Don’t let your Summer become a lazy one. Chinatown YMCA is hosting Healthy Kids Day, a free community event on Saturday, April 27th that encourages kids to move, learn, and live healthier. From 10am-4pm, families will have a chance to attend fitness and educational classes. Scheduled activities include Family Zumba, a Veggication cooking class, and a performance by the Bilingual Birdies Band with songs in English and Mandarin.

Representatives from the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center and the New Jersey Dental School will be presenting information on how to be healthy.

What: Healthy Kids Day, a free community event promoting healthy living for kids and families
Who: Chinatown YMCA
When: Saturday, April 27th, 2013, 10 am – 4 pm
Where: 273 Bowery St

More information along with a schedule of events in this flyer.

What is 9-man? Eighteen men play ball on an unvarnished urban landscape, shredding elbows and knees on the asphalt, smacking balls into puddles of broken glass. 9-Man’s faster than any volleyball you’ve ever played. Filmmaker Ursula Liang says, it’s “like Rutgers park street ball basketball to Duke basketball as 9-man is to indoor Olympic volleyball.” In a word, chaotic.

After raising over $40,000 through Kickstarter, Liang made a documentary focusing on this incredible sport, whose rules require two-thirds of each team to be “100% Chinese” and has remained largely unknown to those outside the nine-man community. The sport grew out of the isolation of the early Chinese American community, nearly entirely male because of immigration restrictions. “There was this small percentage of people who were ghettoized to the Chinatown,” Liang says, “but they wanted to connect to the other Chinatowns.” A part of contemporary Chinese America can be seen in 9-man–an element of Chinatown that’s both a cultural inheritance and sport dripping in swagger.

On Wednesday, March 27 at 6:30pm, Liang will be screening a preview of her documentary and speaking at the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) along with two nine-man athletes, Frank Gee and Wayne Chow. Devin Gordon from GQ will be moderating.

RSVP required at programs@mocanyc.org. Admission is $7 for MOCA members, $12 for non-members.

Check out the Q&A Liang did with us in December!

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Kyla Cheung is a contributing writer at the Asian American Writers’ Workshop. Continue the conversation by posting a comment here, on OurChinatown’s Facebook page, or on Twitter at @ourchinatown.

The Museum of Chinese in America invites you to its Second Annual Celebration of Community Heroes! Last year, with David Henry Hwang as emcee, MOCA honored the work of OCA-NY and the Chinese American Medical Society.

This year, the dinner takes place Wednesday, April 17. Honorees include May Y. Chen, who serves on the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and Rocky Chin, who in 2007 was appointed Director of the Office of Equal Opportunity & Diversity at New York State Division of Human Rights. Families with Children from China of Greater New York and Peter Lau, of Confucius Mannings Pharmacies, will also be honored at the celebration.

Festivities will be held at Golden Unicorn Restaurant, and dinner starts at 7pm, cocktails at 6pm.

You can register with this form (pdf). For more information, please contact Emily Chovanec Schappler, 212.619.4785 ext 4152.

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Kyla Cheung is a contributing writer at the Asian American Writers’ Workshop. Continue the conversation by posting a comment here, on OurChinatown’s Facebook page, or on Twitter at @ourchinatown.

“Your Day is My Night” tells the stories of immigrants living in two “shift-bed houses” in Chinatown. Most of the performers were recruited through Chinatown’s Lin Sing Association, and play roles and tell stories close to their autobiographical selves. The bed becomes a catalyst for bringing forth the stories of the transnational, the urban, and the historical, as well as the intimate, the familial, and the personal.

Purchase tickets at MoMA’s website. Screenings run on Feb. 24th and 25th.

To keep yourself updated on future screenings and live performances of “Your Day is My Night,” check the Facebook and the director’s website.

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Kyla Cheung is a contributing writer at the Asian American Writers’ Workshop. Continue the conversation by posting a comment here, on OurChinatown’s Facebook page, or on Twitter at @ourchinatown.

Immigrant Movement International will be presenting the bilingual and interactive play American Nightmare? Pesadilla Americana? tonight at 7 pm at 108-59 Roosevelt Ave in Corona, Queens. Written and acted by community members of Corona, the play will address some of the issues that many immigrant workers face:

“One day in the American Dream – Rosa is looking for work, but is her English good enough? Lucho has not been paid for three weeks, and Maria has serious problems at home with her son. Can they find a way out?”

- Immigrant Movement International

Admission is free, and drinks and snacks will be served.

