New York State Bill on Diagnosing Asian American Diabetes

With more than half of Asian American Diabetes cases going undetected, a bill in the New York State legislature tries to reduce that rate.  Specifically, it asks insurance companies to pay for diabetes diagnostic tests for people who have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 23.  Says NY State Senator John Liu:

Diabetes is an increasingly silent killer in Asian American communities that often goes unnoticed until it’s too late. Lowering the BMI threshold for screening will help identify and treat at-risk individuals faster before serious damage is done and save lives. It’s time for the insurance industry to catch up with nationally recognized best practices by making these screenings accessible and free so everyone can get the care they need before complications arise.

You might wonder why this focus on BMI and diabetes.  Diabetes  in Asian Americans occurs at a lower BMI than the general American population. The Asian American Diabetes Initiative at the Joslin Diabetes Center is promoting the Screen at 23 campaign. Liu’s bill aligns neatly with this effort.

Excellent information and resources on Diabetes and Asian American can be found here.  The Joslin Center makes the information available in a number of Asian languages.

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Kaitlyn Chen Returns to the WNBA

After getting winning a national championship, getting drafted by the WNBA, and then being released by a WNBA team, Kaitlyn Chen returns to the WNBA.  With many players in the WNBA going to Europe to play in the Eurobasket tournament, roster spots have opened. The Golden State Valkyries reaction has been to add Chen. A lot for her in just two months!

While she will probably be waived after the Eurobasket tournament is over, I think that when Kaitlyn Chen returns to the WNBA, the experience will be valuable for her.  As the SBNation article points out, there will be many more spots opening in the WNBA with two expansion teams being added next year.

Chen will be available to play on June 17 when the Valkyries play the Dallas Wings.

(h/t: John)

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Heart Disease and Stroke Risks Vary significantly among Asian American Subgroups

Heart Disease and Stroke Risk vary widely among Asian American Subgroups

Stroke is a medical hazard for Asian Americans. It can even strike Asian Americans as young as 33.  Which Asian Americans are the most vulnerable? The American Heart Association reports that heart disease and stroke risks vary significantly among Asian American subgroups. A study outlined in this press release has found that prevalence of risk factors like high blood pressure ranges widely between these groups.  As an example, Filipino Americans have 30% incidence of high blood pressure compared to only 12% in Chinese Americans.

The PANACHE (Pacific Islander, Native Hawaiian and Asian American Cardiovascular Health Epidemiology) study looked at the health records of 700,000 AAPI enrolled in large private health systems.  Diabetes prevalence was another area of variation. It is much more prevalent in Pacific Islanders (14%) vs Chinese Americans (5%). Generally, Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, Filipinos, and other Southeast Asian populations had the highest 10 year risk for cardiovascular disease.

You can find out more details in the links we have provided.  The actual posters for what was presented at the American Heart Association conference can be found here (search for PANACHE). As mentioned above, we reviewed a book about an Asian American who had a stroke at 33 (written by former 8Asians writer Christine Hyung-Oak Lee) called Tell Me Everything You Don’t Remember.

 

 

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Maybe Happy Ending and Yellow Face win Tony Awards

 

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"Maybe Happy Ending" nominated for 10 Tony AwardsThe 2025 Tony Award show saw Maybe Happy Ending and Yellow Face win 2025 Tony Awards! Maybe Happy Ending won 6 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Performance by An Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical (Darren Criss).  Yellow Face actor Francis Jue won the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play. Another notable Asian American award winner was Nicole Scherzinger, who won Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for her role in Sunset Blvd.

The growth of Asian Americans on Broadway has taken off this past year. It is more than just actors and actresses winning awards but about Asian American themed and originated material. Although they don’t mention Maybe Happy Ending, Francis Jue and Daniel Dae Kim talk about this progress in an interview in Playbill. Helen J. Shen and Nicole Scherzinger deserve extra recognition as being in award winning productions in their Broadway Debut.

For Broadway tickets to see Maybe Happy Ending, see the musical’s official website. In addition, a North American tour is coming!  You can see Yellow Face on PBS here. Sunset Blvd tickets can be found here, but you had better hurry as the show closes on July 20.

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“Maybe Happy Ending” nominated for 10 Tony Awards

"Maybe Happy Ending" nominated for 10 Tony AwardsA musical originally from South Korea, “Maybe Happy Ending” has been nominated for 10 Tony Awards.  The show features Darren Criss and Helen J Shen as the leads.  The musical by Hue Park and Will Aronson first debuted in South Korea in 2015. It is the story of two abandoned robots who fall in love.

