Michelle Rhee’s D.C. schools legacy is in sharper focus one year later
A year ago this month, Michelle A. Rhee resigned as D.C. schools chancellor, ending a tenure as contentious and turbulent as that of any urban school leader in memory. “The best way to keep the reforms going is for this reformer to step aside,” she declared.
What footprints remain from Rhee’s 3 1/2 years in Washington? An examination of her legacy, with a year’s perspective, reveals a mixed picture of hits, misses, long-term effects and continuing question marks for the 45,000-student system.
The first chancellor in a new era of mayoral control of D.C. schools, Rhee was granted total authority by the man who hired her, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), to turn the low-achieving system on its head. Today, teachers are better paid and evaluated more closely. A landmark labor contract gives school principals more control over who is in classrooms. Basic central functions including purchasing, textbook delivery and food service, although not perfect, are viewed as much improved. Private foundations, enthused by Rhee’s emphasis on teacher quality and willingness to take on a politically potent union, poured millions of dollars into the public schools.
North Korea and U.S. to meet in Geneva next week: report
Reuters
North Korea and the United States will hold a second round of talks in Geneva next week to discuss ways to restart regional talks on disabling North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, South Korean media reported Monday.
Michelle Obama Wore a Politically Correct Gown to the State Dinner
New York Magazine
Doo-Ri Chung won the honor of dressing Michelle Obama for [Thursday] night’s state dinner honoring South Korea. Doo.Ri is not a label regularly worn by the FLOTUS (this may have been the first time Michelle wore Doo.Ri publicly — indeed it was certainly the most visible event she’s worn the designer to). Apparently the White House commissioned the dress after seeing Chung’s spring collection, she told the Washington Post.
The Korean American Who Dresses Michelle Obama
Chosun Ilbo
Chung Doo-ri started her business from the basement of her parents’ dry cleaning store 10 years ago, and last week U.S. first lady Michelle Obama wore one of her dresses at the official state dinner with President Lee Myung-bak.
The single-strap violet gown was made from Chung’s trademark jersey fabric and featured a high-waisted chiffon belt studded with crystals. Michelle Obama deliberately chose a dress by a Korean-American designer for the dinner.
Chung (38), who is based in New York City, did not know the dress had been chosen until the afternoon of the state dinner last Thursday.
Korean-American Judge Hears Samsung-Apple Patent Case
Chosun Ilbo
Patent litigation between Samsung Electronics and Apple is being handled by Lucy Koh, a Korean-American U.S. district judge. The first hearing was Thursday.
Koh is the first federal judge of Asian descent in California. Born in Washington, D.C., she graduated from Harvard Law School and worked as an assistant to the U.S. solicitor general and a federal prosecutor.
Jae Rhim Lee: My mushroom burial suit
channel APA
Here’s a powerful provocation from artist Jae Rhim Lee. Can we commit our bodies to a cleaner, greener Earth, even after death? Naturally — using a special burial suit seeded with pollution-gobbling mushrooms. Yes, this just might be the strangest TEDTalk you’ll ever see …
Local foodie brings pie-in-a-jar to Food Network competition
News 1130 (British Columbia, Canada)
Surrey’s Mijune Pak from Follow Me Foodie will be a contestant on Recipes to Riches on The Food Network.
“It’s pretty much American Idol but for recipes,” says Pak. “So it’s made for stay-at-home bakers and amateur bakers and cooks.”
On the show, contestants compete against each other armed with their chosen dishes. In Mijune’s case, she’s got her Canadian Pie in a Jar.
Catch Mijune on Recipes to Riches next Wednesday night, Oct. 19, on The Food Network.
UNC’s arts director set his own path
Chapel Hill News (North Carolina)
When Emil Kang’s parents came to the U.S. in 1967, his mother was seven months pregnant with him. They came for the reason that most immigrants did: to give their children a better life.
“I grew up as the only Asian kid, other than my sister, in my neighborhood,” Kang said.
From an early age his parents set a course for him, he said. “I had three options as a kid: to be a doctor, a lawyer or a priest. Those are the only three options I was given.”
Art was not on that list. That is what Kang wound up pursuing, though, and it led to him where is now: UNC’s executive director for the arts.
Fashion Startup Snapette Raises $1.3 Million
NYConvergence
Snapette, an app developed in NYC that allows shoppers to take photos of fashion items and see where the merchandise is located nearby, announced recently that it has raised $1.3 million in seed funding from several angel investors. Launched this past August, the company was founded by Harvard grads Jinhee Ahn Kim and Sarah Paiji, who plan to use the funds to expand its management team, and incorporate social commerce capabilities, according to VatorNews.
Annie Kim finds comfort at Irvine Valley College
Daily Pilot (Irvine, Calif.)
Breaking up was hard to do for Annie Kim, but getting back together has been that much sweeter.
Kim and volleyball are together again, a harmonious reunion that is commencing at Irvine Valley College, where the Lasers are ranked No. 18 in the state and Kim is a big part of it. Her play in IVC’s victory over No. 7-ranked Fullerton earlier in the week was pivotal at a pivotal point in the season.
Dana Tai Soon Burgess tells an adoptee’s story in ‘Becoming American’
Washington Post
Dana Tai Soon Burgess knows a haunting image when he sees one. His new work, “Becoming American,” opens with the small, expressionless face of an Asian child beamed onto a screen. As the camera pans out, it appears the child is holding a number, like a preschooler in a police lineup.
