8 Asians

The it’s ok Campaign is an effort to battle the stigma of depression and mental illness in Asian American communities.  This project run by the Corporate Asian American Employee Network (CAAEN) will center its efforts around their Facebook page, where they will provide articles and statistics about mental health along with links to mental health providers and community groups.  The message of it’s ok is that is okay to ask for help with mental health [...] Continue »

Filmmaker Grace Lee is making a documentary on Asian American food, and she wants your stories and ideas. “Asian Chops” (the current working title) will look at Asian America through the lens of food.  A kickoff party, food panel, and brainstorming session for the film was held at CAAMFest for the joint Center for Asian American Media and PBS production.  You can listen to the audio from the meeting, including an overview from Grace Lee [...] Continue »

It’s hard to imagine that an Asian American more than 40 years ago performed in  four Billboard top 10 hits, including two #1 songs and one #2, but Larry Ramos of the folk/soft rock group The Association, actually achieved that.  Ramos was a co-lead vocalist on Windy, which topped the charts four 4 weeks.   He was also a co-lead on Never My Love, which was the second most played song on radio in Television [...] Continue »

Johnny has talked about things that are uniquely Asian American, and one thing that comes to my mind in that category is Huy Fong Foods‘ Sriracha Chili sauce.  Sriracha was created by David Tran as a version of a hot sauce from Si Racha Thailand, and the green topped bottle with a rooster on it has become familiar to Asian Americans and many non Asian Americans.  It has become so popular that there is now [...] Continue »

If you would guess the first Asian or Asian American music act to make the Billboard Hot 100, you might think of Jay Sean, Bruno Mars, or the Far East Movement, but the earliest I know about is The Rocky Fellers, whose hit Killer Joe reached 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963.  The Rocky Fellers were made up of four brothers, Tony, Junior, Eddie, and Albert Maligmat, and their father, Doroteo.  I learned about [...] Continue »

A few months after the release of a preliminary report, the National Asian American Survey has released its final report on its 2012 post-election survey of Asian American and Pacific Islander voting.  Some of the more interesting highlights: Although more than Asian Americans voted for Barack Obama, more than 50% remain unaligned to either party. Overall outreach by both Democrat and Republican parties was low, with more than two-thirds of AAPIs receiving no outreach at [...] Continue »

Univision News captured this discussion on twitter between Michelle Malkin and Jose Antonio Vargas on immigration.   Their exchange, also featured on Buzzfeed, is notable for its relative civility and its occasional drift into discussions about adobo.  One thing that I have to agree with Michelle Malkin is liking adobo more vinegary.  The Wife got mad at me once when she caught me adding in more vinegar in the batch she had made. (photo credit:  Univision [...] Continue »

MMA fighter Chan Sung Jung (aka The Korean Zombie) has asked UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre (aka GSP), to stop using the rising sun gi shown to the right.  In an open letter posted on Jung’s FaceBook page, Jung says that the logo represents Japanese militarism and is offensive to Koreans and other Asians.  Here is an excerpt: Dear Mr. Georges St. Pierre Hi, My name is Chan Sung Jung from South Korea. As [...] Continue »

Asian American chefs, writers, and bloggers are making their mark on food writing, with many nominated for the 2013 International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Awards.   These finalists are in categories ranging from Hiroko Shimbo in American, Jen King in Baking, to Charles Phan in Chefs and Restaurants and First Book.  Many finalists also are from the San Francisco Bay Area, like Phan, Andrea Nguyen (nominated for her book Asian Tofu, shown in the trailer [...] Continue »

When I saw this sign at the start of a run at Coyote Point, a park on San Francisco Bay, I thought to myself, “do people really eat a lot of fish from the Bay?”  Apparently many do, as a few miles down from this sign I saw people fishing.  I also  remembered that when I was growing up, we did eat a large striped bass that my father caught in the Bay.  Enough people, [...] Continue »

To reinforce ties with Asian Canadians, Canada’s conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently sent out Lunar New Year Greetings and celebrated the New Year with Chinese Canadians in Vancouver.  Some Canadians suggest that American conservatives look at Harper as an example.  In particular, they point out that Canadian conservatives effectively engage with ethnic communities like Asian Canadians in stark contrast to American Republicans.  I was curious about how true that was, so I asked 8Asians [...] Continue »

Lack of knowledge about cancer screening is contributing to a rising rate of cancer in Korean Americans, their leading cause of death.  Kyeung Mi Oh, a professor at George Mason University School of Nursing, conducted a study that finds that this cause surpasses any other cause like fatalistic beliefs or lack of health insurance.  Colorectal Cancer Screening Knowledge, Beliefs and Practices of Korean Americans, done with Professor Gary Kreps, chair of Mason’s Department of Communication and director [...] Continue »