Cinema After '311'" on November 30.

Akira Mizuta Lippit is Vice Dean of Faculty in the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, and the T.C. Wang Family Endowed Chair in Cinematic Arts in the Division of Cinema and Media Studies. He is also Professor of Comparative Literature and East Asian Languages and Cultures in the USC Dornsife College. His interests are in world cinemas, critical theory, Japanese film and culture, experimental film and video, and visual studies.

Lippit’s published work reflects these areas and includes four books, Ex-Cinema: From a Theory of Experimental Film and Video (2012); Atomic Light (Shadow Optics)(2005); Electric Animal: Toward a Rhetoric of Wildlife (2000); and his most recent book, Cinema without Reflection: Jacques Derrida's Echopoiesis and Narcissism Adrift (2016). At present, Lippit is completing a book on contemporary Japanese cinema, which explores the physical and metaphysical dimensions of the "world," and another on David Lynch’s baroque alphabetics.

The talk will start at 3:00 pm in 501 Cathedral of Learning (map) and is free and open to the public.

"Taste Makers: Chinese Restaurants and the Asian American identity," November 26 at City of Asylum.

via Saveur.

The City of Asylum will host a conversation on Chinese restaurants and the Asian American identity on November 26.

How is the growth of the Chinese community shaping Pittsburgh? Why has the Asian community grown so quickly among Pittsburgh’s universities, and what opportunities come with this growth? And how do the Trump Administration’s changes in immigration policies affect local businesses such as restaurants?

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter Melissa McCart follows up her Pulitzer Center research with a panel exploring how those originally from Taiwan and China are contributing to the changing dynamic of Pittsburgh.

On Nov. 26 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at City of Asylum, please join restaurateur Mike Chen of Everyday Noodles in Squirrel Hill; community crusader Marian Lien, executive director of the Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition and commissioner on the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Asian and Pacific American Affairs in Pennsylvania; and Chris Briem, a University of Pittsburgh regional economist and analyst of population trends for a discussion.

There will be beer, wine and Chinese snacks.

The event is free and open to the public but RSVP is required. The City of Asylum's Alphabet City is located at 40 N. West Ave. on the North Side (map).

"Storytime: Japanese and English" at Carnegie Library in East Liberty, November 20.

The next installment of the monthly program "Storytime: Japanese and English" will take place on September 18 at the Carnegie Library in East Liberty.

Celebrate our city’s diverse culture as we explore new words through songs, action rhymes and stories in both English and Japanese for children and their parents or caregivers. For children age birth – 5 and their caregivers.

It runs from 11:00 to 11:30 am. The library is located at 130 S. Whitfield St. (map).

Thai Hana in Oakland closes, to rebrand as Hanami.

Thai Hana, which opened in Oakland in 2013 and has been one of the Allegheny County restaurants most cited for health violations, has recently closed and will rebrand as Hanami. It will be located at 3608 Fifth Ave. (map). The handwritten sign says the new place will offer sushi, pho, and Asian cuisine.

Thai Hana had 352 inspection violations, the seventh-most in Allegheny County since 2012 in spite of only opening in mid-2013.

Taiwanese catcher Jin-de Jhang (張進德) leaves Pirates organization.

via LineToday.

Taiwanese catcher Jin-de Jhang (張進德) has left the Pittsburgh Pirates organization via free agency, choosing to sign with the San Francisco Giants. Jhang signed with Pittsburgh in 2011 and made it as far as AAA Indianapolis, but was stuck behind several other players on the organization's depth chart. In 2013 the Post-Gazette wrote he was part of a "scouting revolution" for the Pirates.

1934 Chinese silent film The Goddess (神女) at Pitt, November 15.

The University of Pittsburgh's Film and Media Studies Program will present the 1934 Chinese silent film The Goddess (神女) on November 15.

The November Pittsburgh Film and Media Colloquium will feature a screening of the Chinese silent film The Goddess (directed by Wu Yonggang, 1934). Released by the Lianhua Film Company (United Photoplay), the film stars Ruan Lingyu in one of her final roles. This will be a special presentation featuring pipa artist and composer Min Xiao-Fen and guitarist Rez Abbasi, two New York-based artists who have created a score to accompany the screening of the film. The film will be introduced by Kun Qian, Associate Professor of Chinese Literature and Film.

The movie starts at 6:00 pm in the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium (map).

CantoMando at Pitt, November 10.

The University of Pittsburgh's Chinese American Student Association will host CandoMando on Novmeber 10.

Pitt CASA is proud to bring CantoMando to the University of Pittsburgh! CantoMando is a group of Chinese Americans who make comedic and relatable videos regarding the Chinese American experience. They have over amassed over 50 thousand subscribers on YouTube, and they're coming to speak at Pitt soon!

It runs from 7:00 to 9:00 pm in the William Pitt Union Lower Lounge (map).