by Ron Chew
(This article was originally published on the International Examiner and has been reprinted under an agreement.)
Some goodbyes are harder than others. For many, this one was heart-wrenching.
On Friday, Sept. 30, 2022, the Viet-Wah Supermarket, an anchor of Seattle’s Southeast Asian refugee and immigrant population for 41 years, closed its 15,000-square-foot flagship store at 1032 S Jackson St.
Continue reading The Final Day at the Viet-Wah Supermarketby Ron Chew
(This article was originally published on the International Examiner and has been reprinted under an agreement.)
Seattle Native American artist and writer Lawney Reyes, who documented his family saga and his tribe’s forgotten history in White Grizzly Bear’s Legacy: Learning to Be Indian, passed away on Aug. 10, 2022, at the age of 91.
Continue reading Beloved Seattle Artist and Writer Lawney Reyes Passes Away at the Age of 91by Ron Chew
(This article was originally published by the International Examiner and has been reprinted under an agreement.)
On Monday, March 29, our hearts were broken. Bob Shimabukuro died peacefully in his southeast Seattle home. We lost a perennial International Examiner writer, columnist, editor, and audacious community champion.
Continue reading Bob Shimabukuro’s Legacy of Community Activism, Art, and Creative Journalismby Emerald Staff
Community members across Seattle are celebrating Ron Chew for a career totally dedicated to his community as a journalist, advocate, and fundraiser for Seattle’s International District. Since the mid-1970s, he has worked as editor of the International Examiner, director of the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific Experience, and currently as the executive director of the International Community Health Services Foundation (ICHS) for Seattle’s Chinatown International District (CID). Chew will retire from ICHS on Jan 1 after leading it the entirety of the past decade.
In a recent Emerald article, Glenn Nelson aptly described Ron’s journalistic focus: “Chew practiced his craft largely on a concrete island isolated from the rest of Seattle by railroad tracks and the I-90 and I-5 freeways.”
Continue reading Community Activist, Journalist, and Author Ron Chew to Retire From ICHSby Glenn Nelson
The whole thing just kind of snowballed on Ron Chew — the book writing and the running. One day revealed to him a rapturous synergy. He realized that the running — the moving — jarred things in his brain: memories, organization, solutions.
Down the home stretch of completing his book, Chew vowed to run 10 miles. Every morning. Every day, until his book was finished. One day he surmised that 10 miles was so close to a half marathon, he increased his mileage. And then he determined he should do them at a swifter pace.
Continue reading Unforgotten Seattle: Journalist, Museum Exec, and Runner Ron Chew Finds Heroes of Seattle’s Unforgettable History Amidst Everyday People of Color
