One of our favorite Lunar New Year exhibits is the incredible Zodiac Spectacular at the Atrium at Crown Towers in Melbourne, Australia. This display features large-scale luminous animals of the Chinese zodiac. In honor of the Lunar New Year on February 5, the Atrium also features daily performances during the first ten days of this month by a lion dance team to “chase away evil spirits.” (There is also a Hawker-style food market with roving entertainers along the Crown Riverwalk and a fireworks display on February 9.) Back here in New York City, revelers can celebrate with the annual Firecracker Ceremony in Roosevelt Park on February 5 and the famous New Year Parade and Festival in Chinatown on February 17. Feng Shui Master Marites Allen has forecasts and advice for the Year of Pig: “Possible upheavals may happen as economies of certain countries may be largely disrupted due to changes in rules and market conditions.” And: “Be more considerate, understanding and avoid discussions that could lead to you being misinterpreted. Display your peace and harmony emblems at home.” Gong Xi Fa Cai!
Year of the Pig
H-1B Electronic Registration Postponed for This Year’s H-1B Cap (Fiscal Year 2020)
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today posted a final rule effective April 1, 2019 that introduces an electronic registration requirement for H-1B cap cases but suspends the electronic registration for this year’s H-1B cap season (FY 2020). After considering public feedback, USCIS decided to suspend the electronic registration requirement for the FY 2020 cap season to “complete user testing and ensure the system and process are fully functional.” This move will be welcomed by many immigration practitioners, who since the initial announcement of the electronic registration have been concerned whether the registration rollout would be ready and fully tested in time for the fast approaching start of the H-1B FY 2020 filing period on April 1, 2019.
Read moreLos Angeles Times: "'Roma' actor Jorge Guerrero has been denied visas to the U.S. — and might miss the Oscars"
Jose Antonio Guerrero Martínez, an actor in the celebrated movie Roma, directed by Alfonso Cuarón and nominated for ten Academy Awards, has not been able to secure a visa to enter the US to attend screenings and other industry events in the US, according to an interview he gave in the Mexican lifestyle magazine, Quién. Guerrero says he has been denied visas to the US on three separate occasions.
Read moreBasic Fairness and Decency
USCIS Will Resume Premium Processing But Only for Pending Fiscal Year 2019 H-1B Cap Petitions
US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the agency will resume premium processing for all pending fiscal year (FY) 2019 H-1B cap petitions, including “master’s cap” advanced degree exemption cases effective Monday, January 28, 2019. USCIS originally suspended premium processing for all cap-subject petitions, including master’s cap exemption cases, in April 2018, and in September 2018 extended the suspension to additional H-1B petitions.
The premium processing service will resume only for pending FY 2019 cap petitions, not new submissions, since sufficient cap cases have been filed to meet the cap numbers. The previously announced temporary suspension remains in effect for all other categories of H-1B petitions to which the suspension applied. If USCIS has issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) for the case, petitioners and/or attorneys should submit the RFE response with the premium processing upgrade request. USCIS says: “We plan to resume premium processing for the remaining categories of H 1B petitions as agency workloads permit.”
In Dreams Awake
In Dreams Awake features six large-scale, figural sculptures by Hudson Valley-based artist Kathy Ruttenberg on the Broadway Malls between 64th and 157th Streets. In her first major outdoor installation, Ruttenberg combines human, animal, and plant forms to allow “viewers a moment to escape from New York's urban intensity with dreamlike fables derived from rural settings.” The pieces are made of a variety of sculptural media including patinated bronze, glass mosaic, transparent cast resin, and LED lighting. I had a chance to visit “Ms. Mighty Mouse” on 79th Street and “In Sync” on 72nd Street. Ruttenberg encourages viewers to come up with their own narrative and “multi-layered meaning” of each piece. I think “Ms. Mighty Mouse” is protecting a walnut she found for the winter against other pedestrians who are trying to steal it (but I don’t know what happen to her arms, that’s very concerning!) and “In Sync” tells the story of a tree nymph and half man-half deer who are in love but are walking to the train to get to their desk jobs even though they dream of running off to the country. In Dreams Awake is on display at various points on the Broadway Malls through February 2019. What’s your interpretation?
The New York Times: “Actually, the Numbers Show That We Need More Immigration, Not Less.”
That America is being overwhelmed by a flood of immigrants has become conventional wisdom for some. Remarking on undocumented immigration and border security President Trump claimed last November that, among many other negatives, “Illegal immigration hurts American workers; burdens American taxpayers; and undermines public safety.” Many immigration experts and analysts, including Shikha Dalmia, a senior analyst at Reason Foundation, argue however that the idea that America is experiencing mass immigration is a myth.
Read moreOne Family
Between Two Worlds
Escher X nendo | Between Two Worlds is a visually stunning exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria (known as NGV) in Melbourne featuring over 150 preparatory sketches, drawings, woodcuts, mezzotints, and lithographs of famed Dutch artist M. C. Escher along with work by the internationally-acclaimed Japanese design studio nendo. The pairing is appropriate since both Escher and Oki Sato, nendo’s founder and principal designer, “share common interests in their love of spatial manipulation, optical illusions and playful visual devices.” In this exhibit, which I thoroughly enjoyed, Sato and his design house nendo have created an immersive installation where visitors can experience Escher’s brilliant 2D graphic world along with nendo’s inventive 3D design world. Sato chose the house shape as a motif for the exhibition because he wanted to create “a house for Escher.” The house motif is repeated in various formats in the exhibition rooms and playfully interspersed with Escher’s own works. In the exhibition’s largest room (the above photo), a grid of black-and-white houses with both open and closed roofs act as a maze that forces visitors to walk through the space to discover tabletop light-boxes displaying works by Escher. Sato says: "I sort of feel like I became best friends with Escher, even though I never met him.” Visitors to the exhibit might feel the same. Escher X nendo is on display at the NGV International through April 7, 2019.