Thanks for attending ISA ’09 and for covering the show here on 8asians.com. I’m glad to read that being at the show made you feel “excited and inspired”, but I’m disappointed in your overly-negative commentary on the event.

It’s very clear that you did not do the proper research necessary to substantiate your attacks on my performance as well as Passion’s. Although we both did include covers in our performances, we also showcased much of our own original material during our respective sets. In fact, three out of my four selections were original compositions that I wrote for my current album. I even went as far as announcing on stage that we were performing original material. From reading your article, however, it seems you neglected to hear me say that.

Whether you enjoy my work or not is entirely up to you, and I humbly respect your opinion. However, claiming ownership of a “press pass” while callously passing my work off as “Jason Mraz” covers is disappointing and, in my opinion, irresponsible. You could have simply contacted me to ask about the originality of my content rather than electing to publish a cleverly-worded — but misinformed — dismissal of my performance.

From what I understand of your article, it appears to me that you expect (or even demand) Asian-American artists to behave a certain way and create their art in a certain way: your way. It also seems that artists that don’t meet your own personal expectations are fair game for you to publicly insult and ridicule in an open forum (such as 8asians.com). Again, I have no personal issue with this. You have every right to your own opinion, and I would never discourage you from speaking your mind. However, it is difficult to ignore the hypocrisy of you tearing down the very same artists that you claim make you feel “excited and inspired”.

Asian-American culture is developing. It may not be developing in the manner or direction in which you would expect or demand, but it is developing nonetheless. And from the overly-enthusiastic and positive responses we received from those that attended ISA, it appears that we are doing something right with our creative contributions to that culture.

In terms of your concern at the lack of female performers at this year’s show, I must say that I agree with you. I, also, would like to see more of the brilliant and talented women of our community featured on stage. However, I’d like to remind you of the innumerable factors that are involved in the planning and executing of an event like ISA, including financial and scheduling factors. From my own personal experience of working in the entertainment industry for the past several years, I can tell you firsthand that it is definitely a great challenge to coordinate such a large-scale event.

To the best of my knowledge, I can assure you that there was no conscious or deliberate effort to exclude female performers from this year’s show, and I’m sure that even greater efforts will be made to make the next event even more inclusive.

But considering the fact that tickets were completely sold out the week prior to the show (and were considered valuable enough to even trade on sites such as Craigslist and eBay), it seems to me that you are in the minority in terms of your overall views on the event. An overwhelming majority of the audience members at ISA seemed to be enjoying the show very much. Perhaps then would it be possible that it is in fact you that is out of touch with Asian-American culture, rather than the artists?

I assure you, I truly do understand the importance of sharing my heritage and culture in a responsible manner. But at the end of the day, I am merely an artist. My main priority is to put my best creative work forward, not “represent Asian-Americans”, as you say. I’ll leave the politics of intellectualizing Asian-American culture for qualified professionals to deal with.

I do appreciate that you are passionate about encouraging members of our community to strive for their own personal best. I also appreciate that you hold members of our community to high standards. But when you publicly denounce artists to further your own personal agenda and views without putting in the time to properly research the facts to support your claims, that is when I’m afraid I cannot offer you my support.

If there’s ever a situation in the future in which you’re uncertain about an artist’s intentions or actions, I would encourage you to contact them and ask them directly. It would give the artist an opportunity to clear up any confusion you may have, and it would also help ensure that you have the full story before posting information that could potentially damage the very energy of positivity that you strive to further within our community. In the case of ISA artists, we’re on the most part fairly accessible via the web. Give us a try.

Best regards,
Paul

Thanks for attending ISA ’09 and for covering the show here on 8asians.com. I’m glad to read that being at the show made you feel “excited and inspired”, but I’m disappointed in your overly-negative commentary on the event.

It’s very clear that you did not do the proper research necessary to substantiate your attacks on my performance as well as Passion’s. Although we both did include covers in our performances, we also showcased much of our own original material during our respective sets. In fact, three out of my four selections were original compositions that I wrote for my current album. I even went as far as announcing on stage that we were performing original material. From reading your article, however, it seems you neglected to hear me say that.

Whether you enjoy my work or not is entirely up to you, and I humbly respect your opinion. However, claiming ownership of a “press pass” while callously passing my work off as “Jason Mraz” covers is disappointing and, in my opinion, irresponsible. You could have simply contacted me to ask about the originality of my content rather than electing to publish a cleverly-worded — but misinformed — dismissal of my performance.

From what I understand of your article, it appears to me that you expect (or even demand) Asian-American artists to behave a certain way and create their art in a certain way: your way. It also seems that artists that don’t meet your own personal expectations are fair game for you to publicly insult and ridicule in an open forum (such as 8asians.com). Again, I have no personal issue with this. You have every right to your own opinion, and I would never discourage you from speaking your mind. However, it is difficult to ignore the hypocrisy of you tearing down the very same artists that you claim make you feel “excited and inspired”.

Asian-American culture is developing. It may not be developing in the manner or direction in which you would expect or demand, but it is developing nonetheless. And from the overly-enthusiastic and positive responses we received from those that attended ISA, it appears that we are doing something right with our creative contributions to that culture.

In terms of your concern at the lack of female performers at this year’s show, I must say that I agree with you. I, also, would like to see more of the brilliant and talented women of our community featured on stage. However, I’d like to remind you of the innumerable factors that are involved in the planning and executing of an event like ISA, including financial and scheduling factors. From my own personal experience of working in the entertainment industry for the past several years, I can tell you firsthand that it is definitely a great challenge to coordinate such a large-scale event.

