Graphics by Stacy Nguyen and Han Bui/NWAW

In this season of celebrating our good fortune and our good friends, warm thoughts and best wishes go out to you and your family.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

By Steven Cong
Northwest Asian Weekly

“As you know, we, the Korean people, have to have Thanksgiving with rice and kimchi,” said Paul Chunki Kim, a Korean American realtor in Puyallup. Read the full story

By Leslie Yeh
Northwest Asian Weekly

As is inevitable with most major holidays, Thanksgiving Day’s historical and cultural roots (dating more than 350 years ago) have long been traded in for cross-cultural exposure and mass marketing in the United States. Though it may sound bad, it has its advantages. Read the full story

Martha Choe — an established leader

By Nina Huang
Northwest Asian Weekly

Martha Choe

Martha Choe is a jack of all trades. She started out as a high school teacher, moved to commercial banking, then to government services, and now she’s working for the largest global private foundation in the world.

Choe has been sought by former Gov. Gary Locke and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for her firm and effective leadership.

Early life

Choe is the daughter of Korean immigrants who arrived in the United States in 1948 as post-graduate students. Her parents were early immigrant pioneers and settled in New York, where Choe was born. Read the full story

Dow Constantine — a man committed to service

By Jason Cruz
Northwest Asian Weekly

Dow Constantine

“Dow Constantine is not a very good DJ name,” admitted the former college radio DJ and newly elected King County Executive. Instead of spinning records, Constantine chose a different path in order to serve the public. Constantine defeated Susan Hutchinson on Nov. 3 to become King County Executive.

Born and raised in West Seattle, Constantine grew up with an interest in education. This was due in part to his upbringing as Constantine’s parents were teachers. Read the full story

By Andrew Hamlin
Northwest Asian Weekly

“Ninja Assassin,” the new film from director James McTeigue, begins with a Japanese tattoo artist working on a yakuza’s back. Blood flows down from the tattoo needle. With only short respites, blood also flows throughout the rest of the film. Blood isn’t enough, however, to compensate for the film’s anemia in other areas.

South Korean pop singer Rain stars as Raizo, a lonely ninja. As the film unfolds, we see how he learned to stalk and kill as a child from master Ozunu (played by Shô Kosugi, a veteran of many martial arts films in Japan). However, Raizo later broke away from Ozunu and the entire ninja clan, and went rogue. As a result, his former “family” is trying to kill him. Read the full story

By Andrew Hamlin
Northwest Asian Weekly

“Red Cliff” is John Woo’s first Chinese movie since 1991’s “Once a Thief.” His new film triumphs over the cutting of the footage which is almost as cruel as the cuttings of so many characters over the film’s running time. Conceived as a four-hour epic in two parts, it reaches the United States as a single film that runs two and a half hours.

However, one critic who watched the overseas version of the film complained that just as the huge epic battle at the end was about to start, the film ended. That was probably the end of part one. The edited Western version doesn’t have this problem. All of the promised shock, awe, and bloodshed are delivered. Read the full story

HONOLULU (AP) — The National Cancer Institute has awarded a combined grant to the University of Hawaii’s Cancer Research Center of Hawaii and the University of Guam. Read the full story

In commemorating the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act and the recent passage of ACR 76 in Californian, California State Assembly member Mike Eng, the Yee Fow Museum, and other state and national organizations will hold a press conference on Dec. 6 at the Chinese American Museum in California. Read the full story

By Ravi Nessman
The Associated Press

NEW DELHI (AP) — Arun Kumar was born to disabled parents, beaten by his grandparents, ran away from home, got a job in a garment factory, and had all his savings stolen by the police. Read the full story

By Julhas Alam
The Associated Press

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — The mother who gave up conjoined Bangladeshi newborn twins for adoption said Saturday that she is overjoyed the toddlers have been successfully separated and wants them to grow up in Australia. Read the full story

Joseph Cao

Some are speculating that it could be one vote that ends U.S. Rep. Joseph Cao’s career. Cao was the only Republican who voted for President Obama’s health care plan, HR-3962.

Cao, the first Vietnamese American to serve in Congress, took office in January 2009 in Louisiana’s 2nd congressional district. Cao is the first Republican to serve in the district since 1890, taking over for William J. Jefferson, who in 2008, faced federal charges of bribery.

Cao, a Roman Catholic, is known for being a moderate Republican and told the New York Times Magazine that the reason he is a Republican is because of the party’s pro-life stance against abortion. Cao took issue with the HR-3962’s abortion funding in its previous version. However,  once abortion was taken out of the bill, he voted for it. Read the full story

To the Editor:

My sisters Maria and Elizabeth talked about the Sacred Heart Canossian College (SHCC) reunion for quite some time. A fellow SHCC classmate directed me to [Assunta Ng’s] article, “Lessons I took away from my school reunion (issue 48, Nov. 21–27).”  [It was] very well done.   Read the full story

The facade of McNeil Prison (Photo by Assunta Ng/NWAW)

I was reading the Sunday New York Times and one article stated that there were too many people who wanted to volunteer serving Thanksgiving dinner for the poor. Too many volunteers in the wrong places!
May I suggest you another option? Read the full story

Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on those who you have taken for granted. I will make it up to those people.

This is also the time that I notice some folks who have taken the Northwest Asian Weekly for granted. I want to say, “Thanks for nothing,” to the following people: Read the full story

From left: Event honorary co-chairs and Great Wall Mall owners Omar and Christine Lee, SCGS president Jon Geiger, Charlene Lee, SCGS Vice President Jim Dawson, and chairman of Mulvanny G2 Architecture Jerry Lee.

A crowd gathered at the Imperial Garden Seafood Restaurant to raise $115,000 for the next stage of construction on the Seattle Chinese Garden’s (SCGS) Knowing the Spring Courtyard. Honorary co-chairs and hosts of the event were Christine and Omar Lee, owners of the Great Wall Mall in Renton. They donated meals to 230 guests. Read the full story