From 8Asians Reader Lita: “I live in Napa and am all about supporting small, local businesses. But this new eatery in town called Dim Sum Charlie’s is just clueless when it comes to properly representing Asians. As an Asian-American women I was completely offended when I discovered that it’s business slogan is ‘We love you long time’ and one of its dishes is ‘Ten Dolla Make You Hollah.’ When I posted my disgust on Yelp, I was generally told to laugh it off and even received a ignorant e-mail from someone who clearly has never experienced discrimination in his life and has privilege to have Caucasian skin. Yes, covert racism still is commonplace in Napa, despite it being known for its world-class wine.”
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In a recent study done by MetLife on the American Dream, more Asian Americans were the most optimistic in their responses than any other ethnic group. Almost half (47%) of Asian Americans believe that their personal situation will improve in 2010 over 2009 versus 35% of the general population.
In the study, 34% of Asian Americans (and Americans in general) believe they have attained the American Dream. And, of the Asian Americans who report that they have not yet achieved the dream, 89% believe that it’s still possible in their lifetime compared with 70% of Americans overall. Among those who say they have already achieved the dream, Asian Americans are less worried than their peers (38% vs. 47% of the general population) about their ability to sustain it.
What makes Asian Americans more optimistic than the rest of the population? More after the break.
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Shopping With GASP!
Uh-oh. Looks like those Charice haters will have a lot more to gripe about because Sunshine Corazon is set to return to Glee. The show on Fox is currently in its second season, but the last time we saw Charice, her character disappeared after being bribed to join the rival school’s group. According to this interview with Billboard.com, Charice can’t say much about her story line:
“Sunshine Corazon is coming back on ‘Glee.’ We just don’t know if she’s coming back to the glee club [New Directions] or if she’s staying with Vocal Adrenaline, or if she’ll have a love interest.”
Maybe there’s a love triangle with Darren Criss? Let’s just hope Charice outshines that annoying Rachel as the solo star once and for all.
There is something beautiful when people take the initiative to create a passion project out of an idea so simple. This is the case with the collage website, I AM KOREAN AMERICAN, which was co-founded by Peter Kang and Sei-Wook Kim. It’s a nifty project that features stories of Korean Americans all over the country, young and old, full Korean or hapa. But to hear how it came to be, I asked Peter Kang himself as his own words eloquently tells all.
What made you want to start “I AM KOREAN AMERICAN?”
Sometime in the fall of 2009, I had this small idea to start up a very simple site that would feature a new Korean American person each day and just have some basic info about them — their name, age, location, occupation, and a few words that they would write themselves. The site would also require a photo submission because that would make things more visual and interesting. I ran this idea by my business partner Sei-Wook, who is also Korean American, and he thought it would be cool to do, so we just went for it. I mocked up a quick design and Sei-Wook coded it up, and by within a week, we had a working website.
I think what I initially wanted in starting this site was to see what sort of Korean American stories were out there. I wasn’t looking for anything profound or serious, but I was curious to see where people lived, what they did for a living, and what they wrote about in describing themselves. I was tired reading about the same Korean American entertainers and athletes that get most of the media coverage and was craving stories about Korean Americans who may not be as famous or widely known but may be interesting in their own ways. And in hoping that we could get a lot of people to do this, I looked forward to having a site that would showcase the diversity within the Korean American community.
Now that more than a year has passed since we started this project, I would say that the site also came to serve a function that we hadn’t really thought about — a prompt for reflecting on self identity. At one point, we started getting a large number of submissions from adoptees who really wrote some seriously reflective pieces on identity and what it was like to grow up in a non-Korean family/community. We also received submissions from bi- and multi-racial Korean Americans who were really passionate about their Korean heritage. And because of these submissions, our site began to change a bit in tone and content. The “own words” section became more of a way for people to express what it meant to them to be called Korean American, and I think these entries really made the site more compelling and interesting to read.
