Vol. XXXX February 25- March 10, 2011 2011年2月25日~ 3月10日

SAMPAN/Asian American Civic Association87 Tyler Street

Boston, MA 02111Change Service Requested

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PERMIT NO. 54358

BOSTON, MA

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全紐英倫區唯一的中英雙語雙週報The only bilingual Chinese-English Newspaper in New England

Chinese American women writers weigh it on pressing immigration issues

By Cody Yiu

February 9— Maxine Hong Kingston and Gish Jen, authors and daughters of Chinese immigrants, shed light on the meaning of immigration at Suffolk University. The dialogue between Hong Kingston

and Jen, moderated by the noted author and columnist James Carroll, kicked start “Immigrant in America,” a Civic Discourse series pre-sented by Suffolk University and the Boston Athenæum.

“In this set of conversa-tions, the subject has been lifted up as one of the most

important subjects of our time, which is: the meaning of immigration,” Carroll said in his opening remark.

On that note, the award-winning author describes being an immigrant as a universal human experi-ence. “We are a nation of immigrants….we need to

(Left to right) Gish Jen, James Carroll and Maxine Hong Kingston at Suffolk University. (Photo by Cody Yiu)

SEE WRITERS PAGE 3

By Cody Yiu

Disappointing news has hit supporters of the proposed Boston Chinese Immer-sion Charter School (BCICS). On February 17, Massachusetts education commis-sioner Mitchell Chester recommended that seventeen applications be granted charters by the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Yet, such an endorsement does not include BCICS.

“Needless to say, we are very disap-pointed… We have been on this journey for more than a year. It’s been a wonder-ful adventure. Thanks so much for your encouragement and support,” wrote Helen Chin Schlichte, one of twelve founding members of BCICS, in a statement.

The recommendations include fourteen Commonwealth charter schools and three Horace Mann, or so-called “in-district,” charter schools in Boston, Chelsea, Lawrence, Lynn, New Beford, Salem and Springfield.

"I have every expectation that these seventeen charter schools, if granted a charter by the Board later this month, will be well positioned to succeed academically and become high performing organiza-tions," Chester said in a statement, "This year's group of applicants was impressive in terms of the volume of interested par-ties; the quality of the proposals; and the potential to provide students with a strong academic program."

Chester has recommended approval of Commonwealth charters for the following fourteen schools:

• AlmadelMarCharterSchool

(New Bedford)• BridgeBostonCharterSchool

(Boston)• CommunityDayCharterPublic

School - Riverside (Lawrence)• CommunityDayCharterPublic

School - South (Lawrence)• DorchesterPreparatoryCharter

School (Boston)• EdwardW.BrookeCharter

School 2 (Boston)• EdwardW.BrookeCharter

School 3 (Regional school serving Boston and Chelsea)

• ExcelAcademyCharterSchool-Boston II (Boston)

• ExcelAcademyCharterSchool-Chelsea (Chelsea)

• GroveHallPreparatoryCharterSchool (Boston)

• KIPPAcademyBostonCharterSchool (Boston)

• LynnPreparatoryCharterSchool(Lynn)

• MATCHCommunityDayCharterPublic School (Boston)

• VeritasPreparatoryCharterSchool(Springfield)

Chester has recommended approval of Horace Mann charters for the following three schools:

• BostonGreenAcademyHoraceMann Charter School (Boston)

• SalemCommunityCharterSchool(Salem)

• UPAcademyCharterSchoolofBoston (Boston)

BCICS was the only innovation charter school amongst the twenty three

It’s a no-go for propsoed Mandarin immersion school

SEE IMMERSION PAGE 3

MIT150 Exhibit celebrates fac-ulty, alumni, and students' role in shaping Chinatown's future

By Kye Liang

The Massachusetts Institute of Tech-nology, a private university located in Cam-bridge, MA, was founded in 1861, almost adecadebeforethefirstlargegroupofChinese laborers arrived at a shoe factory in North Adams. More commonly known as MIT, the university is world-renowned foritsscientificandtechnologicalresearch.However, the history of Boston's China-town traveled on a very different trajectory than MIT’s. The community survived the Chinese Exclusion laws, police raids, and early redevelopment. In the 1950’s, institu-

tional and highway expansion threatened the Chinatown’s existence.

Luckily, this critical moment was saved by Tunney Lee, a young architect who grew up in Chinatown and returned to Boston after studying at University of Michigan and working at I.M. Pei. Lee became the chief of planning design for the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) in 1961. He oversaw the development of the South Cove Urban Renewal Plan of 1965, which drasticallyredefinedtheChinatowncom-munity. One of the goals of the Urban Re-newal Plan was to reduce severe conditions of blight and to protect the Chinatown resi-

SEE MIT PAGE 4

This drawing of the Boston Chinatown Master Plan 2010 is on display at MIT150. (Image courtesy of Kye Liang)

Being Chinese in Charlestown 查理斯鎮的華人歷史

The Charlestown Bridge, as seen from the neighborhood near Harvard Kent school. (Photo by Alissa Greenberg)/ 查理斯鎮橋。(Alissa Greenberg攝)

(文請見反面中文第九版)SEE ARTICLE ON PAGE 9

SAMPAN February 25, 2011Page 2

Comic

SAMPANA Publication of the AACA

www.sampan.org87 Tyler Street

Boston, MA 02111Tel: (617) 426-9492Fax: (617) 482-2316

Editor: Cody Yiueditor@sampan.org

English Section:

Contributors: Lillian Chan (Comic), Diana Li (News), Alissa Greenberg (News/Fea-ture), Cody Yiu (News), Kye Liang (News), Michael Tow (Finance), Alan Phillips (Re-view)

Copyeditor: Ada Chan

Layout: Cindy Shih, Joanna Zhou,

Cody Yiu

Graphic Design: Cindy Shih

Chinese Section:

Reporters: Jiaxian Cen, Jianghe Niu,Yuanli Zhu

Translation:Gong Quan Chen, Tien Tien,

Keke Xu, Mengyi Xu, Lihan Liu

Marketing and Advertising:

Advertising & Marketing Manager:

Joanna Zhou ads@sampan.org

SAMPAN is New England’s only biweekly bilingual English-Chinese newspaper. It is nonprofit and nonpartisan. Founded in 1972, Sampan is published by the Asian American Civic Association. Sam-pan is distributed free in China-town and the Greater Boston area. All donations to the publication are tax deductible. Subscription: $60/year (1st class mail); $30/year (3rd class mail).

READ E-SAMPANwww.sampan.org

Announcements

Applicant name:________________________________________________________________________________ First Middle Last

Birth date: ______ /_____ / _____ (mm/dd/yyyy) Gender: Male Female (please circle)

Current grade: ______ Current school: ___________________________

Does applicant have siblings interested in Boston Collegiate? YES NO

Name of parent/guardian: ________________________________________ First Last

Home address: ________________________________________________________________________________ Street number Street name Apt. #(if applicable) City State Zip

Home phone: _____________________ Cell phone: ___________________ Other phone: ___________________

Parent/Guardian Signature: __________________________ Date: ____________________

IS YOUR CHILD CURRENTLY IN 4TH GRADE? Complete the form below and deliver or mail by 5PM on March 4, 2011 to: Boston Collegiate Charter School, 215 Sydney St., Dorchester, MA 02125

Boston Collegiate Charter School is a tuition-free, public charter school providing an academically rigorous, college preparatory education to over 500 students in grades 5-12.

Visit us online at: www.bostoncollegiate.org

Eligibility:Massachusetts residents entering grades

5, 6, 7 & 8 in Fall 2011 (enrollment preference is given to BCCS siblings &

City of Boston residents).

WHAT GRADE ARE YOU APPLYING TO ENTER IN FALL 2011)? *Note: Must be 5th, 6th, 7th or 8th. Boston Collegiate DOES NOT accept students into grades 9, 10, 11 or 12.

