There was unfortunately a couple of prominent news articles highlighting violence against Asians this week. Most recently comes the news that actor Kal Penn was mugged at gun point in Washington D.C. Penn is in DC working in the Office of Public Liaison and focuses on President Obama’s outreach to the Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities.
Closer to my home was the news that 59 year old Tiansheng Yu died after a brutal attack in broad daylight on what was considered a relatively safe neighborhood in Oakland, CA. His death followed an incident where his son, was punched for no reason after entering a store. Tiansheng Yu went to confront his son’s attackers and was punched in the face by the same attackers. Two African American men, accused of the crime have been arrested.
The Philadelphia Inquirer ran an article this week recapping the violence against Asian American students in a local high school. The article compared the recent attacks with ones that occurred in 2002 at a high school in Lafayette, PA.
KGO, a local San Francisco station also ran a news story about three recent attacks (one fatal) against Asians on the Muni, SF’s public transit system
It’s surprising to see so much news on anti-Asian violence. I tend to believe it’s not 1982 anymore (when Vincent Chin was murdered after being mistaken for Japanese at the height of anti-Japanese sentiment). With all the positive changes we’ve had in the last almost 30 years, I tend to believe we live in a more tolerant society. But it’s news reports like the ones we’ve had this month, that makes me wonder if we’ve learned anything at all.
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Eugenia Kim, Korean-American milliner for celebrities, fashionistas, tormented hipsters and those with large wallets — found her calling after a bad haircut inspired her to make a feather hat to cover her hair. She caught the attention of J. Lo and Carrie, who wore Eugenia’s fabulous pink fur hat in “Sex and the City” .
I became a fan of her hats when living in NYC allowed me to check out Eugenia’s sample sale — and immediately fell in love with her hats, as well as the bubbly Eugenia, who mingled with her customers and gave hat tips left and right. (She took one look at me and recommended Carrie’s pink fur hat to me, but I declined, I couldn’t imagine wearing that on the NYC subway)
I’m glad to see that Eugenia Kim has launched a reasonably priced hat line for Target, available this week. Run people. Her hats usually run from $200-$500, but at Target, the cute hats are about $15-$18. I bought a few this morning, myself. 
Her mint green fedora was already sold out this morning, but I surprisingly loved her equestrian hat, which is really cute once you put it on.
A recent article about Eugenia cracked me up where she says that her mom doesn’t wear her hats, but wears the popular golf hats Korean moms love instead, my mom included. Eugenia takes it all into stride, saying “I don’t need to completely dominate the world — I can exclude my family.”
Shopping With GASP!
Columbia University’s Asian Pacific American Awareness Month and Columbia University’s first and only fashion publication, Hoot Magazine (hootmag.org), is hosting a mega-panel discussion with top Asian American figures in the fashion industry in order to promote the education and discussion of fashion and careers in fashion. In accordance to this year’s theme, “Deeper,” we hope to dive deeper into exploring the different ways in which Asian Americans have made revolutionary contributions.
The speakers include:
SuChin Pak, MTV Correspondent (Moderator)
Humberto Leon, Creative Director and Co-Founder of Opening Ceremony
Carol Lim, CEO and Co-Founder of Opening Ceremony
Tina Chai, Stylist
Phillip Lim, Fashion Designer
Patrick Li, Creative Director of Li, Inc
Ujjwala Raut, Supermodel
EJ Samson, Online Editor of Teen Vogue
Arabelle Sicardi, Fashion Blogger
Aya T. Kanai, Stylist
Refreshments will be provided.
The limited number of tickets (only $5 each) can be reserved through the TIC box in Lerner Hall or online at https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pe/8095855. You may also purchase your tickets and pick up your will-call tickets at the door, but please be aware that seating will not be guaranteed last-minute.
A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Tibetan Village Project to aid in relief for those devastated in the Yushu earthquake in China.
For concerns or press information, please email [email protected]
For more information about Hoot, please email [email protected]
Flyer designed by Sharon Wu, Design Director of Hoot.
Vicki Manalo Draves, a biracial Filipina American diver, who was also the first Asian American female Olympic gold medalist, passed away a week ago. In 1948, nearly 40 years before Greg Louganis, the first male Olympic diver, who won both springboard and platform diving events, Vicki Draves was the first person to win both titles. Check out this article from Hyphen Magazine about her, and this article from SFGate about her experience in the 1948 London Olympics.