The show debuted on Broadway on November 14 to positive reviews. It won six Drama Desk awards. As we mentioned, “Maybe Happy Ending” has been nominated for 10 Tony Awards. The nominations include Best Musical and Best Performance by a Lead Actor in a Musical (Darren Criss).  It already has won six Drama Desk awards.

The Tony Awards show airs on Sunday June 8 at 8 PM ET on CBS and Paramount+. The show will include performances by the cast of Maybe Happy Ending.  As John mentioned, the play Yellow Face is up for 3 Tony Awards. You can purchase tickets and see more information at the show here.

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Ruby Ibarra has won the 2025 Tiny Desk Contest

Filipino American Rudy Ibarra has won the 2025 Tiny Desk ContestFilipino American rapper and Bay Area resident Ruby Ibarra has won the 2025 Tiny Desk contest.  As the winner, she and her band performed on NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series. I had never heard of this former research scientist before, and her and her band’s performance pleasantly surprised me.

As I mentioned, Ibarra’s performance surprised me. Bakunawa, the first song in the concert and her submission to the contest, is sung and rapped in three languages: English, Tagalog, and Bisaya.  As a Bay Area resident, I hear a lot of the first two languages, but not really the last one. Having a band actually performing instead of just a DJ pleased me greatly. I really loved their sound – the fact there was so much effort put into live music impressed me. In another surprise, Ibarra includes Rock and Roll Pioneer June Millington in her band! Ibarra’s songs had may references to issues faced by Filipino Americans, such as colorism and immigrants parents never being around since they are working so much.

We have featured other Tiny Desk performances, such as this one by the Linda Lindas. According to this article, Ruby Ibarra is planning a short Tiny Desk tour. FYI, the Bakunawa is a dragon in Filipino Folklore.

(photo credit: Fobanese licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.)

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Kaitlyn Chen has Signed with the 3XBA

Kaitlyn Chen has Signed with the 3x3 Basketball Association. She is cutting down the net from her championship with UCONNAfter being drafted by the Golden State Valkyries, Kaitlyn Chen was waived before the team’s inaugural game. Fortunately for her, she continues to play basketball professional, like another Asian American who was drafted by the WNBA and then waived. Kaitlyn Chen has signed with the 3xBA (3 x3 Basketball Association). She will join 3×3 play at the Spokane Hoopfest in Washington State from June 25 through 28.

Who is the other Asian American who moved on from the WNBA? Kaylynne Truong was drafted by the WBNA team the Washington Mystics in 2024 but was waived.  She recently played for PAOK Thessaloniki in Greece. Although she wasn’t drafted by the WNBA, her twin sister Kayleigh recently played for the Henan Phoenix in China.

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College Basketball Player Xaivian Lee gets $6 Million in Deals

Princeton's Xaivian Lee drives to the basket. Xaivian Lee gets $6 million in deals after transferring to FloridaWe have a written about a number of high level  Asian American athletes who graduated from Ivy League Universities, such as skater Nathan Chen (Yale), basketball player Kaitlyn Chen and of course, NBA star Jeremy Lin (Harvard),  But what reason would make an athlete leave the Ivy League? One Princeton Basketball player  apparently found 6 million reasons. According to On3, Xaivian Lee gets $6 million in deals as he transfers to Florida for his senior year.

What’s really intriguing to me is that the majority of the value of his deals is from a multi-year global sneaker agreement with shoe brand Serious Player Only. An Asian basketball player with his own shoe?  How cool would that be?!? At the moment, he is featured prominently on the Serious Player Only website with the video we have embedded above.

The NCAA changed their rules in 2021 to allow collegiate athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL). Since then, we have written about Asian American athletes who have signed NIL agreements, namely Gonzaga Basketball Players Kayleigh and Kaylynne Truong and Cornell quarterback Jameson Wang. Looks like we will add Asian Canadian Xaivian Lee to that list.

