In celebration of Trans Week of Liberation, join us for a writing workshop with River Mason! Lunch will be provided.
About River Mason
River Mason is a Queer Indigenous writer, poet, performer, photographer and videographer. They received a B.A. degree in film and media arts at Temple University. River’s work aims to prompt introspection, the human condition and exploring avenues of self-expression. They care to create a sense of belonging for all individuals with the result that they can comfortably explore their own personal narratives, interests and vulnerabilities. River’s work centers around queerness, identity, social justice, solitude and mental health. They are in constant pursuit of utilizing their writing as a means to embrace and voice their sorrow and joy.
In celebration of Trans Week of Liberation, join us for an Open Mic Night for trans, non-binary, genderqueer and gender-questioning students with special guest River Mason!
About River Mason
River Mason is a Queer Indigenous writer, poet, performer, photographer and videographer. They received a B.A. degree in film and media arts at Temple University. River’s work aims to prompt introspection, the human condition and exploring avenues of self-expression. They care to create a sense of belonging for all individuals with the result that they can comfortably explore their own personal narratives, interests and vulnerabilities. River’s work centers around queerness, identity, social justice, solitude and mental health. They are in constant pursuit of utilizing their writing as a means to embrace and voice their sorrow and joy.
Celebrated annually during the month of April while the community is still on campus together, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month is coordinated by the AAPI Heritage Month planning committee, with efforts led by Multicultural Affairs in collaboration with campus departments and student organizations.
Celebrated nationally in May, AAPI Heritage Month honors Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who have enriched America’s history and are instrumental in its future success.
Campus community members are invited to participate in the following programs and events being held to celebrate, honor and educate the Syracuse University community about the histories, identities, cultural diversity and contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
March 31: Stephanie Shih “My Sweetie Has No Pockmarks” Reception
March 31: AAPI Heritage Month Kickoff
April 1: Orange After Dark – AAPI Heritage Month Open Mic Night
April 2: International Festival
April 7: MGC Night Market
April 8: Holi 2023
April 13: Paving the Way Alumni Speaker – Sharon Lee ’14, G’15
April 13: Orange After Dark – AAPI Heritage Month Grocery Bingo
April 14: Night at the Museum with Sigma Psi Zeta
April 15: Orange After Dark – International Game Night
April 18: AAPI Mental Health Awareness Workshop
April 20: AAPI Heritage Month Commemorative Lecture with Hua Hsu
April 21: ASIA Night
April 22: AAPI Heritage Month Ping-Pong Tournament
April 26: aKDPhi AAPI Trivia Night
Ongoing Events
“My Sweetie Has No Pockmarks” Exhibit by Stephanie Shih (Available through May 14)
“Take Me to the Palace of Love” Exhibit by Rina Banerjee (Available through May 14)
This year’s Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month Kickoff will start with AAPI student organizations and campus departments tabling in Schine from 4-5 p.m. The tabling will be followed by a set program at 5 p.m. where the campus community can learn about the month’s events, enjoy student performances and have an opportunity to engage with each other. During the program, the AAPI Heritage Month planning committee will also bring attention to the annual Anti-Asian Hate Crime Exhibit (displayed on the exhibit wall on the first floor of Schine), which remembers the Denny’s incident that occurred in Syracuse in 1997.
A product manager by profession, real estate investor by night, and French fry connoisseur by self-proclamation, join Sharon Lee ’14, G’15 in learning about her journey from being a resident at Day Hall to being a resident of her eutopia (not utopia).
Driven by compassion, Sharon is an established professional at eagerly learning. From managing teams of 50+ people, leading a hackathon idea into a $2M initiative, to owning features for a reputable product with 69M monthly active users, a naïve 4’11” Bostonian turned Dallasite has a little wisdom to share, but a lot to reminisce on as she recaps her Asian American dream over the last 30 years.
This event is sponsored by Multicultural Affairs and Multicultural Advancement.
As part of the University’s celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, the campus community is invited to attend a lecture by Hua Hsu.
A meet-and-greet and book signing will follow the event.
This event has been made possible by Co-Curricular Fee funding and the generous support of Tom MacDougall ’92 and Grace Wu. The event is co-sponsored by the AAPI Faculty and Staff Affinity Group, AAPI Heritage Month Planning Committee and Multicultural Affairs.
Our collective and individual identities are messy, amorphous, and impossible to define—but New Yorker staff writer and bestselling author Hua Hsu says that’s a good thing. Telling our own complex stories complicates the narratives that are told about us, and opens up new worlds of possibility. Hua’s memoir “Stay True”—which turned him into a “literary phenomenon” (The New York Times)—touches on the immigrant experience and growing up Asian-American; but more than that, it’s an exploration of grief, pop culture, being young and how friendship helps us discover who we are. Hua weaves his story with wider questions of diversity and culture, proving that “we aren’t alone, and we never have been.”
About Hua Hsu
The son of Taiwanese immigrants, Hua Hsu grew up desperate to build an identity of his own. But despite his countercultural interests, he struck up a friendship with Ken, a seemingly mainstream San Diego native whose Japanese-American family had been in the country for generations. Hua’s memoir, “Stay True,” is the poignant story of that friendship and the marks it left on his life, as well as a moving reflection on identity, self-discovery, connection and the immigrant experience.
“Stay True” is a national bestseller, one of TIME’s 100 Must-Read Books of the Year, and one of The New York Times’s 100 Notable Books of the Year. It is a Publishers Weekly best nonfiction book of the year, a New Yorker best book of the year so far, and one of the most anticipated books of Fall 2022 at The New York Times, TIME, Kirkus and more. Ocean Vuong, New York Times bestselling author of “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous,” said that “Stay True” is “writing at its most open, meticulous, forgiving and tender—which is to say, this is writing at its best.” Hua pays tribute to his friend by bringing their shared memories to life, elevating the entire memoir genre “with a kind of athletic ease” (Vanity Fair).
A staff writer at The New Yorker since 2017 and a contributor since 2014, Hua has covered a range of topics, from immigrant culture and student debt to hip-hop and affirmative action. In addition to “Stay True,” he is the author of “A Floating Chinaman: Fantasy and Failure Across the Pacific.” He currently teaches at Bard College and has previously taught at Harvard University and Vassar College. Hua serves on the executive board of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop and Critical Minded, an initiative to create opportunities for cultural critics of color, and was formerly a fellow at the New America Foundation and the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center at the New York Public Library.