Note: The information collected on this application will be used to determine eligibility for enrollment and to collect general information. It will not be used to discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, creed, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, mental or physical disability, age, ancestry, athletic perform-ance, special needs, proficiency in the English language or a foreign language, or prior academic achievement.

If applicable, Please list Sibling Name: ________________ Grade in Fall 2011: ___________ Is sibling on our waitlist? ______

CHINATOWN

AACA to hold community forum with Rep. Tackey Chan

Please join the Asian American Civic Association (AACA) and guest speaker State Representative Tackey Chan on Wednesday, March 9 from 12pm to 1pm at 4th floor,87TylerStreet,Boston,foradiscussiononvisionfor Greater Boston’s Asian communities. Rep. Chan is oneofthefirstAsianAmericanstobeelectedintoMas-sachusetts legislature.

ToRSVP,pleasecall617.426.9492x312ore-mailrsvp@aaca-boston.org

FUNDRAISERS

“A Spoonful of Ginger” food tasting event to benefit

Joslin Diabetes Center’s Asian American Diabetes Initiativewillhostaneveningoffinefoodandexquisiteart on Monday, March 28, from 6:30pm-9:30pm at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) . This year’s event will honor Dick & Deb Carlson, Eugene & Lai Wong, and Boston Chef Joanne Chang for their long-standing commitment to the Joslin Diabetes Center and the Asian American Diabetes Initiative (AADI). Participating chefs and res-taurants include Ming Tsaiof Blue Ginger, Jasper Whiteof Summer Shack, Joanne Changof Flour Bakery and My-ers + Chang, Wesley Chenof Changsho, Jose Duarte of Taranta, Cafénation, Chinatown Café and many others. To purchase tickets: Please visit www.events.joslin.org/ginger,orcontactJoslin’sDevelopmentOfficeat617-309-2531.

Chinatown News

By Diana Li

In observance of the Lunar New Year, Chinatown Main Street held the annual lion dance parade on Sunday, February 13. There were various lion dances from numerous organizations, such as Wah Lum, Gund Kwok, and many more. After each organization performed, they paraded through the streets of Chinatown, per-forming in front of every storefront to bring them luck and wealth.

Along with the lion dances were also dragon dances. To differentiate between the two types of dances, lion dances consists of only two people, whereas dragon dances consists of multiple.

Fire crackers, drums, and lion dances were heard and seen from all over the streets of Chinatown for hours on Sunday.

Diana Li is a Sampan correspondent.

Chinatown ushers in the Year of the Rabbit

Lions parade through the streets of Chinatown, ringing in the Chinese New Year and bringing luck and wealth to the businesses. (Photo by Diana Li)

BCNC launches youth technology program

February 18-- Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (BCNC) hosted the launch of the Digital Connectors Program, a youth technology program whichofferslowcosthigh-speedinternetservicetoqualifiedgraduatesofthe City of Boston’s three Sustainable Broadband Adoption (SBA) pro-grams including Technology Goes Home, Connected Living, and On Line Learning Readiness. Comcast also announced a partnership with One Economy to form the Comcast Digital Connectors program, providing more than 40 middle school, high school and college students from diverse and low-income backgrounds with digital literacy training.

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino (left) and youth at BCNC. (Photo by Cody Yiu)

February 25, 2011 SAMPAN Page 3

ZONING HEARING

-

For the Commission,Jeffrey M. Hampton, Secretary

Zoning Hearing

�e Zoning Commission of the City of Boston hereby gives notice, in accordance with Chapter 665 of the Acts of 1956, as amended, that a public hearing will be held on March 9, 2011 at 9:00 AM, in Room 900, Boston City Hall, in connection with a petition for the approval of the Amended and Restated Development Plan for Planned Development Area No. 73, Parcel 24, �led by the Boston Redevelopment Authority on behalf of Parcel 24 LLC (the “Proponent”).

�e Proponent proposes the new construction of a mixed-use development that consists of approximately three hundred forty-�ve (345) residential units, 5,500± square feet of commercial/retail space, 6,000± square feet of community space, approximately one hundred twenty-�ve (125) parking spaces in a below-grade parking garage, and related site improvements (the “Proposed Project”). Within the Proposed Project’s three hundred forty-�ve (345) residential units, approximately two hundred (200) will be created as market-rate rental units, approximately ninety-�ve (95) will be a�ordable rental units, and approximately �fty (50) will be a�ordable condominiums.

A copy of the petition, the Amended and Restated Development Plan, and a map of the area may be viewed at the O�ce of the Zoning Commission, Room 953C, Boston City Hall, between 9AM and 5 PM any day except Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays.

findourstories.Everyonehasanimmigrationstory,andthis includes the Native Americans, who have embarked on so many journeys…all the way from the tip of the America’s south, all the way north, and back and forth, where they collected waters from both oceans,” Hong Kingston said.

Hong Kingston took the audience to a darker chapter in history when Chinese immigrants were unwelcomed.In the late 1930’s, Hong Kingston’s mother, Ying Lan (Chew) Hong, traveled from China to the US to be with Kingston’s father. Upon arrival, she was detained on Angel Island, an immigration station in the San Francisco Bay, which had held many Chinese immigrants. Beginning with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, a series of restric-tive laws had prohibited the immigration of certain na-tionalities and social classes of Asians. Although all Asians were affected, the greatest impact was on the Chinese; more than 70 percent of the immigrants detained on Angel Island. Last year marked the 100th anniversary of the im-migration station at Angel Island.

Hong Kingston recited a scene from one of her memoirs of her visit to Angel Island on a foggy, autumn day. She tried to draw a mental picture of what her mother might have seen and felt.

“As we came, I pictured my mother coming in. And how it must have felt to her as she came in on the ship. And she had no idea where she was. And she didn’t know how long she would be kept here.” Hong Kingston said.

OnacoldNovemberFriday,wehiredafishingboatthat took us plunging and pitching into the Bay. The fog and waves poured onto the boat, which was moving too fast into the whiteness. The captain showed me on the sonar radar computer. Nothing on the screen, but more fog. Suddenly, Alcatraz. And suddenly, The Is-land….the open ocean between me and China. I am my mother, arriving at North America, seeing no landing place, no shelters, no cultivated farmland. No civiliza-

tion. Boy, the wild. The dangerous wild….

Gish Jen, whose father did not become a legal im-migrant until she was in grade school, is also a second generation immigrant. She cited a research study which shows that second generation immigrants are one of the most creative groups in negotiating and crossing between two cultures. When a member of the audience brought up a comment about illegal immigrants, Jen said that despite her background, she understands why some people have reservations about illegal immigrants. A great fear was that the illegal immigrants were there to take over avail-able jobs.

“Statistics [show that] unemployment [rate] is 10 percent overall, but between 18 and 30 year olds, the unemployment 25 percent. That is a lot of unemployed people. The middle class feels like they are under a lot of pressure…we are hard wired to be tribal…to love and to hate. I can understand why people have this reaction that “we can’t have this going on in this country [referring to illegal immigration],” Jen said.

Hong Kingston attributed the main reason for anti-illegal immigrant sentiment to an economic one.

“When I look back at my own immigration history…they [Hong Kingston’s family] were all illegal. When we think about illegal immigrants now, the idea is that they are breaking the law; they don’t deserve protection; they donotdeservethebenefits,”shesaid.“Whenwelookatillegal immigrants, the United States has always had a policy where you could come here as a refugee, political persecution, but you cannot be here for economic reason [you are last in line]. Economic reasons sound like you are going to come here and make a lot of money, and take it back somewhere. But the economic reason is that you want to be with your family, and you want to take care for your family and that’s the basic reason for illegal immigra-tion,” she continued.

Hong Kingston, who is known for her anti-war stance,

also weighed in on the Dream Act, a bill that failed to be-come law last December. The bill intended to give young adults, who had arrived in the United States illegally, an opportunity to earn their legal residency through higher education or military service.

