With a nation grieving over the loss of loved ones and the destruction from Hurricane Sandy on the East coast, a relief concert "Coming Together" with artists including Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Joel and Sting raised funds for Hurricane Sandy victims at NYC's Rockefeller Center which aired on NBC, HBO, and other outlets. With more recovery and fundraising efforts underway, our spirits are uplifted by the countless stories of courage and heroism by people helping people in the face of Hurricane Sandy. On the West coast, Ben Fong-Torres describes the dancing in the streets of San Francisco, and a thumbs up by Mayor Ed Lee over a World Series win with people from all walks of life and ethnicities coming together. The capacity of the human spirit is boundless. There is hope after all. - Suzanne Joe Kai, editor, AsianConnections.com

By Ben Fong-Torres

Yes, there was the joyful craziness, the dancing in the streets of San Francisco when Giants closer Sergio Romo struck out triple crown winner Miguel Cabrera in Detroit to win the World Series. (click here to full story with images)

And yes, there was the victory parade and Civic Center celebration, drawing more than a million fans into San Francisco, from all over Northern California.

But I also think of the line of 15 or 20 people in front of a tiny Taco Bell/KFC place on a recent late Tuesday afternoon. Taco Bell had promised free tacos if any player in the Series stole a base.

APAICS Congratulates New 
Asian American and Pacific Islander 

Members of 113th US Congress

Update as of November 23, 2012:

Washington, DC -- On Tuesday, November 6, 2012 five new Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) leaders were elected to serve in the 113th United States Congress, with one race for California's 7th Congressional District near Sacramento too close to call on Election night.

The Associated Press called the race on November 15 in favor of Dr. Ami Bera who was running against incumbent Republican Dan Lundgren. This was Bera's second attempt to unseat Lundgren.

Dr. Bera, 45, a Los Angeles-born physician becomes the third Indian-American elected to the House of Representatives, after Singh Saund in 1952, and Governor Bobby Jindal who was elected in 2004 and is still Governor of Louisiana.

Update as of November 23, 2012: Longtime incumbent Republican Dan Lundgren, 66, a lifelong politician who has served 9 terms in Congress, and was a former State Attorney General has not issued a statement on his official website.

Under California law, a recount may be requested by a candidate or voter within five days after the county registrar has finalized results. It is not known if Lundgren will pursue a recount.  

Image: Dr. Ami Bera campaigning with former President Bill Clinton  Photo credit: Ami Bera Campaign

Click here to the full story and photos of all five leaders. 

Feeling Stressed, and Wanting More Time? By Marilyn Tam 

“How did it get so late so soon?” - Dr. Seuss “It’s November already, where did the year go?”

“The holidays are coming, and I’m still caught up in projects that I started months ago.” “Get all my work done? If I had 48 hours in a day I may get caught up in another year. Do you relate? Occasionally or more often, everyone has felt that time was rushing by, carrying with it our chances to finish what we began, say sorry, or redo something that we wish we hadn’t done.

When the days are so packed with demands, both assigned and self-imposed, we have a tendency to live in a constant mad rush. Many of us multi-task and juggle urgent projects daily, careening through life with little time to ask why and what are we really doing. Later, sometimes too late, we realize that in our scramble through life, we have neglected what was truly meaningful to us.

The Doors Perform Live on Facebook

 December 5th   8:30pm EST - 5:30pm PST

Ben Fong-Torres hosts a LIVE Q&A with
The Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek

Qello and Eagle Rock Entertainment Host a Facebook Digital Premiere of the Restored LIVE AT THE BOWL ’68 Concert Film.

10PM EST – 7PM PST

New York, NY – On December 5th, fans of The Doors will have the opportunity to watch Jim Morrison, Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek, & John Densmore like never-seen-before live in concert on Facebook. Qello, the music entertainment digital streaming service, along with Eagle Rock Entertainment are hosting a Facebook Digital Premiere of The Doors 1968 live concert at the Hollywood Bowl, which is considered to be the band’s finest concert on film.

The film of this historic concert has been meticulously restored using the original camera negatives; the audio has been remixed and mastered and three unreleased tracks have been resurrected, marking the first time the concert can be seen in its entirety. 

The Doors keyboardist, Ray Manzarek says, “the quality is stunning, mind-blowing; it’s like being there right on that Hollywood Bowl stage with me, Jim, John, and Robby.”

A ticket to the Facebook Digital Premiere comes with a trove of treats for music fans; for $4.99 ticket holders get:

January 19, 2013

Author and Columbia Law School Professor Tim Wu writes in The New Yorker magazine about Internet prodigy, writer and activist Aaron Swartz who took his own life at age 26 on January 11, 2013.

Click here for Wu's commentary for The New Yorker.

Friends and supporters gathered at memorial services in cities nationwide to pay tribute to Swartz, who was blazing trails as an advocate for the open exchange of information, as he faced trial by federal prosecutors on hacking charges. Swartz's trial was a month away, accused by federal prosecutors for breaking into an Massachussetts Institute of Technology computer wiring closet in 2010 to tap into the computer network to get millions of paid-access scholarly articles which he planned to make available for free.

Swartz accomplished many groundbreaking projects in his short life. As a teenager, Swartz helped create RSS, technology for gathering updates from news sites, blogs and elsewhere on the Web. Swartz also co-founded the popular social news site Reddit, and Demand Progress, a group that campaigns against online censorship.

Memorial events for Aaron Swartz are scheduled January 24 in San Francisco, January 19 in New York City. Other memorial events were held January 18 in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Swartz's funeral service was held on January 15 at Central Avenue Synagogue in Highland Park, Illinois.