KAM Center celebrates 20th anniversary
2021-10-09 16:30 - 20:00 (America/Chicago)
Korean Adoptee Ministries, a Christian non-profit organization targeted to Korean adoptees and their families, will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a dinner and fundraising event on Saturday, October 9.
Keynote speakers will be Rev. Hyung Joon Kim, senior pastor of Dong An Church, Seoul; and Kim Deardoff, production manager of NRBTV, a network that features Christian programming content on various platforms.
The event, from 4:30 to 8 p.m. CST, will also include the testimonies and stories of those who attended the KAM tour to Korea and/or participated in other KAM Center programming over its 20-year history.
KAM Center is seeking donations of cash and silent auction items for the event, as well as stories and photos from participants whose lives have been positively impacted by KAM Center’s programs.
The event will be held at the Delta Hotel Minneapolis Northeast, and a block of rooms has been reserved for the event. Many details are to be determined (at press time). Tickets will be available closer to the event through an on-line reservation system. For more information, please contact email: ka*******@***il.com or phone: 651-324-0208.

Asian Media Access holds pop-up vaccine event
2021-10-17 14:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago) | 7901 12th Avenue South, Bloomington, Minnesota, 7901 12th Avenue South, Bloomington, MN, 55425, United States
A free vaccine event with COVID testing and free food giveaway, targeted to the Asian American community, will be held in Bloomington on Sunday, October 17.

The free event will include $50 Target gift cards for each vaccine recipient. Registration is required for a vaccine (see below link), but not for the free testing kits and food giveaway.

The event will be held 2 to 5 p.m. at the Chinese American Chamber of Commerce, 7901 12th Ave. S., Bloomington.

Register for vaccination https://bit.ly/3ofSfc0

The event requires standard COVID-19 precautions, including masks and social distancing.

Virtual event commemorates 25 years of Asian American Studies
2021-10-26 15:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago)
A virtual conference, Asian American Studies Now, will be held October 26 to mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Asian American Studies program at New York University. The program was launched when a group of students came together, and with faculty support, began organizing for the first Asian American Studies course, and a program. The Asian/Pacific/American Studies program was founded in 1996.The program will welcome back alumni and faculty who were instrumental in the historic founding.
In the 1990s, college students in the Midwest and on the east coast began to fight for the establishment of Asian American studies programs. This movement came nearly three decades after the pivotal student strikes in Califormia that led to the nations first Asian American studies programs there.
The conference will begin at 4 p.m. EST, 3 p.m. CST. o register for this historic conference see the below link.

Hyon Kim to speak for Great Decisions series on Korean peninsula
2021-10-29 12:30 - 14:00 (America/Chicago)
Hyon Kim, a Twin Cities entrepreneur, non-profit co-founder, author and thought leader will be a featured speaker for the annual Great Decisions series of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at the University of Minnesota.
The presentation via Zoom will be held 12:30 to 2 p.m. on Friday, October 29. The topic is about the Korean peninsula.
Kim is the founder and CEO of MN Best, Inc., a Twin Cities project management and engineering support firm. She also serves as chair of the Asian-African Business Development Committee at the International Leadership Institute. Named one of the Top 25 Women to Watch by Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal she was the first Asian person to serve on the University of Minnesota Board of Regents.
Kim is the author of the autobiographical My Name is Maria, published in South Korea in the Korean language. It is now being translated to English. Kim is also co-founder of the Twin Cities non-profit education and advocacy organization Midwest Alliance for North Korean Refugees.
OLLI classes are open to the public; with an annual membership, participants can register for an unlimited number of classes. Fall offerings include topics in finance, photography, literature, creative writing, history, botany, a study of the Mississippi River and economic theory, among many others. More information is available on the OLLI website, link below.

