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It began with Kelly Yang’s three children, who started fielding questions about whether they had COVID-19 because they’re Chinese. Coronavirus tag ensued, and her son was somehow always “it.”
Then Yang, an author who moved to the U.S. from China at age 6, taught a free online writing class for teens. One student called her a Chinese virus in the middle of the session.
But the most upsetting incident occurred last spring, at a grassy park near her former East Bay home. A woman charged toward her, angry that Yang’s labradoodle wasn’t on a leash. “There are signs everywhere. Can you read?” the woman said, and used a racial slur.
A big hit to the community : Historic San Francisco movie theater closes permanently
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The CinéArts at the Empire Theatre in 2009.Kevin Y./Yelp
One of San Francisco’s historic movie theaters has closed permanently, felled by the pandemic, KQED reported.
The CinéArts at the Empire movie theater first opened in 1925 as the Portal Theatre. It only had one screen back then, like many other theaters that opened at the time. The cinema would see several name changes throughout the years, becoming the Empire in 1936 and then CinéArts at the Empire after Cinemark acquired the property.
The theater was an important part of the West Portal neighborhood and beyond. For many residents in the area, it was their local cinema and a community gathering space. On Halloween, for instance, the theater would join other businesses on the block to offer candy for young trick-or-treaters.
With 29% of San Francisco Unified School District students lacking internet access at home, students met outdoors in a Bayview-Hunters Point park with a wi-fi hotspot to ensure families without broadband access could participate. The Oculus Quest headsets were donated earlier in the year by Swinerton Builders, a commercial construction company that provides additional services in green building.
Swinerton
Three groups are working together to teach high-demand construction skills to high school students in California. To do so during a pandemic, they’re using virtual reality (VR) devices to teach from afar.
Brightline Defense, an environmental justice nonprofit that works to build communities and create sustainable environments, today announced a collaboration with CityBuild Academy and TRANSFR VR that will make construction industry job training accessible to thousands of low-income young adults as part of a free, citywide program in San Francisco.