Posts by akrypti
small town roots. enthusiast of many trades. oh, and yeah, high-maintenance like you wouldn't believe.
Begging Mercy for James Malecek: Isn’t Hate Speech Weighted At All?
The other day I was prompted with the question which ought to be valued more, justice or mercy. As two theories, I really have no idea how I would answer, but in the case of James Malecek, without hesitation I choose mercy. On July 4th, Independence Day, near an idyllic lakeside community in Indiana, 19-year-old and 16-year-old Korean adoptees James Malecek and his little sister were attending a teenage beach party. Individuals at the party [...] Continue »
An Affirmative Action Plan for the Interracial Dating Disparity
For those not au fait with APA blogosphere lingo, “IR disparity” refers to the Asian American heterosexual male’s gripe with Asian American heterosexual females dating and marrying “out,” as in getting it on with non-Asians. Yes, it’s a gripe, a petulant, nagging, neverending whine whine “why don’t you love me?” whine, albeit a legitimate, validated gripe. Every APA blogsite (that counts) has at some point addressed the IR disparity or at least was coerced into [...] Continue »
Unhinging Over Amy Chua & Wesley Yang: Stomach a Little Negative Light, People
First we took out the pitchforks for Amy Chua. How dare she write something that so foreseeably would fire up Sinophobia and make all of us APAs look bad! We’re American; we’re normal; we’re well assimilated; why stir up the status quo and throw attention on our Asianness? Chinese…superior…parenting…what was she thinking! And just as we thought we could put the pitchforks away, Wesley Yang comes out with “Paper Tigers,” that infuriating New York Magazine [...] Continue »
True Activism Missing In Asian American Fashion Designers
Hyphen Magazine published an incredible piece by Catherine Traywick called “The Beautiful Generation: Asian Americans and the Cultural Economy of Fashion” (February 25, 2011) that analyzes Asian cultural influences in the global fashion industry by comparing it to the emergence of Asian American designers. Traywick’s piece brought up thoughtful points, contrasting Anglo-Euro conceptions of the “Asian exotic chic” trope with a new one: the emergence of Asian American designers in the industry. This emergence of Asian Americans does [...] Continue »
Mother’s Day with 8Asians: Short Shorts, Eggrolls & Unconditional Support
8Asians is celebrating Mother’s Day all week (Pssst…Don’t forget, it’s May 8th!) by doing what we do best: writing about the women who raised us, nurtured us, taught us, spoiled us, protected us and occasionally for some, drove us up the wall. We love our moms and wanted to share personal stories as a tribute to their hard work. One high school summer I was kicked out of a Buddha Camp for wearing too-short shorts. [...] Continue »
A Crash Course on the Peoples of Zhong Guo* In Response To Craigslist Ad
Angry Asian Man reported on this Craigslist personal ad (which has since been removed): puzzled disabled lady (Alhambra, CA) Date: 2011-04-17, 5:35PM PDT Doing business and have a new relative that is Chinese. I’ve lived in Alhambra since 1993, and I totally don’t get them. Willing to take you to dinner, if you can give me a crash course on Chinese people. Please no men, just another woman and we’ll meet in a public place. I [...] Continue »
Golddigging Today Is Just Lazy
Who read last week’s article in the New York Times about Chinese women and their parents requiring a man to show proof of real property ownership as a condition precedent for marriage and wondered immediately, “What century are we in again?” Women today have access to education, access to pretty much any career of their choosing, and even if their pay may still be lower than men in most cases and even if they experience [...] Continue »
What is “Marriage Protection”? A Social Conservative’s View on Prop 8
The irony was not lost on any of us when the initiative measure known as Proposition 8, which fundamentally alters the California state constitution, would be titled the “California Marriage Protection Act” (emphasis my own). It might have been titled the “Marriage Definition Act,” as the initiative seeks to define what is and is not “marriage.” “Marriage Protection,” however, no matter where one stands on the issue, makes no sense. Marriage is an institution. It [...] Continue »
How the Chinese Insist I Am Chinese
It’s a classic part of the Asian American experience — a cliché, really — to be considered un-American while in America. Since we’re not white, we must not be American, and therefore the color of our skin invites the question: “So where are you from?” or the comment: “Your English is very, very good!” And for better or worse, I don’t get bent out of shape over it anymore. For better or worse, I don’t [...] Continue »
A Sub-Culture of Pride: Why the Chinese Are So Patriotic
Setting aside the situation of China pointing missiles at my homeland (i.e., Taiwan) or the news we hear in the States about media censorship by the Chinese Communist regime, general violations of human and civil rights, lead-poisonous toys, subjugation of the Tibetan people, outlawing reincarnation (just because they can?), among other miscellaneous shameful ways China behaves, I could not have foreseen myself singing in the shower a song with the lyrics, “I love you, China! [...] Continue »
When Will They Ban a Book by an APA Writer?
Here’s a list of frequently challenged books in 1990-2000 by authors of color. Names of the writers whose books have been banned in the past decade: Isabel Allende, Rudolfo Anaya, Maya Angelou, Mark Mathabane, Toni Morrison, Walter D. Myers, Luis Rodriquez, Alice Walker, and Richard Wright. Here’s the Top 100 list of books banned or challenged in general. This provides a nutshell summary of book banning in the West. In 2007, Walker’s The Color Purple, [...] Continue »
On 8Asians.com, Addressing Accusations, and a Call to Other APA Blogs for a Cyber-Conference
We’ve been called the “model minority blog,” not to be confused with the Forum at ModelMinority.com, a different beast. As a result of our “news reel”-esque format and emphasis on current events and pop culture over critical race theory (though we’ve tackled that, too), we’re seen as passive, even disloyal to the so-called APA socio-political cause. Our bloggers keep getting head-bumped by affiliates of other APA sites, such as the Fighting 44s and the aforementioned [...] Continue »
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