By Catalina Calachan WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rosemary Tran Lauer exemplifies the tenacity and courage that permeate the immigrant community. Born and raised in Vietnam, she journeyed to America in the midst of the Vietnam War. Her transition was not easy, as she came to the United States with two young children and no one to help her look after …

By Andrew Ho and Virginia Cheung As the holiday season approaches, what is your priority on charitable giving this year? Though imaginations run wild when we think of gifts to give to ourselves, charitable giving is lucky to have a fraction of our creativity. A modest donation to our alma mater, the local community group or a religious center is …

By Vanessa Wang Winning 69.9% of votes in the midterm election on November 4, Democrat Susan C. Lee is the first Asian American to win the Maryland State Senate. Lee received a total of 25,975 votes, defeating her rival, Meyer Marks. Susan Lee was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 2002 to represent District 16 (Montgomery County) and …

By Jewel Edwards Phase 1 of the much anticipated Silver Line on the D.C. metro system is on schedule to be completed in Sept. 2013. Construction began on the Silver Line in March 2009. The first phase of the 23-mile extension of the existing Metrorail system will extend from East Falls Church to Wiehle Ave. in Reston, Va. and will …

by: Mary Tablante 1.Fighting Hunger LOS ANGELES—Five Indian American freshmen at UCLA are competing for $1 million in seed funding for a student project with the goal of solving the global food crisis. The students, Aditya Aggarwal, Anushka Bhatia, Varadh Jain, Sajal Khanter and Sagar Patel, are developing an idea to purchase grain in bulk in India, package them into …

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. It is a time for the celebration of our history and culture. Likewise, it is a time for reflection. We look back at what we have accomplished as a minority group. We take pride in our major and varied contributions to this country we now call home. Of this we can say with …

By Jennie L. Ilustre Photos: Jennie L. Ilustre The day after ANA received the 2013 “Airline of the Year” award, it launched its enhanced cabin service and products in its Washington, DC-Narita route starting March 31, operated with the Boeing 777-300ER. Mock-up displays featuring seats that turn into a bed, wide aisle space and bigger TV screens, including meal displays, …

By Devika Koppikar Before her current vocation as a disciple of the Brahma Kumaris, http://www.bkwsu.org, Sister Jenna (Jenna Mahraj), a McLean resident, owned two nightclubs in Miami. However, a series of visions led her to Mount Abu, in Rajasthan, the Brahman Kumaris headquarters. Brahman Kumaris is an international movement that facilitates spiritual knowledge. “In India, I had a profound experience …

By Kathy Ko Chin   It’s been three years since the passage of the Affordable Care Act. The Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, is the historic health reform bill signed by President Obama March 23, 2010. On this third anniversary, there is much to celebrate: better access to key preventive services, the end of many discriminatory practices by …

By The Car Chick Less Money, Same Thrills: 2013 LEXUS GS350 SEDAN I liked the GS 450h Sedan from Lexus (see January, 2013 Asian Fortune). And I like its slightly downscale cousin even better. Maybe it’s all those asteroids buzzing by the earth that is turning things cosmically upside down, but when’s the last time a cheaper version of a …

By Lieutenant Janelle Kuroda, JAG Corps, U.S. Navy WASHINGTON—President Obama awarded World War II veteran Terry T. Shima the 2012 Presidential Citizens Medal, the nation’s second-highest civilian award, at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on Feb. 15, 2013. Shima was one of 18 recipients of the medal, hand-selected by the President from over 6,000 candidates …

Anhui Huangmei Opera Troupe of Anhui, China visited the Washington area in the middle of the Chinese Lunar New Year. DC’s Anhui Friendship Association and Anhui Association jointly hosted a dinner to welcome the troupe and were treated with a very special Huangmei Opera show at the New Fortune restaurant on Feb. 12.

The Lunar New Year celebration at Lakeforest Mall was underway in a swirl of color and high energy, an annual tradition celebrating old world values in the new world. Organized by the Chinese Culture and Community Service Center (CCACC), the 2013 festivities ushering in 4711, the Chinese “Year of the Snake,” attracted happy crowds. The celebration included crafts workshops, cultural …

After finishing up a regular Chinese language class on Sunday, February 10, Hope Chinese School College Park staged its annual Spring Festival Gala in a multi-level, tiered classroom at the University of Maryland in College Park. Principal Qun Gao gathered all the kids into the room, transformed from a lecture hall to a lantern-filled, Chinese-themed theatre. Several hundred people, including …

Photos by Gino Wang.

By Janelle Wong The hallmark of the Asian American community is diversity. We are made up of people who hail from distinct nations and places, we encompass many religious traditions, we speak a plethora of languages, and we represent a vast array of cultural practices and migration histories. Given these and many other distinctions that cross-cut our community, what binds …

By Amanda Andrei Azizah Amhad, host of the 2013 Sulu DC kick off performance Sound Check, holds up a clipboard and pen. “This is a community poem,” she explains to the packed house in the Black Fox Lounge on Connecticut Avenue in NorthWest D.C. “We’re going to pass it around the room and you can write a sentence and pass …

By Yuhui Wang Photo Exhibition by American High School Students in Japan During the Summer of 2012 The massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in 2011 was the most powerful known disaster ever to have hit the island nation. It left parts of the country destroyed and devastated the lives of many Japanese people. The Japan Culture …

The Chinese Embassy opened its doors Feb. 6th for its annual Chinese New Year celebration. Over 600 Chinese Americans, community leaders, business owners, Chinese students and embassy staff gathered for traditional, authentic Chinese fare. Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yesui and Madame Chen Naiqing welcomed guests wearing festive garb. Zhang made one his last speeches here before before heading back to China, …

The Embassy also held a farewell reception for Ambassador Zhang on Feb. 21. Top members of the diplomatic corps were on hand, as more than 300 people from the business community, think tanks, media and the Chinese community. A new ambassador from China is expected to arrive in Washington sometime in late March or early April.  

The FAPAC Lunar New Year network lunch was held Friday, Feb. 8, 2013 at the Chinatown Garden in Washington D.C. TD Bank hosted a fun-filled, multi-course, Chinese-style event as FAPAC President Kin Wong welcomed 200 guests.

OCA-DC, an Asian Pacific American advocacy organization, hosted a Lunar New Year dinner for the homeless on Feb. 13. The dinner was held at Shepherd’s Table in Silver Spring, MD. A dozen members of OCA-DC, along with members of OCA-W, the Chinese Bible Church of MD, and Shepherd’s Table staff decorated the dining hall with lanterns, dragons and birds while …

Members of the area’s Chinese American community celebrated Chinese Lunar New Year 4711 on Feb. 10 in Chinatown. The annual New Year event is sponsored by The Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, a group representing 30 Chinese-American organizations throughout the Greater Washington area. Over 40,000 people attended the festival and parade that featured traditional Chinese Dragon Dance, Kung Fu demonstrations, live …

By Michelle Phipps-Evans WASHINGTON, D.C.—Mayor Vincent C. Gray administered the oath of office to newly appointed members of the District of Columbia’s Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander (API) Affairs, Feb. 8 at the John A. Wilson Building. D.C. About a hundred guests looked on as nine community members and 10 government agency ex-officio members were sworn in.   The …