8Asians.com | Archive | August, 2009

Michelle Kwan Won’t Compete in Vancouver 2010 Olympics, Persues Diplomacy

By John | Monday, August 3, 2009

red cares michelle kwan 400a120706 Michelle Kwan Wont Compete in Vancouver 2010 Olympics, Persues Diplomacy The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics are around the corner, but two-time Olympic medalist Michelle Kwan will not compete and will end her career without a gold model. In her lifetime, Michelle was a nine-time U.S. champion, five-time world champion and silver and bronze Olympic medalist, as reported in the Los Angeles Times:

“In a statement released by U.S. Figure Skating, Kwan said she will attend graduate school full-time at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and pursue a master’s degree in international affairs. Kwan, 29, graduated from the University of Denver last November… Her plan to skate in a show in South Korea later this month with world champion Kim Yu-na had sparked speculation that she might return to competition, but Kwan said she would instead continue her education and a public diplomacy career she began in 2006… “Representing the United States as an American Public Diplomacy Envoy the past three years has been very rewarding, and I want to do more. Furthering my education will bring me closer to that goal, and I don’t want to wait any longer to continue the journey.”

Michelle is one of the most accomplished women’s figure skaters in the United States and the world — I had the great fortune of being able to see Michelle Kwan skate in the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in the short program in women’s figure skating in which she lead the competition before she lost and came in third after completing the long program. I have always admired her skill & grace on the ice and she’s a terrific athletic role model, having traveled to China to dinner with President George W. Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao as part of being a non-paid diplomatic envoy representing the United States. I wonder if this means that Michelle will have a chance at all to work with Kal Penn.

| Posted in Current Events, Sports | 10 Comments

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Gay Asian-Americans Face More Stress

By Tim | Saturday, August 1, 2009

20587276 350x350 Front Gay Asian Americans Face More Stress In what’s probably not a surprise to any Asian-American gay youth, Hyeouk Chris Hahm of the Boston University School of Social Work published a new study indicating this group often faces extended family and cultural social stresses that affect their ethnic and sexual identities. The study was published in the Journal of LGBT Youth, and indicated that both young men and women mask homosexual behaviors to avoid alienating their family and parents’ communities. In their relationships with others, they often have to decide which identity will take precedence — their ethnic or sexual identity.

“In the Western gay and lesbian community, ‘coming out,’ is final revelation that you are homosexual while for Asian and Pacific Islanders in America of Korean descent, there is ‘coming home,’ where you want to integrate culturally and be both an American and Korean,” Hahm said in a statement. “This is not staying closeted but rather alluding to your sexuality to a family member, who may not challenge it, as long as the status quo within the family is maintained.”

For many in the Asian American gay community there’s the notion of balancing two lives, and the life you have with your family, where you are closeted, and the life you live based on your sexual identity. I straddled both worlds for much of my life, having the face I showed at family gatherings and events, and even bringing my “friend” along for many of these events. It wasn’t until I turned 30 that my two worlds collided. While I know some Asians who considered, and even married someone of the opposite sex to keep their cover with their family, that was something I knew I would never be able to do.

I’m not sure what it is about turning 30, but that seems to be the magical age in Chinese culture when you’re supposed to be married, and if you’re not, all hope seems to be lost. That’s the age my parents decided it was time for a sit down confrontation, and asked me point blank when I was getting married. At that moment, I came out to my parents and although they had problems accepting my sexual identity, things got better with time. But to the rest of the extended family, my husband was still just my “friend”, and that’s pretty much the way things stand today. My husband gets invited to all the family events, and everyone understands he’s also our daughter’s other parent, but no one mentions the word gay or homosexual; everything is just understood or implied. We even had a wedding reception, and family came, but the family doesn’t talk about it. It’s the two world culture that Hahm writes about in her study, and one I’m sure you’re all too familiar with if you’re Asian-American and gay.

| Posted in Family, LGBT, Lifestyles | 5 Comments

Shopping With GASP!

The 8Asians Writers Talk About: Health Concerns of Asian Americans

By Guest Writer | Saturday, August 1, 2009

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 Hep B.

John: [via the New York Times: This article on the specific health concerns of Asians and Asian-Americans, and how the cultural issues of both doctor and patient can effect that.]

Yan: Oh my god. My maternal grandfather died from liver cancer. My family is from Fujian. ::runs to doctor::

Efren: My former doctor (a gay white man) had insisted that I get vaccinated for hepatitis A and B when I first started seeing him, since men who have sex with men are also one of the groups highly affected by hepatitis A and and I’m really glad I did, especially after I had read about the rates of infection of hepatitis among Asian Americans AND gay men. Hepatitis is a bigger issue among queer Asian men because of these compounding factors than HIV actually.

I know that there are programs being done here in the Bay Area to get East Asian Americans to become more aware of hepatitis vaccination though I’m not sure how affective they’ve been.

Jeff: My doctor (a Vietnamese guy) had me, The Wife, and the Daughter vaccinated for these when he found out we were going to Asia on a trip. This is a good reminder to check if my sons have been vaccinated since they were born after we took our last trip to Asia … it appears that kids are now vaccinated against hep A and hep B as standard procedure.

Bo: The Korean church I attended growing up periodically ran Hep A and B vaccination drives. I’m luckily vaccinated because of this – as is my entire family. I’m aware of a few other illnesses that Asian-Americans are particularly prone to – osteopososis and a form of anemia. All the women in my family are anemic. Asians also have higher rates of stomach cancer but that tends to dissipate when you look at 3rd and 4th generation Asian-Americans. Researchers think the higher rates of stomach cancer are linked to our diet which includes massive quantities of highly preserved foods.

Jeff: Is the Osteoporosis from related to lactose intolerance – hard to get calcium? Also got any specifics on the type of anemia?

Bo: I don’t think anyones made the link between lactose intolerance and osteoporosis. That would also mean that blacks were more prone to osteoporosis, which isn’t the case. White and asian women are at the greatest risk. I believe the anemia is called beta-Thalassaemia but don’t quote me on this one. I believe people of middle eastern, southeast asian, and east asian origin are most prone to this form. You may also be aware that people of African heritage are more prone to sickle-cell anemia and people believe this is related to the malaria resistance it provides its carriers. I don’t know that anyone has shown any tangential benefits for asians to be anemic. One could theorize that iron-deficant anemia is a result of diet (traditional asian diets being largely plant based) but then you’d see far lower rates of anemia in asian-americans, which isn’t the case.

Jee: I’ll add myself to the statistics: I have chronic anemia (and I refuse to take iron pills because side affects – constipation- is not worth it). I recently had Hepatitis vaccinations because my antibodies were too low. And yeah, osteoporosis in my family is due to the lactose intolerance (I am taking calcium pills for that).

Yan: So, I told this all to my mom, who just kind of rolled her eyes and said that she already knew. Apparently Hep vaccines are commonplace in the hospitals in our region.

Moye: Don’t you love it when moms do that?