Write us!


What would you like to see on The Blaaag? Tell us at theblaaag@gmail.com.

As forwarded by one of our OCMs, Eddie:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere . Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

By accepting these greetings, you are accepting the aforementioned terms as stated. This greeting is not subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself/himself/others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.
Happy holidays!

Now that it's over, we can say so for sure -- Fall '07 was insane, funny, sad, and scary all at once. So which entries took the cake for mind-blowingness? Here's a Top 10 List:

  1. NYPD officers arrest a student in what seems to be a racially charged incident.

  2. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Baller or not?

  3. Racist graffiti is found at SIPA.

  4. And, at Teacher's College, a noose.

  5. The hunger strike (and Al Jazeera).

  6. The nail salon workers get a new victory!

  7. E!Online's Kristin calls Masi "squinty".
    David thinks it's racist, but Angry Asian Man's Phil Yu disagrees. A 17-comment argument (and some private e-mailing) follows.

  8. Roger Fan and Sung Kang's appear at Columbia, inspiring the entry, "Introducing the Roger Fan Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter Collection".

  9. During Heroes Season 2, David becomes a recapper for Racialicious.

  10. Susan Mayer sparks up a whole lot of trouble and, finally, an apology.
What do you think?













I know that we have had several postings from the blog "Postsecret".
I think that this one brings interracial relationships, fetishes, and stereotypes into question when it comes to the topic of reasons for attraction.

We at The Blaaag hope that you've been engaged and empowered by the commentary that we've offered here on this blog over the past semester. Have you been inspired by the issues we've discussed? Would you like to contribute next semester? This is your chance. Openings are available for contributing positions on this blog.

The only requirements are that 1. you write well, 2. you write often, and 3. you understand a little about the issues which we have discussed here on The Blaaag with respect to Asian Americana and its implications for the Barnard/Columbia community.

Just fill out the questions below and send it to theblaaag@gmail.com!

-----------------

The Blaaag: The Weblog of the Asian American Alliance
Application for Contributors

Name:
School/Year:
Affiliation to AAA:

What functions or roles do you think a blog of AAA serves? There is no correct response.

How many hours a day do you spend on the internet? We don't judge.

Not everyone is as glued to the internet as we might be. How would you increase readership of this blog?

What topics regarding APA issues, social and political concerns, and relevant current events most interest you? Please be specific. ( i.e. 'Saigon Grill', not 'fair wages'.)

Of one of the above topics, please write a short sample post. (No more than 150 words, please.)

Title:
Body:

Luckily, I generally have the ability to enter periods of deep thought during finals crunchtime. Unfortunately, it's never really about the finals themselves. This time, it's about my thesis and the reclamation of an Asian American radical history based on theoretical conceptions of, and community actions around, race, nation, class, empire, and society.


I found this video on YouTube, a preview for a documentary on Richard Aoki, a longtime Japanese American radical from Oakland, CA:



This looks legit, featuring the likes of Yuri Kochiyama, Bobby Seale, and Prof. Diane C. Fujino, who penned Yuri's biography and is currently working on a bio of Aoki himself. But to backtrack for a moment, and give a brief description of who this guy is.

Aoki, a third-generation Japanese American, was born in San Leandro, CA in 1938; at the age of 4 he and his family were evacuated and relocated in the forced movement of 110,000 Japanese Americans from the West Coast during WWII. After returning from the Topaz, Utah relocation center in 1945, his family returned to the Bay Area, where he would eventually encounter fellow Oakland residents Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, co-founders of the revolutionary nationalist Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. Aoki, credited as a "radical Japanese cat" in Seale's autobiography, Seize the Time, provided the inchoate Panthers with their first firearms in their now-legendary method of patrolling Oakland cops, or "policing the police."

A relatively unsung figure in the BPP (Newton makes no mention of Aoki in his biography, Revolutionary Suicide), and often marginalized (he was, for a while, the sole member of the BPP's Berkeley chapter), Aoki was nevertheless a significant player in the Panthers' activities, one of six Field Marshals. He also enrolled at UC Berkeley in the late 1960's, was a co-architect in the campus' Asian American Political Alliance (one of the first organizations to proclaim themselves "Asian American"), and an organizer in the Third World Liberation Front, the coalition of color whose campus protests in 1969 led to the formation of one of the nation's first Ethnic Studies programs. As he says in the vid, "I do believe in mass action."


