The Twin Ports APIDA Collective

Come visit us at the Lake Superior Dragon Boat Festival ! Meet us, get to know us, try some snacks or read a book!

TPAC in the BWCA, Part II: An “eating while camping Boundary Waters trip.”

Over four days of Asian meals prepared in community, the 4-day trip group shared stories about family, migration, and identity. Paddling on the expanse of water in our beautiful northland, past the pristine shorelines, trip members experienced rest, deeper community, and belonging — and excitement about returning in the not too distant future.

Our gratitude again to Save the Boundary Waters for the generous grant that allowed us to organize these precious trips, and to our guide and TPAC member Sam Armacost for curating this beautiful, delicious, and nurturing trip.

Minnesota's APIDA women are athletic power houses!! 🤩🥰

When Minnesotan Dia Lee started playing co****le with the Hmong Co****le club just over two years ago, she did not expect to become a world champion.

“After I won, I felt really relieved, and I felt really shocked, and I just couldn’t believe that happened,” Lee said. “I think it's finally setting in. Now what’s next?"

Lee also qualified for the first time to be an American Co****le League professional player. She joins just a handful of Minnesotans who have gone pro.

📝 Alex V. Cipolle + 📸 Courtesy of Sophia Thao

TPAC at the festival! Come join us!

Paddling together, eating Asian food on trail together, sharing a northern lights experience together. TPAC’s first-ever Boundary Waters trip — an all-Asian, multigenerational group led by our excellent guide and TPAC member Sam Armacost — has just returned after a three-day adventure!

Says group member Dan: “Three generations together experiencing the unknown and finding transformation. Twenty years old to 62 years old, each finding hope in the future. We return with joy, looking forward to the best tomorrows.”

Our four-day trip goes out later this week!

TPAC IN THE BOUNDARY WATERS: This weekend, the first of two TPAC-organized trips to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness will be going out! Under the expert guidance of canoe guide and TPAC member Sam Armacost, these all-Asian trippers will experience the beauty and the challenge of the wilderness, many for the first time. They will learn how to respect and care for our precious Minnesota lakes. And they will also eat well: spring rolls, bulgogi, congee, dumplings, and spam musubi are on the menu!

We are grateful for a generous grant from Save the Boundary Waters that allows us to provide guided access to the BWCA at reduced cost, and to facilitate a special experience that builds up our community and honors our cultural foodways!

Photos of trip members at two pre-trip gatherings.

On a more sober note, hate crimes against Asian American elders in the US are still occurring. Please keep an eye out for our elders. We are grateful for all “upstanders” in our community.

Join TPAC and many other teams for a fun day at the Lake Superior Dragon Boat Festival next month! We will have a cultural tent and would love to see you there, cheering on our team! Also, go Belissa! She is a TPAC co-founder and also the race coordinator for the festival!

https://www.northernnewsnow.com/2024/07/12/paddles-up-teams-prepare-lake-superior-dragon-boat-festival/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0oWVx8AlLPCRF6McP4hvMM1C8CVjkINyUJId3NEFW0jhfo0gbj4dna9jE_aem_CGeS112zY93OA2yegQ5cRg

Paddles Up! Teams prepare for ‘Lake Superior Dragon Boat Festival’ Teams of 22 people race in dragon boats, which are canoe-like vessels led by a carved dragon’s head.

Are you an Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) individual interested in exploring the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness on an APIDA-led, all-APIDA trip?

"TPAC in the BWCA" has a few spots left on its first-ever trips this August! Thanks to a generous grant from Save the Boundary Waters, scholarships are available. We hope you can join us for these very special trips! Click on this registration link for more info: https://bit.ly/tpac-bwca

Photograph of an 11-year-old Asian American girl at one with nature, in the BWCA for the first time.

It’s wonderful when new businesses start up in the Twin Ports! You’ll be craving for more after you try the home made dishes from Sunhee's little table!

It's the last day of May, which is Asian American Native Hawaiian Heritage Month! TPAC members have been going out into the community and telling our stories. This month we have:

* Made presentations to Lake Superior College & rounded it all off yesterday at Allete/Minnesota Power, where a capacity crowd filled the hall to listen to Julie Kim and Jennifer Lien talk about TPAC and the Asian American community here!

* Shared Japanese Koinonobori craft, and also given a profound presentation of the Hmong American experience, at Cloquet Public Library

* Shared Hmong and Filipino American culture at area elementary schools

* Made appearances on WDIO The Lift, The North 103.3, and PBS North

* Shared food at our TPAC AANHPI Month member potluck!

Thanks to all our gracious hosts for inviting us to share our multifaceted life experiences in the Twin Ports!

#2024

Honoring the brave and and selfless service women and men who made the biggest sacrifice.

Thank you just doesn’t seem enough on this Memorial Day.

