Observations
After a Year of Scaring Myself, the Scariest Thing of All? Telling My Mother the Truth
By Gregory “You will become closer to your mother this year,” the psychic told me, unaware of what I was doing this year. What I was doing was attempting to do one thing, every day that scared me for a year and write about in a blog called “Scare Yourself Every Day” (SYED). I had gone to that psychic early on in SYED. Since my blog ended a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been thinking [...] Continue »
April 29, 2012 Marks 20th Anniversary Of 1992 LA Riots
This April will be the 20th anniversary of the 1992 LA Riots. Obviously, I can’t possibly summarize the event in a short blog post, let alone convey how much of an impact it had on the racial politics in LA and in the country. So instead, we’ll read and listen to the perspectives of some of those who lived through it.
Chipping at the Walls: Working In Hollywood
By Harrison I grew up Chinese-Canadian in the 1970s. This was not the Canada you might think of – liberal, progressive, gay marriage and legal pot. It was still very proudly a member of the British Commonwealth, where racism was often covertly structured with thick glass ceilings and walls that needed a lot of chipping to make even the smallest crack.
On The Different Cultural Ideals of Beauty
By Hua Jing Li Zadie Smith in her book On Beauty compares beauty to be akin to art a western myth in which we console ourselves and make ourselves. So what defines a person to be beautiful? Many times, beauty is spoken to be in the eye of the beholder. Yet, often in society there is one main dominant ideal of beauty.
The 8Asians Talk About AAJA’s Media Advisory for Jeremy Lin (and the Backlash)
Our internal e-mail lists have us discussing all kinds of stuff: Asian American identity, representation in the media, the experiences of activism in an academia setting and its progression as we transition to the working, adult world. And sometimes, we talk about AAJA’s Media Advisory for Jeremy Lin – undoubtedly as a response to ESPN’s “Chink in the Armor” fiasco – and the backlash from said media advisory. Joz: AAJA is releasing this Media Advisory [...] Continue »
Heejun Han And The Top 8 Most Influential American Idols who are Asian American
While American Idol isn’t doing too well in the ratings this season – they recently had their lost-rated episode ever – Heejun Han, the token Asian American American Idol contest of the season has caught the attention of critics and APA bloggers alike. His audition tape sets Heejun up to the audience as a goofy William Hung-like auditioner and then bolting out a pitch-perfection rendition of Michael Bolton’s “How Am I Supposed to Live Without [...] Continue »
The 8Asians Talk About Something Better Than Jeremy Lin Puns
Our internal e-mail lists have us discussing all kinds of stuff: Asian American identity, representation in the media, the experiences of activism in an academia setting and its progression as we transition to the working, adult world. And sometimes, we try to start our own pop cultural revolution with horrible puns based off of Asian names. Move over, Jeremy Lin. We’ve got someone new! Joz: From George K, Keep your eyes on basketball player Sabatino [...] Continue »
Stereotype(face): Origins Of The Chop Suey Font
I must confess, I am unabashedly obsessed with fonts. Pretty ones, ugly ones, skinny ones, fat ones, overused ones, undervalued ones, and even the poor font that gets beat up every day in gym class (by which I of course mean Comic Sans). So you can imagine I’m pretty interested in “Chinese” and “Asian” typefaces and was intrigued by a recent article on GOOD interrogate where the chop suey font comes from and why they’re used [...] Continue »
How to Be A Bad Asian: I Moved Away From Other Asians
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 [...] Continue »
To The White Guy Who Tried To Give Me Pointers On How To Snag A White Guy
To the white guy who tried to give me pointers on how to snag a white guy: My professional obligation in the context at hand was to convince you to sign a contract that would fork over half a million dollars to my company and so I couldn’t say then any of what I am about to say now.
White Tigers: Being Caught Between Western And Asian Cultures
By Louis I was speaking to one of my professors that only until recently I have gained tremendous respect for. His philosophy when he first came to Canada as a new immigrant was to completely immerse himself in a new environment by being receptive to it and not posting up a ‘shell’ of isolation like most people do. It broke new ground for me because I realized that although we attribute the word ‘assimilation’ as [...] Continue »
How To Be A Bad Asian: I Think All East Asian Babies Look The Same
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 [...] Continue »
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Oct 14: (Seattle, WA) From Fields to Family: Asian Pacific Americans and Food
Mar 1: (Atlanta, GA) The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps, 1942-1946
Apr 26: (New York, NY) June 4, 1989: Media and Mobilization Beyond Tiananmen Square
Apr 26: (New York, NY) America through a Chinese Lens
Apr 27: (Seattle, WA) SEX IN SEATTLE 20: HAPPILY EVER AFTER. . . (the series finale!)
May 24: (San Jose, CA) Sake San Jose
May 24: (New York, NY) A Conversation with artists Arthur Ou, Hai Zhang, and Julie Quon in Conjunction with America through a Chinese Lens
May 24: (San Francisco, CA) Literasians 2012: Writers Converge on the APIA Literary Continuum
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