I would have never expected that an imaginary country could be so real. In Eleanor Bluestein’s Tea and Other Ayama Na Tales, readers are given a chance to peek very intimately at the lives of Ayama Na’s residents. These fictitious but very real characters are derived from Bluestein’s travels in Southeast Asia. Her collection of short stories depicting the hardships, inner turmoil and daily lives of those living in Ayama Na is quite captivating.
As I turned to each new short story (there are ten), I was surprised to find myself completely engrossed in each person’s life, and I felt as if I had journeyed with each person all of their lives. Although I was given only a glimpse of the characters’ lives, Bluestein was able to tell her readers so much about each character that it’s hard to escape the depth and intimacy of connection I felt with each new person in each new story.
While reading the stories, I felt as though I had transported to this imaginary country in Southeast Asia standing at the center of town: witnessing, hearing, and vicariously living through what each person had to endure, and each story allows the reader to learn something new as each character does.
I enjoyed the journey I took with each character and found myself empathizing with their cultural limitations, expectations, and liberations. The collection of short stories found in this book are a good reminder that even though someone might live in a place miles away, and although the physical circumstances they faced (living through a drought) was quite different, the inner hardships, challenges, emotions, joys, and milestones they had to go through, and the things that tugged at them are not too different than what I experienced.
[Tea and Other Ayama Na Tales was the winner of the G.S. Sharat Chandra Prize for Short Fiction selected by Marly Swick. 8asians.com is one of the stops on Bluestein’s Virtual Book Tour.]
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When Number One Son first started playing on a mostly Asian-American basketball team at his school, two out of 8 kids on his squad had diabetes and had to take insulin. So after Tim forwarded this article from the Honolulu Star Bulletin that said juvenile diabetes hits more Asian and Pacific islanders who live in Hawaii and the rest of the US than those who live in Asia, I was both surprised and unsurprised. Type 2 diabetes, typically caused from a sedentary lifestyle and a bad diet, was not a surprise, as immigrant adoption of the American diet usually correlates to poorer health and some Asian-American groups are particularly sedentary. I personally know a lot of Asian-Americans who have diabetes, and my personal experience with Hawaiian food is that it isn’t the healthiest cuisine in the world (e.g. loco moco shown below with sides of fried saimin and macaroni salad).
What did surprise me was that Type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune condition of unknown cause, was higher also.
Since while type 1 and gestational (pregancy related) diabetes are not preventable (well, sort of preventable for gestational diabetes), type 2 can be generally be prevented with a healthy diet and exercise – basically avoiding obesity and watching one’s weight. That’s something we all, regardless of ethnicity or race, can take away from this.
Shopping With GASP!
Phillip Milano, author of the syndicated “Dare to Ask” column, fields “diversity” questions of all sorts — and usually they’re the kinds of questions which may be perceived as “politically incorrect” or “insensitive” to ask outloud. He runs a site called Y?, which is “the first and only site of its kind, gives you a way to ask people from other ethnic or cultural backgrounds the questions you’ve always been too embarrassed or uncomfortable to ask them.” Basically, you can ask your question and then others on the forum chime in with answers + you get an “expert response” from Phillip.
So what happens when someone asks a question like: Are Asians the worst drivers – ever?
Q: Why do most bad drivers seem to be Asian? – D.M., 26, white male, Vancouver, Canada
- It is a myth. What’s more, if you check with someone who works in the auto insurance industry, you will find that Asians have the lowest rate of auto accidents. – Pinny, 19, Asian female, Stockton, Calif.
- I cannot drive here in North America. It will take me at least another year to get comfortable with everything on the “wrong” side of the road. Asia drives entirely on the left. Try driving on the left after spending a lifetime doing the exact opposite. – Niti, Pittsburgh
- While Asian is an all-encompassing term, I have noticed that in general there is a truth in the question. There seems to be an inability to understand what is going on around them. – S., black male, California
- I am Asian and am a horrible driver. I don’t know if it is that I can’t see all the traffic signs and cars because of my squinty eyes, or because there are usually seven people trying to fit in my Toyota, and it’s hard to compensate for the weight. Just joking about all that … except that I am Asian and don’t have a single point on my license. – Daniel, 22, Asian male, Indianapolis
Expert Says:
Or that we should quote these NHTSA findings: “In 2002, only about 2 percent of all Asian deaths were attributable to traffic crashes, about in line with blacks and whites and lower than American Indians and Hispanics.”
[full article, with complete expert reply]
How would you respond to the question?
