I am elated Little Laos’ers. Why? Because even after a week, people are still talking about the Brand New: Ohio 2017 Artist Showcase that was this past Saturday (November 4th). What is Brand New: Ohio? It’s a project that I and some fellow artists and community-builders here in Columbus developed to give Southeast Asian American and Pacific Islander American artists a creative platform – and we decided to make that platform a gallery art show. Why Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander Americans? And why an art show? Well, society often ignores SEA/PI Americans in the realms of entertainment, social initiatives, and popular consciousness because we lack access to most Pan-Asian American platforms. Asian Americans are already overlooked, so it’s a double burden for SEA/PI who typically have lower populations and higher rates of socio-economic challenges compared to other Asian American groups. The US also does a horrible job at teaching global geography and world history to kids, so that helps people ignore our histories and cultures. Because of the long list of barriers, we knew we …