8 Asians

A Ohio State University student posted a picture of a woman with facial hair wearing a turban to Reddit in mid-September of 2012 with the caption “I’m not sure what to conclude from this.” That posting led to varied responses from teasing to others condemning the posting as being in poor taste, and stating unacceptable to post pictures of people without their permission. This story though has a happy ending. It turned out that the [...] Continue »

No, Asians do not have souls. End of article. For the record Asians are also aliens, Asians can fly, and Asians have no peripheral vision. Okay, Asians aren’t aliens, Asians can’t fly, and Asians do have peripheral vision. But whether or not Asians have souls or not, I guess that’s a matter of faith. However, the idea that Asians are soulless solely (hahaha) because they are Asian is… well… obviously very racist.

“I am Charlton Heston” I said to myself when I woke up late in the morning on Idul Fitri, or more popularly known in Indonesia as Lebaran, the last day of the Ramadan in Islam (this year it was on 20 August in Indonesia, it varies by each country’s moon calendar). It wasn’t my first Ramadan, I had experienced bits and pieces of it with the few Muslims I knew in the Philippines, who best [...] Continue »

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 how Lena Dunham, star and creator of HBO’s Girls, recently posted an Instagram photo of herself draped in a black scarf (or blanket) like a hijab with the following caption: “I had a [...] Continue »

Growing up in the US, and specifically in a Christian community, I recall doing very little in the way of volunteerism, service, or even mission projects (loosely defined as going out and working with another community). It’s ironic since the example set by Jesus largely has to do with compassionate works and self-sacrifice. It wasn’t until late college I discovered that for me to truly engage in my faith it would mean engaging in social [...] Continue »

Is Asian Immigration making America less religious? Asian immigration has been the focus of many, many claims to society ills. They include the usual load of “they taking our jobs” or “damn, they soaking our social services”  etc. But funnily enough, immigrant Asians have now been accused of “y’all ain’t believing enough!”. According to Stephen Prothero, a Boston University religion scholar and author of The American Bible: How Our Words Unite, Divide, and Define a [...] Continue »

There have been a number of school shootings in the news lately, with the most recent including an elementary school in the Pacific Northwest and a middle school in in Texas in 2012. I can think of few things more heartbreaking, particularly because of my work with youth, I feel deeply invested in the mental and spiritual health of young people. When it hits close to “home,” for instance, with Korean American Seung-Hui Cho and the [...] Continue »

No matter how often Religion and Depression in Asian Youth – a topic that was blogged on 8Asians three years ago – is blogged about, written, or discussed, I’m not so sure we’ll come to a concrete, definitive conclusion. But that’s okay. I’ll pose the question here for discussion: Is religion really the cause of depression in Asian teens?

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 »

If we were to chart the level of public knowledge and awareness about Terrorism, Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaeda and Al Shabab, the days following September 11 would show a massive spike that has continued. It is hard to imagine where else a single event has such wide repercussions. Perhaps the only one that overshadows it currently would be the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand which lit the keg of World War I, the aftermath in [...] Continue »

TLC’s All-American Muslim profiles several Michigan Muslim families as normal people with everyday issues and triumphs. It has been generally well received by the public and critics, which I see this as a real positive sign that we are making changes in this nation in terms of how we see people around us. But not everybody shares this belief as hardware store Lowe’s pulled their advertisings of the show.

If you’re hoping to keep the Christmas spirit alive in your children for as long as possible, don’t send them to Leatrice Ann Eng’s class. The teacher is making headlines for ruining the holidays for her 6 and 7 year old students by telling them that Santa Claus doesn’t exist.