(Hat tip: Tim; Photo credit: I wish I knew who to give credit to this for. I received it in a random email forward.)
It seems to be a dream of Korean entertainers to “make it” in the USA. Even after finding success in Korea, it seems that every Korean pop star who has “made it” wants to conquer the entertainment world in the states. Sure, some like Rain have received some recognition, making the “100 Most Beautiful People” list back in 2007 and being written up – albeit with the wrong person’s photo — for being in Speed Racer. And with Daniel Henney having a role in the much anticipated movie, Wolverine, Korean stars are getting more exposure than they have in a while.
People Magazine’s April 20th issue will be giving exposure to three K-Pop stars — Se7en, BoA and Wondergirls — who want so very much to strike it big in America’s entertainment world. Even well-known celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton has been enjoying a ride on the K-Pop train and has posted about several of Korea’s very own like Wondergirls and the female Big Bang, 2NE1.
As excited as I am that these K Pop stars are getting much desired exposure here in the states, I can’t help but be skeptical about their likelihood of “making it big.” But I do wish them all the best in achieving their dream, no matter how hard it may be.
(Image credit and apologies: Allkpop.com)
Our internal e-mail lists have us discussing all kinds of stuff: Asian American identity, representation in the media, the experiences of activism in an academia setting and its progression as we transition to the working, adult world. And sometimes, we talk about about psycho Asians gunning people down.
Jeff: Shooting at a Korean religious retreat in southern california. Yet another Asian-american shooter – what’s happening?
John: What do you mean? Of course, there is the Virginia Tech guy, but who else?
Jeff: There was the guy in Santa Clara who shot his family, relatives, and himself just this week. The guy who last year killed a company president, HR VP, and another VP after he got fired just went on trial. A few years ago there was another guy who killed 6 hunters and shot 2 others.
Tim: There’s a good article in the Mercury news about why people snap. I considered taking the Merc article and writing something about Asians going psycho, but I just haven’t had the time.
Moye: To answer Jeff’s question, I don’t think anything is really happening in terms of Asian males going psycho and gunning people down. Is it bad to think that these things are pretty common and we just notice them more if they happen to affect the Asian American community?
Ernie: I want to say that [is the case]. But I do think “public face” has a lot to do with it; the pressure to conform and match status quo with all the other Asians out there, as well as the stigma of mental illness and therapy and “talking it out.” I would be a prime candidate for “talking it out” with all the stuff I’ve gone through and even I can’t bear to go, while people half my problems go to bi-weekly sessions; that’s definitely a cultural thing for me.
Efren: Well, there are a lot of things that are going on, especially concerning Asian Ams and mental illness; and how we’re extremely unlikely to seek mental health care b/c it’s either inappropriate culturally and there is such a huge stigma against saying one has mental health issues in Asian communities. Many Asians actually end up having physical symptoms that start from mental health issues, and that’s often the only signal for them to go in and seek care for both the mental and physical health issues.
I think for men it’s compounded even more since they’re supposed to be stoic and emotional in order to prove their masculinity, while it may be slightly easier for women (though Iris Chang unfortunately proved that isn’t the case at all). …
Moye: I definitely agree when you put it that way: I always wonder why my non-Asian friends love going to therapy so much and I can’t even imagine bringing the option up to my parents (for me…but honestly, I don’t think I need it). There are definitely socio-economic factors that are putting a lot of stress on people right now, and this is sadly the only option that some Asian males are finding. Though I don’t believe this is going to be a turning point in the perception of Asian males and that they are all dangerous with violent/suicidal tendencies.
Efren: … I found it telling that people talked about how he was made fun of by other Vietnamese by not being “Vietnamese enough” since he wasn’t able to understand everything that other Vietnamese said. I also know that Chinese Vietnamese tend to either play down the fact that they’re Vietnamese or play up that they’re Chinese, at least in the Bay Area, since they seem to get shit if they claim to be both. I also found it curious that they brought up things in his particular story that weren’t brought up in the other Asian male shooters, like his attempted bank robbery, addiction to crack cocaine, etc.
Bo: … Many of the people who have come forward have mentioned the obvious “warning signs” present. One has to wonder, if there was a broader social safety net and less of a perception that Asian-Americans don’t want, need, or require intervention, could someone have gotten him the help he needed. If the letter that has been attributed to him is authentic, the guy was seriously mentally ill. Possibly border line schizophrenic. We know that the VT-Tech shooter had been battling depression and had been in therapy in the past but hadn’t gotten any help for some time prior to his rampage.
