Hey everyone! Just a reminder that tomorrow is the 8Asians.com hapihour, in conjunction with our friends at hapihour.org. Come get completely smashed delightfully social with a bunch of 8A writers, past and present! If you’re in the San Francisco area, swing by - it’ll be at 6:30pm at Louie’s Bar and Grill. (Or check the embedded google map.) You can RSVP for the event on Facebook or Upcoming.
There is a $10 suggested donation at the door, a portion of the proceeds go to the Karitika Review.
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Two months ago, Samantha wrote about Goh Nakamura’s newest video, “Embarcadero Blues.” Turns out that wasn’t the final cut - the following video is the finished work. And on top of that, the video was linked off of YouTube’s front page, giving the video over a QUARTER MILLION views and giving Goh official status as an internet celebrity. As someone who’s met Goh, I can honestly say that I couldn’t be any happier for the guy.
We also blogged about voting for Kayla, the Asian Baby for the YoBaby Yogurt Cover Baby Contest. Thanks to your votes (you did vote, right?) Kayla was one of two contest winners! Kayla and family get to spend a fully expensed trip for four to San Francisco, California! Except they live in Fremont, a twenty minute drive away. Oh well.
We also never properly introduced our newest writer, Lily. That makes me a horrible website administrator, and a million apologies for that. Her bio is as follows: Lily Huang is a writer of Taiwanese descent, who lives on the East coast. She grew up in suburbia completely oblivious to Asian culture, and is making up for it now. Give her a warm welcome.
Finally, You might have noticed the slew of ads that have come up. I’ve made no secrets that it would be nice if 8Asians.com made a little bit of cash on the side, but we always want everyone to not rip their hair out viewing the site and participating, so if you have any question or have feedback, let us know. And seriously, fill out our survey. It helps me figure out who’s checking the site out - we can cater the site better for you guys that way, and maybe you’ll win a bumper sticker or a t-shirt or something cool like that. The survey closes December 1st.
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In conjunction with Keith K. at hapihour.org, we are having our very first in-person happy hour in San Francisco. (Note that while this isn’t an official hapihour.org event we are still asking for a $10 donation at the door, a portion of it will go to the Kartika Review, “a literary journal that publishes fiction, poetry, narrative essays, book reviews, and artwork either pertaining to the Asian Diaspora or authored by writers and artists of Asian descent.”
But more importantly, you’ll get to have a chance to have a drink and stand around with your favorite 8 Asians writers, discussing the merits of politically incorrect German logos and the merits of interracial dating! That, or you can laugh at everyone getting red because of alcohol. (Also, our very own Christine Miguel will be out here from Toronto, Canada. You guys can talk K-Pop.)
The event will be 11/29 from 6:30pm-8:30pm at Louie’s Bar and Grill in San Francisco. You can find a page for the event on Facebook as well as a page for the event on Upcoming.org. Hope to see you guys there!
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1. For some of the heavily commented blog entries on 8Asians, some people have requested a way to find out if someone has followed-up to a person’s comment. In addition to the existing comments feed, there’s now a way to subscribe to comments - just check the checkbox marked “Notify me of followup comments via e-mail” to, uhm, be notified of followup comments via e-mail.
2. To better understand the demographics of the people reading this blog, we’ve created a quick two-page survey for people to complete. While it’s completely optional, filling out the survey helps us make a better 8Asians.com for you guys, and there’ll also be a drawing for some free 8Asians.com shwag to a lucky survey reader. (Whether it’s a tote bag, a t-shirt or a bumper sticker depends on how much out-of-pocket money I feel like personally sending.)
3. We’re still looking for writers, but we’re now ready to present our first batch of Associate writers. “Associate writers?” you ask. “What the hell is that?” In a nutshell, they’re simply writers whose photos aren’t at the top of the page yet. They’ll be able to post to the blog like everyone else for a couple of weeks, and if they don’t feel like it’s going the way they had thought or life gets in the way and they can’t commit to writing for a long period of time, no worries. If things DO go well, then I’ll rotate out some of the more inactive writers of 8A with Associate writers. Hopefully this will maintain a constant stream of diverse voices. Who ARE these new people, you ask? You’ll be able to read their bios (and look at their photos!) after the jump. And be on the lookout for another announcement of Associate writers, very soon.
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OK, this is where I put my editorial hat on again: Here at 8 Asians, we’re always looking for interesting, fresh voices to complement the diversity of the writers on this collaborative blog.
That’s just a fancy way of saying, “we’re looking to increase our pool of writers.” And we’re looking for all types of writers: young or old, people that talk about political and activism issues to pop culture, conversationalists to journalists, feminist or… well, not. All that we ask is to keep the focus on one of two things:
But Ernie, you say to yourself: there are already 8 Asians! Well, technically there are ten, and a range of opinions keeps content fresh. I plan on adding a group of associate writers, and cycle people in when some of the existing eight have the rest of their lives to lead. (Or maybe I’ll make a competition where they’ll vote each other off Survivor style. I’m only half-kidding.) So if you’re interested in writing for 8 Asians, contact us with the following information:
If you guys have any questions, drop a comment and I’ll try to answer as soon as I can.
(Photo attribution: indi.ca)
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Let’s be honest - as much as I love starting intellectual discussions about the mascot’s of German web companies or the merits and/or drawbacks of interracial dating, well, a brutha’s gotta get paid. And while this website isn’t making any money for any of us, it hasn’t stopped me from trying. (Seriously, some of those personalized Google AdSense ads KILL me inside.)
Behold, the 8Asians.com store. Now you can get all your stylish 8Asians.com swag, including bags, buttons, bumper stickers and, of course, girl’s baby tees. Now you can wear something with the “8″ logo, and you too can tell your friends about the blog you read regularly. And if that discussion escalates into a shouting match, you’ll have us to thank for it!
All sarcasm aside, if you do like the website and you think some of the product is cool, feel free to buy it and send me (via the contact form) a photo of you wearing it! I’ll post it up on the site somewhere, with a link to your blog, if you have one.
create & buy custom products at Zazzle
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So yeah, read the subject line. The new website design is a tad bit prettier than the old one, no? You can thank illustrator supreme Ki Han for all this prettiness, while yours truly actually coded the site together. I’m fairly sure I might have missed some stuff, so if you have any questions or comments, let me know.
Also, you might have noticed there are now two empty spots. We’re always looking for excellent bloggers.
Update: As you’ve noticed, there’s been times when the website has reverted to the old layout, or has been down altogether. Give us some time while we work on the kinks - thanks!
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So not to toot our own horn or anything, but this week quickly went by with an ever-so-slight milestone: This humble blog has been around for six months. Six awkward, badly designed months, but hey. This blog was started as an experiment of many things; a way of trying to get a diverse group of people of Asian decent to talk about a myriad of topics, trying to keep it relevant about Asian-American awareness while trying not to become cliche. And while I’ve learned some stuff thus far, the experiment isn’t over yet.
So, here’s a question for you, 8Asians.com reader: how have we been doing? What topics do you want us to focus on, and what can we do to make this blog better? What kind of writers do you want us to include as part of the 8Asians? Is it possible for me to write a blog post composed completely of questions? (The answer to that one is, of course, no.)
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