Land of My Father film is in TCs Film Festival lineup
2021-10-29 16:30 - 18:30 (America/Chicago) | 1625 West End Boulevard, Minneapolis, 1625 West End Boulevard, Minneapolis, MN, 55106, United States
The Twin Cities Film Festival will screen a documentary film by Matthew Koshmrl, Land of My Father, about the story of the territory dispute between Japan and South Korea over the Dokdo Islands. It details the stories of two activists. One is a Korean farmer who protests the Japanese government regularly in Tokyo, after finding out his father was abducted and enslaved in a coal mine during the Japanese occupation of Korea. The second is a woman who lived on Dokdo with her father, and considers Dokdo her homeland. She struggles to keep her father’s legacy alive after the Korean government mysteriously erases the history of their family as pioneering residents of this remote island group.
This screening includes a short Q and A with the filmmaker and the producer Christina Kim. The film will be shown at 4:30 p.m. Friday, October 29, at the Showplace Icon Theaters, 1625 West End Blvd, Minneapolis. The film festival price is $12. See the TC Film Festival website for more information.

Adoptee Hub fundraiser with film and dinner
2021-11-06 16:30 - 20:00 (America/Chicago)
Adoptee Hub, a Twin Cities service and educational organization by and for intercountry adoptees, will hold its (in-person) annual fundraiser under the title theme Jeong: The Power of Reunification, on Saturday, November 6.
Keynote speaker for the event will be filmmaker Sun Hee Engelstoft (born Sun Hee Shin), a Korean adoptee from Denmark. Her 2021-released film Forget Me Not, will be shown at the event. Other special guests at the event will be a recently-reunited Korean birthmother and adult son (names to be announced). A panel discussion of the three guests will also be included in the event.
Adoptee Hub seeks to connect adoptees with one another and with resources and critical post-adoption services. It strives to offer programs, opportunities and events that encourage adoptees to know their history, have a sense of belonging, experience their birth culture, and access services in a safe and supportive environment.
The fundraiser will be held at Moundsview Community Center, starting at 4:30 p.m. with a social hour and silent auction, followed by dinner and program. Tickets will be available on the website: www.adopteehub.org/events.

Adoptee referral portraits collection to be featured at Weissman Art Museum
2022-01-16 - 2022-05-31
The work of Minnesota Korean adoptee artist Megan Rye will be featured in an exhibit entitled Foundling, to open at the Weissman Museum of Art, Minneapolis, on January 16, 2022.
More than 70 families participated in sharing referral photos of themselves or adoptee loved ones, who are adopted from many countries to Minnesota. She collected the photos over some years, and there are now portraits of 100 adoptees in the exhibit, rendered in paint on Target shopping bags.
The exhibit will have a soft opening in January, and there will be events at the museum in spring 2020. Because construction is ongoing at the museum with no solid finish date, and due to possible stricter COVID protocols in the future, and Minnesota weather generally, the events at the museum were delayed, although the exhibit will be opening on time, Rye said.
Rye said she got the idea after having her second child, and realizing she had only a few black and white photos of herself as a baby, while there were thousands of images of her son and daughter, as well as many keepsake objects, not to mention roomfuls of toys, clothes and other objects related to them.
Rye was brought up in the Twin Cities, got her undergraduate degree from Rhode Island School of Design, and her Master’s of Fine Arts from the University of Minnesota. The Weissman exhibit is a kind of a homecoming for her, she said, and she expects to invite in adoptee groups locally, as well as University of Minnesota students to observe and learn from the project.
Megan Rye’s website, featuring this collection and her I Will Follow You Into the Dark exhibit of her paintings of her brother’s photos of his military tour in Iraq, is at: meganrye.com . The Weissman Art Museum is at: wam.umn.edu.

Feminist thriller play opens at Mixed Blood Theater
2022-02-18 | Mixed Blood Theater, 1501 South 4th St., Minneapolis, 55454
Man of God, a funny feminist thriller play will open at Minneapolis’ Mixed Blood Theater in February.
The setting for the film, a mission trip to Bangkok by four members of a Christian girls’ youth group. They discover he has hidden a camera in their hotel bathroom. Their rage and rage and disillusionment fuel violent revenge fantasies, providing comedy and a timely social issue as a topic.
It is directed by Katie Bradley, a Twin Cities actor/director (and Korean adoptee). The playwright is Anna Ouyang Moench, an award-winning playwright and screenwriter. She is currently the 2019/2020 Page One Playwright in Residence at The Playwrights Realm and has received numerous fellowships and awards.
Special performances of this Theater Mu production include Thursday actor talk-backs (February 24 and March 3) and the community matinee (February 27) featuring Asian Women United of Minnesota and ManForward. The student and industry Wednesday matinees will include a post-show experience for youth, led by Women’s Initiative for Self-Empowerment and Transforming Generations.
The play runs from February 18 through March 6, and tickets are available on a sliding scale, with the suggested price of $35, or as little as $5 for those who need to pay less.
Mixed Blood Theatre is located at 1501 S 4th St, Minneapolis, MN 55454.Ticketing and other information is at: https://www.theatermu.org/man-of-god

