Does the 80-20 initiative uses spamming tactics?

Posted on April 6, 2008 by Ben

SB Woo spam

The 80-20 Initiative is one that claims to want to pull all asian americans as a swing block for voting and is nonpartisan and… well… yadda yadda. That’s great and all, and I’m glad they’re looking to have Asians vote. Sweet stuff. But, it really bothers me when people like this gained my information from who knows where and start spamming me with political things that I didn’t sign up for. (In case you’re wondering why 80-20 is not linked, I don’t find it right in my mind to actually provide linkback to organizations that operate in this mannerism. Why provide them free SEO love?).

Funniest part of this? I haven’t used the email that they’re sending to since 1997. Huh?

A quick search leads me to believe this isn’t the first time this has happened. Apparently there are others that are getting these spam emails.

Having been a technical consultant for nonprofits and having advised a friend that is currently run a campaign, I can tell you that buying email lists with asian names doesn’t constitute support nor does it really make me want to give any money to your organization. In fact, it makes me seriously wary of the supposed “good will” behind this organization in itself. Maybe it’s just me.

I’ll also point out that it seems that my email had already denoted the address as spam, and I’ve looked it up and found that there are some major blacklists that have also added this particular domain to their distributions. Anyone else receive these messages? Perhaps there are supporters out there that would like to comment on why these types of tactics are even used?

Photo Credit: (firelace)

Posted in WTF | Tagged , , | 13 Comments

San Francisco Asians fret over insult to Olympic torch

Posted on April 6, 2008 by John

In today’s Front Page, The San Francisco Chronicle writes about “S.F. Asians fret over insult to Olympic torch.” If you haven’t been hiding under a rock the past month, you know that the 2008 Beijing Olympic Torch relay will be coming to San Francisco this Wednesday, April 9th – the only appearance in North America. With the recent crackdowns in Tibet by the Chinese government, there have been increasing calls for nations to boycott or protest in some manner (i.e. not attend for the opening ceremonies). Continue reading →

Posted in Current Events, Observations, Politics | 10 Comments

Smart vs. cool: Culture, race and ethnicity in Silicon Valley schools

Posted on April 6, 2008 by John

I think you can figure out where this blog posting is going to go with a title like Smart vs. cool: Culture, race and ethnicity in Silicon Valley schools, as written in today’s San Jose Mercury News. California, and especially the San Francisco Bay Area, is a racially diverse region. Within Silicon Valley, there are a lot of Asian-Americans, as well as white, Latino and to a lesser extent, African-Americans:

After years of tiptoeing around racial issues for fear of invoking stereotypes, California educators are now looking squarely at how ethnicity and culture shape achievement and attitudes toward school…The Mercury News interviewed dozens of students from varying backgrounds to examine the “racial achievement gap” and a delicate question that underlies it: Why do so many kids – especially Latinos – believe “school is uncool.” The Harvard study didn’t break out the attitudes of Asian-American students, but interviews with local students indicate that many Asians think classmates must be smart – but not act smart – to be popular.

Akrypti had blogged about the Harvard paper last August as well. I’ve always been interested in educational policy, especially at a national level, when comparing the United States to other countries. When I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, I became especially interested as to how Asian-Americans were perceived.

The San Jose Mercury News article attempts to describe the different factors that apply to the peer pressures of different ethnic groups regarding academic achievement. Regarding Asian-Americans, local educators attribute academic success as “cool” as part of the “Confucian values on education, obligation to family and high parental expectations.”

According to the article, parents of all ethnic groups generally have high expectations of their kids, but the actual definition of “success” varies, where getting a C or better might be considered success for one ethnic group. One Taiwanese-American student described how her parents continued to be competitive, not only with students in at San Jose’s Evergreen – which is 46 percent Asian – but at Asian-Americans students at high-scoring high schools in Palo Alto, Cupertino and Sunnyvale. This brings back memories of my parents asking why I couldn’t get better grades, even though I was getting A’s (i.e. what about A+’s ?).

