Comments
**FREE DENTAL SCREENING**
Senior dental students are providing a free dental screening
Wednesday Jan. 26th 4:30-6pm
to help find patients for a licensure exam. If you qualify during the screening, you could receive specific dental services at no cost to you! (Must by over age 18.)
Registration is required—please call (617) 636-6998 to schedule an appointment.
You may qualify if you have one or more of the following:
• If you have not been to the dentist in more than two years
• Small Cavities
• Tartar (Calculus)
• Periodontal (Gum) Disease
Everyone gets a gift for coming and you could qualify for free care as part of the licensure exam. We are conveniently located near the Red, Green and Orange Lines
More info: dental.tufts.edu/screening
Read my latest article for Sampan 舢舨 below!
Repeat Break-ins in Chinatown
It Has to Be A Love Story!!!
Roslyn and Sandra Yarbrough it was a pleasure to autograph your books, but I must tell you why! While guiding my development as a writer, my wife Dot always admonish, “It has to be a love story, or why bother?” I embraced her admonition developing “The 400th From Slavery to Hip Hop!”, the book you are about to read. This love story began in slave pens long before the Emancipation Proclamation was ever a consideration. Love for one another enabled descendants of American slavery to begin their upward struggle to create the international culture referred to as hip hop today!! That trek began with their first major decision as free people, which was, to make families and build communities. Their next effort, gaining education and learn to communicate, gave their first decision real value. Family, education and communication strengthen their community building endeavors, which brought their descendants to where we are today.
I share these words with you because most individuals who played crucial roles and laid the foundation on the yellow brick road of entertainment remain unsung, while others have been denigrated, if not destroyed, by a society devoid of compassion or sympathy. America, as a society, has refused to recognize the contribution of such unsung heroes, and the crucial roles they played breaking down barriers and setting a course of survival that allowed slave descendants to emerge, as one people. Their defiance, enduring the of actions white people, which was designed to keep them locked in perpetual slavery, was the single greatest, survival act of any people the world over.
I selected two black families to illustrate this point in tell their stories in “The 400th”. First, Will Yarbrough, a husband and your father, represent the unsung in “The 400th”. Will, and many like him, battled in the shadows, breaking into the field of audio technology, was ignored, even though he played a leading role. Those who told the story of the growth and development of American entertainment, not only ignored contributions of black men, like Will, they glossed over or left their stories out altogether. More than that, they whitewash the entire story you will read, as presented in “The 400th”, which details how American entertainment began in “slave pens.
The other example I selected illustrates and reflects how a black man’s body of work is disregarded, similar to how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s indiscretions are raised to show he was not perfect, when no human is without faults. It is the impact this black man had on my life though we never met. The son of sharecroppers, whose family escaped Mississippi under the cover of night and most fortunately, was able to find shelter among the poorest of the poor in a place called “Greens Ally.” Again, similar to a beckon to a ship far out at sea, and beyond the inspiration from my mother and new father, one image in the late 1960s, gave that child a hero that looked just like him. No “Stepin Fetchit” or “Mantan Moreland,” who had to conform to white’s “blackface” demands, this black man was suave, debonair, intelligent and ready with a solution, when his white counterpart was at “wits end!” Yes I dare speak the name of Dr. Bill Cosby, as a hero and foundation layer of opportunities for most blacks who aspired to be professionals in the entertainment industry or some other endeavors.
Unlike Will, your father, Dr. Cosby was not in the shadows. He was out front for all to see and most wanted to be him, as well as envied his success, even though he gave so many like you, a leg up beginning your career!! I was one of those who wanted to emulate such stellar success. He raised my expectation for what a black man could do in America, and I was not alone. Black men without an image of professional success in their lives, for the first time, had an example of what an individual black man could accomplish. I have never meet Dr. Cosby, but I spent the last 2 hours of his life with Dr. King, at the Lorraine Motel, and in those moments, his indiscretions did not tarnish the thoughts and image of what it meant and still means for descendants American slavery’s ability to draw on his inspiring leadership. I never imagined having such an opportunity, and I wonder today, had he lived, would his legacy be defined by his indiscretions, as Dr. Cosby’s for many???