“It’s not only about young people. But you could join the military, you could serve in Afghanistan, you could serve in Iraq, and you cannot be a citizen. Can you imag-ine being in the American army…after you’ve come back, if you come back, you are not allowed to be a citizen?” Hong Kingston said. “I think of that through all the wars. It’s unfortunate that there has to be wars. But so many minority people join the army. They think that they are going to earn their citizenship. When the Japanese were intherelocationcamps,theywerefightinginEurope,andthey thought this meant that when they came back, they would get their full rights to be American. Somehow, their idea was that you had to earn your right to be an American bybeingasoldier.SotheseforeignersarefightinginIraqand Afghanistan to prove themselves as Americans, only to come back and be told by the [failure of passage] Dream Act that they are not granted an American citizenship. How is that supporting our troops?”

Hong Kingston’s response begs the question: What should be done to change the culture and to help lawmak-ers obtain different perspectives on immigration?

Jen proposed an interesting solution.“[We have] to educate them. I think that all members

of Congress, before they run for congress, should be forced to go abroad once, [and] own a passport,” she said. “And how to change the culture? [We have] to get our neighbors to understand that we, too, are citizens of the world.”

Thefinaltwopaneldiscussionevents,titled“Im-migrants in Boston” and “Children of Immigrants,” will be held at 6PM on March 3 and March 15, at the Boston Athenaeum. For more information, please visit http://bostonathenaeum.org/node/events/upcoming/all

finalistcharterapplicantsbeing considered this year. The board will vote on the recommendations February 28, and the lottery for all charters will be in March.

The feedback from the CharterSchoolOfficetothe BCICS team states, “. . . It is not uncommon for applicant groups to return with a second or even third application, after improving the quality of their appli-cation based on feedback from the Department. Since 2001, seven of the twenty-three schools that have been chartered have gone through the applica-tion process twice. The Commissioner encourages your group to consider re-applying during next year’s application cycle.”

Some parents who rooted for BCICS were let down by the news.

“I am very sad to hear this - and disappointed for

my daughter. Of course I hope (and anticipate) that the BCIS people will ad-dress whatever issues the CharterSchoolOfficehasand re-submit,” said Lisa Du Breuil, who adopted herfive-year-olddaughter,Mary Xiaohui, with her husband from China over three years ago. Du Breuil had hoped that Mary could be a student at BCICS. “I think the City would be very foolish to pass up and opportunity for a Chinese Immersion school. There's so much evidence that studying Mandarin is of greatbenefittoWesternchildren, not to mention the growing importance.”

The only Chinese im-mersion charter school that currently operates in Mas-sachusetts is the Pioneer ValleyChineseImmersionCharter School in Hadley, which opened in 2007.

WRITERS, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

IMMERSION, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1Chinatown News

The Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation awarded a $600,000 3-year grant to the Asian American Civic Association (AACA) for a transitional English pro-gram designed to prepare immigrant adults for college or employment. The Next Steps Transitional English Pro-gram (Next STEP) will transition low-intermediate level English language learners to higher English levels so they can advance into college or employment.

Next STEP will be open to all interested immigrants whose goals are to advance their education or career. En-rollment will begin in March with classes starting in May 2011. The Smith Family Foundation’s 3-year investment will cover four levels of English with the fourth level focus-ing on college preparation or job preparation.

“TheSmithFamilyFoundationisinterestedinfillinga void in existing ESL programs. Many ESL programs stop at the advanced beginner or intermediate levels. Next STEP will provide a continuation of ESL at higher Eng-lish levels to adequately prepare students for college and employment in an English speaking environment,” says Lynne Doblin, Smith Family Foundation Interim Execu-tive Director.

With matching funds from the Massachusetts Depart-ment of Elementary and Secondary Education, Next STEP will serve 150 students per year. Anne Serino, Massachu-setts ABE State Director adds, “We are pleased to join

with the Smith Family Foundation to support this critical public-private partnership that will provide greater edu-cational and workforce opportunities for immigrant adult learners.” After successful completion of the program, AACA will provide job placement and two-year post-place-ment support for employed and college going graduates.

“The Asian American Civic Association is thrilled that this new grant from the Smith Family Foundation will provide needed education to prepare students to succeed in college and employment,” says Chau-ming Lee, AACA’s Executive Director.

AllpotentialstudentscancontactVictoriaWongatAACA for more information: 617-426-9492, ext. 251 or intake@aaca-boston.org.

AACA, located in Boston’s Chinatown, has been of-fering educational and social services to Boston’s Asian and other immigrant communities since 1967. AACA has been at the forefront in procuring employment in an often discriminatory environment, working towards equal social and economic opportunities for underserved populations and providing the support services essential for their as-similation into local communities. AACA’s mission is to provide limited English-speaking and economically disad-vantaged people with education, occupational training and social services, enabling them to realize lasting economic self-sufficiency.

Smith Family Foundation grants $600,000 to AACA for adult English learners

SAMPAN February 25, 2011Page 4

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dential neighborhood from the encroachment of Tufts Medical Center. As a result of this plan, more than 1,000 affordable housing units were built in Chinatown at Tai TungVillage,MassPikeTow-ers, and Castle Square. These, in addition to the Quincy Community School and other housing developments that came later, sustained the residential community and provided housing options for many working-class Asian families to stay in Chinatown. After his career at the BRA and community planning in Washington D.C., Lee started teaching at MIT's Depart-ment of Urban Studies. Through his classes and stu-dios, Lee encouraged many MIT students and alumni to work in the community and to lend their expertise.

MIT alumni have worked on projects that have shaped Chinatown such as the Chinatown Studio in 1977, Chinatown Community Plan 1990, Chinatown Master Plan 2000, affordable housing developments, and more re-cently the Chinatown Master Plan 2010. Notable MIT ar-chitects and planners include Kairos Shen, Chief Planner at the Boston Redevelopment Authority, Randall Imai, Lawrence Cheng, and Ting-fun Yeh, BRA planner for Chinatown and the author of the 1990 Chinatown master plan. The 1990 master plan wasasignificantmilestoneasthe city established regula-tions for zoning and land use to preserve the community and to redirect highway and institutional expansion.

To celebrate its 150th-year anniversary, MIT orga-nized the MIT150 Exhibit to showcase the best inventions, innovations, and contribu-tions made by MIT students, faculty, and alumni. During a recent visit to the exhibit, curator Deborah Douglas explained that hundreds of objects were considered for the exhibit and the list was narrowed down to 150 ob-jects. Included in the exhibit was a replica of a drawing of the Boston Chinatown Master Plan 2010 by Imai. The 36”x24” colored pencil draw-ing was originally on display at W/Y Gallery in Chinatown and is on loan to the MIT150 Exhibit. The exhibit is open from January 7 to June 5.

Imai recalls, “Since com-ing to Boston 40 years ago, I have been working with TunneyLee.Hewasmyfirstinstructor in graduate school and my thesis advisor. I was not a particularly focused graduate student, but Tun-ney's approach to bringing planning sensibilities to architectural design really appealed to me. In 1988, one ofthefirstthingswedidwaswin a design competition for the Boston Chinatown Com-

Chinatown News Tufts Medical Center CEO Ellen Zane to retire in September

Ellen Zane, president and CEO of Tufts Medical Center and Floating Hospital for Children for more than seven transformative years, announced on February 17 that she would retire from her current role in the fall. Zane will continue to consult with the hospital for a year after her retirementandwillserveasaViceChairmanofitsBoardof Trustees. The Board of Trustees will begin a compre-hensive search for a new CEO to lead the organization into a new era.

