"Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month: Community Conversations" with Welcoming Pittsburgh and Governor Wolf's Advisory Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs, May 4.

Welcoming Pittsburgh and Governor Wolf's Advisory Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs will host "Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month: Community Conversations" online on May 4.

Join the Inclusive Innovation team, Governor Wolf's Advisory Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs, the Office of Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, and guest speakers for an #AAPI community conversation titled: "Addressing Hate, Discrimination, and Mental Health." Learn about unique challenges faced by the #AAPI community during the COVID-19 pandemic and how all Pittsburghers can be a part of the solution in combating hate.

The event will be live-streamed in this Facebook Event Page and on the Welcoming Pittsburgh Facebook Page.

Agenda:
6:30 p.m. - 6:35 p.m. - Welcome and Introduction of Event: Marian Lien and Wasi Mohamed (Advisory Commission)
6:35 pm. - 7:00 p.m. - Know Your Rights: Rich Ting (Asian Pacific Bar Association of Pennsylvania), Cindy Chung (Attorney), and the Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations
7:00 p.m. - 7:20 p.m. - Mental Health: Dr. Mengchun Chiang
7:20 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. - Community Sharing/Q&As (participants can share questions for the speakers via Facebook Comment)

This week is the first session of a four-part May series for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2020:
Week 1: Addressing Hate, Discrimination, and Mental Health
Week 2: Community Leader Discussion
Week 3: Small Business Resources
Week 4: Youth Empowerment

Please follow Welcoming Pittsburgh and stay tuned for further updates!

"Bystander Intervention Training to Stop Anti-Asian/American and Xenophobic Harassment" online sessions, from May 2.

Hollaback will host online "Bystander Intervention Training to Stop Anti-Asian/American and Xenophobic Harassment" sessions from May 2.

In response to the rise in Anti-Asian/American and xenophobic harassment, we at Hollaback! partnered with Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC to adapt our free bystander intervention training to meet this moment.

Unfortunately, anti-Asian and Asian American racism and xenophobia is not a new phenomenon. It has been part of American history for a long time, and we have seen it manifested against different Asian/American and Pacific Islander communities in many ways over the years. As the coronavirus pandemic escalates, we have seen more harassment, discrimination, and even violence directed at these communities. The Asian Americans Advancing Justice affiliation has been documenting hate crimes and hate incidents since 2017 at www.StandAgainstHatred.org, which is available in English, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese.

Online "How To Tai Chi" with Asian Studies Center at Pitt, Fridays in May.

The Asian Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh will host free online "How To Tai Chi" lessons Fridays in May, starting May 1. Those interested in the Zoom sessions can register here.

Community College of Allegheny County hiring adjunct Chinese instructor.

The Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) is hiring an adjunct instructor of Chinese.

General Summary: The primary responsibilities of the faculty are to teach and to develop the curriculum. To meet these responsibilities, faculty must remain knowledgeable about advances in their disciplines, in learning theory, and in pedagogy. Faculty portfolios will include contributions and program development and show evidence of ongoing professional development.

Oakland's Tong's Cuisine permanently closes.

Via Google Maps.

On April 27, Oakland's Tong's Cuisine announced that it has permanently closed.



Tong's opened in 2011 at 228 Semple St. (map).

Volunteers needed for census phone bank.

Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) Pittsburgh is recruiting volunteers for a census phone bank aimed at local API and Latinx communities.

APALA Pittsburgh and Casa San José are organizing for fair and just representation of the Latinx and API communities in the 2020 Census. We are hoping to make 300 calls by close-of-business this Thursday. If you're able to help, even with an hour of your time, we would really appreciate it. Can you help us?

Those interested and available should contact Kim Dinh at kimmytdinh@gmail.com.

Big plans for Pusadee's Garden.

Work has temporarily halted at the new space for Pusadee's Garden in Lawrenceville, though when it reopens the restaurant will nearly double in size. The popular Thai restaurant closed in 2017 for renovations, though signage is up at 5317 Butler St. and the original storefront at 5321, with an expanded outdoor dining area spanning the gap. NextPittsburgh wrote last month:

If you’ve taken a stroll through Lawrenceville lately, you’ve probably seen the sign and started salivating. Pusadee’s Garden is reopening this spring after sprucing up 5321 Butler St. The restaurant, known for its traditional Thai dishes — mmm, can’t you just taste the crab fried rice? — is also a feast for the eyes. Its patio is one of the prettiest in Pittsburgh.

It was named "Best Outdoor Dining" by the Pittsburgh City-Paper in 2017.

Pitt's first Chinese graduates.

Two of the first three petroleum engineering graduates in the United States were Chinese, and they were the first two Chinese students to graduate from the University of Pittsburgh back in 1915. As noted in a post on this topic last year, the Pitt Weekly profiled the four men who were en route to earn this degree:

PITT CHINESE TO BE PETROLEUM KINGS

Melican Chinese laundries and Chinese chop suey restaurants are common objects in our city life, and on most any corner we see the familiar sign 'Wa Lee Yee, Laundry" but did you ever stop to think that we will be soon buying our oil and gasoline from real Chinese pretroleum [sic] engineers?

Pitt has taken the lead in producing Chinese Knights of the oil can, and will, unless the unexpected happens, graduate two sons of the oriental country with the degree of petroleum engineer in June. This will be the first time for any university in the United States to offer the degree, so the men taking it will have a notable distinction.

The students who expect to take the degree of petroleum engineer are F.A. Johnson, Ben Avon, Pa; George W. Myers, Pittsburgh; Barin Ye Long, Changtu, China, and Chun Young Chan, Canton, China.

New restoration of 1991 movie Thousand Pieces of Gold playing online as part of Harris Theater's online programming, April 24 - May 8.

The 1991 movie Thousand Pieces of Gold, set in the 1880s and about a Chinese woman sold into servitude in the American West, will stream from April 24 through May 8 as part of the Harris Theater @ Home's online programming. Part of the proceeds from tickets will benefit the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.

Set in the 1880s, this film chronicles the journey of Lalu (Rosalind Chao), a Chinese woman whose financially desperate family sells her as a bride. She is sent to the United States, where she is bought by sleazy barkeep Hong King (Michael Paul Chan), who plans to make money off of Lalu by forcing her into a life of prostitution. Unwilling to submit to his demands, she begins her own successful business venture and captures the attention of the troubled but kindly Charlie (Chris Cooper).

Tickets are available online.

Profile on Japanese-American Pirates prospect Daniel Ross.

Millersville University's The Snapper profiles pitcher Daniel Ross, a senior for the Marauders and a 39th-round draft choice of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2019.

Ross was excited to be here in Pennsylvania around his family, but it was also important that coach Jon Shehan sold him on the program. The toughest adjustment, however, was that he was from Japan and there were some major language barriers.

“There was a lot of language barriers and cultural barriers that didn’t click in immediately, but the language barrier kept me away from knowing people more and it was harder to understand people more,” Ross said.

Ross was concerned that the fact that he was still learning English might be a challenge or make it harder to get along with his teammates. But his language barrier wasn’t just holding him back off the field, it created on the field challenges as well. There are things about baseball that are universal, but Ross says in Japan players think differently.

“It’s a little bit different like how people think, baseball was a little differently. I don’t have any quick examples, but everything didn’t make sense or click for me right away,” Ross says.