The National Cherry Blossom Festival is sponsoring a fundraising event called Stand with Japan at the Washington Monument on March 24, 2011. Meet at the Sylvan Theater, 15th Street & Independence Avenue, SW at 6:30pm and join others who are gathering to reflect and participate in the walk around the Tidal Basin, where the cherry blossom trees, gifted to Washington, DC from Tokyo in 1912, have stood the test of time for 99 years. The relationship with Japan is at the heart of the Festival, and the evening of hope and perseverance occurs before the 16-day celebration begins on Saturday, March 26. All donations will go directly to the American Red Cross and their Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami fund.

A ful list of Festival participants and partners holding events to benefit the fund can be found at www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org

Hotline: (877) 44-BLOOM

Update:

February 27, 2012

Two award-winning writers weigh in on the Jeremy Lin story. 

Author and former Wall Street Journal writer William Wong reports on what Jeremy Lin may have had to do to get his 'game on' and how that confirms a few stereotypes, in his fifth "Linsanity" column.

Wong writes, "In at least two articles, sportswriters in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York have given us a fuller picture of how Lin — with the help of coaches and trainers — transformed himself from a skinny kid with an awkward jump shot into one of the most exciting point guards in the NBA, after graduating in 2010 as a star player at Harvard (definitely NOT an NBA “farm team” the way lesser universities are), but ignored in the NBA draft and getting cut by two other NBA teams."

"The essence of these stories is that Lin has worked extremely hard over the past 18 months to improve his game — gaining weight and bulk, refining his jump shot, learning the fine points of point-guard play. In doing so, Jeremy Lin, instead of smashing stereotypes, is confirming a few stereotypes of Chinese Americans/Asian Americans — of being diligent hard workers, and smart."

William Wong's full article at SFGate.com

AsianConnections' columnist, author, and former senior editor of Rolling Stone magazine Ben Fong-Torres says Jeremy Lin's success is a dream come true - his dream, as well as the dream of countless other Asian American kids.

Related:

Update: 

February 23, 2012:

  On Monday, March 21, 2011, Working Theater presents a staged reading of Visible Cities by Chay Yew, directed by Mike Donahue, at The Studio Theatre on Theatre Row, 410 W 42nd St. (between 9th & 10th Aves in New York. The cast features Joanna Adler, Josh Barrett, Jackie Chung, Jennifer Ikeda, Natalie Martin, Quentin Maré, Orville Mendoza, Steve Park and Gordana Rashovich.

Chay Yew’s plays include Porcelain, A Language of Their Own, RED, Wonderland, Question 27 Question 28, A Distant Shore, 17, America and A Beautiful Country. His other work includes adaptations, A Winter People (based on Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard) and Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba, and a musical Long Season. His plays have been produced at the Public Theatre, Royal Court Theatre (London), Mark Taper Forum, Manhattan Theatre Club, Long Wharf Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Intiman Theatre, Wilma Theatre, Studio Theatre, Portland Center Stage, East West Players, Cornerstone Theatre Company, Perseverance Theatre, Dad’s Garage, La Mama (Melbourne, Australia), Singapore Repertory Theatre and TheatreWorks Singapore, amongst others.

He is also the recipient of the London Fringe Award for Best Playwright and Best Play, George and Elisabeth Marton Playwriting Award, GLAAD Media Award, Asian Pacific Gays and Friends’ Community Visibility Award, Made in America Award, AEA/SAG/AFTRA 2004 Diversity Honor, Robert Chesley Award and an OBIE Award for...

Update

February 29, 2012

The blogosphere an social media erupted again - This time over a conversation about race and Jeremy Lin between ESPN.com's Lynn Hoppes, Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless.

Just take a look at the running comments about ESPN's commentary on the video replay page online at http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=7624785

The conversation was titled by ESPN "Has Society Become Oversensitive with Race?"

“The early Sixties have been good to me lately,” said Darren Pettie, whose diverse roles circa 1960′s include his turn as Lucky Strike scion Lee Garner, Jr. in several episodes of the critically acclaimed and award winning AMC TV series “Mad Men”; as James in Atlantic’s Off-Broadway production of Harold Pinter’s The Collection penned in 1961; and as Christopher Flanders in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s current production of Tennessee Williams’ The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore, with Olympia Dukakis, set in 1962. 

Erik Haagensen of Backstage.com describes Christopher Flanders as a “former poet, aging pretty boy, and professional houseguest,” and notes, “as Chris, Darren Pettie is properly fraying at the edges, an intriguing mix of calculation, sympathy, arrogance, and sexual magnetism.”

Williams’ haunting drama takes place in Flora Goforth’s picturesque Italian mountaintop home, where the wealthy American widow, in denial over her impending demise, has sequestered herself from the world in order to write her memoirs. Pettie’s character is a handsome and mysterious young poet who arrives without warning to keep Flora company in her final hours. It is a dreamlike play that blossoms into a fascinating meditation on life and death.

This production of Williams’The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore is actually a compilation of different drafts woven together by director Michael...