The article goes on to describe some of the efforts to combat the “stigma” of “acting white” and academic achievement amongst Latinos and African-Americans.

Posted in Current Events, Discrimination, Observations | 2 Comments

Vincent Who?

Posted on April 5, 2008 by John

I was on Facebook when I noticed that a friend of mine had become a “fan” of “Vincent Who?” and I thought to myself, “What is this all about?”

Vincent Who? is a new documentary about Vincent Chin, a Chinese-American who was brutally murdered in Detroit in 1982 in a case of mistaken identity at the height of anti-Japanese sentiment. More than twenty-five years later, the documentary “Vincent Who?” revisits the case and its effect on the leading Asian-American community activists of today and the future leaders of tomorrow:

“Interviewees and speakers include Helen Zia (leading activist during the Chin case), Stewart Kwoh (Founder & Executive Director, Asian Pacific American Legal Center), Judy Chu (Chair, California State Board of Equalization), Mike Eng (California State Assemblyman), Renee Tajima-Pena (Producer & Director, WHO KILLED VINCENT CHIN?), Frank Wu (Dean, Wayne State University Law School), Janet Yang (Producer, THE JOY LUCK CLUB), Justin Lin (Director, BETTER LUCK TOMORROW) …[and many other prominent Asian-Americans.]

If you happen to be in Chicago on April 19th, you can catch a sneak preview of the film during the Asian American Film Showcase: Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 North State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 5:30 PM. Here is a trailer for the documentary:

Posted in Discrimination, Movies | 1 Comment

More good music: Renee Sebastian

Posted on April 4, 2008 by Ernie

Meet Renee Sebastian – a Filipino-American wife and mother who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She majored in Computer Science in college. Just your typical Asian American living in the Bay, right?

Wrong.

Because Renee Sebastian is also an indie soul singer, songwriter and producer. And a really good one at that, performing in venues in New York, San Francisco, and a recent showcase at SXSW, the big independent music festival in Austin, Texas. (Check out her video to “These Are The Signs,” above this blog post. The first line of her song kinda comes out of nowhere and hits you in the face, in a good way.)

Maybe it’s a sign of getting older, but as my tastes as evolved from the typical urban radio stuff to music that’s more soulful and complex, I find myself really getting into this song; therefore, you should too. Her album is on iTunes. Go listen already.

Posted in Entertainment, Music | 5 Comments

PENN: Asian American Studies department funding

Posted on April 4, 2008 by John

What is it with Ivy League schools and their Asian American Studies programs? After similar cases at Harvard and Yale, I came across a posting on Angry Asian Man about the University of Pennsylvania and their article on the Asian American Studies program in the student paper:

“Last week the University notified officials in the Asian American Studies (ASAM) department that their budget, which was decreased for this academic year, will likely remain at the same lower level for the 2008-2009 academic year. This decision, however, has received negative feedback from many students and department officials. University administration cut back on the budgets of several departments, including ASAM, this past academic year to allow for certain expenses, like bringing Kalpen Modi (Kal Penn) to campus … In addition, the ASAM department is already at a point where there are no full-time staff members, said department administrators.”

Is there are any decent Asian American Studies program in the Ivy League? or on the East Coast in general?

Posted in Observations | 2 Comments

Planet B-Boy: Seriously, GO SEE IT

Posted on April 4, 2008 by Ernie

Yesterday night, I had the opportunity to see Benson Lee’s Planet B-Boy at the Lumiere in San Francisco. And you might have heard about it in the film festival circuit or through the YouTube front-page promotion or through other Asian-American bloggers, but seriously – go see the movie. You won’t be disappointed.

On the surface, Planet B-Boy is a documentary about breakdancing and B-Boy culture, and don’t get me wrong: it covers the the culture of breakdancing very, very well. You want to see the flares and the floor work or the B-Boy battles? You’ve got it, and you’ve got practically two hours of choreographed goodness to watch.