Aoki--like fellow Japanese American Panthers Guy Kurose and Mike Tagawa in the Seattle chapter--is part of a hidden history of Asian American activism that, while perhaps no longer so well-figured in a racial consciousness that has been radically altered by the changing face of Asian America since the 1960's, is nevertheless crucial in an understanding of what previous generations have contributed to our lives. Aoki's organizing--bridging campus and community, uniting different peoples of color, challenging the very structural base of state and society--has profound implications for current and future generations of Asian Americans, students or not, activists or not, and provides a space for legacies that must be remembered, kept alive, and cherished.

I'm gonna work on tracking down this documentary. In the meantime (and I think I'll do these from time to time), next up will be Chris Kando Iijima and his mother, Kazu. Now back to studying...

When we say memorial, it tends to mean that the person has died. Our Solomon Chao (former PC member or something), however, is alive and kicking somewhere in Cali, while we celebrate the legacy of study room take-overs in the But in his absence.

We're not gonna say where it is... 'cause this is technically against Butler policy. All we will say: this is the third semester in a row this has happened. It's a little bit distracting, but all are welcome - if you find out where we are, that is.

And so we descend back into finals hell.

A message of solidarity from AAA to AAA.

A Harvard Crimson article describes the ways that campaigns for Asian American Studies at Harvard University have over 20+ years risen and fallen, while actual programs in AAS at other schools such as University of Pennsylvania and Cornell have thrived. (UPenn is even bringing in Kal Penn as a visiting professor in the spring of '08. Damn, that's impressive.)

While we hope that Harvard comes around soon concerning what should be an anachronism in the lack of ethnic studies (or in this case Asian American) course offerings, we support fully the progressive endeavors that students there (including their AAA, the Asian American Association) are taking to instate such a program/department.

Whether or not students there are ready to undertake such activist measures such as hunger strikes (as we did in '96 for both Latino and Asian American Studies following similar successes at schools all across the country), the AAA of Columbia is willing to aid this and all campaigns for Asian American Studies in all ways possible. (With two of our senior advisers as chairs of NAASCon and more of our members and constituents as activists in this cause, we're more than happy to offer help! Just let us know...)

And for all students wishing to bring about Asian American Studies at their respective institutions, take a look at this NAASCon student advocate's guide to campaigning for Asian American Studies.

P.S. Whooa, history professor Mae Ngai apparently turned down Harvard for our ethnic studies program... We're eternally grateful, 'cause I hear she's a kickass (and hardcore) teacher.


(photo ripped off Fernandez Lab's website)

Arun Wiita was photographing the NYC subway rails for his 10-day summer project. While on 207th St and 10th Ave, an NYPD officer stopped and asked him what he was doing. Listening to Wiita's explanation, the officers then asked to see the photos and some ID. Wiita complied by presenting the photos, a New Jersey driver's license and a Columbia University ID.

According to Wiita on Gothamist, "[the officer] said that since I didn't have a NY State ID he couldn't run my information over the radio, and he would have to take me into the station at 145th St to check it out "in front of his peers". He then asked me to turn around and put my hands behind my back and then he handcuffed me." Wiita was detained for 30 minutes.

According to Metro, "police sources said officers question people photographing the city’s rail infrastructure on rare occasions, citing instances in which law enforcement officials have identified men taking photographs of city bridges and subways as Iranian intelligence agents and suspected Pakistani terrorists who were stopped by police while taking pictures of the Brooklyn and Williamsburg bridges."

I Google stalked Wiita, finding out that he works at the Fernandez Lab and hopes to receive his MD/PhD by 2009. The dude's now working with American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in filing a lawsuit against the NYPD, who he believes detained him for his "South Asian or Middle Eastern appearance".

Laura, our Social Chair who sent us the articles, made this comment: funny how the cops didn't even take up his columbia ID or call the school to verify or anything of that nature..? even though i bet he could check an out-of-state id. MMMM, (channeling phil yu) thats racist!

But after the last run-in with the NYPD, how can we be surprised?

* Do you identify as South Asian and Queer?
* Are you interested in participating in a study....or know someone who might be?