Texas Democrats are demanding an apology over state Representative Betty Brown’s comments during Texas House testimony on voter identification. She was quoted as saying voters of Asian-descent should adopt names that are “easier for Americans to deal with.” Ramey Ko, a representative of the Organization of Chinese Americans, testified at the committee meeting that many Asian people in the United States face voting challenges because their legal names and Americanized names don’t always match.
Brown suggested that Asian-Americans should find a way to make their names more accessible.
“Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?” Brown said. She later told Ko: “Can’t you see that this is something that would make it a lot easier for you and the people who are poll workers if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes that’s easier for Americans to deal with?”
What’s incredible about this exchange is that Representative Brown doesn’t find her remarks as racially insensitive. As an immigrant to the U.S. and one that had a particularly difficult name to pronounce, I was subject to a lot of ridicule as a child. Other children would mis-pronounce my Chinese name as “dum-dum”. This got so bad that my parents finally gave me an American name. But like many of the Asians that Ko talked about, my American name didn’t match my legal Chinese name for much of my life. When I first had the right to vote at the age of 18, I would have encountered the same issues discussed by Ko if I was required to produce identification. I clung to my Americanized name of Timothy for much of my young life, but when I went to college, I contemplated going back to my Chinese name. I even wrote some pieces under my Chinese name, but in the end for convenience I stuck with my American name.
The subject of Asian names in American society is no stranger to 8Asians. Just recently, guest writer Chunsoon, wrote a hotly debated piece on changing her adoptive name from her legal American one to a Korean name. Representative Brown needs to get a clue. For Asians self-identity has a lot to do with what we call ourselves, but little to do with what our names are legally.
Bravo has announced the official lineup of Top Chef Masters, the spin-off show based on their wildly successful (and highly addicting) Top Chef series, where highly established and well-known chefs will compete against each other to win $100,000 for their favorite charity. Not only do the 24 contestants include chefs from some of my favorite restaurants in Los Angeles but also Roy Yamaguchi, the famed Japanese-born-but-Hawaiian-based chef, restaurant owner, cookbook author, James Beard Award winner and Iron Chef celebrity. God, what an overachiever.
Yamaguchi, who now owns Roy’s restaurants all over the US, is competing against the likes of Rick Bayless, Hubert Keller and a bunch of other dudes that I don’t really know by name because let’s be honest, I’m not really an authentic upscale food snob since I still heart Ranch dressing. I just like to eat good food. I’m also a snob in other ways.
Let’s not forget contestant Anita Lo, a second generation Chinese American who owns Anissa in New York City and host Kelly Choi to help round out the Asian American representation!
But can we be honest here about Roy? I’ve eaten at his restaurant before, and I wasn’t too impressed with the food. I’m not a big fan of Asian fusion food (unless it somehow involves spam) and Roy’s does have that “fancy chain restaurant” feel. Overall, the food didn’t spark my imagination or inspiration. But hey, this could be due to the fact that I grew up with ponzu sauce and miso glazes on my fish.
I do, though, appreciate his work in bringing Hawaiian regional cuisine and Asian ingredients to mainstream America where many other chefs are only now learning to incorporate into their food. The Top Chef series has always featured non-Asian contestants who have specialized in Asian cuisine, so I’m interested to see what Roy Yamaguchi can bring to the table.
Maybe even more awesome knife skills than Hung? Less butterscotch miso scallops than Dale? I can’t wait!
Top Chef Masters premieres on June 10th at 10:00pm ET/PT on Bravo.
Actor Kal Penn, mostly known for his role as Kumar in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, and more recently known for his re-occuring role as Dr. Lawrence Kutner on Fox’s hit show House, will be taking a break from acting and will be heading to Washington, D.C. to be a part of the Obama administration. Entertainment Weekly broke the news first as to Penn’s new role in an exclusive interview:
“Yes. I was incredibly honored a couple of months ago to get the opportunity to go work in the White House. I got to know the President and some of the staff during the campaign and had expressed interest in working there, so I’m going to be the associate director in the White House office of public liaison. They do outreach with the American public and with different organizations. They’re basically the front door of the White House. They take out all of the red tape that falls between the general public and the White House. It’s similar to what I was doing on the campaign.”
In his role, Penn will essentially be an “emissary” to the Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities, along with arts and entertainment groups. It really isn’t a big departure for Penn if you’ve followed his involvement in Obama’s 2008 election campaign; Penn was an active, vocal volunteer, often appearing on talk shows like Larry King Live and traveling the country. Do a simple search on YouTube for “Kal Penn Obama”, and you will find a large collection of videos of Penn on the campaign trail. This isn’t Penn’s departure from acting — last year, Penn was a guest lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania for an Asian American Studies course titled, “Images of Asian Americans in the Media.”