A story on the increasingly sophisticated and dynamic use of Asian languages on the Hollywood screen. Gift link.
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Take, for instance, the following scene from the recent HBO mini-series “The Sympathizer,” which airs its final episode on May 26. In the series, Robert Downey Jr. plays an auteur director making a movie called “The Hamlet,” set during the Vietnam War.

In this scene, American soldiers confront a Vietnamese villager. Except something isn’t quite right: She is speaking Cantonese.

In the lineage of the Hollywood Vietnam War movie, where Vietnamese characters rarely had lines beyond screaming in agony, authenticity wasn’t exactly a top priority.

A crew member sheepishly explains to the director that they didn’t bother casting a Vietnamese speaker since “there’s no line in the script.” Eventually, another actress who does speak Vietnamese is brought in, and they reshoot the scene.

From ‘The Sympathizer’ to ‘Past Lives,’ American Audiences Warm to Subtitles (Gift Article) In Hollywood today, not only are Asian and Asian American narratives more prominent than ever, but they are also being told in increasingly dynamic ways through the artful use of Asian languages.

May is Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and TPAC members are going into our community to tell our stories! On this beautiful evening, so many people came out to the Cloquet Public Library for a moving and personal presentation by Pakou Ly on the little-known history of the Hmong with, and in, America; and the thriving Hmong community in Minnesota today. Thank you, Pakou, for telling this important story to our community!

May is Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Month, and TPAC is going out into the community and telling our stories. Here’s Part 2 of Jennifer Lien’s conversation with The North’s morning host Luke Moravec, in which she discusses the importance of telling our very American stories, and TPAC’s vision of making the Twin Ports a place that our children and young APIDA people can call “home”.

Community Connection: ADIPA Community with Jennifer Lien Twin Ports APIDA Collective Board Member Jennifer Lien talks about the Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Community in the Northland

our TPAC friends, Elsie, Pakou and Alivia, visited Lester Park Elementary School and presented about Filipino culture and language, Hmong culture, and included a special dragon dance from Alivia. The 2nd and 3rd graders were wowed by the handmade dragon and asked lots of questions. We love sharing our cultures and backgrounds with the community!!

Twin Ports: If you’re at the mall to pick up some cute Asian pop culture gifts or snacks at Box Lunch, be sure to round up to benefit Stop AAPI Hate ❤️ ✊🏻✊✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿

May is Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and TPAC is going out into the community to tell our diverse stories! Thank you to the amazing mother-daughter team of Elsie Davis & Sophia Birkeland who spent time sharing about Filipino culture with a Kindergarten class at Lowell Elementary and a 2nd Grade class at North Star Academy! And thanks, students, for asking the BEST questions!

May is Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Month, and this month, TPAC members are going out and telling our stories. Here is Jennifer Lien telling her story to North 103.3’s Luke Moravec, and also telling TPAC’s story. Tune in next Thursday (5/16) at 8am for more of this conversation!

Community Connection: The Twin Ports APIDA Collective with Jennifer Lien Twin Ports APIDA Collective Board Member Jennifer Lien talks about the Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Community in the Northland

Look at these sweet kiddos and the beautiful craft they learned to make. Thank you Keiko Satomi for sharing your Japanese culture with these young people!

Thank you, Cloquet Public Library, for highlighting and amplifying these APIDA-themed books this AAPINH Month!

Thank you Baihly for inviting Julie and Kim to share about TPAC and AAPI Heritage Month.

Twin Ports APIDA Collective celebrates AAPI Month May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Month, and the Twin Ports APIDA Collective is celebrating accordingly.

Come out tomorrow and hear Cher Pao Vang speak about the Hmong involvement in the Vietnam War.

B**g exhibit recognizes Hmong role in secret war in Laos Apr. 12—SUPERIOR — The Richard I. B**g Veterans Historical Center is commemorating Hmong Heritage Month in Wisconsin with an exhibit and a guest speaker in April. The exhibit, "A Legacy Revealed: The Secret War," focuses on the Hmong, an ethnic group native to China. During the 18th century, man...

Local Hmong elder Mr. Cher Pao Vang will be speaking about his experiences during the US’ “secret war” in Laos, and his experiences as a refugee and living in the Twin Ports. This is part of an exhibit about the Hmongs’ role on the side of the US as part of this war. It’s on Wednesday at 6:30 at the B**g Veterans Historical Center in Superior.

https://www.superiortelegram.com/news/local/bong-exhibit-recognizes-hmong-role-in-secret-war-in-laos https://www.yahoo.com/news/bong-exhibit-recognizes-hmong-role-035900470.html

B**g exhibit recognizes Hmong role in secret war in Laos Apr. 12—SUPERIOR — The Richard I. B**g Veterans Historical Center is commemorating Hmong Heritage Month in Wisconsin with an exhibit and a guest speaker in April. The exhibit, "A Legacy Revealed: The Secret War," focuses on the Hmong, an ethnic group native to China. During the 18th century, man...