Immigrant Movement International also offers free classes every Tuesday and Thursday from 7:30 to 9 pm, led by social theatre practitioner and facilitator Reka Polonyi and Chilean actress Montserrat Hernandez, for those who would like to practice their English through theatre. No theatre experience is necessary in order to participate, and the workshops will allow attendees to write and perform plays based on current issues and stories from the community.

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Gina Chung is a contributing writer at the Asian American Writers’ Workshop. Continue the conversation by posting a comment here, on OurChinatown’s Facebook page, or on Twitter at @ourchinatown.

Last night, I watched Jeremy Lin’s return to Madison Square Garden on what was probably a 32″ flat-screen TV mounted to the ceiling of Chinatown’s Nom Wah Tea Parlor with barely audible volume. I was joined by Leonard Shek and Liren Teng, both members of Dat Winning, a podcast we do to try to give an APIA take on sports.

Nom Wah was offering $3 beers along with their great dim sum menu, but there was another reason I wanted to watch it there. It was here last February that I realized how big this #LINSANITY thing was. MSG Network hosted a viewing party at Nom Wah for residents of Chinatown unable to see the game due to MSG’s spat with Time Warner Cable.

The event was essentially a thinly veiled attempt to mobilize the Chinese American community with free dim sum and Jeremy Lin swag into pressuring Time Warner to come to terms with MSG. It worked. Time Warner worked out a deal shortly thereafter.

The restaurant was packed wall-to-wall, with a line of people outside waiting to get in. To watch a game against the Sacramento Kings on television. The swarming and perhaps laughable extent of international media coverage of this little viewing party at this little old restaurant on Doyers said it all. #LINSANITY was some crazy shit.

Watching the game there last night felt like a full circle. Win or lose, good or bad, it seemed to be the right place. About 7  people, including our group, seemed to agree. There were other patrons at the restaurant, none interested in the game, but the seven of us, and one reporter working on a story for the New York Times, stayed long after closing to watch Jeremy Lin put 22 points and 8 assists on the New York Knicks.

The Rockets won convincingly 109-96, and Houston became the first to beat the Knicks twice this year. They were also the first to beat New York at the Garden. Which to say, the Knicks have been very good so far this season, and they did have to play without Carmelo Anthony (sprained ankle).

In his introduction, Lin was mostly cheered, but received audible boos. When he left the game for good, with Houston already carrying an insurmountable lead, it was roughly the same reception. Mostly cheers, some boos, even with most fans long gone for the night.

It’s hard to tell what Lin expected from the crowd, but he did reveal that awkward smile you get with slight disappointment during the introduction. Getting the win surely made any lingering bitterness go away. It was a good win for the 12-12 Rockets.

In fact, the past five games have been a decent run for Houston with wins against the Knicks, Celtics and Wizards, along with a hard-fought overtime loss to the Spurs. These five games have also been a sort of snap-shot of Jeremy Lin’s career since #LINSANITY began. Exciting yes, definitive no. Since last February, and particularly through these five games, Jeremy Lin has been the most difficult player to peg in the NBA.

Just when you think he’s settled in as James Harden’s set-up man, he gives you 38 against the Spurs, playing without Harden in the line-up. But, when the Beard returns, he goes quiet again, and doubts start to rise about whether or not the two can co-exist.

Then Lin comes back to the Garden, and the Rockets look like a well-oiled machine, Harden and Lin operating in synchronicity. This game, not his 38-point burst in San Antonio, was his best of the season so far. Lin looked right at home in the Garden and played with the kind of swagger we had gotten used to when he was a Knick. It wasn’t perfect by any means, Lin still finished with 4 turnovers, but he and Harden forced a flat Knicks backcourt into submission with relentless attacks to the rim in transition.

The Knicks couldn’t keep up with the Rockets’ speed. And, it seemed like the more reckless Lin and the Rockets played, the harder it was for the Knicks to recover. Twice now, the Rockets have looked like an offensive juggernaut against a defense-focused Knicks team. Both losses should be a testament to how much the Knicks still need Iman Shumpert.

So, what is Jeremy Lin? Is he the 22 points and 8 assists he put on the Knicks?

Well, let’s put it this way, no one is right or wrong about Jeremy Lin yet. His game is still unpredictable, and his demeanor isn’t any easier to read. Most nights he has a sort of dopey blank stare on his face, often too exhausted to reveal any ulterior emotion or motivation. But, as if he needed to reaffirm the fact in New York, Lin certainly has a flair for the dramatic. He knows which games are bigger than others, and he wants to play bigger in those games.