But for those of you that haven’t been completely enthralled watching America’s Best Dance Crew the past couple of weeks, Lee does a fantastic job mixing the breaking, popping and battling with the background stories of how this part of hip-hop culture has affected members of four crews all over the world: people in Japan, South Korean, France and the United States that would live very different lifestyles, but are united in a common culture and meet in Germany at the end of the movie to kick the crap out of each other battle on a dance floor and spin around on their head a lot. I’m tongue-and-cheek at that last sentence, obviously, but for those of you who are less into B-Boy culture and just into a good person-focused documentary, you wouldn’t be disappointed either; issues such as racism, classism and familial relationships are brought as much front to center as the flares.

But enough of me trying to write like a movie critic; go see the movie already. A list of cities where the movie is being performed is listed on the director’s YouTube page.

Posted in Entertainment, Movies, Reviews | Leave a comment

SPACE INVADERS!!!!

Posted on April 4, 2008 by Jun

space_invaders

Taito, creator of “Space Invaders”, has teamed up with Yahoo Japan and incorporated the game into the website where space invaders destroy the Yahoo homepage. It was a part of a April Fools joke but its still active. GO BEFORE THEY TAKE IT DOWN!!!!

Posted in Entertainment, Observations, Technology, Video Games, WTF | 2 Comments

Shock-us Sulu!

Posted on April 3, 2008 by Brian

Here’s the great George Takei (“That’s Tah-Kay… rhymes with OK“) on Conan O’Brien last night. The highlight @ 2:50…

Banana Oil!

I’ve been a dedicated diehard loyally psychopathic Howard Stern fan dating back to my 13th birthday. It wouldn’t be any stretch to say I was “raised” on The Howard Stern Show, and so my familiarity with George Takei and his openness and honesty about his sexuality have been almost exclusively through Stern.

The irony is that Howard Stern Show fans are predominantly a blue collar, working-class rowdy bunch (to put it mildly), that has been for years labeled “crass”, “crude” and “low brow”, not to mention racist, sexist and homophobic (probably more as a knee-jerk attack on Howard Stern than an indictment on his audience) yet his supposedly barbaric listeners have collectively embraced George Takei with open arms as his semi regular appearances receive nothing but positive feedback and genuine love.

Here we have a 70 year old gay Asian actor who kills on THE Howard Stern show every time he’s on mic and in the process winning over the most unlikely of fans. It just goes to show you; it don’t matter what you are… just be funny.

Posted in Entertainment | 2 Comments

Son Bias & Misogyny

Posted on April 3, 2008 by Bo

Asian baby

An Open Letter to Asian Cultures & Asian/Asian-American parents:

Re:  Misogyny & Son-Bias

Why do you hate females?  Why do you feel the need to selectively abort us when you discover you’re carrying a member of the XX?  Why do you retain antiquated ideas of female worth (re: virginity)?  Why do you make us feel less worthy and valuable then our male counterparts?  And why do you then try to guilt-trip us and call us brainwashed when we become fully acculturate in American society and partake of all the opportunities western society affords us – including dating and eventually marrying the person we truly love regardless of race and ethnic background? 

I can almost (but not completely) understand why, back in a more agrarian & rural time, boys were preferred.  They didn’t move away when they got married.  They retained the family name.  They didn’t require large dowries.  They took care of you in your twilight years.  I get it.  At one time boys were the next best thing to a nationalized social security system.  But we’ve now entered the 21st century.  We have things like telephones and cars – a married daughter is no longer out of reach.  A person’s long-term success is less dependent on their ability to till the soil and more to do with how well they do in school, their communication skills, capacity for creative and unique ideas, and overall technical skill set.  Recent college and graduate school graduation data shows that women are graduating at a higher rate then men and perform better overall.  Women don’t even have to change their last name when they get married.  Once a Lee, Chang or Singh…always a Lee, Chang, or Singh.  And on top of all this, girls are less likely to commit crimes, get involved in gangs, and kill themselves while trying to mimic the newest X game move.  Modern birth control even eliminates the risk of unplanned teen pregnancies.     