The Asian Pacific Community Fund (APCF) in partnership with Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy – Los Angeles Chapter (AA/PIP-LA) is seeking nominations for individuals and organizations that have exemplified outstanding support for the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) community through their leadership and volunteer philanthropic efforts. APCF and AA/PIP-LA will be highlighting their successes to encourage others to get involved in the Asian and Pacific Islander community.
Awards will be given to individuals and organizations that have stood out as strong and effective role models in philanthropy through raising funds, generating resources, directing these resources to the API community and leading others to do the same in the greater Los Angeles area. Two individuals (age category: 18-24 and 25-35) will be honored with the Distinguished Leader in Philanthropy Award. The “Russell Sakaguchi” Distinguished Leader in Philanthropy Award (age category: 25-35) recipient will also receive $500 to be awarded to a 501(c)(3) charity of his/her choice. Two organizations Collegiate and Post-Grad/Professional) will also be honored with the Community Excellence Award. Nominations for individuals whose volunteer service inspire and motivate others and organizations that provide major avenues for others to get involved and give to the API community will be accepted until January 14, 2011.
The awards will be presented at the 3rd Annual Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy Recognition Awards Reception to be held in March 2011. At a time when the need for funding in our communities is as great as ever, this event addresses the importance of cultivating the next generation of philanthropists.
APCF is a community-based, nonprofit fund that was created to fulfill a need for a unified effort to educate and encourage donors to direct their charitable giving to benefit community organizations serving the rapidly growing population of Asian and Pacific Islanders in Los Angeles.
AA/PIP is a national membership and philanthropic advocacy organization dedicated to advancing philanthropy and Asian American/Pacific Islander communities.
Both established in 1990, APCF and AA/PIP work to address the diverse and unmet needs of the API community.
For more information or to make a nomination, visit www.apcf.org or call (213) 624-6400 ext. 4.
There’s a fetish for everything, and that includes crushing or squeezing adorable furry animals. Also, hot girls will do anything to make a quick buck. The online community in China is outraged over a series of viral videos by crush fetishists:
…A young woman places a bunny on a table before covering it with a plate of glass and sitting on it for about a minute. She then lifts the glass up to reveal the lifeless bunny, blood oozing from its snout.
Um, ew? Apparently there’s an online movement to track down the identities of these women to protect further bunnies and kittens from being squashed for sexual gratification. Meanwhile, Nobel Peace winner Liu Xiaobo remains behind bars as a political prisoner for his human rights activism. Oh, world.
What is a G6? Are you still asking yourself that? No one really knows the meaning behind Far East Movement’s hit single but there’s no time to ponder that question, because they’ve got a new song up from their album, Free Wired. Here’s a behind the scenes look at the group’s latest music video for “2Gether” where they’ve teamed up with Grammy award winning House DJ, Roger Sanchez and Rover’s unlimited 4G wireless Internet. Watch as they sign autographs, share the premise of the music video and offer a sneak peek into their lives as hip hop stars.
Christian yoga practitioners, your worst nightmares are coming true: a group of Indian-Americans called the Hindu American Foundation “has ignited a surprisingly fierce debate in the gentle world of yoga by mounting a campaign to acquaint Westerners with the faith that it says underlies every single yoga style followed in gyms, ashrams and spas: Hinduism. The campaign, labeled “Take Back Yoga,” … suggests that people become more aware of yoga’s debt to the faith’s ancient traditions.” So, who owns yoga? Hindus? Indians? Heather, your co-worker who’s going there on her lunch break today?
UPDATE: Congrats to mwei for winning the giveaway!
If you’re in Los Angeles, check out Comedy Zen, a showcase of the funniest and finest multicultural comedians working today! We’ve blogged about a lot of these guys before, so if you want to see more than clips from YouTube, come see them perform live!
- Come see why Steven Ho was the most booked guest on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. He is a professional stuntman at the A-List level working with stars like Tobey Maguire, Brad Pitt, and Leonardo Dicaprio.