Korean orphan K85-869, now known as Katia Chupashko Norri, stood onstage at Dance Place below her own picture Friday night. She’s now 28 and ready to tell her adoption story through dance.
Rev. Moon’s Son Answered Call to Help at Home
Wall Street Journal
In 2005, Moon Kook-jin was in the U.S. running his small manufacturing firm when his father asked him to return to his native South Korea to solve problems at the small conglomerate his father had started but left others to run.
For Mr. Moon, his return involved more than familial duty. His father, the Rev. Moon Sun-myung, is the founder of the Unification Church and one of the most recognized Koreans in the world.
After decades in which he and his associates ran the businesses more as charities than as for-profit organizations, Rev. Moon realized they were becoming a major drag on both the finances and reputation of the church.
Business owner frustrated by unsolved crime
Daily Gleaner (New Brunswick, Canada)
A convenience store owner says he’s still waiting the Fredericton Police Force to solve an armed robbery at his Skyline Acres business in the spring.
Yundoo Cho owns Raymonde’s General Store Ltd. at 523 Canterbury Dr. He purchased the business in October 2009 when he emigrated to Canada from South Korea. Since then he’s had two break-ins: one Jan. 20, 2010, and one March 14, 2010. Both happened around midnight after the store had closed for the night.
Asian American Ballplayers In MLB: 2000-2011 (Part 2 of 2)
AsianWeek
Darwin Barney made his major league debut with the Chicago Cubs on August 11th, 2010, after Infielder Mike Fontenot was traded to the San Francisco Giants. Five days later, he recorded his first major league hit, finishing the season with a .241 batting average. He was named the starting second basemen during the 2011 season, hitting .276 as an everyday player in the starting lineup.
He is part Korean American and part Japanese American.
Steelers’ Ward says he’ll know when it’s time to step aside
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The question is not: Is Hines Ward finished as a player? He most certainly is not. Did you see him leap over safety Michael Griffin to score his second touchdown against the Tennessee Titans last Sunday?
The question is: Will Ward be content all season to play a lesser role for the Steelers? That one is harder to answer. It’s always difficult for a future Hall of Famer to step aside. It’s especially difficult for a player with Ward’s pride.
“I don’t want to be a cancer on this team,” he said last week.
Film Underscores Koreans’ Growing Anger Over Sex Crimes
New York Times
At an appeals court in the southwestern city of Gwangju in 2006, a school official was convicted of raping a 13-year-old deaf girl and sentenced to one year in prison. When the verdict came, an outraged middle-aged man, also deaf, let out an incomprehensible cry from the galley, signaling frantically with sign language.
“It was clear that the man was shouting, ‘This is wrong! This is wrong!”’ Lee Ji-won, a newspaper intern, wrote in her blog later that day under the subject line, “I saw the foul underside of our society.”
The man was forcibly removed for disrupting the courtroom. And that might have been the end of it. Except that the intern’s blog inspired a best-selling author, Gong Ji-young, to write a novel based on the sexual assaults at the Inhwa School for the hearing impaired, the school’s attempts to conceal the abuses and the victims’ struggle for justice.
Now, a film based on that novel — “Dogani,” or “The Crucible” — has roiled South Korea.
Kim’s return spurs Beckman to victory
OCVarsity
Beckman’s football team welcomed back star running back Jeff Kim to the lineup Saturday night against Woodbridge.
Kim sat out the last three games for unspecified reasons. But he came through in a big way, leading the Patriots to a 28-13 victory over the Warriors in a Pacific Coast League game at Irvine High.
Kim rushed for 191 yards on 23 carries and scored two touchdowns, including a 75-yard scamper early in the fourth quarter that sealed the victory.
Whiz Kid: Stephen Kim
Patch.com (Cupertino, Calif.)
Stephen Kim, 15, is already an accomplished violinist. He started playing the violin at the age of three and in 2009, he made his debut at Carnegie Hall, and has been featured on “From the Top”, NPR’s classical music program.
Disgraced Korean scientist unveils cloned coyotes
AP via Google News
Disgraced South Korean stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-Suk unveiled eight cloned coyotes Monday in a project sponsored by a provincial government.
Hwang delivered the clones to a wild animal shelter at Pyeongtaek, 50 kilometres (35 miles) south of Seoul, in a ceremony chaired by Gyeonggi province governor Kim Moon-Soo, Kim’s office said.
Hwang was a national hero until some of his research into creating human stem cells from a cloned embryo was found to be faked.
Korean-American Chef Rides Food Truck Craze to the Top
Voice of America
One chef riding the food truck wave is Tai Lee, known more commonly as Chef Tai.
His Mobile Gourmet Food Truck, which is based in College Station, Texas, was recently named “America’s Favorite Food Truck” during a contest run by the popular television specialty channel Food Network.
“I opened the food truck to share my passion and love for the food with more people at a much lower price of entrance,” said the Korean-born chef, who has no formal culinary education.
Video Interview: Nikita Writer-Producer Albert Kim
Cinema Blend
Looking for the scoop on what’s to come on Nikita? Who better to talk to than one of the show’s writer-producers, Albert Kim?
Asian American Commercial Watch: Citi Simplicity Card
8Asians
Patricia Ja Lee is still cute as a button.
ken leung in unofficial talks for chew adaptation
angryasianman
Ken Leung is still cute as a button.
Hines Ward in Head and Shoulders commercial
YouTube
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