So Sandra and Roslyn, wife and daughter, you have a very important role of supporting someone in their declining years, who gave so much to many, by opening doors and supporting those without opportunities, who have no idea what life would be like for them had men like Will and Dr. Cosby actually been the demon many make him out to be today. This is why my wife's admonition is so powerful to me!!! John Burl Smith author of “The 400th From Slavery to Hip Hop!!!!
Delighted to share that Ruby Foo and the Traveling Kitchen is the Winner of the New York City Big Book Award in the category of “Pre-Teen Fiction 2021” Thank you for this recognition! I hope to keep engaging children to learn about culture through cooking with my Book Series. (See Adventure #2: Ruby Goes to Spain just released 2021;
www.rubyfookitchen.com; )
Mascot Books Chinese Historical Society of New England - CHSNE UMass Boston Boston Women's Heritage Trail. History, Archives & Public History at UMass Boston UMass Dartmouth History Department Newyork Public Library Boston Public Library Goodreads Barnes & Noble Amazon_Books Target Walmart Williams Sonoma Sampan 舢舨 The Boston Globe SinovisionNet美国中文网 USA TODAY AsAmNews MassLive WCVB Channel 5 Boston WBZ | CBS Boston Touro Law Center Touro Law Alumni-Relations Touro College Graduate School of Business NYSCAS, A Division of Touro College University of San Diego Fairfax County Times Reston Now
Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Press Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble - Mosaic District Fairfax County Public Schools Three Village Central School District Human Resources Islip High School
Thank you to Sampan 舢舨 for covering !!
Repost from Sampan 舢舨 ~ Still relevant, important reminders and facts about the realities of increased anti-Asian hate violence and race-based harassment.
Catch Sampan 舢舨's review of A Tale of Three Chinatowns from August!
“I do feel like [they are] cultural touchstones, not just for Asian Americans, but for immigrants, or for anyone, quite frankly, who is interested in Chinese and Asian culture,” said director Lisa Mao.
🎥 2021 Taiwan Film Festival of Boston – “Bittersweet” Ticket Sale Information🎥
🎟️Ticket Link:
https://ppt.cc/fFb1Lx
The 2021 event will now be hosted in a hybrid format. The in-person screening will take place on Saturday, October 2nd at AMC Boston Common 19. All participants are required to provide proof of vaccination for Covid-19 and to wear masks at all times in the auditorium. To thank you for your unwavering support, we are offering a 10% discount for all in-person event tickets. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in keeping everyone safe.
For participants purchasing virtual event pass(es), you will have 48 hours from 12pm on Sunday, October 3rd to 12pm on Tuesday, October 5th, with one-time access to enjoy three movies at your convenience.
All tickets include access to exclusive post-screening forums to meet with four award-winning directors. The forums will be hosted virtually every evening from Tuesday, October 5th to Friday, October 8th. The forum links will be sent via e-mail 24 hours prior to the event date. For more information about the screening and forums, please refer to the event schedule below.
We look forward to welcoming you this year!
Cheers to “Bittersweet”! 🍻
🌐 TFFB Website:
https://taiwanfilmfest.org/
💰 GoFundMe:
https://gofund.me/d3861ea8
Thank you to Sampan 舢舨 for talking with Principal Philippe Saad and Senior Designer Jovi Cruces about The Pryde and helping to raise awareness of this welcoming and inclusive affordable senior housing project among the APA community.
https://sampan.org/2021/boston/pryde-lgbt-senior-housing/
Today we held another roundtable with multicultural outlets from across Massachusetts. It has always been important to me that our office be accessible to multilingual press outlets and the communities they serve. Grateful for this conversation on how we can reach ALL residents.
A special thank you to: Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra, 97.3 FM WJFD, Brazilian Times Newspaper, Brazilian Women's Group - Grupo Mulher Brasileira, El Planeta, La Mega, Sampan 舢舨, and Webrádio Insuperável.
We want to share stories from our community members! Be a part of Sampan 舢舨, the only bilingual Chinese-English newspaper in New England. Submit your writing by 7/14.
