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As we begin the new year, Sampan will run an occasional series of pieces reflecting on literature that has influenced who we were, who we are now, and who we might become as Americans. On July 4, we will celebrate the 250th anniversary of America’s founding. For the purposes of this series, the notion of “literature” include foundational political texts, those that established who we would be as a nation, and those that serve to challenge what we have become.

The Voice of Hind Rajab is based on the true story of Hind, the five-year-old trapped for hours in a car in Gaza. She is there, next to her relatives who had just been killed by Israeli gunfire. She begs to be rescued, using her cousin’s cell phone to call for help.

This February the Galapagos Puppets will put on “The Fiery Mountain and Its Princess” with musician Jimmy Zhao and his daughter, Iris, who will perform at the Puppet Showplace Theatre in Brookline, Feb. 14 to 17.

The world premiere of the musical “Wonder” is a compelling, family-friendly production that tells the story of Auggie, a boy with a facial difference

Tufts Medical Center in Boston has opened an expanded Pediatric Asian clinic that it says will better serve thousands of Asian children and families in the area.

After 40 years in operation, the Chinese Culture Connection (CCC) of Malden has recently moved to a new location to better serve the community.

When funding for SNAP food and nutrition help for poor and struggling families was in jeopardy, community groups came together to help.

Anita Yip, a former Josiah Quincy School student, returns and visits as an adult.

Sampan talks with ‘Pip’ Lewis, the architect behind the award-winning Josiah Quincy Upper School

In her new documentary, “Removed: Black Erasure in Boston,” local filmmaker and podcaster Sabrina Salvati — better known as Sabby Sabs — takes viewers through the displacement of Blacks in the city.

A sweeping report by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund explores three “swiftly changing” Chinatowns in the Northeast: in Boston, Manhattan, and Philadelphia.

Renee Inomata, a Boston-area attorney, who was highly active ­— oftentimes behind the scenes — in the civil rights and Asian American initiatives, died on Dec. 1.

We believe bigoted and hateful attacks on Somali immigrants, refugees and citizens are harmful to all of society, but especially the most vulnerable, families and children. And we should all stand up against this hate.

Trish Fontanilla tells the Sampan about BOSFilipinos and Filipino identity.

For Filipino American History month in October, Sampan, in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts-Boston’s Filipino Cultural Club, Hoy! Pinoy!, hosted a live panel of three Filipino American immigrants.

Sept.18 was an exceptionally joyful day for a quiet stretch of Hudson Street in the heart of residential Chinatown. Joined by mayor Michelle Wu and the Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC), city officials and community partners put their shovels down at the parking lot on Parcel R1, which will soon become home to 110 affordable housing units, and more importantly, Boston Public Library’s permanent Chinatown branch.

Tet in Boston is getting bigger. This year the 37th annual Vietnamese Lunar New Year festival will be on Feb. 1, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Thomas M. Menino Convention & Exhibition Center.

For a decade the Massachusetts chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations has been advocating for the civil rights of Muslims in the state. But on the 10-year anniversary banquet for CAIR- Massachusetts on Nov. 22, it was all about the preciousness of time – and, more precisely, how the time to defend civil rights is now.

Performed at The Foundry’s black box theater the weekend of Nov 8, Playfest featured nine short stories from a band of Boston-based playwrights. Each compellingly showcased the creative heft of local writers and the comedic chops of an all-Asian American and Pacific Islander cast and crew.  

Chenlu Hou , a Rhode Island resident, is an artist in residence at the Office for the Arts at Harvard for the 2025 to 2026 school year.