“While I look forward to enjoying retirement, this decision is a bittersweet one for me,” Zane said. “I am so proud of what my team and I have accomplished at Tufts Medical Center. I have loved leading the Medical Center and working with the incredible doctors, nurses, adminis-trators, researchers and staff members here. I have never worked with a more dedicated group of people in my career. This decision is far easier because I know we have excellent staff and leadership who will continue to provide a strong direction for this indispensible institution. I look forward to the remaining months of my tenure as CEO and to continuing to provide advice and guidance to the leadership here.”

ZaneisthefirstwomantoserveasCEOinthe215-yearhistory of the hospital, which was founded by Paul Revere and Samuel Adams, and is one of the oldest medical insti-tutions in the nation.

Within Tufts Medical Center’s own community of

Chinatown, the Medical Center continues to serve as the local community hospital and its economic engine. Under Zane’sleadership,thehospitalhasmadesignificantin-vestments in improving Chinatown’s health. The hospital’s Asian Access program currently offers more than ten clini-cal programs aimed at speakers of Asian languages, along with a robust interpretive services department. Tufts Medical Center is also a major funder of Chinatown non-profitprograms,contributing$450,000initsmostrecenttwo-year grant cycle.

Zane received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. in 1973 and her Master of Arts degree in 1975 from the Catholic University of America in Washington. She began her career as a direct care provider, serving patients as a speech-language pathologist and audiologist. She tackled herfirstmanagementroleatMortonHospitalinTauntonas director of the Speech, Language and Hearing Center. She was called to Quincy Medical Center to help that hos-pitalcorrectitsfinancialsituationandimproveitspositionwithin the local community health care environment. When she took over at QMC, then Quincy Hospital, the hospital had eight days cash on hand. At the time, Zane was an employee of Hospital Corporation of America who had the management contract to manage Quincy Medical Center.

President and CEO of Tufts Medical Center Ellen Zane (fourth from the right) is to retire in September. (Photo by Cody Yiu)

munity Center building (which later became the 23-story Metropolitan). For the past ten years, we have been slowly developing an urban atlas for Boston's Chinatown, a large document with professional cartography. In the meantime, we both volunteered on the Tech-nical Committee for the 2010 Master Plan Update for Chinatown.”

In a most recent ef-fort, six MIT faculty and alumni collaborated with community members to develop the Chinatown Master Plan 2010: Com-munityVisionfortheFuture. This document summarizes Chinatown's history and sets forth a vision for the community’s future. Daphne Politis, MIT class of 1985, and who served as the facilita-tor in the public meetings says, “It was my honor and privilege to work with members of the China-town community and I was humbled by their dedication and insight. Together, we developed a visionary plan to help guide the future of one of the City’s most unique neighborhoods.”

The MIT150 Exhibit is open from January 7 to June 5.

Website at http://museum.mit.

edu/150MIT Museum

Building N51 265 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139

Kye Liang was the

Project Coordinator for the Chinatown Master Plan 2010. He can be reached at kye.liang@chinatowngateway.org.

February 25, 2011 SAMPAN Page 5

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Quincy News

Quincy Mayor’s Asian American Advisory Committee draws diverse group

By Natalie Ornell

People of all ages and backgrounds are taking the initiative to help Quincy’s growing Asian population by participating in the Mayor’s Asian American Advisory Committee monthly meetings.

This month’s meeting was comprised a small group, including retired Braintree High School teacher George Knasas, vol-unteer Sarah Sun, Mass. Energy Program Coordinator Maura O’Gara, community advocateBettyYau,QuincyPoliceofficerGreg Mar, founder of the Quincy Chinese Church of the Nazarene Donald Reed, and Director of the North Quincy Community Center Stephen Buckley.

The Mayor’s Asian American Advisory Committee convened on February 19 to discuss the progress of Quincy’s water meter replacement project, as well as an update from the Energy Smart program.

According to Betty Yau, the water meter replacement project will take place over two years.

“Each household will have the water meters replaced. Some people have had the water meters replaced already.”

Quincy Policeman Greg Mar attended the meeting and noted that he came across a situation where the tenants were not answering the door when they were sup-posed to be home to have the water meters replaced. The committee urges residents

tocarefullyreadthenotifications,whichhave been printed in Chinese and English, to make sure that they are present at the time of the replacement in order to avoid future hassles.

Maura O’Gara, representing the Energy Smart program which launched in July of last year, came to the meeting again to discuss various energy saving initiatives and to encourage people to learn how they canbenefitfromtheprogram.

O’Gara said, “The City was awarded an energyefficiencyandblockgrant.Theyused it for a number of projects in the city. They wanted an education program for the public to reduce fossil fuels.”

She explained that there is no cost for an energy consultation.

“If people want to support renewable energy, there are different incentives for getting solar on one’s home. The Mass Save program assessments are free and there’s no obligation,” she said.

Yau noted that the Lunar New Year Events were “fun and joyful” and that photos from the luncheon at the Kennedy Center will be featured on the upcoming Eye On QuincyTVshow.

Natalie Ornell is a Sampan correspon-dent.

(Left to right) George Knasas, Sarah Sun, Maura O'Gara, Betty Yau, Greg Mar, Donald Reed, Stephen Buckley. (Photo by Natalie Ornell)

Personal Finance Busting college savings mythsBy Michael C. Tow

Have you ever seen that cool show on TVthatbustsalldifferentkindsofmyths?Especiallythatepisodewheretheyfindoutif talking on a cell phone while pumping gas could actually cause an explosion? Or that other episode where they see if an elevator suddenly falls, could you save yourself in the nick of time by jumping out just before it hits the bottom?

In today’s article, we will bust some college savings myths… just as cool as the show, right?

We make too much money to get financial aid.

This myth may be true, but the per-centage is a lot smaller than most think. Thisispartiallybecausemostfinancialaidcomes in the form of a loan package. There are many factors that can affect your abil-itytogetfinancialaid;sodon’tautomati-cally rule it out. The age of the parents, number of dependents and how many children you have in college at the same time are some of the factors considered by financialaidofficers.

I should put money in my child’s name to save on taxes.

Putting money in a child’s name may allow you to pay lower taxes, but it will alsohurtyouwhenapplyingforfinan-cial aid. Assets under the child’s name are assessed at 20% when determining the expected family contribution or EFC while only 5.6% of the parent’s assets are counted under this formula. Remember: 529 plans are listed as the parent’s assets not as the child’s.

Why save when it will just reduce the amount we will get in aid.

Most aid is determined by the amount of your income along with your child’s assets and income. Remember that out of all of your investable assets or the amount

you have saved, only 5.6% is factored into the expected family contribution. So, if you save $10,000 that means that $560 is the amountthatyourfinancialaidpackagewould be reduced by.

My child will get a scholarship. If you’re banking on your child getting

an athletic scholarship for college, well, you better consider on banking somewhere else. Only 2-3% of high school athletes get college scholarships. While the percentage of students who receive merit scholarships is higher, most are only partial scholar-ships.

529 plans are too expensive and there doesn’t seem to be a big enough reason for me to do one.

529 plans are probably the single best way to save money for college. The money goes in, and then it grows tax free and if used for college, comes out tax free. As-sets in a 529 do not count as assets of the child but as assets as the adult. If for some reason your child decides to not go to col-lege,youcanevenchangethebeneficiaryto another family member who will attend college. 529 plans do cost money, but these fees far outweigh the consequences of not starting one.

Now with all these college savings myths BUSTED, here is one myth that is 100 % true:

College is expensive and it’s coming up for your child sooner than you think. So start putting away money for your children today!

If you have a question or topic that you would like me to discuss in a future article pleaseemailmeatmtow@newbostonfi-nancial.com.

Michael Tow is a Certified Financial Planner. He can be reached at 617-734-4400 or www.newbostonfinancial.com

SAMPAN February 25, 2011Page 6

HealthInterview with Dr. Deeb Salem

An interview with Deeb Salem, Chairman of the Department of Adult Medicine at Tufts Medical Center and a long time member of AACA’s Board of Directors.

Sampan: Dr. Salem, why is everyone so con-cerned about being over-weight and obese?

