8 Asians

Jeremy Lin hasn’t been playing as great as he had been in February. But, still. He’s a really like-able guy. Humble. Down-to-Earth. According to the latest “The Most Beloved” competition by ESPN, ”The New York Knicks point guard captured 70 percent of the vote and upset New York Yankees future Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera in the Finals to take home the title of the Big Apple’s Most Beloved.” I’m surprised – but impressed – that Jeremy Lin [...] Continue »

From Korea Times: “About 50 percent of middle and high school students think Korea is not a good country to live in. The survey was conducted by the National Youth Policy Institute (NYPI) on some 9,400 elementary and secondary school students nationwide from May to July last year. The result suggests a deep-rooted distrust of the country’s competition-oriented educational system, the institute said. The survey indicates that the attitude towards the country’s legal and political [...] Continue »

Children’s books are all the rage – in my house. We’re always looking for stories that veer away from the traditional Mother Goose rhymes or Brothers Grimm. I ran across this from Asian Week: “The ancient Chinese Zodiac comes to life in the latest release from ItsyBitsyStories: ’123 The Emperor’s Calling, a Story of the Chinese Zodiac.’  This is the latest edition of interactive learning stories series for children ages 2 and up for the iPad. [...] Continue »

From New York Times: ”The surprise announcement raised the possibility of ending a diplomatic impasse that has allowed the country’s nuclear program to continue for years without international oversight. North Korea has suffered years of food shortages and a devastating famine. The Obama administration called the steps “important, if limited.” But the announcement seemed to signal that North Korea’s new leader, Kim Jong-un, is at least willing to consider a return to negotiations and to engage with the [...] Continue »

From Asian American Press: “‘Electric Shaman’ reinterprets South and North Korean folk songs through an ensemble conceived from electric guitarist John Chang, bass guitarist Jorge Mesa and Vong Pak, who performs traditional drum and vocal for the group. The resulting sound is a unique crossover of genre and time. ‘There are no boundaries in what music can do,’ says Vong. ‘In Electric Shaman, musics from different worlds and instruments from different times all come together [...] Continue »

From Chosun: “North Korea has deployed an improved, longer-range version of its 240 mm multiple rocket launchers, military sources said Monday. It is expected to unveil them during a parade to mark the centennial of regime founder Kim Il-sung’s birthday on April 15. One military source cited intelligence reports saying the North spent several years trying to improve the rocket launchers and has now completed the work. To test the upgraded version, it reportedly imported 300 [...] Continue »

From the New York Times: “Park Jung-geun, 23, a photographer who specialized in taking pictures of babies, was detained last month on charges of violating South Korea’s controversial National Security Law, which bans ‘acts that benefit the enemy’ —North Korea — but does not clearly define what constitutes such acts. The Twitter account Mr. Park was accused of reposting is run by the North Korean government Web site, Uriminzokkiri.com, which South Korean news media regularly cite for [...] Continue »

In the seeming cultural wasteland of the Midwest there are pockets around the University centers that have some surprisingly compelling and active communities. In Bloomington, IN, which is where we live right now, we’ve discovered a huge community of musicians (because of the incredible music school), and recently met associate professor of music, Kevin Bobo, a Korean American (he writes, “half Korean with a cup of Buckeye and a dash of Bordeaux”). Okay, it helps that [...] Continue »

Life is hard enough as an Asian. Not all of us can get perfect SAT scores, graduate from medical school or trick out a Honda Civic. The pressure to embrace our culture remains but sometimes, we just don’t want to. How To Be A Bad Asian is an ongoing series of personal essays by the 8Asians writers about what sets us apart from the API community, how we deal with the stereotypes that we put upon ourselves [...] Continue »

From LA Times: ”Kim was arrested a week after falsely reporting, under a stolen identity, that she was the victim of domestic violence, according to a police news release. Police said that, on the basis of the report, Kim had a 44-year-old Irvine businessman she had met on Koreancupid.com removed from his home. While the man was in custody, Kim robbed him, according to the release.” Apparently, she’s had this racket going since 2009, and has a [...] Continue »

Earlier this month CNN honored 10 people ranging from directors of non-profits that support military widows, urban youth, and people with disabilities. But, the story that captured my heart was about Robin Lim, or “Mother Robin,” who was the CNN Hero of the Year. Mother Robin, a Filipino-American, is a mid-wife and founder of free health clinics called Yayasan Bumi Sehat. These clinics offer prenatal care, birthing services, and other medical care for mothers-to-be in [...] Continue »

I found the latest Sports Illustrated on my bed open to the article “How To Become An American,” presumably left by my husband, who keeps an eye out for stories that might be compelling. This one caught my eye, namely because of the title. Admittedly, I was looking for something stereotypical and cliche (i.e. Asian players fit into the American mold or Asian players try but don’t succeed in satisfying their coaches’ expectations). I was [...] Continue »