Pamela Roy, Residence Director at University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Raja Bhattar, Assistant Director of Diversity Affairs at the University of Redlands are conducting a qualitative study about the experiences of students, staff, administrators, and faculty on college campuses in the United States who are members of multiple communities, specifically in the South Asian and Queer (LGBTQQIA) communities.

Criteria to participate in the study include:

1. Must be a current graduate or undergraduate student, staff,administrator or faculty member at a U.S. college or university
2. Must identify as South Asian (familial/cultural roots in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives Islands) or South Asian by Diaspora (familial/cultural ancestry in South Asia)
3. Must identify as non-heterosexual

The data gathered in this study will be presented at the annual conference of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) in Boston, MA in March, 2008. NASPA is one of the leading international student affairs organizations and we are excited to be presenting at this conference. This presentation will be sponsored by the Asian Pacific Islander Knowledge Community.

If you are interested in participating in this study, please contact Pamela Roy or Raja Bhattar at saqstudy@gmail.com to learn more information.

Try this out for size...

AALDEF SUMMER UNDERGRADUATE INTERNSHIPS 2008


The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), founded in 1974, is the first organization on the East Coast to protect and promote the legal rights of Asian Americans through litigation, legal advocacy and community education. For more information about AALDEF, please visit our website at www.aaldef.org.

Summer interns attend weekly brown bag lectures on a range of public interest legal topics along with interns from other legal defense funds and civil rights groups. AALDEF also provides trainings in housing law, naturalization procedures, and immigration law. The summer program is ten (10) weeks, beginning approximately June 9th through August 15th. The position is unpaid. However, in previous years many AALDEF interns have been successful at securing independent funding and work-study funds may also be available. Academic credit can be arranged.

Voting Rights Intern: Responsibilities include coordinating voter registration drives, researching the Voting Rights Act, anti-Asian voter discrimination, bilingual ballots, and Asian American political opinion; advocating on state and local election reform proposals; developing reports and organizing forums on the Asian American vote. Students from schools in MI, MA, PA, VA, DC, MD, HI, who are also willing to help in coordinating Asian American Election Protection efforts in Nov. 2008 after they go back to school are especially encouraged to apply.

NJ Asian American Legal Project Intern: Responsibilities include conducting community outreach and presentations with Asian immigrant workers and community members in New Jersey ; performing client intake and legal interpretation, and; coordinating client referrals. Bilingual ability in Gujarati, Hindi, or Korean is highly preferred.

Youth Rights and Educational Equity Intern: Responsibilities include community outreach and presentations with Asian American youth groups, public education policy research, assistance with client intakes and general support for projects on educational equity, juvenile justice, affirmative action, and post 9-11 hate violence and racial targeting.

Office Assistant: Responsibilities include data entry, organizing press clippings, answering phones, doing mailings, assisting with fundraising and other events, and performing general clerical duties. Other responsibilities include providing support for community education and outreach projects and acting as an interpreter/translator. Computer experience with databases, graphics and web programs are helpful. Bilingual ability in an Asian language is desirable but not required.

Requirements: Candidates must be detail-oriented and possess strong writing skills. Spoken and written knowledge of Korean, Bangla, Chinese, or another Asian language is a plus.

Qualified applicants should indicate which internship they are applying for and send a resume and cover letter by Friday, February 15 to:

Summer Undergraduate Intern Search
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
99 Hudson Street, 12th floor
New York , New York 10013
fax: 212.966.4303 or email: info@aaldef.org

If you are and feel like killing yourself, then watch this:



The parts where the long-haired dude goes "MOOOOMMMM" and then dances in the background are absolutely hysterical.

Happy birthday to one half of the editing team! Our little David has become a man, turning 35. Or perhaps 12. No one knows for sure.

His party tonight will be intense. Among the invited guests is TI. And TI never turns down a good party.

A little heavy on the cheese, but awesome nonetheless...

Vent Magazine

A big, bad shoutout to our friends at UC Davis, who have penned an Asian American magazine of fantastic proportions. (I must say, we have sure copped out on a lot of work doing just a blog.)


Vent magazine was established I'm sure for largely the same reasons we were... to give underrepresented voices a platform from which to project their thoughts and viewpoints. In seeking to fulfill these goals they've come up with a beautiful, superbly well-written publication (downloadable here) as witty and irreverent as we are (and definitely more aesthetically pleasing.) Take a read - it's great stuff.