Salem: The statistics have been telling us that Americans have been gaining weight over the last few decades for a number of reasons. Being over-weight and obese puts people at risk for other seri-ous medical problems that could be avoided, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, kidney disease and type 2 diabetes. These conditions can lead to other serious health problems and affect a person’s quality of life and survival.

Sampan: You mentioned that there are a number of reasons the population is getting heavier. What are some of those reasons?

Salem: Everyone’s very busy, there’s easy ac-cess to fast foods, but it’s also the size of portions. Studies that have shown the serving sizes at restau-rants have increased almost by 50% over the last 10 years. We are also living much more sedentary lifestyles – there’s less physical education in school, more interest in computers, computer games and television for children and youth, and for adults – work is less physical, it is, again, more sedentary. The combination is not a good one.

Sampan: And what is an over-weight person to do?

Salem: Well we’re not suggesting that people stop eating fast foods, or their favorite foods. We’re encouraging people to avoid making them their staples as well as eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fewer fried and fatty foods, and become more active, i.e. walking more, or enjoying a new activity such as ballroom dancing, Zumba, even bowling on a regular basis. There are many activities, both indoors and outdoors that can be done alone or with friends.

Sampan: So obesity and diabetes can be pre-vented?

Salem: Yes, for many people, making different food choices, reducing portion sizes and increasing one’s physical activities on a regular basis will help

people to avoid gaining weight or lose weight and maintain that weight loss. By maintaining a healthy weight and regular physical activities, many people will avoid type 2 diabetes.

Sampan: And the importance of avoiding diabetes?

Salem: Diabetes, like obesity, can lead to high blood pressure, kidney disease, heart disease, circu-latory problems, neuropathy (nerve pain) and glau-coma which could lead to blindness. All of which would affect a person’s overall health and ability to lead an active life. I should just add that there are two types of diabetes, type 1 where there is a family history and early on-set. Type 2 is the most com-mon form and is the one that has risen drastically in recent years and is related to weight gain. Millions of adult now suffer from pre-diabetes which raises the risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

Sampan: So how is Tufts Medical Center help-ing to address the “epidemic” of obesity and rise in diabetes?

Salem: The Medical Center has a number of grant funded initiatives, including the Asian Health Initiative. For the current cycle, diabetes, obesity and tobacco use (smoking) are the priorities. Five organizations based here in Chinatown have been awarded grants to provide a wide range of physical activities such as ice skating, exercise classes, even rock climbing. The programs have been designed to meet the needs of adults, teens and children.

Staff from the Youth Wellness Program will also be providing training to grantees staff on nutrition and helping them to help their participants create balanced meals, understand food labels and choose healthy snacks.

Among the programs that we have at Tufts are a Youth Wellness Program that works with youth and their families to prevent obesity or help youth with healthier habits and weight loss. We have also initi-ated a Diabetes Reversal Program for adults.

Sampan. Thank you for this informative inter-view.

Salem: My pleasure.

Article funded through the Asian Health Initia-tive of Tufts Medical Center

Restaurant Review

China Gourmet Restaurant in Chinatown, Boston

By Alan Phillips

VisitorsofChinatown,whoare looking for something to eat, usually head for the larger and more attention-grabbing restaurants, such as the big dim sum palaces, the latest upscale shabu restaurants or the store-fronts with the biggest windows and the most neon lights. But tucked in between the more popular places are smaller eateries that while little-noticed, often serve better food than their bigger neighbors. One such place is the China Gourmet Restaurant. Despite its generic English name, its food tastes anything but generic.

The China Gourmet is easy to miss. It’s next to the parking lot on Tyler Street, up the stairs from the sidewalk. Inside is a tiny room with a few tables and manyfishtanksalongthewallfilledwithcrabs,lobsters,eelsandassortedbigfishes.Thecramped space doesn’t look promising with its small win-dow and wait staff that may not always speak English, but the food makes it all worth while.

The China Gourmet special-izes in Fuzhou cuisine from Fujian province in China. Most of the customers here seem to be Fujian natives judging from their dialects. Fuzhou cuisine is something I’m not familiar with, so this restaurant was my introduction to the region.

Many of best dishes here are the simplest ones. At the top of the menu are “Foo Chow Special Style” dishes. These are appetizers and small soups. The simply named “Taro Cake” is a thin cake of deep fried mashed taro. It’s not something I would have thought would be

interesting, but this is very deli-cious.IthasaflavorofChinesefive-spiceandaniseandmakesa perfect light appetizer.

I always get the “Foo Chow Style Wonton Soup” as a starter. Every restaurant in Chinatown has wonton soup, but this one is quite different. Instead ofgroundmeat,thefillingismadeofpoundedorflattenedpiecesofpork.Theflavorofthesoup is unique because it has a trace of rice wine in it. In fact, manyofthesoupsareflavoredwith rice wine, although this is never mentioned on the menu. Shaoxing rice wine is a famous product of Fujian province and used all over China in cooking. At home, we use it as a cooking wine for Chinese dishes. But at the China Gourmet, rice wine isoftenthesignatureflavorformany of the soups.

The section of the menu un-der “Foo Chow Noodle Soup” is wheremostofthewine-flavoreddishes are. The misspelled “Loofal and Clam with White Noodles Soup” is one typical example. It has green loofah gourd with whole clams and thick heavy noodles. But while the wonton soup had a light flavorofricewine,thisnoodlesoup has much more. The fragrant smell of the rice wine is very distinctive and the taste is very light despite the alco-hol content. But if you don’t want wine in your dishes, let the waitress know—there is no indication on the menu of which dishes have wine.

Fujian is a coastal province so there are a great many sea-food dishes on the menu. There are lots of clams and razor clams, as well as some more exotic ones that I haven’t dared

SEE GOURMET, PAGE 7Get Involved in Your

NEWSPAPER!NEWSPAPER!SAMPAN is seeking community correspondents, photog-raphers, translators and columnists to help us provide coverage of major events and happenings in the Asian American commu-nity in Metro Boston. We are especially seeking Malden and Quincy correspondents to help us stay connected with these communities. Ideal candidates should have an interest in writing or/and reporting. We wel-come students, working professionals, stay-at-home parents, retirees and all others who are interested in Asian-American affairs.

Anyone interested in contributing to SAMPAN should e-mail recruit@sampan.org.

Event ReportingEvent AnnouncementsEvent PhotosTranslationOpinion

February 25, 2011 SAMPAN Page 7

By Alissa Greenberg

In her newest book, “I Like A Broad Margin To My Life,” Maxine Hong Kingston revisits a well in her family’s village in China, the place where her aunt committed suicide. Upon reaching the village, a woman offers her a drink from that well: “I put/both hands into the water, then/ touched my forehead, touched my eyes,/ and held my palms against my cheeks…/ I am blessing myself and my aunt, and all that happened.” But she wonders, “Perhaps the well water/ had been offered innocently, I the only one/ who remembers the past… /and believes ritual settles scores.”

Rituals aren’t the only things that settle scores in “Broad Mar-gin,”abook-lengthpoemthatfindsclosure for characters from Hong Kingston’s older stories, such as “The Woman Warrior” and “Trip-master Monkey,” as well as mulling over the passage of time, the aging process, and the complexities of language.

“In a poetic vision, I’m able to write the ending for these stories--maybe not ‘happy’, but at least endowed with some sort of higher meaning or justice,” she said at a recent reading at Suffolk Univer-sity’s Modern Theater. In this case, it means seeing with what she calls, “poet’s eyes.” “If I weren’t a poet, I might have just thought ‘it’s a hot day, and a nice woman came to give me a drink of water. People who don’t see with a poet’s eyes can’t recognize a miracle in front of them.”

Hong Kingston was speaking as part of a distinguished writers’ series given by the Suffolk Creative Writing program, one in which she has participated for six of the past seven years. “We see her as very much a part of our broad artistic and academic family,” said Fred Marchant, the program’s director. ItwasHongKingston’sfirsttime,however, speaking at the newly-

remodeled theater. “We love the new location, that it’s down at the edge of Chinatown…Suffolk has al-ways been a part of this community and I’ve always wanted to know its neighbors,” Marchant said.

Hong Kingston read for 45 min-utes on the theater’s small stage, her shock of white hair cascading over shoulders, contrasting with a dark gray striped dress, a jolt of a red scarf, and sensible sneakers. Speech tinged by lightly accented, rounded vowels, she shared thoughts from the book on aging, the power of poetry, and her experiences with anti-war protests—all experiences culled from every day life.

Hong Kingston set out to write “BroadMargin”inamodifieddiaryformat, and the book does have a loose, free-form feel. “I write very spontaneously. Whatever comes to me strongly right now, I set it down. Whathelpedtheflowinthiscasewas imagining that I was writing a Chinese scroll,” she explained in an interview, “I just saw the scroll exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts [Fresh Ink, which ran through February13],whichreaffirmedforme that the spiritual journey, as well as the real journey, can be written or painted by the scroll. So I can imagine myself going to all of those villages that are in the poem. And the place where I enter each village I can write in more detail, and then as I go on my way I can write the sceneryasitflowspast.”

This approach helps inform Hong Kingston’s signature style, which has always navigated the bor-der between poetry and prose. “For me there isn’t much difference... In both genres, we need rhythms, im-ages, and perspective. When I write prose, I often take paragraphs and put them into poetic lines. When Iwritepoetry,Iusefictiontech-niques, paying attention to points of drama and the cycle of acts and scenes. And I compose both poetry and prose by reading aloud to catch the rhythms of the natural human

voice,” Hong Kingston explained.Two of her literary idols, Walt

Whitman and William Carlos Wil-liams, wrote this way as well. “Both of them wrote book-length poetry,” shenoted.“AndIwasveryinflu-enced by Whitman’s vision of an America in which all these different people live together.” As for Wil-liams—“His motto for writers was ‘not in ideas but in things.’… After all my work burned in the Oakley Berkeleyfires[in1991]Istartedwondering, how do you bring these things you lost back into being? And I’ve used that in my work with veterans, too. How can they bring themselves back?”

Indeed, Carlos Williams and Whitman are not Hong Kingston’s onlyinfluences.ShealsocitestheVietnamesemonk,ThichNhatHanh, as someone who has affected her by stirring her interest in peace activism and veteran affairs. “I’ve always had an interest in that sort of thing. I was a kid during WWII, and I had cousins in uniform coming through the house saying goodbye, goingtowarinthePacificandinAsia,” she told the audience at the Modern Theater. “I was young when an A-bomb dropped in Japan, too, andIwashorrified.”

It was Nhat Hanh’s idea to promotehealinginVietnambybringing ex-soldiers together to retreat there decades after the war. “I joined him to give writing workshops to veterans… Everybody needs an art, especially writing, to express their stories,” she said. This project eventually came to fruition with“VeteransofWar,VeteransofPiece,” a compilation of veterans’ stories that Hong Kingston edited and helped publish in 2006. She sees more of those kind of projects in her future.

“The last few lines of ‘Broad Margin’ say that I have accom-plished my life’s work, and it would feel very good to lay pen down. In the last couple months since the book has been put away…. Well,

Prominent author visits Suffolk University to share thoughts on the power of poetry

Boston News

to try yet like “Jelly Fish Head”.They also have a selection of excellent rice plates

with Fuzhou style dishes as well as other regional Chi-neseflavors.Oneofmyfavoritesisthe“PepperwithShreddedPorkonRice”—aslightlyspicy-flavoreddishthat goes perfectly with wonton soup.

Oneofthegreatbenefitsofthesmaller,hiddenrestaurants in Chinatown is the price. The Taro Cake is an appetizer for two people yet costs only one single dollar! The Foo Chow Style Wonton Soup is only $2.75. While some of the seafood dishes can get expensive, you could get a dinner for three people with appetiz-ers for about twenty dollars. So next time you’re in Chinatown and want to try something different with-out spending a fortune, stop by the unassuming China Gourmet Restaurant for a taste of Fuzhou cuisine.

China Gourmet Restaurant味中味

23 Tyler StreetBoston, MA 02111

Alan Phillips is the technology coordinator and ASCENT instructor at the Asian American Civic As-sociation.

Pepper with Shredded Pork. (Photo by Alan Phillips)

Soup, Taro and Rice Plate. (Photo by Alan Phillips)

GOURMET, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

[the Chinese American writer] Gish Jen talks about a feeling of being emptied out, not having any more to say, and I’ve really felt that.”

For now, Hong Kings-ton continues to enjoy a life light on writing, concentrating on teaching at University of California and speaking engage-ments like the Modern Theater talk. That evening attracted a largely aca-demic crowd, including both faculty and students from Suffolk Univer-sity, UMass Boston, and Bridgewater State. During a question and answer session, one student asked about Hong Kingston’s beginnings as a poet; another wanted to know what drove her devotion to peaceful protest. The discussionflowedfreely,encompassing writing, literature, and the im-

migrant experience all in one.

Students Alana Kelley and Cassandra Oh took a moment following the reading to praise Hong Kingston for her stage presence, creativity and “great stories.” And Kath-erine Kimble, who lives nearby on Beacon Hill, listened raptly to Hong Kingston, and expressed excitement at the pres-ence of such events in the neighborhood. “I love what they’re doing with these old theaters,” she said,“Ifinditallfasci-nating. I hadn’t heard of Maxine Hong Kingston before; but after this, I definitelywanttoreadsome of her books.”

Alissa Greenberg is a Sampan correspondent.

Maxine Hong Kingston spoke as part of a distinguished writers’ series given by the Suffolk Creative Writing program. (Photo by Cody Yiu)

SAMPAN February 25, 2011Page 8

Barrows Brook Village Kingston Affordable Housing

Five 3BR, 2.5 bathroom single family homes: $187,400

Your Total Monthly Housing Costs* are only $1,400 (approx.)!!!

*Total Monthly Housing Costs are the estimated sum of a your mortgage payment (30 year, fixed rate), your monthly real-estate taxes, insurance and Home Owners Association Fees

Barrows Brook Village is a new development in Kingston, where you get all the privacy of a single family home with all the conveniences of a condominium. Barrows Brook Village will consist of 56 single family homes set in the most private and distinctive piece of property on the South Shore.

There will be a total of 14 affordable homes sold at affordable prices to households with incomes at or below 80% of the area median income. Five of these homes are being offered through this lottery.

The Maximum Income Limits for Households are as follows: 1 Person - $45,100 2 Person - $51,550 3 Person - $58,000 4 Person - $64,400 5 Person - $69,600 6 Person - $74,750

Households cannot have more than $75,000 in assets.

For more information on the Development, the Units or the Lottery and Application Process,

please visit: www.s-e-b.com/lottery or call 617.782.6900. For more information on the development please visit www.BarrowsBrookVillage.com

Applications and Information available at the Kingston Public Library on 6 Green St

(open Mon 1pm-8pm; Tue-Thu 10am-8pm; Sat 10am-5pm)

A Public Information Session will be held on March 23rd, 2011 at 7:00 pm in the Kingston Town Hall (26 Evergreen St). The lottery will be held on April 27th, 2011

Completed Applications and Required Income Documentation must be delivered, not

postmarked, by April 15th, 2011

Campion EstatesA�ordable Housing

North Andoverwww.CampionEstates.com

Campion Estates is a new redevelopment of a turn-of-the-century Mansion and Carriage House in North Andover!