In the Spurs loss, by far his best performance of the season to that point, he seemed to know he needed another basket late in the overtime to reach a new career-high. Even when the game was over, he raced down the court and tried very hard to get it. He knew the significance of that basket. He took two forced shots at it and didn’t make either.

The attempt was maybe a little desperate, but it also felt like a sign of something a little more sinister than a simple god-fearing kid playing for his savior. It was competitive, personal, a little selfish. A perhaps darker side of Lin that seemed to manifest again in New York.

Lin took it right at Raymond Felton last night, his replacement on the Knicks. He displayed the kind of confidence, decisiveness, and flat out competitiveness he had shown through most of his run with the Knicks. Something we hadn’t seen much of all season. I like this version of Lin. Veer towards the dark side, it will mesh better with Harden.

The Beard will get his, a more aggressive Lin will force teams to deal with two relentless attackers coming off the bounce in every game. In Lethal Weapon terms, they can’t be Mel Gibson and Danny Glover right now. They both have to be Mel Gibson.

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Ren Hsieh is a contributing editor for OurChinatown. You can find him on Twitter at @TheRealRenHsieh. Continue the conversation by posting a comment here, on OurChinatown’s Facebook page, or on Twitter at @ourchinatown.

What happens after the story ends? Find out at the Museum of Chinese in America as your favorite Asian American writers and actors do a staged reading this Friday, Dec 14. Let writers Nora Chau (Pretty Precious Unicorns), Ed Lin (This Is a Bust), and Kai Ma (Open City) quel your curiosity with their sequels to some of your favorite stories. It’s all going to be directed by Ken Leung from LOST (yay!).

Cast includes: Cindy Cheung, Louis Changchien, Kristine Haruna Lee, Angela Lin, Jodi Lin, David Shih, and more.

There is very little that can be as satisfying as a great ending to a story…star-crossed lovers riding off into the sunset, a long lost friend returning to the fold, a resolute cowboy succumbing to his injuries with profound grace. These images impact us and shape the way we tell stories. SEQUELS begs the question, what happened after that beautiful ending. Three exciting writers take a stab at answering.

What happened to Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz after she returned home? What was the next Christmas like for Carmela Soprano? Or the Peanuts gang after Charles Schultz passed away? Join us at MOCA to find out when Nora Chau (PRETTY PRECIOUS UNICORNS), Ed Lin (THIS IS A BUST), and Kai Ma (OPEN CITY) create original sequels to three great stories and a rambunctious cast of actors present the works as a staged reading directed by Ken Leung (LOST).

The event is part of MOCAPEN, the museum’s literary series with writers, poets, filmmakers and playwrights. It’s going to be fun, raucous, and in your face. Don’t miss out.

What: MOCAPEN Sequels: A Stage Reading
When: Friday, Dec. 14, 8-10pm
Where: Museum of Chinese in American, 215 Centre St.
Admission: $10/$5 MOCA Members
RSVSP required to programs@mocanyc.org

More information with bios here.

Chinatown Partnership implemented the Chinese and English welcome light, among others, in the hopes of spreading festive cheer and to promote Chinatown.

9-Man, a sports documentary that tells the history of 9-Man Volleyball and its deep connection to Chinatown, has 9 more days to reach their Kickstarter goal. We caught up with Ursula Liang, director of the film. Read for her take on the game’s multigenerational legacy, its differences between volleyball, and Asian American swagger.

Why were some of the stories on Asian American athletes not covered?

There was a period of time where Asian American athletes weren’t seen as viable stories even when they were great athletes. In the same way that people make decisions about which sports are valid to put in a magazine or on TV, they were making decisions about which athletes were sellable. They were not necessarily putting Asian Americans in prominent placecs or covering them at all because they didn’t think people wanted to read about them.

How did the project originate? When did you realize it was important to do?

I was working sports and thought it was an interesting story but I thought it was a story that required a little bit of depth not just a quick hit story. I was early in my career when I encountered 9-Man and so the next time it came around was either 6 or 12 years later and no one had still done 9-Man and it shocked me. I sort of let the idea drop because it wasn’t the right time for me to tell the story and I assumed that somebody else would tell it in the meantime and that’s when I realized that many years later that nobody had told the story I guess I realized that I had to tell it.

What are some differences between 9-Man and regular volleyball?

There are 9 people on each side. The court is different sized, the net is different height. You don’t rotate at all so there’s specialization. Smaller people can be in the back and the taller people can be in the front. If you play regular volley there’s a real musical rhytm to it: bump, set, spike. In this game you can get more than 3 hits on each side. You can pass the ball into the net and hit it again so you can hit it four times on each side. You as one person can hit it twice in a row so the rhythm is totally thrown off and if you’re someone who has played volleyball all your life and that rhythm is really built into your brain it’s really disorienting.

