"Advocating for the Asian and Asian American and Pacific Islander Communities at Pitt," July 29.

From a March 2021 Stop Asian Hate rally in Oakland (via Pittsburgh City-Paper)

The University of Pittsburgh will present a conversation on "Advocating for the Asian and Asian American and Pacific Islander Communities at Pitt" on July 29, part of the 2021 Diversity Forum.

This workshop is intended to help advocates at the University of Pittsburgh understand the specific issues facing the AAPI and Asian communities in Pittsburgh and the country. It consists of a presentation followed by discussion and then a question/answer session. The primary speaker is Sunny Yang (Attorney, an officer and former board member of Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Pennsylvania and a member and former Chair of the Asian Attorneys Committee of the Allegheny County Bar Association), who will be joined by Seung-Hwan Shin (Lecturer in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures) and Paris Yamamoto (Pitt undergraduate and former president of the campus Japanese Students Association).

Simon Tam among featured speakers at "Spitting Fire: An Evening with Friends," July 27 (online) at Pitt.

Simon Tam is among the featured speakers at "Spitting Fire: An Evening with Friends" on July 27, part of the online 2021 Diversity Forum at the University of Pittsburgh.

Join your fellow Forum attendees and a lineup of artists from Pittsburgh and beyond for a celebration of creativity as a source of joy, resistance, and community. The evening kicks off with remarks by Simon Tam of The Slants and includes performances by musicians INEZ and Brittney Chantele, poets Dawn Lundy Martin and Jubi Arriola-Headley, multidisciplinary artist Bria Walker, and writer Hannah Eko. Creativity is for everyone, so the evening will also feature an open mic session where you can share your creative spark through spoken word, music, or performance.

. . .

Simon Tam is best known as the founder and bassist of The Slants, the world’s first and only all-Asian American dance rock band. He helped expand civil liberties for minorities by winning a unanimous victory at the Supreme Court of the United States for a landmark case, Matal v. Tam, in 2017. He also leads The Slants Foundation, a nonprofit that supports arts and activism projects for underrepresented communities.

The event starts at 7:00 pm; it's free and open to the public, but registration is required.

Tickets now available for Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro in Pittsburgh-area theaters, October through December.

Four Japanese animated films will be back in Pittsburgh-area theaters from October through December as part of GHIBLI Fest 2021, an annual showcase of Studio Ghibli movies. 

• Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し) - October 3 and 6 (dubbed in English), October 4 (English subtitles) 
• Howl's Moving Castle (ハウルの動く城) - October 24 and 28 (dubbed), October 25 (subtitles)
• Castle in the Sky (天空の城ラピュタ) - November 14 and 18 (dubbed), November 15 (subtitled)
• My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ) - December 5 and 9 (dubbed), December 8 (subtitled)

The movies will play locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront and the Cinemark theaters in Monroeville, North Hills, and Robinson.

Chengdu Gourmet offers 10% discount when ordering takeout or delivery through its website.

Chengdu Gourmet (老四川), routinely ranked among the best restaurants in Pittsburgh, has recently begun offering a 10% discount to those who order takeout or delivery through its new website, chengdupa15217.com. It's a way to address the numerous third-party websites not vetted by restaurants that offer online ordering options while charging hefty fees and lacking customer service or quality control.

Chengdu Gourmet opened in 2014 and is located at 5840 Forward Ave. in Squirrel Hill (map).

2019 Makoto Shinkai film Weathering With You (天気の子) in Pittsburgh, July 25 and 27.

The 2019 Makoto Shinkai film Weathering With You (天気の子) will play in Pittsburgh on July 25 and 27. From the distributor:

GKIDS and Fathom Events proudly bring back the critically acclaimed film from director Makoto Shinkai and producer Genki Kawamura, the creative team behind the critically-acclaimed, global smash hit Your Name.

The summer of his high school freshman year, Hodaka runs away from his remote island home to Tokyo, and quickly finds himself pushed to his financial and personal limits. The weather is unusually gloomy and rainy every day, as if to suggest his future. He lives his days in isolation, but finally finds work as a writer for a mysterious occult magazine. Then one day, Hodaka meets Hina on a busy street corner. This bright and strong-willed girl possesses a strange and wonderful ability: the power to stop the rain and clear the sky…

It will play locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront and the Cinemarks in McCandless, Monroeville, and Robinson. Tickets are available online; the screening on the 25th is dubbed in English and the screening on the 27th is in Japanese with English subtitles.