To the best of my knowledge, I can assure you that there was no conscious or deliberate effort to exclude female performers from this year’s show, and I’m sure that even greater efforts will be made to make the next event even more inclusive.

But considering the fact that tickets were completely sold out the week prior to the show (and were considered valuable enough to even trade on sites such as Craigslist and eBay), it seems to me that you are in the minority in terms of your overall views on the event. An overwhelming majority of the audience members at ISA seemed to be enjoying the show very much. Perhaps then would it be possible that it is in fact you that is out of touch with Asian-American culture, rather than the artists?

I assure you, I truly do understand the importance of sharing my heritage and culture in a responsible manner. But at the end of the day, I am merely an artist. My main priority is to put my best creative work forward, not “represent Asian-Americans”, as you say. I’ll leave the politics of intellectualizing Asian-American culture for qualified professionals to deal with.

I do appreciate that you are passionate about encouraging members of our community to strive for their own personal best. I also appreciate that you hold members of our community to high standards. But when you publicly denounce artists to further your own personal agenda and views without putting in the time to properly research the facts to support your claims, that is when I’m afraid I cannot offer you my support.

If there’s ever a situation in the future in which you’re uncertain about an artist’s intentions or actions, I would encourage you to contact them and ask them directly. It would give the artist an opportunity to clear up any confusion you may have, and it would also help ensure that you have the full story before posting information that could potentially damage the very energy of positivity that you strive to further within our community. In the case of ISA artists, we’re on the most part fairly accessible via the web. Give us a try.

Best regards,
Paul

The strength of a communities lies in how open it is to internal criticisms. While it is important to stand in solidarity, a community should not accomplish this goal by silencing criticisms and concerns within the community. As every social movement evolves, it must be brave and strong enough to become more inclusive. This piece reminds me of the fact that the point of putting Asian Americans in the mainstream is not just about assimilating to the mainstream but changing the mainstream, changing the institutions that have historically been racists and exclusionary. Your piece reminds me of the importance of inclusion- because with more people and more voices behind your cause, you can make a bigger statement.

Great piece, Connie and very well written. From all the comments, it seems that this was a discussion waiting to happen. thanks for being brave and opening up the convo.

The strength of a communities lies in how open it is to internal criticisms. While it is important to stand in solidarity, a community should not accomplish this goal by silencing criticisms and concerns within the community. As every social movement evolves, it must be brave and strong enough to become more inclusive. This piece reminds me of the fact that the point of putting Asian Americans in the mainstream is not just about assimilating to the mainstream but changing the mainstream, changing the institutions that have historically been racists and exclusionary. Your piece reminds me of the importance of inclusion- because with more people and more voices behind your cause, you can make a bigger statement.

Great piece, Connie and very well written. From all the comments, it seems that this was a discussion waiting to happen. thanks for being brave and opening up the convo.

Thanks for clarifying your position – I think that somehow all of the responses to your original post seemed to read what you wrote as an accusation of misogyny.

That aside, I completely agree with you that we should be critical and more conscious of how Asian-Americans are portrayed. Because Asians are generally so negatively stereotyped and portrayed by the mainstream media, it’s imperative that when Asian-Americans do get an opportunity to write about their own community, that they do so with more empathy than what you would expect from mainstream media.

That’s why I was a little disappointed when it seemed as though your article was unfairly claiming misogyny without presenting any evidence of how the individuals involved had acted from misogyny. That’s the kind of unfair reporting I would expect from the mainstream. So, again, thank you for clarifying.

I’m also a little confused about your interpretation of the Jin “free-style” on Asian women. To be fair, I wasn’t at the show, but I don’t see how you could interpret “Ladies, it’s not all about looks. It’s about brains too. Right, guys?” as a directive to make attracting Asian men the goal of Asian women’s lives. I just don’t see it. Given that it seems customary in rap culture to refer to women as “bitches”, and “ho’s”, and to generally demean women, it’s seems harsh that you would suggest that Jin’s line is anything less than a positive reinforcement of female empowerment. Maybe, I had to have been there to get it?

We all are tired of the mainstream media’s lazy approach to representing Asian-Americans by relying on negative stereotypes, yet it’s futile to complain about this when all too often, Asian writers seem to do the same thing. I’m not accusing you of this, but making the point as a general observation.

Thanks for clarifying your position – I think that somehow all of the responses to your original post seemed to read what you wrote as an accusation of misogyny.

That aside, I completely agree with you that we should be critical and more conscious of how Asian-Americans are portrayed. Because Asians are generally so negatively stereotyped and portrayed by the mainstream media, it’s imperative that when Asian-Americans do get an opportunity to write about their own community, that they do so with more empathy than what you would expect from mainstream media.

That’s why I was a little disappointed when it seemed as though your article was unfairly claiming misogyny without presenting any evidence of how the individuals involved had acted from misogyny. That’s the kind of unfair reporting I would expect from the mainstream. So, again, thank you for clarifying.

I’m also a little confused about your interpretation of the Jin “free-style” on Asian women. To be fair, I wasn’t at the show, but I don’t see how you could interpret “Ladies, it’s not all about looks. It’s about brains too. Right, guys?” as a directive to make attracting Asian men the goal of Asian women’s lives. I just don’t see it. Given that it seems customary in rap culture to refer to women as “bitches”, and “ho’s”, and to generally demean women, it’s seems harsh that you would suggest that Jin’s line is anything less than a positive reinforcement of female empowerment. Maybe, I had to have been there to get it?

We all are tired of the mainstream media’s lazy approach to representing Asian-Americans by relying on negative stereotypes, yet it’s futile to complain about this when all too often, Asian writers seem to do the same thing. I’m not accusing you of this, but making the point as a general observation.