For Mochi readers interested in politics and living in Massachusetts, Asian Sisters Participating in Reaching Excellence (ASPIRE) is presenting an event through its speaker series called Making Waves: Journey & Challenges for Asian American Women in Politics. It’s free and open to the public. Please RSVP to the event.
The panel is on Wednesday July 27, 2011, from 7-9 p.m. at the Microsoft New  England Research & Development Center in Cambridge, MA. Speakers are Lisa Wong, Suzanne Lee and Diana Hwang.

I love many kinds of Chinese food, but I’ve never been a huge fan of shark fin soup, a dish that has been regarded for a long time as a traditional Chinese delicacy. While the dish may seem completely normal for those of us that are used to seeing it on Chinese menus or at the occasional family dinner, it has recently become the center of a hot political debate in California.

I’ve found myself crying at everything lately––and not just reruns of “Grey’s Anatomy.” These days, given my real-world journalism internship at a magazine, I find myself crying while researching articles; tearing up when someone sends in a sad letter to the editor. Maybe it’s my hormones, or maybe I’m finally tapping into feelings I always suspected I had.

Japan carries many traditions and one of them is making cranes—legend says that if 1,000 cranes are made, your wish will come true. Make a wish of healing for the victims of the tsunami and earthquake by creating a crane. Emily Co of Absolutely Fobulous started a Facebook campaign called JustOneCrane to collect cranes from all over the world, in addition to raising funds and awareness of post-disaster help for Japan.

Beside the traditional worlds of science and math, Asian Americans are starting to make their mark in the political sphere as well.
In New York City,  three Asian American candidates won the Democratic City Council primaries: Margaret S. Chin in the 1st Council District, Kevin D. Kim in the 19th Council District, and Yen S. Chou in the 20th Council District.
And to top it off, John C. Liu, who is the first and only Asian American member of the City Council in New York, came in a close race for …