Russell Jeung, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, among panelists in "Bitter Fruit: The Poison of America’s Racism" at 2021 Pitt Diversity Forum, July 28.

Dr. Russell Jeung, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, is among the featured speakers at the University of Pittsburgh's 2021 Diversity Forum. Dr. Jeung is a professor in the Asian American Studies Department, San Francisco State University, and Stop AAPI Hate is summarized:

In response to the alarming escalation in xenophobia and bigotry resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council (A3PCON), Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), and the Asian American Studies Department of San Francisco State University launched the Stop AAPI Hate coalition on March 19, 2020. The coalition tracks and responds to incidents of hate, violence, harassment, discrimination, shunning, and child bullying against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States.

He will be a panelist for "Bitter Fruit: The Poison of America’s Racism" on July 28:

Dr. Keisha N. Blain will be joined by paenelists for a broad conversation on American racism and how it has shaped the experiences of various groups, including Asian Americans, Black Americans, and the Latinx community. The panel will explore historical and contemporary issues while considering how racism has been embedded in American politics, journalism, education, culture, and other aspects of society. This overview will include discussion of the Covid-19 pandemic, the uprisings during the last year, the January 6th insurrection, and the escalating wave of anti-Asian violence throughout the United States.

This panel runs from 9:00 to 10:30 am on the 28th and is free and open to the public, though advance registration is required. It, and other featured sessions, will also be streamed live on Pitt Diversity's YouTube channel.

October's Screenshot Asia gets 2021 Pitt Seed Grant funding.

"Screenshot Asia: Connecting Pittsburgh to 21st Century Film and Media" is one of 20 projects to receive 2021 Pitt Seed Grant Funding, the University of Pittsburgh announced today. Screenshot Asia is an annual Asian film festival that is scheduled for October, after having its first year cancelled due to COVID-19 in 2020.

The Screenshot: Asia Film Festival, starting October 2021, brings together students, faculty and community members around our interest in Asia as a rapidly developing and essential part of the 21st century global economy and our region’s shared love for contemporary film and media arts. The weeklong event will showcase films from northern Asia to the Middle East. Our themes, Global Asia (2021) and Inter/Media (2022), give us the flexibility to engage with local ethnic communities, Asian and Asian-American student interests, film lovers and the broader public eager to learn more about Asia while celebrating artistry, diversity and humanity through cinema.

It is scheduled to run October 6 - 10; the film line-up and other details will be announced later.

"Food as Expression" workshop for high school students with Soju founder/owner, July 27 at Mattress Factory.

The Mattress Factory - Museum of Contemporary Art will host Simon Chough, owner and founder of the Garfield Korean restaurant Soju, on July 27 for a "Food as Expression" workshop for teenagers.

Are you a fan of food (I mean who isn’t)? But have you thought about how food can be creative and expressive? Founder and owner of the acclaimed restaurant SOJU Simon Chough will join us for this workshop to share about that creative expression in his own culinary practice, and we will make (and enjoy) some delicious food together!

This event is one of a six-part Teen Summer Workshop Series. "Food as Expression" runs from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm at the Mattress Factory on the Northside (map); it is free but online registration is required.

Yayoi Kusama in situ: A screening of KUSAMA: INFINITY, July 22 at Mattress Factory.

The Mattress Factory - Museum of Contemporary Art will host "Yayoi Kusama in situ: A screening of KUSAMA: INFINITY" on July 22.

This event will celebrate world renown artist Yayoi Kasuma with a screening of the biographical documentary Kusama: Infinity and educator-led tours of Kusama’s permanent installation at the Mattress Factory. Ticket price includes light refreshments, drink ticket, and entry to other exhibits in the main building.

The event runs from 6:30 to 8:30 pm and tickets are available online. The Mattress Factory is a contemporary art museum that features two permanent exhibitions from Kusama, located at 500 Sampsonia Way on the Northside (map).

Fundraiser continues for Pittsburgh Chinatown marker.

The online fundraising continues for a plaque to mark the site of Pittsburgh's Chinatown, which was granted state historical landmark status earlier this year. The Organization of Chinese Americans has raised $3,402 of the desired $7,000 so far: $5,000 will go toward the plaque itself with $2,000 going toward a celebration planned for the fall.