Instant Yang v7.5: Asian American Writers Workshop--Do Good, Get Goodies; D.C. APA Film Fest; NAPALC's name change

Just wanted to drop you a quick between-the-weeks line to alert you to a couple of cool things I've been alerted to since my call for Interesting Stuff went out last ish. First up is an ongoing online fundraising auction being held by the Asian American Writers Workshop, one of the nation's most important Asian American literary institutions (I'm proud to say I was a member of their inaugural workshop session back in 1991, and even prouder to see that they're still going strong, nearly 15 years later).

Anyway, the auction is a little weird--you have to email them or phone in your closed bid and they'll allow just the three highest bidders to make a final, "top this" bid at the end--but they've got some of the more interesting and unusual items I've seen at one of these things available.

Let's just say that between the drinks with a rock-slash-porn star, the week vacation in a Barcelona penthouse, the short story critique by writer Rick Moody, and the complete Asian American library ($12,000 worth of absolutely new fiction and nonfiction books), many if not most of may find something worth bidding on. It runs through October 14--check it out here...

The Asian American Writers Workshop's
PERSON PLACE THING
September 15 - October 14, 2005
An eclectic cyber benefit auction - items from $100 - $12,000

What does my bid support?
In summer 2006, the Workshop will be organizing “Where I’m Calling From: Youth At Home,” a creative writing and solo performance workshop for Asian American, African American, Caucasian and Latino youths between ages 13-19. Your bid dollar supports artists fees, youth stipends, writing workshops and a public performance.

Also, the 6th Annual DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival has kicked off in Washington, DC, presenting over 80 films, spanning the full range of feature films, documentaries, short programs, and music programs. Mike Kang's goofy/brilliant paean to adolescence, THE MOTEL, was last night's opening night program; highlights that you can, uh, still actually go see include the hit Hong Kong adaptation of the even bigger hit Japanese manga INITIAL D (the car comic that invented drifting); Bertha Pan's urban romance FACE (Bertha and actress Kristy Wu will be attending); and Filipino indie thriller CAVITE, whose ripped-from-the-headlines plot closes out the festival. If you're in the Beltway region, check it out. More info here:

DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival

And lastly, a bit of Asian American history-in-the-making for you: At their annual American Courage Awards last night, the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium adopted a brand new name, to better fit this critical organization's expanding mission and purpose. They're now the ASIAN AMERICAN JUSTICE CENTER--and you can find out more and why here.

AAJC advocates for social justice, advances the cause of equal representation and treatment for Asian Americans, and helps to raise awareness of the critical issues facing our community at all levels of the socioeconomic scale. Among many other things, they perform the annual inventory of Asian American representation on primetime TV. Check their website out, and congratulate them on their new name!