(h/t: Number Two Son)

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Squid Game Season 3 Official Trailer


Squid games season 3
Netflix just released the trailer for Squid Game Season 3, which they state is the final season. It will be coming to Netflix on Friday, June 27th:

“Every game must come to an end. Squid Game. The final season. June 27. Only on Netflix. More info on Squid Game Season 3: A failed rebellion, the death of a friend, and a secret betrayal. Picking up in the aftermath of Season 2’s bloody cliffhanger, the third and final season of Netflix’s most popular series finds Gi-hun, a.k.a. Player 456, at his lowest point yet. But the Squid Game stops for no one, so Gi-hun will be forced to make some important choices in the face of overwhelming despair as he and the surviving players are thrust into deadlier games that test everyone’s resolve. With each round, their choices lead to increasingly grave consequences. Meanwhile, In-ho resumes his role as Front Man to welcome the mysterious VIPs, and his brother Jun-ho continues his search for the elusive island, unaware there’s a traitor in their midst. Will Gi-hun make the right decisions, or will Front Man finally break his spirit? Director Hwang Dong-hyuk, who made history at the 74th Primetime Emmys®, becoming the first Asian to win Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series, once again helms the series as director, writer, and producer. Season 3 stars Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Yim Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Wi Ha-jun, Park Gyu-young, Park Sung-hoon, Yang Dong-geun, Kang Ae-sim, Jo Yu-ri, Chae Kuk-hee, Lee David, Roh Jae-won, and Jun Suk-ho, with special appearance by Park Hee-soon.”

I enjoyed Season 2,but the ending was really not an ending and was essentially was a mid-season break. Squid Game Season 3 is a direct continuation of Season 2. I can’t wait to see how this series concludes although I do wonder if they will really provide an ending where they can’t continue the popular series. But sometimes it is better to end a series before it jumps the shark.

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Donate to AAPI Causes for AAPI Heritage Month

donate to AAPI causes for Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage MonthMy company matches my donations to nonprofits. When I logged into the Benevity service to start the matching process for a recent donation, it surprised me to see a note on AAPI Heritage Month.  That note suggested that I donate to AAPI Causes as a way to celebrate the month. It listed a number of recommended AAPI nonprofits that I could donate to and have that amount matched. What a great idea! I also became curious to see I what other recommendations are out there.

I found it interesting that different sites had different recommendations.  CharityWatch, a charity watchdog organization, recommends the Asia Foundation and the Asia Society as top rated Asian American charities. Charity Navigator, another charity rating organization, also has a mostly different set of recommendations. ASML selected seven AAPI nonprofits that they would fund and match. Civic Champs, a volunteer management company, suggested six different organizations.

Donations are very personal, so I am not going to directly recommend particular ones. Both Charity Watch and Charity Navigator rate many nonprofits. I will also mention that some nonprofits that appear in this list have been mentioned in many of our stories, particularly CAAM, the Center for Asian American Media. If you chose to donate to AAPI causes, see if your employer or another organization that you are associated with will do a match.

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CAAMFest 2025 Opening Night featuring Third Act

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CAAMFest 2025 Opening Featuring Third ActOne of my favorite annual events I’ve enjoyed after moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1999 is CAAMFest. Prior to 2013, CAAMFest was known as the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. This year’s CAAMFest was just as enjoyable. It was compressed into four days rather than the usual eleven days. I enjoyed the CAAMFest 2025 Opening Night featuring Third Act. Third Act is a biographical and autobiographical documentary on filmmaker Robert Nakamura by his son, Tadashi “Tad”  Nakamura.

Opening Remarks

Prior to the opening night feature, retiring Executive Director of the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) Stephen Gong gave some departing words. He choked up a little bit, which is understandable, given he was CAAM’s as Executive Director for 18 years. CAAM announced that Don Young would be the new Executive Director. Young is  a 30 year veteran of CAAM and previously served as the organization’s Director of Programs.

 

Continue reading

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US Memorial Day: Remembering Sadao Munemori

Remembering Sadao MunemoriDuring an era when Asian Americans continue to be questioned for their loyalty and are still considered perpetual foreigners,  on US Memorial Day (and AAPI Heritage Month) we note Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who fought and died for their country.  This Memorial Day, we are remembering Sadao Munemori. He died in Italy fighting as part of the famed 442nd Regiment. As a result, Munemori was the first Japanese American recognized with the Medal of Honor immediately after Work War II.

Sadao “Spud” Munemori’s love of potatoes earned him his nickname. He died when in a battle in Italy in 1945 after a grenade landed near his fellow soldiers. He smothered it with his own body in order to save them.  For this selfless act, he received the Medal of Honor. His family was in Manzanar at the time.

Munemori earned many more commemorations. His native city of Glendale California honored him with a square. His statue has been erected in Italy. A ship was even named for him. In addition, this video for kids (embedded below) was made to honor him and to teach history.

There are some more interesting details on Munemori’s life here as well as a list of other places that commemorate him. To see our posts on AAPI who have given their lives in the service of their country, check our tag US Memorial Day.

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