- Joe Wong hails from Boston and was a scientist researching answers for the mysteries of the field. Then he discovered stand up and has never looked back. Joe is the “All American Immigrant.” Even though some Asians might find him to be a novelty act for the white man, we give him full support as an artist mastering a difficult craft, which is the art of laugh inducing. Joe has taken command of this and his appearance on Letterman or the Presidential dinner invitation is proof of this.
- Jay Phillips was one of VARIETY Magazine’s 10 COMICS TO WATCH and his recent film credits include the #1 weekend opener SEMI-PRO opposite Will Ferrell, PROM NIGHT with Brittnay Snow, and BABY MAMMA opposite Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. His stand-up credits include Def Comedy Jam, The Late Show, and Lafapalooza. You can see him at http://jayphillipslive.net/.
Hosted by Hasan Minhaj, comedian, actor, writer and a friend of 8Asians, portions of all shows will be going to the American Lung Association. There will be one show on Friday, December 3, 2010 (at 8:30pm) and will be held at the Downtown Independent Theater (251 S. Main Street, Los Angeles, CA, United States, 90012).
Ok, ok, so you just want to know how you can win some free tickets to a funny show? Read on!
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Mark the “Filipino Wrecking Machine” Munoz said after his UFC 123 win over friend and training partner Aaron Simpson that it was weird hitting a friend in the face. We have talked about Asian Americans in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) like Nam Phan, and Mark Munoz is another one to watch. He was a two time California State wrestling champion in high school, and went to Oklahoma State, with its legendary wrestling program. He became the first Filipino American to win a Division I NCAA wresting championship and was recently inducted into the California Wrestling Hall of Fame. Not only was he a wrestling All-American, but he made the NCWA All-Academic team for three years and the Big 12 All-Academic squad for four, graduating with a degree in Health Science. Munoz got started in MMA after working with MMA star Urijah Faber when they both were assistant wrestling coaches at UC Davis.
Munoz has his own gym, Reign Training Center, where notable MMA athletes like Renato “Babalu” Sobral, Jake Ellenberger, and Junior Dos Santos have trained. He has also trained with middleweight champion Anderson Silva, helping him prepare against wrestlers like Chael Sonnen. And of course, Munoz has trained with his friend Aaron Simpson, also an NCAA All-American wrestler.
At UFC 123, while he and Simpson showed each other a lot of respect and were friendly in pre-fight interviews, it was still difficult. “It was definitely weird fighting each other,” said Munoz. “It’s just we go way back, man. I love that dude.” Munoz won in an exciting match, and afterward, they exchanged text messages. “I gotta say it was really weird fighting you,” Simpson texted. “I had weird thoughts throughout it. I didn’t like it. Sorry we had to do that, but I always have had a great deal of respect for you and love you, brother.” Munoz said much the same in a reply text that wished him and his family a happy Thanksgiving. Much man-love between cagefighters! While it might not sell the fight, it’s a refreshing change from the trash talk that often goes on between opponents, and it makes me respect Munoz (and Simpson too) much more.
12/3/2010 UPDATE: Congrats to our 3 winners– ninabyte, bryondai, and SimonSlant!
Now that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 has been in theatres for a couple of weeks, we’re happy to release a follow up contest to our original Harry Potter Prize Package Giveaway (which is just about to wind down, so enter before everything is gone and check the winners list to see if you’re on it!).
We’ve got a special prize for some lucky 8Asians readers — a Harry Potter Messenger Bag!
Ok, ok, so you just want to know how you can win some free Harry Potter 7 gear? Read on!
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If you’re a current or rising college junior or senior, apply for the NAAAP college-level scholarship! The National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP) is pleased to offer college level scholarships to outstanding Asian Americans. Four students will receive $3000 in scholarship money for a total of $12,000 donated by the Verizon Foundation.
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