Reading event for We Were Meant to Rise
2022-02-22 18:30 - 20:30 (America/Chicago)
Carolyn Holbrook, Ed Bok Lee, and Alexs Pate will read from and discuss their writing from the powerful new book, We Are Meant to Rise: Voices for Justice from Minneapolis to the World in a free virtual event on Tuesday, February 22, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. (Central). The anthology features Asian American (including two Korean American), Black, indigenous writers and other writers of color discussing racism in Minnesota, including in the context of the pandemic and after the murder of George Floyd.
Ed Bok Lee, a Minneapolis poet and playwright, has authored three poetry books; most recently Mitochondrial Night. He teaches writing at Metropolitan State University. He is the son of parents from Korea – his mother was originally a refugee from what is now North Korea; his father was raised during the Japanese occupation is what is now South Korea. His literary honors include an American Book Award, a Minnesota Book Award, an Asian American Literary Award (Members’ Choice), and a PEN/Open Book Award.
Alexs Pate is a writer, novelist, and founder of Constructing the Innocent Classroom, an organization established to end educational disparities between educators and students of color. Alexs is the author of five novels, including Amistad which was commissioned for a film by Steven Spielberg. He has worked diligently and led initiatives for racial justice in Minnesota for decades.

Carolyn Holbrook is a writer, educator, and longtime advocate for the healing power of the arts. Her memoir in essays, Tell Me Your Names and I Will Testify won the 2021 Minnesota Book Award for memoir and nonfiction, and was an honoree for the 2021 Society of Midland Authors Literary Award in Biography and Memoir. She is a co-author with Arleta Little of a memoir of civil rights icon Dr. Josie R. Johnson entitled Hope In the Struggle. Her personal essays have been published widely, most recently in A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota and Blues Vision: African American Writing from Minnesota. Holbrook is the director of More Than a Single Story, an ongoing community conversation program to invite conversation about personal stories and racial equity, which she founded in 2015.

Registration to this Zoom event is at the link.

Coalition of AA Leaders hold Asian Minnesotan Day at Capitol
2022-03-07 09:00 - 16:30 (America/Chicago)
The Coalition of Asian American Leaders (CAAL) will hold an Asian Minnesotan Day at the Capitol, to be held Monday, March 7, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The presentations will include champions on CAAL policy priorities, advocacy education from CAAL staff and leaders, and opportunities for constituents to speak with their legislators about issues impacting their communities.

The tentative schedule includes a rally in the Capitol Rotunda at 9 a.m. headed up by Lt. Gov. Peggy Flannagan and legislative caucus co-chair Rep. Kaohly Her, with performances by Asian American artists.

At 10:30 a.m., partcipants may watch a legislative caucus hearing on the status of Asian Minnesotans. From 1 to 4 p.m., consitutents may visit their legislators (two to three visits per team), and there will be a virtual celebration and closing at 4 p.m.

Masks are currently required at the State Capitol.

