8 Asians

Recently, NPR interviewed Vincent Chin’s best friend and best nan, Gary Koivu, to remember Chin, on the 35th anniversary of his death:   “Gary Koivu met Chin when they were in the first grade and their teacher introduced Chin to the rest of the class. They were friends for more than 20 years and Chin asked Koivu to be the best man in his wedding. … There was an auto worker,” Koivu says. “He said […] Continue »

If you hadn’t heard recently, there was a Supreme Court decision involving the Asian American band called The Slants, that was settled in their favor: “Members of the Asian-American rock band The Slants have the right to call themselves by a disparaging name, the Supreme Court says, in a ruling that could have broad impact on how the First Amendment is applied in other trademark cases. The Slants’ frontman, Simon Tam, filed a lawsuit after the U.S. […] Continue »

If you’re not aware, there is a closely watched special Congressional election coming this Tuesday, June 20th in Georgia – in a suburb of Atlanta (Georgia’s 6th Congressional District between Republican Karen Handel and Democrat Jon Ossoff), and Asian Americans could be the difference in having a Democrat win over a traditionally Republican district: “Based on the district’s demographic makeup, Asian-American residents like Kolichala could play a major role in determining the final winner. While […] Continue »

I’m a big fan Korean food, especially Korean BBQ. But I also like bibimbap: “The word literally means “mixed rice”. Bibimbap is served as a bowl of warm white rice topped with namul (sautéed and seasoned vegetables) and gochujang (chili pepper paste), soy sauce, or doenjang (a fermented soybean paste). A raw or fried egg and sliced meat (usually beef) are common additions. The hot dish is stirred together thoroughly just before eating.” At my local […] Continue »

Recently, I had blogged about HBO’s Silicon Valley portrayal of Asian stereotypes, specifically about how I was not a fan of the character Jian-Yang. One character I did forget to mention, was the venture capitalist (VC) Ed Chen, who is portrayed by actor Tim Chiou. Ed Chen comes across as any other douche bag, venture capitalist “Silicon Valley bro.” Chen could be of any race – but he’s not a stereotypical geeky Asian American, and in fact, in […] Continue »

Note: this discusses a little bit of the current season – so possible spoilers if you haven’t been watching. When I saw this headline on Facebook, I wondered why no one had written about this yet. I’m a fan of HBO’s Silicon Valley, but not a fan of the character Jian-Yang. I find Jian-Yang’s accent a bit extreme and his behavior a bit too bizarre and weird. He kind of makes me feel the same way […] Continue »

I a single guy and not necessarily a great cook. I do enjoy cooking, but cooking for one person can be a challenge at times. Also, I’m acutely aware of wasting food, so oftentimes I wind up buying frozen foods. That isn’t exactly very healthy, but it is convenient. What I’ve noticed the past few years is that places like Trader Joe’s, Costco and even supermarkets like Safeway, will carry a lot of frozen Chinese, […] Continue »

Earlier this month, the National Asian American Survey (NAAS) finally released their 2016 Post-Election analysis regarding the presidential election and had these interesting observations: In 2016, Asian Americans posted their biggest gains ever in voting, with more than 1.1 million new voters. Between 2000 and 2012, the average increase in each presidential cycle was about 620,000 voters. When compared to the 2012 AAPI Post-Election Study, Clinton did about as well as Obama did among Asian American voters and […] Continue »

Recently, the State of California recognized the contributions of the Chinese railroad workers in helping to build the transcontinental railroad by declaring May 10th, ‘Chinese Railroad Workers Memorial Day.’ Now there is an effort in Congress to honor the Chinese workers on a stamp: “Federal lawmakers from New York and California reintroduced legislation Thursday calling on the Postal Service to issue a stamp that honors the Chinese workers who built the transcontinental railroad nearly 150 years […] Continue »

I was watching an 2017 NBA Playoffs game when I saw this Jimmy John’s TV commercial. To be honest, I had never heard of Jimmy John’s before I saw this commercial – but their sandwiches, from what I could see – reminded me of Jersey Mike’s. Apparently, there are a few Jimmy John’s in San Francisco, but certainly not that pervasive (like Subway) and none in Silicon Valley. Ran Wei is the actress in the commercial […] Continue »

With the end of the 2016 – 2017 traditional broadcast network television season ending, it’s been an amazing season for Asian Americans – with two Asian American family show sitcoms into their second and third seasons with Dr. Ken and Fresh Off The Boat respectively. Unfortunately, Dr. Ken won’t be around in the fall for a third season. However, I did want to highlight one aspect of the television season for both sitcoms that really stood […] Continue »

I wasn’t too surprised to see the headline stating that NBA basketball player Jeremy Lin said he heard worse racist remarks in college when he played for Harvard (from 2006 to 2010) than now, when he plays in the NBA. But I was disheartened to read: “The worst was at Cornell, when I was being called a c—k,” the Brooklyn Nets point guard said in an interview on his teammate’s podcast, “Outside Shot with Randy […] Continue »