Damn, we need writers like that at Columbia working on our Blaaag. Keep it up!

'Cause it's about time. If you're into the whole Facebook thing, join it here. We'd like to see who our fans are! (And maybe Facebook-stalk you a bit... just kidding.)

... oh right, the Oriental Broadway.

Check out this new film called "East Broadway". I would not have heard about this if not for an email from our chair with the subject, "doesn't this shit piss you off". Oh yes, it does. Click on trailer and just watch this garbage.

Though it's interesting to see how our reactions change when the premise of a movie like Shanghai Kiss changes to focus on Asian American women... just food for thought.

Last weekend, one of our Blaaag staffers / NAASCon Co-Chairs told us that she's working on a complaint to send to the NYC Civilian Complaint Review Board for consideration. Why? Because AAA believes that the student's mistreatment by the two NYPD officers definitely deserves "a fair investigation".

Thousands of complaints are filed to CCRB every day, so the only way to strengthen the complaint is to track down witnesses at the scene and confirm rumors that point to a racial bias.

The project is currently under way, but we have not kept in close touch with the involved student (who doesn't seem to return messages). Therefore, the project may shut down if s/he wishes it for the sake of his privacy

(Note: a court hearing was held last month; we don't know what the decision was).

At least things are still happening!

I'd hate to go against Angry Asian Man on this one.

... But let's see some of the wonderful commentary the last post has received in the last fourteen hours or so since I've written it. Two comments on this very site have advised me to "watch the show before you go calling for a protest," and that "that's actually what he does...he squints when he's about to teleport". Even Angry Asian Man himself can't seem to find fault in Kristin's offhanded remark, saying "he's squinty because, well... he squints." One anonymous commenter went far enough to say "lol you slants are such losers, lighten up"; needless to say, this one was just straight up removed.

Funny things, because I've seen every episode produced of this sometimes problematic show. Not only do I often write about Heroes on this blog, I do Heroes recaps for Racialicious through the lens of race. Hence, the claims that I don't watch the show or don't know better aren't so valid. For those who do watch the show and find the term "squinty" in line with what they see Hiro actually do, let's clear up some misconceptions. I'm not exactly a trigger-happy blogger.

If I weren't a regular watcher I would have included the few words following Kristin's "squinty" remark - calling him a "carp". However carp was clearly a reference to Adam Munroe's line about Hiro in the Primatech plant. So don't say I don't know this show.

According to the handy Merriam-Webster Online, to squint is to "to look or peer with eyes partly closed". The key point of this definition is that the act of squinting requires that you keep your eyes open. Does Hiro keep his eyes open while teleporting? No, he squeezes them shut. What he does while exercising his superpower resembles nothing close to "squinting".

A fine distinction, I know. But insignificant? Probably not. Does this flaw in word choice on the part of E!Online's Kristin point to a negligence in her writing or something more? As co-editor Marilla put it: If Masi weren't ethnically Japanese, would his "squinting" get pointed out? The analogy is to Matt Parkman, who squints and furrows his brows in order to read minds - but would he be labeled "squinty"? I wouldn't hesitate to say that calling someone of Asian descent "squinty" is actually a much bigger offense than it reasonably seems. Maybe nothing more than a word choice flaw, this still points to something greater.

Am I the only person "sensitive" enough to notice? Comment 188 on the E!Online site writes:

"Thank you David! I thought I was the only one who cared that she used the term "squinty." Most people here aren't Asian or don't care, I guess, but I'm with you. It's totally inappropriate."
Comment 202 writes:
"I do believe this is the 2nd racist comment that Kristin has made about Hiro in as many weeks. Last week she made fun of the way he talks and this week she called him "squinty." You may be his "friend" but please watch what you say about him. Maybe you don't think it was racist, but it kind of was. You could have just written " torment our favorite teleporter" and left out the "squinty" I think we would have known who you were talking about. Instead you use a word that could be construed as racist. Bad Kristin."

While I'd like to know what the first racist comment was that Kristin made about Masi Oka, I probably have more interesting things to write about. Still, if calling out someone on this insensitive remark is "making a big deal" of it, then as bloggers of color what are we really doing?