There’s a move called fai gok where the player basically dunks the ball which would be considered a carry in volleyball. The third way to pass is actually open handed. Imagine the early days when they weren’t using a ball; they were using a towel with rope strung around it and you couldn’t possibly have that bounce of your arm. So the way they passed was sort of like underhanded. One hand flips backward or one hand flips forward. It’s call chai balling and that’s their preferred way. They believe they can control it better.

This game is a lot faster. The rallies last a lot longer and it’s on asphalt so it’s super hard on the body. There’s rubble contend to with; there are things that are part of the asphalt to contend with like man hole covers, cracks in the road, and whatever debris didn’t get swept away. There’s also the outdoors to contend with and in Chinatown and places like New York, it’s super hot and sweaty. It’s really grueling and they’re playing from sun up to sun down. In the last couple of years the games have gone on so long that they are literally playing in the dark and you cant see anything and I don’t think any person playing volleyball would agree to that. But it’s really fun to watch and it’s chaotic.

Why has the game remained relatively unknown outside of the Chinese community?

It was a game that was born out of the social isolation of Chinese men and the bachelor society and stayed there. It’s a game that people outside of Chinatown don’t know how to play with a few exceptions. People have to be taught. There’s an oral history to it. Once somebody new comes in, an older guy is there to explain to him how to make that move happen and that’s one of the great things.

While the competitive people in the league are in their 20s and 30s, it’s really a multigenerational experience. A lot of old guys are out there all the time; They’re playing and they’re against the really old guys or really tall strong guys in their 20s. There’s this whole mix that is really fantastic. I think it’s one of the only places that I see where all this multigenerational interaction happens. And for a lot of guys its really great because older brother and father figures are built into this community.

How would you describe the swagger and masculinity that is not normally portrayed in mainstream media?

Swagger is the perfect word. I guess there’s a confidence and a playfulness that is not present in other portraits of Asian American men. When I give people comparisons about what 9-man is, how 9-Man compares to volleyball, I say it is like Rutgers park street ball basketball to Duke basketball as 9man is to indoor Olympic volleyball, but more than that.

What were the games like in the 1930s?

They started having intercity tournaments at that time so what I thought was interesting was that they were doing a reconnisaance between cities. They started between Boston and Rhode Island and one of these guys told me that they just wanted to see how Chinese were living in other cities. The environment was so hostile for them that they wanted to make sure that things were okay with the guys, maybe they wanted to see whether their opportunites might be better in other cities. There was this sort of need to connect. There was this small percentage of people who were ghettoized to the Chinatown but they wanted to connect to the other Chinatowns.

Hopes for the project?

Ultimately my goal is to promote the game and to show people what a great story this is. It should be to get people to care about the sport, to get people who are not part of the community to come out and watch these guys and change their opinions about what Asian American men can do or to be really proud of our culture. I think it’s really fun and kind of wild at the same time and it’s something if you go out and see you’re going to want to be part of it whether you are Chinese American or not. It’s this sort of palpable energy and specialness that I feel every time I am in that space. I hope that other people will come out.

Kickstarter: 9-Man – a streetball battle in the heart of Chinatown. The project has until Dec. 21 to complete their goal.

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Wen Hao Wang is a contributing writer at the Asian American Writers’ Workshop. Continue the conversation by posting a comment here, on OurChinatown’s Facebook page, or on Twitter at @ourchinatown.

Grand Harmony Restaurant on 98 Mott St

Here’s a reminder as the date is fast approaching. Chinatown Partnership in collaboration with Chinatown BID will be holding a fundraising dinner for small businesses in Chinatown that were affected by Superstorm Sandy. Tickets are $25 for all you can eat. It’s Grand Harmony. Buffet Style.

All proceeds will go to Chinatown businesses. So far, they have raised over $40,000 as grants that affected businesses can apply t0. Chinatown Partnership is still looking for sponsors and partners for the event. Donating items for the silent auction is also accepted. If you are interested in this or any of the above, please see below.

Who: Chinatown Partnership / Chinatown BID
What: Sandy Relief Fundraising Dinner. Attend, sponsor, or partner to support Chinatown small businesses
Where: Grand Harmony, 98 Mott St
When: Dec. 19. 6-9pm
How: Tickets can be bought online here. Contact 212-346-9288 or info@chinatownpartnership.org for more information or if want to become a sponsor.