Two 3BR Homes: $157,300 to $160,400Two 2BR Homes: $140,800 to $148,700

�ree 1BR Homes: $128,200

�e development will consists of a total of twenty six unit: eleven condomini-ums in the redeveloped Mansion, two condos in the redeveloped Carriage

House, one single family home, and twelve 3BR townhouse units arranged in three clusters of four units each. Seven of these homes will be o�ered and sold through this lottery to households with incomes at or below 80% of the area

median income.

�e Maximum Income Limits for Households are as follows: 1 Person - $45,100 2 Person - $51,550 3 Person - $58,000 4 Person - $64,400 5 Person - $69,600 6 Person - $74,750

Households cannot have more than $75,000 in assets.

For more information on the Development, the Units or the Lottery and Application Process, please visit:

www.s-e-b.com/lottery or call 617.782.6900

Applications and Information available at the North Andover Public Library(345 Main Street, hours are 10-9 M-�, 10-5 F-Sa, 2-5 Sun).

A Public Information Session will be held on March 2nd, 2011 at 7:00 pm in theNorth Andover Public Library.

�e lottery will be held on April 13th, 2011Completed Applications and Required Income Documentation must be received, not postmarked, by April 4th, 2011. Please take all necessary measures to ensure

your application is delivered by April 4th.

The Townhomes at Parkview VillageOne 3BR Townhome $294,300

South Weymouth, MAwww.WhitmanHomes.com

www.SouthField.com

The Townhomes at Parkview Village are being built in the newly redeveloped South Weymouth Naval Air Station. One of the four Townhomes (The Biltmore) is being offered at a discounted price to eligible households through a lottery process. The resale restriction (i.e. discounted price) on this home is removed after 5 years and the owners can then sell their home for fair market value.

The Biltmore shows excellent value for the price with over 764 sq ft on the first floor with country sized kitchen with pantry and dining area, expansive family room, main level laundry, all bedrooms on upper level, nice foyer entrance with coat closet, cozy balcony overlooking the Park, basement with storage available or finishing options.

Please go to www.Whitmanhomes.com for more information on floorplans, specifica-tions and neighborhood details.

Completed Applications and Required Income Documentation must be delivered, not postmarked, by April 21st, 2011

The SouthField Welcome Center will be the location for a public Info Session on March 30th, 2011 at 7 pm and the Lottery on May 4th, 2011.

For Lottery Information and Applications for the lottery, go to www.s-e-b.com/lottery or call (617) 782-6900 And Leave A Message.

Applications and Information also available at the SouthField Welcome Center on 223 Shea Memorial Drive in South Weymouth

(M 10-5, Th 10-6, F 10-5, Sa 10-4, Sun 12-4).Details on the Townhomes can be found at WhitmanHomes.com. Details on the

entire SouthField community can be found at www.SouthField.com

Household Size Minimum Income Limit Maximum Income Limit 1 $45,100 $ 77,160 2 $51,550 $ 88,200 3 $58,000 $ 99,240 4 $64,400 $ 110,160 5 $69,600 $ 119,040 6 $74,750 $ 127,800

7166

963

Why worry about power outages, snow-related injuries and all the hassles of winter when you can live maintenance-free at Linden Ponds?

Our apartment homes are a short indoor stroll to a clubhouse full of resources and activities. Even the worst weather forecast won’t slow you down!

Call 1-800-640-1738 today for your free Guide to Erickson Living® at Linden Ponds. It’s the first step toward a lifestyle free from winter worries!

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We’re shaking up how you feel about winter.

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Linden Ponds values diversity. We welcome all faiths, races and ethnicities, and housing opportunities are available for low and moderate income households.

CLASSIFIED / HOUSING

February 25, 2011 SAMPAN Page 9

Affordable HousingSudbury, MA

Villages at Old County Rd (MassHousing)

2 Bedroom units - $168,500 (two units)

3 Bedroom units – $188,800 (one unit)

Sudbury Home Preservation Program (Local Action Units)

Single-Family Detached Homes (up to two units)

Maximum $193,500 (house with land)

Information Session: Wednesday March 9, 2011, 7:30pm Goodnow Library

Applications accepted: Through April 28, 2011, 1:00pm

Application and Information: Housing@Sudbury.Ma.US

278 Old Sudbury Road, Sudbury, MA 01776, 978-639-3388Income and Asset Limits,

Use and Resale Restrictions Apply

NEW

for first-time homebuyers who require three bedrooms, have good credit, and

NEW, AFFORDABLE 3 - BEDROOM CONDOS FOR SALE FOR $193,000 at 310 Hammond Pond Parkway, Brookline

(16-unit market-rate development located near Route 9 and the Chestnut Hill commercial area)

have combined gross household income below the indicated maximums:

no. of persons in family 3 4 5 6

maximum income $58,000 $64,400 $69,600 $74,750

monthly condo fees and taxes estimated at a total of $114

PRELIMINARY APPLICATION AND LENDER PRE-QUALIFICATION DUE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, AND BY Friday, April 1, 2011 FOR INCLUSION IN LOTTERY

For application and information regarding this project, and to sign onto Brookline’s email list for timely notification of future affordable housing opportunities, go to

www.brooklinema.gov/housing/currentopportunities/call (617) 730-2090, or visit

Planning Dept., Room 309, 333 Washington Street, Brookline, and Brookline public libraries

It is unlawful to discriminate against any person because of race, color, religion, familial status, age, sex, sexual orientation, handicap, veteran’s status, national origin or ancestry.

Moderate Income Subsidized Waiting List Open

Waiting list for one and two bedroom subsi-dized apartments open at Bedford Village Apartments. For one-bedroom, rents start at $777 and up. Two bedroom apartments start at $934 and up. Includes heat, h/w, and cooking gas. EHO781-275-1038.

Feature

By Alissa Greenberg

In movies, like “The Departed” and “The Town,” Charlestown is grim, gray, and pockmarked with bullet holes, a haven for bad men who are hardened, immoral, and almost always Irish.

Charlestown is indeed grim and gray in some parts, andthosepartsarealsosignificantlygritty—aresident’scrime risk is twice the national average. But Charlestown is not, and has not been for decades, entirely Irish. As Bostonian neighborhoods gentrify, and the locations of low-income housing shifts, more and more immigrants arepouringintoCharlestown.Theyarefleeingwidespreadgentrificationandtakingadvantageofsomeofthelowestrents and best-quality low-income housing available in Boston.TheyarefromVietnam,fromthePhilippines,from Morocco—and from China. In this three-part series, we investigate the history, background, and evolving culture of one corner of Boston and its new Chinese com-munity.

Part 1: Charlestown Then—Arrivals and Rearrange-ments

Charlestown started its life in the 17th century as an independent entity just outside of Boston city limits, a fur trapping and boat-building community that encompassed a phalanx of modern towns from Stoneham to Melrose. By the time Boston annexed the city in 1873, Charlestown had alreadywelcomeditsfirstwaveofIrishimmigrants,freshfromthefieldsofdisintegratingpotatoes.

TheChinfamilywasoneofthefirstnon-whitefamiliesto arrive in Charlestown in the early 1910s. Two of the Chin children, Helen Chin-Schlichte and David Chin, still live a few blocks from where they were born, on a once-seedy Main Street. Their grandfather had emigrated from Toisan in 1918 to start a laundry and brought his son, Edwin, over to help once the business got off the ground. Once Edwin was of age, Mary, his new wife, was brought over to him from Toisan. She was capable, hardworking, and hardly out of adolescence—only 22 years old.

Edwin died young, leaving Mary with nine children betweentheagesoftwomonthsandfifteenyearstocarefor. For the next two decades, she stood over steaming vats of laundry six-and-a-half days a week in order to put every one of her children through college without the assistance of welfare. As a stern taskmaster towards schoolwork, Mary always told her children: “If you don’t study, your hands are going to be tied behind your back. Then, what kind of life can you have?”