In a speculative post-finale article, E!Online series commentator Kristin writes this (warning: spoilers) about the fates of Heroes characters. She says, "our favorite squinty teleporter," referring to Masi Oka, the only main character of Asian descent.



Does this guy seem squinty to you? What are we to make of your brilliant skills of labeling people by visual characteristics, Kristin? If it's racist, then you're completely right, because calling people squinty, slitted-eyed or slanty is in fact not acceptable. If you'd like to know, last September AAA received death threats after the Minutemen incident - attacking us using exactly these terms. Therefore, it is impossible to stress the gravity of this situation.

I do believe a public apology is due, E!Online.



Meet Dr. Edmund Kwan. He has a degree from Georgetown University Medical School, is board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery (ABPS), and belongs to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). Dr. Kwan's "expertise focuses on, but is not limited to, facial shaping and recontouring, breast augmentation, hand surgery, forehead shaping, nose surgery, double eyelid fold surgery and brow lifts."



The caption next to this happy, post-surgery woman reads: "The concept of beauty varies in different ethnic groups or communities. What Dr. Kwan and other plastic surgeons are doing is to help their patients erase perceived physical flaws while maintaining their ethnic identity."
- Dr. James Wells, President of ASPS.


Admittedly, plastic surgery is a useful option for people who go through serious accidents and don't want to remain looking like Tom Cruise in Vanilla Sky. I doubt, however, that Wells had the same intentions in saying "perceived physical flaws".

Reading the testimonials (which are marked by ethnic branding), I can only guess that Wells and Kwan's idea of a perceived physical flaw has something to do with a --gasp!-- ethnic look.

Here are some surgery testimonials:

“Thank you, Dr. Kwan, for always being there to respond to my surgeries with such care, respect and generosity. I hope you know how much I appreciate all that you’ve done for me over the years and more recently, and how fortunate I feel to have been blessed with such a great doctor.” - Korean female, age 35 - Eyelid Surgery

“Dr. Kwan is not only a skilled surgeon, but he has an artist’s eye when it comes to proportion and balance which gave me an absolutely natural result. Nobody commented on my eyes looking any different. They just noticed that I looked “great,” more youthful, brighter and rested, which is exactly the kind of subtle result I had hoped for.” - Korean female, age 48 – Brow Lift


Handled with care, respect, generosity, and "an artist's eye". I'm not sure what this means, but it definitely makes a woman's face sound more like a canvas than like a person's face which marks his/her identity. The praises showered on Dr. Kwan prove that he's skilled at what he does; but whereas an artist gets blank canvases that don't choose their fate, a surgeon gets patients who voluntarily make the decision to go under the knife, sometimes under false pretenses.

It concerns me more than Kwan's seeming inability to question his patients' motives that these women are finding "perceived physical flaws" in their appearance and tying it to their ethnic identities. When did there become ethnic beauty standards for features like eyelids? Is there a single perception of beauty set within an ethnicity? If these women are living (and getting operated on) in the U.S., which cultural lens do they look through to examine themselves? Most importantly, why aren't they satisfied with what they look like already?

If you're not on AAA's private listserv, you can breathe a sigh of relief from not receiving 12,931,280,918,412,098,312 e-mails a day and, consequently, feeling the urge to rip your hair out.

On the other hand, you should also cry about it, because few other Columbia groups can get the scoop on NYC happenings (a la Asian America) as quickly as AAA can.





Take the recent chain e-mails about David Henry Hwang, for instance; this dude has been playing the theatre field since 1980 and is still going strong. His new play, Yellow Face, "focuses on a man... who leads a protest against the casting of Jonathan Pryce as a Eurasian in the Broadway musical 'Miss Saigon' in the 1990s." On the larger scale, Yellow Face is a commentary on the American theatre and cinema's approach -- both good and (mostly) bad... Charlie Chan, anyone? -- to an increasing multiculturalism in the U.S. The once appalling casting decisions and racial stereotypes that were seen on stage and screen have, fortunately, been somewhat stifled by a rise of socially conscious APIA actors, playwrights, and directors. Yet it still doesn't feel like enough.