A friend who had the pleasure of knowing her as her son coached him in diving mentioned that she was a wonderful woman who was also extremely humble about her experiences. San Francisco also honored her as being a native daughter who did good by naming a park in the South of Market District for her. Oddly enough, it doesn’t have a swimming or a diving pool.
As more details about the Tyrese-backed Asian-American Jersey Shore come to light, I for one, can’t wait to see where this train wreck is going to crash.
The details on this project (currently known as “Untitled K-Town Project”) are currently few and far between since the project is still ramping up and prepping for casting, but I would bet good money that there will be drinking, fighting, and a ton of slutty hot looking girls and boys involved.
I can make these speculations with tremendous confidence because one, reality shows usually cast hotties and two, a tipster has forwarded us the questions that applicants are supposed to fill out prior to the audition and they are extremely interested in knowing if you drink, fight or have naked pictures of yourself on the internet.
Now, I know some of these questions are standard-fare for other auditions, but putting them into context that this is a reality show set in K-Town, some of these questions really crack me up. Here are my favorites (emphasis is mine):
(7) Have you ever been arrested and/or charged with a crime? If so, what was it for?
(8) Are there any nude or other revealing or compromising images of you that are available publicly either through the Internet, video or otherwise? If so, please describe and explain.
(12) Do you smoke? If so, what do you smoke and how often?
(13) Do you drink alcohol? If so, how often do you drink and how much? How do you act when drunk?
(17) Do you have a temper? How often do you lose your temper? What provokes you? How do you deal with anger?
(18) How many fights have you been in? When was the last time (if any) you hit, punched, kicked, or threw something in anger? Please provide details.
(20) What are you most ashamed of, either now or in your past?
(21) What are your thoughts on Koreatown? How do you feel about Koreatown? What do you think of the guys and girls in Koreatown?
(23) How often do you frequent these types of establishments in Koreatown? (Specify per week, month, year, etc.)
Restaurants? Bars? Night Clubs? Karaoke Rooms? Hostess Bars?
(25) Have you experienced “booking” at a Korean night club? What are your thoughts on this practice?
Based on these questions, it’s too bad that this “groundbreaking” effort — the first Asian-American based reality TV show — isn’t looking for some crazy Asians who like to publicly post email conversations which spiral out of control. Because if that’s what the casting folks are looking for, I just might have an in on that.
Audition Information: The production company is asking folks to fill out the application/questionnaire and bring it (and a headshot) to the open casting call this Saturday, April 24th from 12 noon – 6pm. (They’re expecting a large turn-out for a limited number of spots, so people who want to be on this should arrive early to the location: HQ Pictures, 1635 N. Cahuenga Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028.)
Back in November, I blogged about the controversy over President Obama bowing to the Japanese Emperor while visiting Japan. This past week President Obama invited world leaders on a nuclear summit and apparently bowed a little while shaking the hands of Chinese President Hu Jintao, causing a media frenzy by Fox News and other conservative news media outlets. Which is just plain ridiculous – Republican presidents have done the same with other world leaders. Get over bowing – President Obama is just being polite.
Who says that Asians can’t drive? Nur Ali raced this past weekend in ARCA Racing Series Rattlesnake 150 at Texas Motor Speedway. This article from Racin’ Today talks about Nur and his path to becoming an Asian-American race car driver. He came to Texas when he was eight, and got into racing after getting a degree in International Relations from American University (hey, he is Asian-American). After years of doing open wheel racing all over the world, he made his stock-car debut in 2008 at Daytona International Speedway, and he was excited to come back to Texas to race on his home track. Nur was also profiled in this video segment, which talks with him and also with his family.
Nur is not the only Asian-American to do racing. According to the article, Narain Karthikeyan, a native of India, made his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut on March 27 in the Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway.
Given the importance of sponsors in racing, how has his ethnicity played out?
