5.11.18 - 5.17.18

• Variety: Veena Sud, Kulap Vilaysack, and more on Increasing Asian-American Representation in Hollywood: ‘This Has to Be a Movement’

• Vientiane City Guide: Where to Eat, Drink, Shop, and Stay in Laos’ Capital.

• Senator of Rhode Island Commemorates Heroism of Hmong and Lao Soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery

• Chronicle: A Mosquito Bite Nearly Killed Me

• Laos Angeles Executive Director, Kulap Vilaysack, and husband Scott Aukerman featured in Emmy Magazine spread.

• Marine Veteran Harasses Elderly Lao American Veteran in Sacramento.

• Sahtu Press printing a children's book: 'Mommy Eats Fried Grasshoppers' - coming this fall!

• Hmong veterans gather in Madison to celebrate Hmong-Lao Veterans Appreciation Day

• Sysamone Phaphon attended ‘Top Moms of Color in Tech’

• #RepresentationMatters:

  • Watch This: Inside scoop on the makings of Origin Story Doc by Director Kulap Vilaysack

  • Laos Angeles Roots member Vannaphone Meng Lothi’s son, Izaac Wang, books first feature film!

  • New York Times: Hiro Murai on the ‘Atlanta’ Finale and ‘This Is America’ Video

  • HuffPost: Ali Wong - Asian-Americans Are Opening Doors For Other Asian-Americans In Hollywood

  • Rita Phetmixay wins an award for her short ‘Phetmixay Means Fighter’ at CAAMFest36!

  • Hollywood Reporter: Cannes: Southeast Asia Is Ready for Its Big-Screen Close-up

  • AA Press: Lao Documentary to Screen at CAAMFest

• Motherland News:

  • Asia Times: The legacy of the US ‘secret war’ still takes a deadly toll on Laos

  • Asia Times: Little Laos Risks Losing It All to China

  • New Bus Routes Create Better Connection Between Thailand and Laos

• #LaoFoodMovement:

  • Snackboxe Bistro at it again and featured in a newspaper article!

4.6.18 - 4.12.18

HAPPY LAO NEW YEAR!

• Bet you have never seen Obama drinking a coconut in Luang Prabang.

• Cape Cod Times: Mashpee students use 3-D printing to help Laotian schoolchildren 

• Catzie Vilayphonh took her oath of office as a Council Member for Pennsylvania’s Council on the Arts!

• The remains of almost half of the 573 American service personnel presumed missing in action (MIA) in Laos during the Indo-China War have been located.

• Hmong colonel who fought with U.S. in Vietnam gets full military burial.

• Motherland News: 

  • Women from Hong Kong help with the Rugby Revolution in Laos.

  • The Greater Mekong Subregion countries (like Laos) once plagued from poverty are now economic success stories.

  • Road trip to Mekong: Four women bikers rode motorcycles through seven nations in seven weeks. Laos included. 

  • Baby born via Lao surrogate four years after the death of parents.

  • Borneo Bulletin: It is confirmed that the conservation of Vat Phou will be carried out through the years.

  • United Nations Population Fund: Rural midwives help save mothers giving birth in Laos.

• #RepresentationMatters:

  • Sandra Oh booked her dream role: ‘Killing Eve’  

  • Laos Angeles Roots member Lina Luangrath is having her third performance this spring at the Hotel Sofitel in Beverly Hills.

  • Screen Steve Arounsack’s film: Getting Lao'd - The Growth of Lao Music and Film Scene

  • Refugee camp born, Kao Kalia Yang, speaks about her new book & how her parent's immigration story has inspired her.  

  • HBO Show, Westworld, rounds out incredibly diverse cast ahead of season 2.

• #LaoFoodMovement:

  • Laos Angeles Roots member, Saengthong Douangdara spreads the Lao Food love at UCLA!

  • Celebrate Asian Pacific American Month by eating all of the food! Save the date and join Saengthong Douangdara at the LA Food Bowl!

  • Have you tried the native Lao food: Chili Wood?

3.30.18 - 4.5.18

• NBC News: Congress passes law allowing national cemetery burials for Lao and Hmong 'Secret War' veterans.

• Lao Khaen music declared humanity’s heritage by UNESCO.

• Celebrate #LaoNewYear with Krysada Binly Panusith Phounsiri and EraNetik Kennedy Phounsiri at  Market Creek Plaza at 3:30 PM on April 8th!

• Mother’s seek to combat breastfeeding stigma in Asian-American communities.

• For your viewing pleasure: Brief History on Asian America

• Charlotte Observer: Asian Americans think an elite college degree will shelter them from discrimination. It wont.

• Legacies of War: March 2018 Newsletter featuring: Huge win for UXO sector in Laos; Announcing LaoNow 2018; Join the Circle of Hope

• Laotion Times: Harrison Ford Visits Luang Prabang

• #RepresentationMatters:

  • Executive Director Kulap Vilaysack's documentary will be be premiered at this year’s Bentonville Film Festival. It was also chosen to be the centerpiece documentary at this year’s CAAMFest!

  • All Raise’s founding members made history by becoming the first all-women venture capitalists featured on the cover of Forbes magazine.

