March 25, 2005

Asian Awareness Month activities planned

by Tom Woolf

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- "Land of the Rising Sun: Reflections from the Far East," is the theme for April's Asian Awareness Month observance at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

All events are free and open to the public.

Enhancing diversity is among the goals of Southern at 150: Building Excellence Through Commitment, the blueprint for the development of the University by the time it celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2019.

Here’s a look at the schedule:

April 2

• Taiko Drum – St. Louis Osuwa, 1 p.m., Brush Towers (rain location: Grinnell Hall). Live performance and free workshop. The literal translation for the Japanese word "taiko" is "big, fat drum." This program will entertain and broaden awareness of Japanese tradition and culture.

April 4

• Brown Bag Lunch, noon-1 p.m., Student Center Kaskaskia/Missouri Room. Speaker and topic to be announced.

April 5

• Second annual Martial Arts Festival, noon-4 p.m., Free Forum area. Campus and local clubs will perform demonstrations unique to their specific form of martial arts.

April 6

• A Slice of Rice, 7 p.m., Student Center Ballroom D. A Slice of Rice, based in Los Angeles, is a contemporary Asian-American traveling festival of theater, dance, storytelling and music.

April 7

• Jamie – Real World San Diego, 7 p.m., Student Center Ballroom B. One of the cast members of the MTV reality television show “The Real World – San Diego,” will discuss her experiences as an Asian-American female living in the spotlight as well as Asians in modern pop culture.

April 8

• Asian Awareness Month Reception, 7 p.m., Dunn-Richmond Economic Development Center. The reception will include an award presentation, musical entertainment and refreshments.

April 12

• Brown Bag Lunch, "Women in Leadership in the Muslim World," noon, Student Center Mississippi Room. Naseem Ahmed, an international development research project specialist at SIUC, will discuss her research.

April 13

• Movie, “Hero,” 7 p.m., Student Center Auditorium. Starring Jet Li, this is a PG-13 action adventure movie.

April 15

• Table Tennis Tournament, 7 p.m., Student Recreation Center.

April 20

• Movie, "Painted Faces," time and location to be announced. This drama focuses on life at the Peking Opera School and is a loose biography of Hong Kong film stars Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao.

April 21

• Keynote address, Bob Wing, 7 p.m., Student Center Kaskaskia/Missouri Room. Wing is an activist, writer and editor. He is the founder of ColorLines, a magazine of race, culture and action, and he currently is the editor of War Times/Tiempo de Garras, a national newspaper he helped start that is devoted to peace and justice and opposes the war on terrorism. Wing also is national co-chair of United for Peace and Justice, a national anti-war coalition of more than 800 organizations.