“It’s gone both ways. I think there’s some sponsors that haven’t come on-board because of possibly what my background is, which I don’t think should be an issue. I’m an American. We all come from somewhere. I love this country. It’s given me everything that I’ve gotten thus far, along with my family. And then the other angle, looking at it as a Pakistani or an Asian-American, minorities are the fastest growing segment in the United States _ whether it’s Asian-Americans, African-Americans, Latino- Americans. If there are corporate sponsors out there that would give us an opportunity represent them, we could do a lot for them. It’s just that sometimes when I go into a board meeting trying to explain it to these corporations they understand it…’Yes, yes, yes and we’re excited’…but then they come back with a no answer. Whatever their reasons are.”
Still, Nur Ali is enthusiastic about racing close to his Texas home. At the race on Friday, April 16, he finished 22nd after starting in 27th place.
In this episode, we chat with Ellie from Seoulbeats.com and AATheory.com about her Project CSTT.
Listen to the podcast. Watch the clip. Click the links.
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For any requests, comments, suggests, dedications or feedback, feel free to leave a comment at Popcast88.com or send an email to christine [at] popcast88.com.
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- Brits believe mixed-race people are the “most attractive and successful.” (dailymail.co.uk)
- The Animal Critic gives the Panda a failing grade. (NPR)
- China Again Hopes to Drive U.S. Rail Construction. (NYT)
- For Japanese Women, The Past is the Latest Fad. (NPR)
- AsiaPacificFilms.com, a “Netflix for Asian Pacific indie filmmakers,” is offerring a one-month trial on TechCrunch.
After blogging about Seth Meyer’s comments on the Asian American version of The Jersey Shore and posting it on Facebook, a friend of mine pointed me to another “slight” to Asian Americans in a skit about The Masters on Saturday Night Live. Tina Fey plays a skank providing color commentary on The Masters golf tournament and makes a comment about golf not being a “true” sport – by stating that “if Asians and Indians can compete with black people, it’s not a sport.” Another commentator immediately says, “That’s racist!”
I love music. Truthfully, good music rocks my ears off. Okay, maybe that line was cheesy and lame, but I needed something to get your attention so you don’t miss out on a great Asian American music showcase — if you would like to bring some pleasure to your eardrums, hustle yourself over to Declare INDIE, taking place in Chicago on Friday, April 16. If you need a little more convincing, let me give you three quick reasons why you should go.
Declare INDIE declares to be (shoot me, I’m in cheese mode):
- An Asian American music showcase with AWESOME artists.
- In cooperation with Kollaboration Chicago.
- In support of Team Connor Bone Marrow Registry Drive.
Check out the promo videos if you need more convincing. Click the link coming up to travel to their Facebook events page for what you need to know. [EDITORS NOTE: The event is also listed on our my.8asians events page, if you want to see who else is attending!]
Bob Cook, who writes the youth sports blog “Your Kid’s Not Going Pro” (a personal favorite), sent us some links about youth sports mania in Asia. This article from Joong Ang Daily talks about “Kim Yu-na kids, ” whose parents’ deep personal sacrifice and single-minded dedication aimed at making their children into the next Kim Yu-na even affect family planning:
“My husband and I actually had a plan to have a second child, but changed our mind when our daughter began to skate. I’m well aware that it would cost a lot of time and money to raise a skating child, and that is why we decided not to have another child for the time being, and instead, to focus our resources on supporting Bo-min,” Shon said
In Bob’s take on the story, he points out that one’s expert opinion that it takes a certain level of prosperity to have this kind of obsession with youth sports. I think that’s true to an extent, seeing how South Korean skaters, both in short track and figure skating, have done well as South Korea modernized, as well as Taiwan’s little leaguers who had a long dominant run in the Little League world series in the 70′s and 80′s.
Taiwan’s long run of Little League World Series wins shows that youth sports mania have been around in Asia for some time. What might be new is a statistic about abusive behavior in youth sports in Asia directed toward coaches and referees. A poll by Reuters says that while the US leads in the number of people who say that they have seen abusive behavior in youth sports games (60% – a figure that both Bob and myself find low), India trails the US closely with 59% of those surveyed saying that they saw abusive behavior. An commenter on Bob’s post on this subject is skeptical about the data for India. I’m not so sure. In my experience watching and coaching youth sports, I have seen Indian parents yell at coaches and referees. They were pretty tame, though, compared to the Asian (non-Indian) parent I saw throw chairs at a volleyball game. Let’s hope that Asians don’t catch up to the US in this area.
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