So again, I want to know why you still don’t love us as much as you love the boys?  Are we not cute enough?  Do you just hate the color pink?  Are you uncomfortable with the idea of trying to raise a daughter and instilling a sense of worth, power, and value in her?  Do you just dislike the idea that women are actually creatures worthy of life and respect? 

Please help me out here?  My partner and I are contemplating bringing a baby into this world.  We don’t have a gender preference – all we want is a healthy, happy baby, god willing.  But if you articulate a real, reasonable reason for why we should strive for a boy, please let me know so that I can make an informed decision?  

But until you can rationally tell me why boys are better than girls, can you please cut out the whole pre-natal sex selection thing.  It’s really bumming me out and kinda makes me want to turn my back on my own culture. 

Yours truly,

A proud, strong Asian-American female.

(If you want to know what inspired this, check out this NPR story about a Census data study examining male birth rates among Asian-Americans.  Not surprisingly, there is evidence that Asian-American (meaning people in this country) are using prenatal screening technology to ensure the birth of boys.)

Posted in Observations, WTF | 44 Comments

Asian-American Women Dip Their Toes into U.S. Politics

Posted on April 2, 2008 by John

Photo: Congresswoman Matsui – one of two Asian-American women in Congress.

As I have often commented on 8Asians, Asian-Americans in general do not appear to be all that involved or active in politics, even in California. In Googling for Asian-American news, I came across this interesting article and statistics on “Asian-American Women Dip Their Toes into U.S. Politics:”

“According to the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) [at Rutgers University of New Jersey], of the 86 women serving in the 110th U.S. Congress, only two are Asian Americans; only 30 of the 1,741 women state legislators serving nationwide are Asian-American women…To help Asian-American women learn about the basics of U.S. governments and politics, CAWP launched in 2007 a one-day program called Rising Stars (.pdf). Aimed primarily at women living in New Jersey, the program is an adjunct to Ready to Run: Campaign Training for Women, a nonpartisan program offered each of the last 10 years by CAWP, a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers.”

Last June, I did attend a one day “workshop” in San Francisco – Asian Pacific American Leadership Project Northern California Political Summit – which had a lot of interesting and useful information in regards to those interested in running for public office. The Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership is an organization you might want to also look into.

Posted in Politics | 6 Comments

MSG150, or “When White People Review Chinese Restaurants”

Posted on April 2, 2008 by Ernie

So, I’m reading the food blog Serious Eats – it’s a food blog I read like hardcore porn when I’m having leftovers and want to pretend that I’m eating something fancier – when I come across MSG150. What’s that, you ask?

The basic premise of the MSG150* is this: Over the next year or so we will eat lunch at every restaurant in Seattle’s International District (aka Chinatown) and (a) collect interesting data, (b) write funny and useful reviews, and (c) make a million dollars.

We, of course, being “a bunch of bored white software developers.” Awesome.

When you have said white software developers creating a weblog about restaurants in Chinatown Seattle’s International District, you’re bound to find some common themes. Let’s verify, shall we?

Well, three for four isn’t too bad.

That said, whether you’re wondering if I’m going to go all angry asian man… no. A lot of Chinese restaurants play to the fortune cookies and the chop suey font and the unfortunate naming conventions, those very same stereotypes that make their sons and daughters roll their eyes; but the goal of the Chinese restaurant owner – usually immigrants, mind you – isn’t to be appropriate, it’s to make money and send their kids to Stanford.

And as someone who likes to eat a lot – oh wait, a foodie – I appreciate the fact that there are more reviews on the web, even though my version of Chinese food might be of a different standard as theirs. (I do have cravings for fake Chinese food from time to time. Mostly on long road trips and at airports.) Should I ever find myself in Seattle, I might actually use this guide, for no other reason to go a place called Unicorn Crepes. UNICORN CREPES! That shit might be magical.

(Flickr photo credit: celesteh)

Posted in Food & Drink | 5 Comments