Helen remembers an idyllic childhood of play dates and trips to Chinatown. “We went to elementary and middle school in Charlestown, and had lots of friends,” she says. Most of those friends were white: “In those days there were only three [Chinese] families—the Lees, Wongs, and Chins. We knew each other from going to Kwong Kow [Chinese School] on the weekends. I’m still friendly with some of the people I knew then.”

Despite the overwhelming Irish population in Charles-town, David does not remember any tension. “Everyone knew our family from the laundry. Our father was a pillar in the community; he was friendly and outgoing. Whenev-erwewentonfieldtrips,healwaysknewtheparentswhowent along with us,” he recalls, “I think we never experi-enced racism because there were so few of us. We weren’t a threatening population.”

Charlestown’s tiny Chinese population started to grow in the 1970’s as the city began its efforts to improve its rougher neighborhoods. Kye Liang’s family was pushed into Charlestown by the city’s vast urban renewal project. Liang’s father immigrated to the United States in 1981, bringing his wife in 1983. Like many of Charlestown’s Chineseindividuals,theyfirstsettledintheshadystreetsin the South End, choosing that area for its proximity to Chinatown. During the renewal project’s height, how-ever, “an attorney knocked on the door and said, ‘Hey, we bought the building. Everyone has to move out’,” Liang re-members. After a year in Quincy, the family moved to the Bunker Hill Housing project in Charlestown, which was, at that time, largely Irish.

As for the Chins, their family’s property was also seized by the Boston Redevelopment Authority, but Mary resisted the idea of leaving. “We all wondered, ‘Where are we go-ing to go?’” Helen says. “We looked at a lot of other places to move to. But Mom said she wasn’t going… For her, life in Charlestown was comfortable and convenient. She could take the bus to Franklin St. and Filene’s Basement, then Jordan’s, then Chinatown for groceries, and a return trip --all in one morning! It was really the only place she knew.”

In the end, the family was able to stay in Charlestown. They moved to another house a few blocks down on Main Street,andMaryneverhadtofindaroom—althoughotherfamilies did make arrangements for housewives to stay in Charlestown after they had left. Mary moved to South Cove Manor nursing home on the outskirts of Chinatown in later years, and two years ago, she celebrated her one hundredth birthday. The urban renewal project, consid-ered by the city to be a great success, brought down an ugly elevated highway and rebuilt several crumbling housing blocks. It was the beginning of a wave of improvement and gentrificationthatwouldcarryCharlestownintothe21stcentury.

The 1970’s and 1980’s were not just a period of struc-tural turmoil for Chinese people moving into Charlestown; there were also dramatic changes to the education system. In concert with the landmark case Morgan vs. Hennigan, which ruled that Boston schools must be forcibly deseg-regated, the city of Boston moved a bilingual Chinese-English program based in Roxbury to Charlestown. The decision was as popular as other desegregation measures elsewhere in the city—that is to say, not at all.

Suzanne Lee, a recently retired principal of Josiah Quincy School in Chinatown, taught elementary levels for six years at Harvard Kent in Charlestown during the worst of the desegregation tensions. Lee, who grew up near

Being Chinese in Charlestown

AFFORDABLE RENTALS The Cape Cod Commission is currently accepting applications for its Regional Ready Renter List. This list currently covers the Towns of Barnstable, Chatham, Dennis, Harwich and Yarmouth. This is a list used when there are available rentals in smaller rental developments, accessory apartments, “shop top housing” (rentals on top of retail stores) and other scattered availabilities. Rental Rates and Income Qualification will vary depending on projects; all rents will be affordable, maximums incomes listed below, some projects may target lower incomes:In order to qualify your household income must not exceed: $43,800 - household of one$50,050 - household of two$56,300 - household of three

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Equal Housing Opportunity

Franklin Park, speaks three Chinese dialects and became a de facto liaison for parents in Chinatown when the word came down in the summer of 1975 that their children would be attending Charlestown schools.

“It was very traumatic,” she says. “A lot of children had never left the [Chinatown] area before. The families had maybe heard of Charlestown but didn’t know where it was. But they understood it was not a place that was welcoming for people who were different.”

Over that summer, Lee helped worried parents attend school committee meetings, acting as interpreter. “They just wanted to know the answer to really basic safety questions. Like, ‘If something happens, can people at this new school communicate with us? Who do we call?’ But they didn’t get any answers,” she says. At one meeting three committee members got up and left in the middle of a question and answer session. “You could only infer that they didn’t want to hear what we had to say; and when there’s no dialogue, things escalate.”

In August, when the city arranged for parents to visit Charlestown, a loud, angry, rock-throwing crowd was demonstratingoutside,givingthemafirsthandtasteofthe hostility they had heard so much about. And when Chinese parents tried to join the Parent’s Council, they found that a certain number of seats had been allocated

SEE CHARLESTOWN, PAGE 10

SAMPAN February 25, 2011Page 10

PoliceOfficerExamination

The Commonwealth of MassachusettsH u m a n R e s o u r c e s D i v i s i o n

Written Examination:Saturday, April 30, 2011Application Deadline:March 15, 2011**Please note: There will be anadditional $50 processing fee forapplications received after this date.Applications will not be acceptedafter April 1, 2011

Apply online at www.mass.gov/civilserviceusing Visa or Mastercard or submit an application with a$100 fee payable by money order to the Commonwealth ofMassachusetts or request a fee waiver. No personal checks orcash will be accepted.

For applications or additional information about the examinationeligibility requirements, visit our website or call 617-878-9895.Outside the Boston area, call 1-800-392-6178. Recorded informa-tion is available 24 hours a day.

Women, minorities, veterans and people with disabilities areencouraged to apply.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is an affirmativeaction/equal opportunity employer.

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for blacks and a certain number for whites—with no room for anyone else.

Things came to a head that September. “A group of parents called me the nightbeforethefirstdayofschool and said, ‘We’re not sending our kids tomor-row. We’ll go door to door and stand at the bus stop, telling people not to go,” Lee recalls, “When I got to school there was a message from the Justice Depart-ment waiting. They wanted to arrange a meeting with the Chinese parents—there had been a 98% absence of Chinese students through-out the district.”

The meeting did not start off well. Tensions were running high; a justice departmentofficialconfidedin Lee that, “We really need Chinese kids back in school to act as a buffer between blacks and whites.” (At this point Lee turned inter-rupted her story, her face taut. “How do you think that made us feel?” she said. “Like we were nothing.”) Ultimately, however, there was progress. Out of nine demands for improvement, Chinatown parents received eight, including increased safety measures, more bus monitors, and bilingual staff.

Joyce Chan, who taught at Charlestown High for thirty years, remembers the desegregation struggles viv-idly. “I would wake up early every morning and accom-pany [the Chinese students] on the bus from China-town,” she says. “There was police accompaniment andhelicoptersforthefirstfew months. And there was fightingeveryday.Itgotsobad that they had to close the school for two weeks. I even hid in the bathroom. It was like a war.”

Alissa Greenberg is a Sampan correspondent.

CHARLESTOWN, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

Heavy industry on the Charles River, as seen from the living room of Shuk Tsui. (Photo by Alissa Greenberg)

Harvard Kent Elementary school, whose student population is 30% Asian. (Photo by Alissa Greenberg)

Boston Water and Sewer Is Coming to Your NeighborhoodA Boston Water and Sewer Commission Community Services Department representative will be in your neighborhood at the place, dates, and times listed here.

Our representative will be available to: Accept payments. (Check or money order only–no cash, please.)

Process discount forms for senior citizens and disabled people. Resolve billing or service complaints. Review water consumption data for your property. Arrange payment plans for delinquent accounts.

980 Harrison Avenue • Boston, MA 02119 • www.bwsc.org

Need more information? Call the Community Services Department at 617-989-7000.

ChINatoWNChinese Consolidated

Benevolent Association (CCBA)

90 Tyler Street12–1 PM

Thursday, March 10Friday, April 1

MARk The DATeS!

To submit an event listing, please email news@sampan.org

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