Posts by Bo
A 30something, 1.5 generation Korean-American/New Yorker who spends her day as an HR exec. specializing in corporate diversity & inclusion. I get to think about ways to make "The Man" less male, white, and straight. It's the best job in the world! When I'm not trying to change corporate America, I teach yoga and dabble in holistic health counseling. I have an MBA from New York University Stern School of Business and my undergraduate from the University of Michigan. Lesser known facts about me: I enjoy b&w film photography, training for endurance races, and making homemade jam. Other mindless observations can be found at http://itsbo.blogspot.com/
In defense of “Real” Americans
The McPalin camp has been doing a pretty good job of driving a big race/class wedge in America over the past several weeks. Palin, in particular, has been doing all she can to fan the flames of intolerance as she draws a clear line between “real” Americans and inauthentic Americans, pro-Americans and anti-America Americans. If a person were to seriously believe the hateful rhetoric of McPalin, you’d believe that “real” Americans only exist in small [...] Continue »
The 2008 Olympics: One World, Countless Nightmares
Okay, so what’s the real count during these 08 Olympics? I’m not talking about the medal race between China & the US, or how many golds Michael Phelps has rack up. I’m talking about the count of human rights violations. As many people had suspected, the whole “officially sanctioned protest area” thing was a total sham. To date, not a single protest has taken place. The Chinese government has put up so many bureaucratic barriers, [...] Continue »
Thoughts on the shifting boundaries of race and identity
“What are you?” I’m sure every Asian-American has been asked that question at least once in their lifetime. A question asked innocently by a (presumably) well-intentioned colleague, acquaintance, or even stranger. In the mind of the asker, the question seems like nothing more than an easy way to start a conversation…something akin to talking about the weather, sports, or weekend activities. However, if you’re like me, the question feels like some loaded accusation of “foreign-ness” [...] Continue »
Breaking News: We’re not homogenous!
Well, maybe it’s not breaking news for regular readers of this and other Asian-American centric sites, but the AA community is finally getting some real research to back up our assertion that we’re an extrodinarily diverse and complicated community. The just released report, “Facts, Not Fiction: Setting the Record Straight“ by New York University and the College Board, attempts to dismantle the stereotype that Asian-Americans are all a bunch of math & science geeks focused on nothing but [...] Continue »
In Memorium: Mildred Loving
Mildred Loving, an unintentional heroine of the civil rights movement, passed away earlier this month at the age of 68. Mildred, a Black/Native American native of Virginia, along with her white husband Richard, were arrested in July 1958, 5 weeks after getting married in Washington DC. Their crime? Violating Virgina’s miscegenation law barring marriage between people of different racial groups. They plead guilty and promised to leave the state and not return together for 25 [...] Continue »
Racist Propoganda Cartoons: What to do with our racist past?
Eleven Warner Bros. cartoons that have been under lock and key for the past four decades due to their highly racist and stereotypical content recently surfaced on YouTube and now everyone is in a tizzy over what to do with them. The “classic” videos include such gag/anger inducing titles such as ‘Tokio Jokio’ and ‘Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs’ and several were created (not surprisingly) as war propaganda during WWII. Many, including the NAACP, [...] Continue »
Son Bias & Misogyny
An Open Letter to Asian Cultures & Asian/Asian-American parents: Re: Misogyny & Son-Bias Why do you hate females? Why do you feel the need to selectively abort us when you discover you’re carrying a member of the XX? Why do you retain antiquated ideas of female worth (re: virginity)? Why do you make us feel less worthy and valuable then our male counterparts? And why do you then try to guilt-trip us and call us [...] Continue »
Obama’s Race in America Speech: What does it mean for Asian-Americans?
Not quite the watershed moment a la JFK’s speech on religion, Barack Obama’s speech on the state of race and racism in America had its moments. Was it just me or did any one else feel like he seriously under-emphasized the destructive and corrosive impact of racism on this country? Every sentence felt like a “Yes, but” moment. Yes, racism is bad but we can unit. Yes, racism has negatively impacted people of color but [...] Continue »
British-Asian brides faking virginity; Are we really living in the 21st Century?
In this disturbing article from BBC News, British-Asian women (re: Indian-British) are desperately seeking methods to fake their virginity to conceal their sexual activity to their families and future husbands. Some simply lie while others use fake blood or even resort to hymen restoration surgery (!!!) to “prove” their virginity. When Kully (name changed), now a mother of two, got married, she knew there was no way she could have told her husband she was [...] Continue »
Rent-A-Womb
No one can argue that India is the outsourcing capital of the world. Unfortunately, the newest “service” to be outsourced raises some pretty prickly moral and ethical issues. The first time I heard about Indian women renting out their wombs as surrogate mothers to wealthy Western couples I thought it was some sort of sick joke…but a quick google search brought me more hits then I could count. India has figured out a way to turn surrogate mothering into an assembly line [...] Continue »
Japanese Design Robot Suit for Farmers
File this one under AWESOME. Researchers at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology unveiled a robot suit designed to assist farmers reduce the effort of their backbreaking work. Researchers hope to have the technology in use in 2 years and develop it into a product and begin selling it in four years. The suit, which is secured with belts, consists of a resin framework with eight motors to assist the movements of the knees, [...] Continue »
DJing Korean Wunderkinds
A different kind of Asian musical prodigy. These kids are amazing. Rumor has it that she’s 7 and he’s 5. [Editors note: Whoops! Actually, the kids are Japanese.]
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