Though none of AAA has seen Yellow Face, a Maya :) kindly wrote to tell us that she saw the play and found it "really excellent". With that said, this staffer is definitely recommending our readers to check it out too! AALDEF is offering its members $40 discount tickets for a Dec. 6 pre-showing, but who knows -- maybe our Fall 07 stickers can do better.

For more information, visit centertheatregroup.org

Tagline: More and More are Stupid Lazy-Asses

"No longer content to be thought of as successful, intelligent, hard-working and family-oriented, an ever-increasing number of second- and third-generation Asian-Americans are beginning to fail miserably."

... so that's why I'm failing school. Check it out here.

AAA becomes lost at sea with whereabouts unknown! AAA the Japanese pop group that is...

Yes, there is a JPOP group called AAA. Technically, their name is Attack All Around, but they are more commonly known as AAA. They have actually been around for a few years now and their fanbase has even spread beyond Japan. Here's the single that launched their careers "Hurricane Riri, Boston Mari."

(Note: The music actually starts at 2:45 and make sure to check out the huge AAA logo at 3:06. Plus there's an awesome AAA flag at 5:06, I sure wish we had one of those.)

Of course, by no means is AAA only a one hit wonder. They've actually released a couple hit singles by now and have even gained/lost a few group members. Here's another big hit from the Japanese charts "Q"



They've even gotten on some Japanese commercials!



As awesome as these guys are, I think this past weekend's "Karaoke Klash" held by Sounds of China has proven that this AAA has better singers and dancers. Especially better dancers.

Um YES

For your viewing pleasure: Mr. Daniel Henney.

SOC K^2



The best way to sum it up is:

  • FOOD. FOOD. FOOD.
  • AAA Contestants: Eddie and Marilla.
  • 3 Judges: Hong Kong Superstar Singer Judge with Record Deal and NYU Grad Students
  • A big scary screen that counts time until your singing sucks.
  • Horrible, horrible Lerner tech. Massive numbers of disqualified contestants.
  • Lots of Chinese Pop; our non-Chinese OCMs get confused.
  • Round 1: Britney Spears "Toxic". Shades. Leather.
  • A red Jumpsuit:

(not Eddie and Marilla)
  • David. Maroon 5 "She Will Be Loved". Starbucks Card.
  • Round 2: Jessica Simpson "Take My Breath Away". 86 Points (Same as Allan Lau! Omg!)
& as usual , when AAA is involved,
Utter chaos!

Right, they're arming because they cheat and they want to take over the world. Disgusting.



I feel so bad for the adopted girl.

The Internets

1. We are developing a legitimate website. Check it out here.

2. Speaking of the Intertubez...



(Write for us, Mimi! The Blaaag is waiting for more of your soulful words slash song lyrics. Don't go on tearin' up our hearts!)

Just a personal thought from this Blaaag writer, directing you to a Spec editorial regarding tomorrow's Day Out Against Hate...

The disconnect in the discussion of race and bias on campus is highlighted by the fact that, while an ad-hoc coalition of students planned a hunger strike, Vice President of Arts and Sciences Nicholas Dirks and others were planning the programming for this day.

So I haven't posted on the Blaaag in ages, due to other circumstances that have taken the vast majority of my time... but now that things are (relatively) back to normal and finals are about to consume my sanity, it's time to procrastinate!

Hip-hop is no doubt the most influential American musical genre, or comprehensive "culture," since jazz; in its 30-odd years of existence, it's become a worldwide phenomenon, and has stretched from the viciously political to the nonstop party music to the... well... forgettable. Hip-hop journalist, former label head, and author of
Can't Stop, Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, Jeff Chang, has dubbed the current era the "hip-hop generation" because hip-hop has been precisely the cultural marker of American youth--whether message or commodity--for decades now.

Yet, where do Asian Americans fit into this mix? While I can't cover everything in the short time that I have before I should get back to my homework, I'll do my best.

One of the first Asian American hip-hop artists was
Fresh Kid Ice, a.k.a. Chris Wong Won, a member of the late-80's/early-90's rap outfit 2 Live Crew, known for their raunchy and sexually explicit songs, such as their hit single "Me So Horny." Fresh Kid Ice, of Chinese and Afro-Trinidadian descent, released the 1992 solo album The Chinaman, featuring such insightful songs as "Long Dick Chinese." Out of respect for women everywhere, I'll decline from showing a video of his.

