Main Street 

Picture of Main Street Executives in Winter 2002

Photo Courtesy of Nora Yasumura

Main Street was a student-founded and student-led Asian American publication from Fall 2000 to around June 2009. Shirley Lin '02 and Jeanette Park '02 were motivated by their experiences in Professor Vernon Takeshita’s class on Asian American history to start the publication when they realized there was no forum for Asian American issues at Dartmouth. Main Street was named after Main Street, Flushing, an immigrant neighborhood in New York City with a prominent Asian American population — a far cry from the typical suburban Americana vision of Main Streets. The publication was led by a group of passionate students each year who kept the publication alive and relevant for just short of a decade — no easy feat for any student group. It featured many editorials and articles by students, both Asian American and not, and covered subjects from arts and culture to politics. The publication created a coalition of Pan-Asian political and journalistic solidarity — something unseen before on Dartmouth campus.

It serves as the most comprehensive collection of Dartmouth Asian American news, arts, and politics in the 2000's.  The full article featured in Main Street Vol. 2 No. 3 about Main Street by Shirley Lin is available here 

News 

Main Street News Collage

Main Street served as a record of a wide variety of Asian and Asian American activity from affinity group events to global developments.

Each edition opening with a "News Brief" section,  where snippets of various events relevant to the Asian and Asian American community were published, such Asian American political appointments, natural disasters impacting Asian countries, and hate crimes against Asians on other college campuses. Within the edition would be full-length articles on news stories that warranted more thorough analysis, such as the discussions of Korean unification in the Fall 2000 edition. 

As the editions continued, Dartmouth-specific news was added to the "News Brief" section. News about campus controversies that warranted the attention of Asian and other marginalized communities, such as campus ambivalence toward OPAL, the denial of tenure to Asian American faculty, and the state of the Asian Studies Center were all reported on in detail. 

Main Street was and is an and important repository of information surrounding events and developments that concerned the Asian and Asian American communities at Dartmouth. 

Some Main Street articles featuring news are available here: 
“Life at Dartmouth” (Main Street Vol. 2 No. 1)

“The Controversy Around OPAL” (Main Street Vol. 9 No. 1) 

“Up or Out Minority Professors and Tenure at Dartmouth College” (Main Street Vol. 2 No. 2)

Arts 

Main Street Art Collage

Main Street also became a record of a wide variety of Asian and Asian American creative activity both at Dartmouth and beyond. 

The magazine published articles and editorials about various Asian and Asian American artists such as an interview with Asian American filmmaker Ang Lee, an analysis of sculptor and designer Maya Lin, and a piece on the spoken word duo Kontrast. Other editorials featured perspectives and thoughts on Asian and Asian American arts such as the portrayal of Disney's Mulan and the Bruce Lee films. 

Main Street also covered Asian American art produced in Dartmouth. Not only did the publication itself reproduce many pieces of visual and written art, it would also document the many plays and performances created by Asian American students throughout the years. These performances are further explored in the Performances section of this digital exhibit. Many of the artistic expressions featured in this exhibit were preserved for many years because of Main Street's documentation of them. 

Main Street made sure to highlight Asian American arts as an integral part of the Dartmouth Asian American community, thus cementing its role in the process. 

Some Main Street articles featuring the arts is available here: 

“DAO’s Asia Americana Play” (Main Street Vol. 4 No. 2)

“A Look at the APA Spoken Word Scene with Kontrast” (Main Street Vol. 2 No. 3)

“Raunchy Asian Women” (Main Street Vol. 2 No.3) 

Politics

Main Street Politics Collage

Finally, Main Street also became a platform for campus and national political thought for Dartmouth Asian American students.

Main Street's writings reflected the increased consciousness and politicization of the Asian American community at Dartmouth. These political topics included more national issues such as affirmative action and self-determination, but also more Dartmouth-oriented issues such as the increasing disappointment in Asian affinity groups' popular Culture Nights and the rising demand for Asian American Studies. 

This, of course, raised challenges of balancing the authenticity and criticisms of the Asian American community and experience at Dartmouth. As Jeanette Park reflects, "Writing as a POC can feel like threading a needle...you want to be both inclusive as well as particular around the Asian American experience; you want to be truth-telling but not necessarily antagonistic in observing inequities"—a struggle that reverberates in Asian American art today. 

Some Main Street articles featuring politics is available here: 

“race and The Greek System” (Main Street Vol. 1 No. 2) 

“Asian American Studies Q & A” (Main Street Vol. 4 No. 2) 

“Sexual Assault at Dartmouth Distressing Statistics Brought Silence” (Main Street Vol. 2 No. 1)