Honored at the White House by President Barack Obama with the 2010 Presidential Citizens Medal, Chinn will address “Turning Hatred Into Hope: Perspectives of a Survivor of the Cultural Revolution” in her remarks at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, March 26 in Room 133 of HSU’s Science B building.
Chinn survived China’s punishing, mid-20th century Cultural Revolution. She will recount how living in Mao’s labor camps and on the streets spurred her to work with Humboldt County’s homeless. Chinn has distributed food and warm meals to hundreds of people near the Humboldt County Welfare Office.
HSU’s weeklong Pan-Asian Pacific Islander celebration will feature performances, lectures and workshops led by students, faculty, staff and community members, who will explore pan-Asian Pacific Islander culture, diversity and identity. The festival is free and open to the public.
Festivities commence at noon, Monday, March 25 in the University Quad with performances hosted by the Department of Theatre, Film and Dance, featuring Balinese Fusion by Luna Moon and the Fire & Isis Dance Collective, Hula dance by Emma Cockcroft and tabling presentations by students of the HSU Dance in World Cultures class.
A Taiwanese and Japanese Obon dance demonstration and lesson will be presented by HSU staff member Craig Kurumada on Tuesday, March 26 at noon on the Quad.
On Wednesday, March 27, at noon, Professor Chip Sharpe and his students will present a Tai Chi Demonstration and Lesson, again on the Quad.
The public is invited to take part in a version of India’s traditional “Holi” festival of colored powder and water on Thursday, March 28, at 4 p.m. in the MultiCultural Center parking lot. Holi commemorates the beginning of spring.
Thursday evening at 7:30, the Non-Stop Bhangra & Dholyrhythms Dance Company from San Francisco will perform at the HSU Jolly Giant Commons, bottom floor. Highlighting ancestral Punjabi dance, the group fuses North Indian Bhangra music and dance with reggae, hip-hop and electronica.
The full schedule of events is posted at agoile.wix.com/pan-api.
The festival is hosted by HSU’s Asian Pacific Islander American Student Alliance (A.P.A.S.A.). Details are available from Alison Hong-Novotney at apasa@humboldt.edu.