In 1991, however, a new sound arose, this time in the realm of competitive deejaying, also known as turntablism.
DJ QBert (Richard Quitevis), a young Filipino American from San Francisco, CA, rose to the 1991 Disco Mixing Club (DMC) USA championship with his unique blend of scratching techniques.


DJ QBert, 1991 DMC USA Championships

He, along with partners Mix Master Mike and DJ Apollo, also of Filipino descent, went on to win the DMC World Championships the next three years straight. They, with other Filipino American DJs, formed the legendary Invisibl Skratch Piklz; Mix Master Mike also became the Beastie Boys' DJ. Filipino American DJs have been fairly commonplace in hip-hop circles; another favorite, DJ Babu (Chris Oroc), is a member of the Los Angeles-based alternative rap group Dilated Peoples.


DJ Babu, 1995 Scratch Routine U.S. Finals

In 1996, a group of three emcees from Philadelphia rose to national prominence through, interestingly enough, a Sprite commercial. The Mountain Brothers (CHOPS, Styles, and Peril-L), of Chinese and Korean descent, were the first Asian American hip-hop artists signed to a major label, and released two albums--Self, Vol. (1999) and Triple Crown (2003)--before disbanding. CHOPS is still active as a producer, and has worked with big-name artists like Kanye West. MB's style is somewhat throwback; less about an Asian American identity, it instead embraces a "classical" notion of posse hip-hop and pure lyrical stream-of-consciousness.


Mountain Brothers, "Galaxies"

In 2001, a Flushing, Queens, Chinese American emcee named Jin (Jin Au-Yeung) took to the stage of BET Rap City's Freestyle Friday and won an unprecedented seven weeks in a row, thereby winning a deal with the major label Ruff Ryders outfit, home of DMX and Eve. His first single, "Learn Chinese," gained some attention (albeit slightly ridiculous and self-orientalizing); his debut album, The Rest is History (2004), however, was a commercial flop, despite appearances by big-name artists like Kanye West, Twista, and Styles P. Blaming a lack of decent promotion, and dismayed by the music industry, Jin dropped from his label and instead released a string of independent albums: The Emcee's Properganda (2005), 100 Grand Jin (2006), and the Cantonese-language ABC (2007).


Jin, "Learn Chinese"

At roughly the same time, rock-rap hybrid
Linkin Park had the best-selling album of 2001 with Hybrid Theory (2000), featuring emcee/guitarist/producer Mike Shinoda, who is half Japanese American, and deejay Joe Hahn, who's Korean American. While Linkin Park has been phasing out their rap side in recent years, they embarked on a mash-up project with Jay-Z in 2004, Collision Course, and Shinoda released a solo project in 2005, The Rising Tied, under the moniker Fort Minor. The album features the song "Kenji," a narrative of Japanese American internment during World War II.


Fort Minor, "Believe Me"

Pop-rap group Black Eyed Peas also have an Asian American member--apl.de.ap (Allan Pineda Lindo), of Filipino descent. A song on their 2003 album Elephunk, "The Apl Song," features a chorus in Tagalog.


Black Eyed Peas, "The Apl Song"

On the West Coast, Berkeley, CA emcee Lyrics Born (Tom Shimura), who is half Japanese, had his hit single "Callin' Out" featured on a Diet Coke commercial featuring Adrien Brody. A co-founder of Quannum Projects with Blackalicious and DJ Shadow, and an ex-affiliate of Jeff Chang, Lyrics Born is known for his avant-garde, rock-influenced music and breathless delivery.


Diverse (ft. Lyrics Born), "Explosive"

Recent artists have begun to achieve significant prominence. The Seattle, WA-based Blue Scholars, recently signed to seminal progressive label Rawkus Records, have risen to the national scene recently with their 2007 LP Bayani (meaning "hero of the people" in Tagalog, and "the word" in Farsi). Consisting of Filipino American emcee Geologic (George Quibuyen) and Persian American emcee Sabzi (Alexei Saba Mohajerjasbi), Blue Scholars is known for their political messages, proletarian affiliation, and soulful stylings.