I think it’s fantastic that a relatively high profile Asian American actor such as Penn can make a career move into public office. I’ve lamented that there has been a real lack of civic involvement by Asian Americans – something that I always notice when I’ve volunteered during election campaigns. With the Obama administration having cabinet members such as General Eric Shinseki for Veteran Affairs and Dr. Steven Chu for Secretary of Energy, I look forward to Kal Penn actively engaging the Asian American community as part of his role as associate director. I’m sure this news makes The Daily Show‘s Aasif Mandvi happy as he follows “the great Asian cabinet race.”
(Source image: Wikipedia – Kal Penn)
Daito Manabe is an “Artist, Designer, Programmer, DJ, VJ, Composer” based in Tokyo, Japan. Evidently, he composed some electronic music but wasn’t content with his friends just listening or dancing to it.
Instead, he convinces four of his friends to be videotaped as they have electrodes attached to their faces which is then synced up to his music. Talk about some stimulating music! (A video is above; it becomes more interesting after the first minute.)
Credits and behind the scenes of Daito’s “Face Visualizer” , “Face Instrument”
(Hat tip: LT Goto)
You may have heard of film director Justin Lin when his revolutionary Asian American film Better Luck Tomorrow premiered. Lin’s latest project, the installment of Fast & Furious is decidedly less indie but ruled the box office being the #1 film a this weekend, bringing in over $72.5 million over the weekend, setting a record for April openings. But with a Rotten Tomatoes rating of around 24%, Fast & Furious is certainly not in the running for Best Picture anytime soon.
I had a chance to meet Justin Lin once while making the lecture circuit and promoting Finishing the Game. He discussed that he switched back-and-forth between his “passion projects” and directing typical Hollywood films, which helps paid the bills. And while some might consider this “selling out,” in the brutal world of film financing and production, a director has got to do what a director’s got to do. For Better Luck Tomorrow, Lin often cited the fact that he basically bet the farm and used 10 credit cards to produce the film he wanted to produce. So congrats to Justin Lin on winning the box office this weekend.
There seems to be a lot of discussion within the Asian American community about acts of racism against Asians, but very little about Asians acting racist themselves. It occurs frequently and seems to me to be a real problem. For example: the other day I was at a dinner party with a group of Asians, most of whom were in their 40s and 50s. At some point my friend’s parents began discussing her boyfriend with me (who wasn’t present). They weren’t enamored with him, and began listing out the reasons why. When they were done, one of the other guests asked, “So what is worse in your eyes? If your daughter continues dating her current boyfriend, or if she begins dating a black man?” They then had a long, serious conversation about this, and while not reaching a firm conclusion, also made it clear that the black man wasn’t winning any brownie points in their book.
The next day I was getting coffee with a friend of mine from Taiwan, and I mentioned this story to her. Her response: “Yeah! My parents do the same thing!” I got the same response from the next four Asian people I mentioned this to, so I don’t think this is uncommon. Also, all the people who were discussing this at the dinner party were intelligent, caring people, yet none of them seemed to think that there was anything wrong or even strange about disliking someone on the basis of race.
So, what’s the extent to which these problems exist? I’m reasonably convinced that amongst first generation Asian immigrants, racial stereotypes abound (especially against other non-Asian, non-white minorities), in large part because the homogeneity of most Asian countries doesn’t really prepare immigrants for the racial and cultural diversity that is America. Also, based on everything I’ve ever heard, non Asian non-white races are treated in Asian countries with at best, amused curiosity and at worst, outright disdain (as hard as it is for a Chinese person to deal with racial issues in America, imagine how much harder it is for a black man to deal with racial issues in China). But I’m curious what happens to immigrant children, people of my generation. Do they tend to adopt the attitudes of the society they grew up in, or does racism pass on through the family?
And what’s the impact of this to the Asian community? The most immediate impact is that it makes the Asian community a bit hypocritical – the same dinner guests who didn’t want their daughter dating a black man also complained about racial glass ceilings in the workplace, and while that point might still be valid, it’s harder to make persuasively when you are essentially guilty of the same behavior. It also has the effect of isolating the Asian American community. I don’t think my parents have any non Asian non white friends, and I don’t think any of their Asian friends do either. When others complain about Asians being insular, this strikes me as being one of the root causes.
What are your thoughts?
(Flickr photo: jeremybarwick)
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