A rally on College Green yesterday afternoon marked the start of the ninth Asian Pacific American Heritage Week, a celebration of Asian American culture and history that will continue through next Saturday.
Asian Pacific American students have arranged a wide variety of social and educational events over the next week and half, most notably a performance by popular comedian Margaret Cho tomorrow night in Irvine Auditorium.
"The only name that rings a bell for most people is Margaret Cho," APAWH Vice-Chairwoman Julia Lee said.
"She should be a really big hit," Asian Pacific Student Coalition Chairwoman Eugena Oh added.
The first major event of the week is tonight's kickoff concert by Asian American group Devotion. While there is more fun to follow, the APAHW coordinators said they want the week to both entertain and educate the student body.
"It is trying to unite the Asian American community... to learn about Asian culture in general," APAHW Executive Board Co-Chairman Patrick Li said. "A lot of Asian Americans and non-Asian Americans are not aware of problems and issues."
"It's really important," Lee added. "It's our celebration of APA heritage and culture."
Students involved said they are anxious to continue the success of previous celebrations, but also hope to reach more of the Asian Pacific American community, particularly those new to Penn.
"We hope to get more freshmen to participate," Li said. "We've been trying to get freshmen to help out... we hope it spreads by word of mouth."
However, event organizers stressed that APAHW is not just for Asian Americans. The coordinators say they are sure that some events will attract students of many ethnicities.
"It's a really good opportunity for the Penn community to educate themselves on the Asian American community... to take part in the culture," Oh said.
"For non-APAs, it's an opportunity to learn about our culture," Lee added.
Next Friday's fashion show is expected to be a multi-cultural success.
"The fashion show usually draws a diverse crowd," Li said.
"Attendance at the fashion show is very high," Oh added. "It's really great to see such diverse faces on the catwalk."
There is, however, a more serious educational side to the week of events.
Penn's Tukufu Zuberi and Temple University's Howard Winant, both Sociology professors, will give talks concerning race and racism. But organizers said they are particularly interested in Wednesday evening's keynote speaker, Helen Zia, who will lecture at 7 p.m. in College Hall.
Zia is an award-winning journalist and political activist for Asian Americans and for members of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender community.
"Her activism doesn't only cover APAs," Lee said. "She's also active in the LGBT community... she spans a lot of groups."
To address their most personal and pertinent issues, APAWH has scheduled a candlelight vigil for Tuesday night at the ARCH building on 36th Street and Locust Walk. Organizers said they hoped this would raise awareness of the problems that Asian Americans face.
"Speakers talk about hate crimes, how hate crimes have affected them," Engineering junior Franklin Shen said. "It's a time for remembrance for people who have suffered."
APAWH coordinators also want to do some social work, through a planned community service event on Feb. 28. The week will end with a Charity Gala and Auction at the Doubletree Hotel, all proceeds of which will go to the Sept. 11 Healing Hands fund, a charity for victims of the World Trade Center attack.
Organizers say they hope that the events draw attention both from inside and outside the Asian American community.
"A lot of Asian Americans don't take time to pursue their own history as Asian Americans," Oh added.