HANA Center hosts 2022 #IAmAnImmigrant storytelling speakers
2022-03-11 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago)
HANA Center will present its fourth annual #IAmAnImmigrant storytelling fundraiser event on Friday, March 11, 2022, 6 p.m., via Zoom.
The event is intended look back on the Atlanta shootings one year after eight people (including six Asian women) lost their lives. The event will feature a multigenerational panel of Asian American women from the Chicago Asian American community who will share their various experiences as immigrants, women of color and being undocumented.
Music for the event will be provided by Korean American adoptee Jacqueline Wells. She serves on the board of the New York transnational adoptee organization Also Known As www.jacquelynwellsmusic.com @oohjacquelina
Speakers include Dalin Eap, a Cambodian American undergraduate student at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. She is a founding member of HANA’s youth group Women That Fight (WTF) which provides a space for young women and non-binary youth of color. She first joined HANA Center as a freshman at Chicago’s Mather High school and has also been a member of HANA’s youth leadership council, Fighting Youth Shouting out for Humanity (FYSH).
Yoon Kim, also a speaker, is a second-generation Korean American raised in the suburbs of Chicago. She joined HANA Center as a Civic Leaders Fellow in the summer of 2020 and is currently studying public policy and researching legacies of U.S. military occupation of Korea at the University of Michigan.
The third speaker, Jieun Han, is a first-generation Korean immigrant who moved to the U.S. with her family in 1999. A veteran Korean language teacher, she is also the chair of the Midwest Korean Schools Association. She is also an active member of HANA Center’s Racial Justice Committee.
Hana Center of Chicago is a service and advocacy organization that serves Korean Americans and the broader Asian American community. Its activists are working on a Citizenship4All campaign which includes the Adoptee Citizenship Act.
The event can be accessed free, however, reservations are required and donation amounts are suggested and raffle tickets available at the event registration page at the indicated link.

Virtual event for transnational adoptees will reflect on Atlanta shootings
2022-03-22 18:30 - 19:30 (America/Chicago)
The Korean Adoptees of Chicago (KAtCH) will host a virtual discussion with activist (and Korean adoptee) Stephanie Drenka, entitled Connect and Reflect, on Tuesday, March 22. The intent of the discussion is to allow participants to talk about the significance of the Atlanta spa hate-crime shootings that took place March 16, 2021.
The event, to be held 6:30 to 7:30 CST, is intended for transnational adoptees only.
For more information, or to register for the free event, see the Eventbrite link

Adoptee Hub offers monthly sessions for birth search stories
2022-03-26 10:00 - 11:30 (America/Chicago)
The adoptee service and advocacy organization Adoptee Hub will offer a virtual meeting and conversation about birth family search and reunion challenges with guest speaker Shelby Redfield Kilgore. The session will be offered online, via Zoom, Saturday, March 26, 10 a.m.
Kilgore, a Korean adoptee, has 15 years of experience as a filmmaker and documentarian of adoptee stories. She has listened to and recorded many search and reunion stories through her work. These are available at her website: www.wearemirrorlight.com/films .
Kilgore’s experience will provide a backdrop for adoptees to speak openly in a private and safe space about birth family search issues. Adoptee Hub will continue to offer monthly sessions to help adoptees share their successes and challenges.
There is a suggested donation of $5 to $10 to help keep these sessions available. For more information and registration, see the events on the website at: www.adopteehub.org/events.

Theater Mu invites applicants for Community Monologues
2022-03-31
A class for youth of color (age 18 and older) will be held March 31 through May 1, Monday and Thursday evenings. Playwright and Theater Mu actor Eric Sharp will instruct.
Participants will memorize and rehearse a single two- to four-minute monologue, with additional material if time allows. The class will be held via Zoom and will culminate in a semi-public Zoom showcase. Acting experience is preferred, and participants are expected to work on their monologues outside of class. Enrollment is limited to 10 students, and contingent on instructor approval. For application instructions, see the website: www.theatermu.org/mti.

First Adoptee Literary Festival to be offered virtually
2022-04-09 08:00 - 22:00 (America/Chicago)
The first Adoptee Literary Festival will be held virtually on Saturday, April 9, 8 a.m. through 10 p.m. (CDT). The purpose of the festival is to highlight writing by adoptees from the perspective of their own experience.
It will feature numerous Korean adoptee writers such as Nicole Chung, author of the memoir All You Could Ever Know, Matthew Salesses, novelist and author of Disappear Doppelganger Disappear. It will also feature poet Lee Herrick, creative writing professor and author of several poetry collections including Scar and Flower (2018), and journalist/activist Stephanie Drenka, both Korean adoptees. The festival will feature the work of many writers who identify as adopted and include panels on novels, memoirs, journalism and literature for young adults.
The sponsorship of PEN America is making it possible for the festival to be free and open to the public. Registration is and more information is at: adopteelitfest.com

We Are Meant to Rise essayists virtual panel
2022-04-14 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Chicago)
Minnesota writers of the essay and poetry collection We Are Meant to Rise will speak in a virtual panel Thursday, April 14, noon to 1:30.
We Are Meant to Rise tells the story, from the point of view of Minnesotan writers of color, of the racial reckoning that began in Minnesota with the murder of African American George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer. Panelists will be co-editor and contributor David Mura, with contributors Pamela Fletcher-Bush, Shannon Gibney, Ricardo Levins Morales, Melissa Olson, and Diane Wilson.
This event is sponsored by the School of Liberal Arts and Cultures at Minneapolis College. For more information visit: https://calendar.minneapolis.edu/event/we-are-meant-to-rise-reading-and-panel-discussion/. For registration see the link below.

@UndocuGW/NAKASEC hold immigration reform virtual forum
2022-04-19 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Chicago)
The National Korean American Service and Educational Consortium (NAKASEC) and the advocacy group @UndocuGW will hold a virtual conversation on immigration status, migration, and organizing within Asian American communities. Both groups have been lobbying on immigration reform issues.
This free event will take place on Zoom (link below) at 5 p.m. CDT (6 p.m. EDT). Registration is required.

API Day at the Minnesota Capitol set
2022-04-22 08:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago)
Democracy in the Time of COVID is the theme of a free virtual rally event for API Day at the Capitol, to be held April 20,
The virtual rally will include state government leaders and community leaders. Details such as times for various events, speakers and registration will be announced on the Council’s Facebook page at the attached calendar link.

We Are Meant to Rise writers discuss their book at in-person event
2022-04-24 14:30 - 16:30 (America/Chicago)
Minnesota writers of the essay and poetry collection We Are Meant to Rise will speak in an in-person panel Sunday, April 24, 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Common Ground Meditation Center, located at 2700 E. 26th St., Minneapolis. Panelists will include Minnesota Korean American poet and writer Sun Yung Shin, with co-contributors Arleta M. Little, Shannon Gibney, Ricardo Levins Morales and Mona Susan Power.
We Are Meant to Rise tells the story, from the point of view of Minnesotan writers of color, of the racial reckoning that began in Minnesota with the murder of African American George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer. For more information on this event, see the below link.

North by North Film Festival to be held in Duluth
2022-04-27
Asian American films and films about Midwestern people and topics are some of the selection of offerings for the 2022 North by North International Film Festival, to be held April 27 through May 1, in Duluth.
Badges for $75 are on sale through the month of April for the festival on its website (see link). Badges include unlimited access to screenings, mixers, and panels during the festival. Films will be screened at Zeitgeist Arts, 222 E. Superior St., Duluth.
Festival categories (with sponsoring organizations) include: Indigenous Filmmakers (American Indian Community Housing Organization (AICHO)), Black Fimmakers (Duluth Branch NAACP) Asian Filmmakers (Twin Ports Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Collective (TPAC)). Other categories include: narrative shorts and features; documentary shorts and features; local shorts and features; Midwest shorts and features; horror shorts and features; animation, music videos, and family films. Film listings, synopses, dates and times are listed on the website.

Poets to speak on poetry's role in social movements
2022-04-30 12:00 - 15:00 (America/Chicago)
Minnesota poets who contributed to the essay and poetry collection We Are Meant to Rise will speak in a virtual panel Saturday, April 30, noon to 3 p.m.(CDT).
Entitled We Are Meant to Rise: The Poetry of Social Movements, the poets will be asked to discuss how poetry contributes to how social movements form, mature, and are understood in history. Panelists will include co-contributors Sun Yung Shin, Douglas Kearney, Arleta Little, Michael Torres, Kevin Yang. The discussion will be led by moderator Danez Smith.
We Are Meant to Rise tells the story, from the point of view of Minnesotan writers of color, of the racial reckoning that began in Minnesota with the murder of African American George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer.
The virtual reading and roundtable discussion will close out Poetry Month, and is sponsored by TruArtSpeaks, an arts and culture organization in St. Paul with a focus on youth and young adult artists. For information on how to register, see the TrueArtSpeaks website at the link below.

