International Examiner

Three globe-spanning mystery novels offer up murder, secrets, and tangled families:

- The Midnight Taxi by Yosha Gunasekera

- The Librarians by Sherry Thomas

- Such a Perfect Family by Nalini Singh

All reviewed by Bharti Kirchner!

LINK IN COMMENTS.

ICE OUT and the asymmetry of harm

OPINION by Jamie Cho and Joyce Shui - https://iexaminer.org/ice-out-and-the-asymmetry-of-harm/

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Recently, while Jamie was gardening with her daughter in their front yard, a white man stopped his big SUV across from their house. Leaning out the driver’s side window, he pointed to their yard sign “ICE OUT of Our Neighborhoods,” and asked: “Have you seen ICE in our neighborhood?” Jamie replied, “No, but we need them out of ALL neighborhoods.” He shot back that “ICE is keeping murderers and rapists out.” When Jamie responded that it was a false characterization of the people ICE is targeting, he drove off.   

It’s not just that he did not agree with the sign or with Jamie, or that he was compelled to express his disagreement with their yard sign, or even that he had no real desire to have a conversation. Instead, what stayed with us was the asymmetry of the encounter. His privilege allowed him to interrupt a peaceful evening between a mother and her daughter with false, ignorant, and racist accusations, then drive away and continue with his day. For him, the encounter lasted only seconds. For Jamie and her daughter, the emotional impact endured long after he disappeared.

It reminds us of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s 2018 confirmation hearings. Christine Blasey Ford testified under oath that he sexually assaulted her as a teenager. Kavanaugh denied the accusation. Whatever one believes about the competing accounts, the testimony highlighted a familiar asymmetry: an encounter that is profoundly traumatic for one person and recalled with detail many years later may be experienced very differently — or not remembered at all — by the other. Those with greater power or privilege move on, while those on the receiving end carry the psychological consequences for years or decades.

SeattleNews

Crash Dancers taught Asian Americans boomers confidence on the dance floor. Now the club says goodbye with a last dance of its own

By David Yamaguchi - https://iexaminer.org/crash-dancers-taught-asian-americans-boomers-confidence-on-the-dance-floor-now-the-club-says-goodbye-with-a-last-dance-of-its-own/

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On August 7, the Crash Dancers will be saying goodbye to all of its former students, friends, and instructors with a farewell dance at Terry’s Kitchen, Bellevue. The music will be provided by “Justified,” a local Rhythm and Blues band.

A social dance class, Crash Dancers had a 15-year run from September 2011 to May 2026, except for a gap during the COVID-19 pandemic. First organized at the Nisei Veterans Hall, Seattle, under the leadership of Bev Kashino and Keith Yamaguchi, the veterans’ club commander in 2011, participants were mostly Asian American boomers.

As a student and volunteer with the group from 2012 to February 2020, my purpose in writing this article is to commemorate the class’s existence and surviving legacy. For throughout greater Seattle, there are always Asian Americans doing admirable things that don’t always make it into print. The Crash Dancers class is one such activity that I see as having made a positive community-wide difference.

PHOTO: Crash Dancers class on September 2018. Photo by Molly Angeles

SeattleNews