  • Entertainment Weekly: Pixar’s Short Film ‘Bao’ (created by Domee Shi) is your ‘Incredibles 2’ Appetizer

  • Writer of ‘The Song Poet’ - Kao Kalia Yang talks about how she has no memory of Laos.

  • Founder of FilmHero, Sysamone Phaphon, talks about What Indie Filmmakers Need To Generate More Revenue And Visibility on Forbes.

• #LaoFoodMovement:

  • Laos Angeles Roots member, Saengthong Douangdara spreads the Lao food love at William Sonoma in Beverly Hills!

  • Malina Syvoravong shares one of Saengthong Douangdara’s recipes on the North Coast Journal.

• ATTENTION: Submit your shorts to NBC Universal Short Film Festival by April 30th!

3.23.18 - 3.29.18

• Watch the US Drop 2.5 Million Tons of Bombs on Laos.

• ATTENTION: 23 and Me is giving out free genetic tests if all four of your grandparents were born in Laos!

• The Guardian: Why are white people expats when the rest of us are immigrants?

• #RepresentationMatters:

  • Miya Cech cast in The Darkest Minds directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson.

  • Phillip from You Offend Me You Offend My Family discusses Asian representation in American film industry and documents Asian Americans at the Los Angeles Gun March: #MarchForOurLives.

  • Diversity is dominating the 2018 box office.

  • Pixar's next short film 'Bao' explores an empty-nesting Chinese mother - directed by Domee Shi.

• In motherland news:

  • We are witnessing the motherland developing quicker than ever before.

  • Nobphalat Sikaiphak crowned Miss Grand Laos 2018

  • Borneo Bulletin explores the hidden waterfalls in the land of 4,000 islands

  • Lao government looks to solidify ties with neighboring states and major powers like Russia.

  • Laos ties with Bangladesh 2-2 in soccer.

  • Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith wants to make the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party more transparent.

  • The Rosewood opens second Southeast Asian location in Luang Prabang.

  • Visitor attraction now open at the Vientiane City Wall.

• #LaoFoodMovement:

  • Vanh Sengaphone & Thip Athakhanh open up Snackboxe Bistro in Atlanta.

  • Laos in the House hosting 3rd Annual Pop Up Dinner in Philly.

  • Observer Dispatch spotlights Taste of Laos in Utica.

• #ImmigrantsMakeAmericaGreat:

  • Amphone Phetsisouk, definition of a refugee who risked everything to come to America, laid to rest at 63 years old.

  • Clarkston Community Center hosts first International Spring Festival with Lao culture featured.

  • Bounlorm Soumetho (family member to many Laos Angeles Roots Members)  acknowledged for his leadership in the Lao American Community of Minnesota.

3.16.18 - 3.22.18

• Laos Angeles Roots volunteer at The LA Kitchen

• Comedian and activist Jenny Yang urges us to remake our culture that is hostile to women - especially women of color

• Laos Angeles Roots Fam, Rita Phetmixay is featured in Asian Pacific American Network

• #AAPIindustry news: CAPE Board Member, Rina Brannen, is leaving agency life to be the Head of Development at Daniel Dae Kim's company 3AD and Lauren Yee writes compelling Asian play that is to be featured at South Coast Repertory.

• Paisley University students partner with VoluntourLaos to help supply clean water for Ban Had Kam Villiage in Laos

• Thipsavanh Silaleoon, third-year business student, joins Intercultural Night to perform a mash-up of a traditional Lao dance.

• Washington Times: Tourist taken by the beauty of Laos!

• #RepresentationMatters : Meet the Asian George Washington and Actors Defying Asian Stereotypes,  Karen Fukuhara has been cast as a series regular Amazon’s straight-to-series superhero drama The Boys, 57 year old Junko Cheng books her first acting role  in Taylor Swift's 'Delicate'

• ATTENTION: The Poetry Foundation offers scholarships of up to $25,800 each

• #LaoFoodMovement : Eater Philadelphia highlights West Philly’s Vientiane Café in their “Adventurous Eats” and new food truck, Lao-Thai Xpress is up and running in Crestview, FL  

• Both born in Laos -- Mary Nguyen Aregoni has big plans for two food brands Bang Chop Thai Kitchen & Saigon Sisters and Tony Yang shares his experiences coming to the United States

• Laos Angeles Roots volunteer at The LA Kitchen.

• Lao Argentinian family reached out to Little Laos on the Prairie to help find lost family in U.S. Good news, they found!

• Laos is changing, the economy of Vientiane, Laos is changing with an influx of Chinese investment and Vang Vieng cleans up and gets first international-class hotel

• A Top-Secret U.S. Base On Laos Mountaintop Was Overrun By Elite Vietnamese Commandos 50 years ago

• The Lao village of Lahanam flourishes with higher demand for indigo dyed thread

• In other motherland news, Laos is offering incentives to Lao expats and requests deportation agreements to be handled case by case when served by the U.S. Government.

• Thailand is determined to legalize all 3.8 million foreign migrant workers -- many of Laotian descent, and indicts Laos drug lord, ‘Mr X’ for life