Minnesotan Korean adoptee artist Megan Rye to speak
2022-05-02 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Chicago)
A virtual event, My Referral Photo: Whole Life in Korea, will be held Monday, May 2, 7 p.m. CDT, with Minnesota Korean adoptee artist Megan Rye, whose exhibition of 100 portrait paintings depicting children’s adoption referral photos is at currently at the Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis.
The event is part of an ongoing series called Let’s Meet at SEOUL, an outreach to link Korean adoptees in the community by Korean Adoptee Ministries.
Rye will describe this first adoption-related project she has done as an artist and the life experiences that inspired it. Growing up in Minnesota, Rye started art lessons as a child, went to Rhode Island School of Design as an undergraduate and returned to Minnesota and received a Master’s of Fine Arts from the University of Minnesota.

Participants are to invited to bring their own referral photo and to share their own adoption stories. The exhibit Foundling: 100 Days will be at the Weisman Art Museum until May 22, 2022

The Zoom meeting is in the below link, and the ID for the meeting is: 885 3956 5487

Children's Day outdoor event in Roseville
2022-05-07 11:00 - 14:00 (America/Chicago)
Children and their families are invited to a Korean Children’s Day event, sponsored by Korean Adoptees’ Ministry Center (KAM Center) to be held Saturday, May 7, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event will include snacks, Korean food, games and activities, goody bags, books and prizes. Lee’s Taekwondo students will do a demonstration of Korean martial arts.
The event will be held at Central Park in Roseville at the Foundation Picnic Shelter. (Street address: 2495 Victoria St. N., Roseville, MN 55113).
Children’s Day is a traditional holiday every May in Korea. Advance registration is online at the link: $20 per family; $10 per person. Onsite registration at the event is $30 per family or $10 per person in cash or check only. Email for event information, or to volunteer: ka******@***il.com

Architect Grace Kim to speak at Twin Cities Cohousing Network event
2022-05-11 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Chicago)
A special live engagement via Zoom with architect Grace Kim, principal of Schemata Workshop in Seattle will be held Wednesday, May 11, 7 p.m. CDT.
Kim specializes in design of cohousing communities and other types of multi-family buildings, which require a human-centric approach. Kim co-founded Capitol Hill Urban Cohousing, a mixed-use project where she lives and where her business is also located.
Kim is a leader in the cohousing movement nationally, and will also be speaking at the Cohousing Association of the U.S. general conference to be held August 26 through 28 in Madison, Wisconsin.
The local event is the first in a series of Meet the Professional speakers to be presented by the Twin Cities Cohousing Network.
The free session is of interest to the general public as well as professionals in the field. The event is limited to 100 registrants.

HANA Center Health Fair offers low cost screenings
2022-05-21 12:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago) | 5140 North California Avenue, Chicago, IL, 5140 North California Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60625, United States
Free health screenings will be available by appointment at the HANA Center’s 43rd Annual Korean American Health Fair, Saturday, May 21, noon to 5 p.m.
The health fair will take place at the Swedish Hospital Galter Medical Pavilion, located at 5140 N. California Ave., Chicago).
The last HANA Center health fair took place in 2019; at that event, 125 people received critical healthcare.
The Health Fair connects community members with doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals to provide health screenings and preventative care at low cost, regardless of insurance coverage or immigration status. The Health Fair will offer tests such as mammogram, EKG, urinalysis, pap smear, and others.
Appointments are required. Call the HANA Center at 773-583-5501 to make an appointment. Hospital parking is available free of charge. For more information, contact Rachel Cha at 773-583-5501 or rc**@********er.org.

