"We are the living dream of the dead. We are the living spirit of the free."

Hasan Minhaj, Ivy Quicho and Junot Diaz narrate a passage from 'America Is In The Heart.'



In troubling times like these, when every day seems like a struggle for the soul of America, look to Carlos Bulosan. The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center has released a beautiful video ode to America's immigrants, featuring a passage from Bulosan's classic book America Is In The Heart. The piece is narrated by comedian Hasan Minhaj, community organizer Ivy Quicho and writer Junot Díaz.

Check it out:

CTRL+ALT: A Culture Lab on Imagined Futures

Presented by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, November 12-13



If you're in New York City, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center invites you Ctrl+Alt: A Culture Lab on Imagined Futures, featuring the work of 40+ artists and scholars exploring themes of imagined future, science fiction and future technology. It's happening November 12-13 at 477 Broadway in SOHO/Chinatown.

Here's a nifty trailer:

Here's the soundtrack for your AAPI Heritage Month

Spotify playlist presented by the White House Initiative on AAPIs and the Smithsonian APA Center.



Looking for some tunes to set off your day? In celebration of AAPI Heritage Month -- it's May, didn't ya know? -- the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center have put together this very cool AAPI Heritage Month 2016 Spotify Playlist.

It's a pretty dope list, running almost two hours with 31 songs from a wide array of artists, including Run River North, TOKiMONSTA, Jai Wolf, Yuna, Red Baraat, Kero One, Sam Tsui and many more.

National Youth Summit on Japanese American Incarceration in World War II

Join the conversation on Tuesday, May 17, 2016.



The Japanese American National Museum will host the National Youth Summit on Japanese American Incarceration in World War II, an online outreach program organized by the museum in partnership with the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. The event will link middle and high school students from across the country in a webcast centered on the Japanese American incarceration and its lessons for today.

It's happening Tuesday, May 17 at 1:00-2:00pm ET. Here are some more details:

Images from A Day in the Life of Asian Pacific America

The first crowdsourced gallery of the Asian Pacific American experience as lived on one day: May 10, 2014



Happy Independence Day, whatever it may mean to you. Just in time for the Fourth of July, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center has launched A Day in the Life of Asian Pacfic America, an incredible, illuminating photo exhibition celebrating the breadth and diversity of our community.

On May 10, 2014 more than 500 people captured over 2,000 photos and videos throughout the course of a single day. From the submissions, curators put together this gorgeous online exhibition -- the first crowdsourced gallery of the Asian Pacific American experience around the world as lived on one day.

Here are some sample photos from the exhibition:

Smithsonian APA Center invites you to Wikipedia APA, May 10

An edit-a-thon for cultural presence



Yet another way to celebrate AAPI Heritage Month... edit a Wikipedia article?

For better or for worse, Wikipedia is often the first site many people go to for info online, but it's been well documented that Wikipedia editors are overwhelmingly young, white and male. The Asian Pacific American Wikipedia Edit-a-thon, happening May 10, is an interesting effort to get our diverse AAPI community to have a voice and presence on one of the most widely-used resources in the world for general information.

Wikipedia APA is a physical event going down this Saturday in several cities across the United States. You're invited to take part. Whether you're a seasoned Wikipedian, an APA studies scholar, or completely new to all of this, your voice is needed to add to the presence of cultural, historic, and artistic information on Wikipedia about Asian Pacific American (APA) experiences.

Here are some more details:

May 10: A Day in the Life of Asian Pacific America

Smithsonian exhibition to document the transnational scope of the APA community



Just wanted to remind folks that the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center's A Day in the Life of Asian Pacific America kicks off on Saturday, May 10. The epic photo/video project aims to document and celebrate the everyday lives of Asian Pacific Americans. Photos and short videos taken on the day will be featured in Flickr and possibly selected for an online Smithsonian exhibition.

At the very least, this is an awesome opportunity to see some striking images from our community by AAPI photographers doing kickass work. Here's some work from the portfolios of a few of the photographers the Smithsonian has tapped to take part in "A Day in the Life..."

A Day in the Life of Asian Pacific America

Calling photographers and filmmakers far and wide to document a global experience.



This May, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center collaborates with Flickr to capture the vast and nuanced universe of experiences that embody Asian Pacific America. You're invited to capture snapshots and take part in A Day in the Life of Asian Pacific America, happening May 10, 2014.

Sign up to take part! #Life2014 is an open call. Capture your content sometime between 12am and 11:59pm on May 10, 2014 (respective to whichever timezone you're in that day) and upload it to the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center's Flickr group. They'll curate their top picks to create a digital exhibition.

Here's some more information:

"I Want the Wide American Earth" Digital Comic

An illustrated adaptation of the Smithsonian APA exhibition



This is so cool. The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center has teamed up with SIUniverse Media (the folks behind the Asian American comics anthologies Secret Identities and Shattered) to release a digital comic to celebrate the opening of the exhibition "I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian Pacific American Story" at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles.

Featuring the work of contributors Jef Castro, Bernard Chang, Chris Danger, Keith Chow, Ming Doyle, Yasmin Liang, Jerry Ma, Krishna Sadasivam, and GB Tran, the comic is an illustrated adaptation of the exhibition, capturing key moments and movements from the Asian Pacific American experience.

Take a look:

Hangout for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, May 1, 12:00pm ET

In case you didn't know, May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. To kick things off, I've joined forces with the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center for a very special Google Hangout happening Wednesday, May 1 at 3:00pm EST.

Come join in on a Hangout with Lisa Ling, journalist, writer and host of Our America with Lisa Ling; Kiran Ahuja, Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders; Konrad Ng, Director of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center; moderator Gautam Raghavan, Associate Director of Public Engagement at the White House. And me! Here are some details about the Hangout:

I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian Pacific American Story, Opening May 1

Heads up. May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. If you're in Washington DC, the Smithsonian American Pacific American Center invites you to its upcoming exhibition, I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian Pacific American Story, opening May 1 at the National Museum of American History.

Job Opportunity: Museum Curator, Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

Passing along this job opportunity... The Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC is looking for a Museum Curator for the Asian Pacific American Center, which produces educational programs, exhibitions and research about the Asian Pacific American experience and works in partnership with museums and centers across the Smithsonian and beyond to enrich collections and activities about the APA experience.

The position serves as Curator for APA digital and emerging media. That sounds pretty cool. But what exactly does that mean? Here are a few more details about the job: