8 Asians

I’ve read a lot of things about obsession. Obsession with celebrities, obsession with eating disorders, obsession with video games and so forth, but I’ve never heard of an obsession so extreme that the person will modify their bodies to be closer to it, like Rhiannon Brooksbank-Jones, a British student who had her tongue lengthened to speak her biggest obsession, Korean.

When I hear someone even mumble the words “Street Fighter,” my heart rate sky rockets and my eyes light up. I imagine pushing buttons, throwing projectiles and super combos upon some poor newbie. Capcom is very well known for collaborating with other well known companies, with games like Marvel vs Capcom, Street Fighter vs X-Men, Street Fighter x Tekken, and so forth. I love it these crossovers because it shows us, the gamers, for their [...] Continue »

She’s at it again. No, not Britney. Margaret Cho! The Drop Dead Diva star is launching a campaign promoting her album, Cho Dependent and donating 20% of the proceeds to Immediate Justice, a human rights charity. However, this campaign focuses on encouraging and empowering the liberation of young women and queer colored people.

Timothy Wang’s debut novel Slant is about a gay Chinese boy growing up in America. As I was reading along, I found myself constantly laughing and relating to almost every page. Wang tackles the issues that Asians and Asian Americans experience growing up. These issues are obvious and honest. We’ve all been there, the confusion of growing up different from what society mainly consist of, the self-loathe of our culture because we were watching shows [...] Continue »

There aren’t that many Asian American singers and songwriters in the media these days. Actually, I don’t think Asian Americans get all the much recognition because they’re considered the underdogs of music. As I was sitting at The Coffee Garden in Sacramento on a Friday night, I stumbled into a live show by an Asian American acoustic musician  from New Mexico named Daniel Park. I sat, listened and was blown away at his talent. A [...] Continue »

PINK DOT is an annual event in Singapore that allows the LGBT community to come together in open air and be proud of who they are. Think of a miniature gay pride event in pink but without all the craziness that occurs in local areas. This video makes me think of the organization PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbian and Gay) who support the well-being of homosexuality, though instead of having a board meeting, [...] Continue »

Bochan is a singer/songwriter from Oakland, California and her music video “Chnam Oun 16” (I am 16)  is a cover of a 70’s Cambodian song by Ros Sereysothea about the coming of age for a woman.

In a recent Youtube video response to Tennessee’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, famous actor and activist George Takei reaches out humorously to fight against this legislation. He says “By not talking about gay people, they can simply make us disappear.” When I saw the video thought it was a joke, then I realized how serious this is. What an ingenious way to fight against discrimination with humor.

Ethnicity is what runs through our veins. We are living proof of our ancestors who fought in wars, struggled through the hard times and made history. Though our generation is quite blind by what we perceive through the media and television. I remember in junior high school, there was this Chinese boy who would bring packed lunches to school made by his mother. I could tell it was packed because of the way it smelled [...] Continue »

I grew up in a household where all the boys sported either bowl cuts or mullets. Yes, I said it, my brother had a mullet. This was the default hairstyle: you either had to be a victim of a medium sized bowl or the victim of a very shaky barber. Growing up in a traditional Asian household is difficult, especially when you’re Asian American and your parents aren’t. Growing up being a gay Asian American [...] Continue »