Author Marie Lee to read at Stillwater event
2022-06-15 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Chicago)
Novelist Marie Myung-Ok Lee will read from her recently-launched book The Evening Hero at the Zephyr Theater, Stillwater, on Wednesday, June 15.
The event is sponsored by the Stillwater bookstore Valley Bookseller and one of a series of author events called Literature Lovers’ Night Out.
Lee’s novel tells the story of a Minnesota doctor who loses his job when his rural hospital closes, forcing his early retirement and wreaking havoc on his patients’ lives. Finding his way again after a consuming medical career in which he found purpose involves making peace with his traumatic past as a survivor of a childhood lived during wartime.
In addition to Lee, three other authors will read: Dana Bahr (The Houseboat); Joshua Moehling (And There He Kept Her); and Kathleen West (Home or Away).
The event starts at 7 p.m. (doors open at 6:30) and runs until 8:30. A $15 admission includes a $5 coupon to use at the event. Zephyr Theater is located at 601 Main Street, Stillwater. The event is limited to 100 and reservations are required (see link).

Campaign kick-off event for Susie Strom, Korean American candidate for Minnesota House
2022-06-23 17:30 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Sucker Lake Regional Park, 4500 Rice Street, Vadnais Heights, MN, 55127, United States
Susie Strom, candidate for Minnesota House District 36A, will have an outdoor campaign kick-off event on Thursday, June 23, 5:30 p.m. at Sucker Lake Regional Park, 4500 Rice Street, Vadnais Heights.
Strom, a Korean adoptee from the Twin Cities, is celebrating her Korean heritage with some Korean drumming and dancing performances, and Korean games at this family-friendly event. Asian-inspired food from the “Got Rice” food truck will be available for purchase.
The candidate is running in a district that includes Centerville, Circle Pines, Lino Lakes, North Oaks, and parts of White Bear Township, and has received the endorsement of the Democratic Farmer-Labor (DFL) party.
To donate to the campaign, learn more about Strom’s candidacy, please see the website at: stromformn.com. Tickets for the event are at the link.

Registration open for KAAN conference, June 24-26, Denver
2022-06-24 - 2022-06-26
Registration is open for the 2022 in-person conference of the Korean American Adoptee Network (KAAN) to be held June 24 to 26, in Denver, Colorado. The deadline for reduced registration is June 1.
KAAN is a conference about all aspects of adoption from Korea, and includes adult adoptees and their families, adoptee children and their siblings and parents, birth parents, adoption professionals and anyone who has been affected by adoption.
The annual conference includes keynote speakers, films, presentations, performances, exhibits, support forums. The conference features programs for youth 8 to 17, and an adult adoptees-only track.
For more information, including conference registration costs, and hotel information, see the website at the link.

LA Benefit concert will support WomenCrossDMZ
2022-08-06 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
The Los Angeles Korean American Musicians’ Association (LAKMA) will hold a benefit concert for WomenCrossDMZ entitled Peace Concert: Unified in Friendship and Harmony, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.
The concert, to be held August 6, will feature performances by the LAKMA Symphony Orchestra and Chorale. The evening will also include a sceening of clips from the film documentary Crossings, by Deann Borshay Liem (who also produced/directed Geographies of Kinship and Memories of Forgotten War). Crossings chronicles the 2015 crossing by an international group of women activists from North Korea to South Korea, in an action to bring attention to the need for peace and reconciliation between North and South Korea.
WomenCrossDMZ is an organization that supports a global women’s mobilization for peace on the Korean peninsula, including a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War. More information on Women Cross DMZ is available at: www.womencrossdmz.org.
For more information on the concert contact https://thelakma.org/.

2022 Chicago Drum Festival set
2022-08-13 19:30 - 21:30 (America/Chicago) | Roosevelt University, 430 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60605, United States
The Korean Performing Arts Institute of Chicago (KPAC) will hold its 2022 Chicago Drum Festival, a concert featuring diverse world-drumming teams based in the Chicago area.
The concert will feature Ayodele Drum and Dance, Tsukasa Taiko, Chicago Samba, and the KPAC, representing African, Japanese, Brazilian, and Korean traditions, respectively.
Tickets are through Eventbrite and can found at the link.
KPAC is the leading Korean cultural arts group in metropolitan Chicago, reaching an audience of 25,000 annually. Formerly known as Global Pungmul Institute, KPAC provides authentic Korean music education to Chicago area students, hosts guest artists, and provides Korean percussion and traditional music performances for Chicago audiences. The festival will be held at Ganz Hall, Roosevelt University, located at 430 South Michigan Ave., Chicago. More information about KPAC offerings is at: www.soribeat.org.