Blue Scholars, "Back Home"

Other notable Asian American hip-hop artists today include The Pacifics, a Chicago-based group of 3 Filipino American emcees (KP, Strike III, Norm Rockwell); Denizen Kane (Dennis Kim), a Korean American member of multiracial Chicago group Typical Cats, and a former member of the Asian American spoken word collective I Was Born With Two Tongues; NYC and Berkeley-based Magnetic North, a duo of Direct (Derek Kan) and T-Vu (Theresa Vu); Kiwi and Bambu, West Coast Filipino Americans formerly of the radical duo Native Guns; and NYC-based DJ Rekha, whose styles blend hip-hop and contemporary bhangra (a Punjabi dance music).


The Pacifics, "Story of My Life"


Denizen Kane, "Patriot Act"


Magnetic North, "Drift Away"

Native Guns, "Champion"

Of course, there are many other artists, but naming them all would be really hard, and some probably don't deserve recognition anyway.

...and, that's a (w)rap.


... but not that funny?

Ivygate: "Guy Named Wang Arrested for Stealing Panties..." - haha! The fact that his remarkably common last name is also slang for penis? Hilarious! He steals panties and purses at the same time... so let's ruminate on his sexual preference! The yellow peril-sexual predator scare can be so funny.

And if you're bored enough, watch the news coverage video here. What's actually funny: how Diexia is pronounced on television (Dee-EX-ee-ah). Wow.

What's this? Our favorite baller Ahmadinejad has a blog?

What is Asian American Studies?
Why do we need AAS when we have EALAC & MEALAC?
How does it relate to life beyond college?

Join us for a teach-in on Asian American Studies, tonight 8pm in Lerner E569! Come meet some of our most beloved professors like Mae Ngai and Gary Okihiro. I would leave it there, but our writer Nhu-Y wrote too many hilarious things onto the Facebook event.

Other serious questions of inquiry:
Why is it so interdisciplinaryly sexy?
How does it transcend the hotness of other fields?
Is AAS so hot that it intimidates you?
Why does AAS drop it like its hot all the time?
Can AAS really walk it out?
Will my biology major get jealous if I want to do AAS too?

Get academically crunk. MMM ACADEMIA.

After seeing this I had to ask... Was Nhu-Y done? No.

Why does it combine history & sociology & other fields to make such hot babies?
Too nervous to approach AAS? Well, now you can in a low-key environment. Don't worry if you can't perform... AAS is hot, but so many people don't hit on it because they're afraid of being rejected... well, AAS is waiting.

(Nhu-Y: i really was going to make a bunch of rap song references but i was like hmm... appropriate?)

And oh right, ... free food! Be there!


(Image from Audrey Magazine. Click here for the article)


Professor Miliann Kang, from University of Massachusetts - Amherst, is conducting a survey on body image among Asian American women for her course, "Asian American Women".

As part of a trio that made a film on this, I've witnessed a great need for more dialogue on Asian American body image. Given the current surge of plastic surgery, beauty in the media, and food fads, it's no wonder that so many female (Asians and) Asian Americans get so obsessed over image and subsequently develop full-fledged disorders.

Happy Thanksgiving from The Blaaag!
(What is my family having? Duck. And tofu soup. Go figure.)

... Fittingly named, because it does relativism so well. A blog attempting to educate on transracial adoptions, Choices features mostly posts by these select adopters themselves (one is a Barnard alum). But, as the New York Times often is with its tunneled, caring-white-person stories, the blog has had quite a number of very iffy, "othering" posts by adopting parents. Take a read...



The inaugural post of Choices is exactly the story of a first-world savior discovering the "magical" history of third-world innocent. In "Finding Zhao Gu", the adopting father writes about his search for the origins of his daughter. In doing so, he says a lot of generally self-righteous and Orientalist things - like "yearn[ing] to know the secrets that he, alone among millions in China, held within himself," how the events of his saviorship "felt like fate", and talking in English at the person who found her in order to achieve his personal sense of closure.

Not all of the posts are terrible. In "Beyond the Lion Dance," the same man writes about offering his two Chinese girls (pathological Chinese baby adopter?) a semblance of cultural belonging in Chinatown and worrying about the identity issues they might be faced with in the future. Another explains how she avoided the demeaning videos from African adoption agencies (but only until she actually forced her way to a child that she found particularly adorable, "with darling eyes and nappy hair that was tightly curled and uneven in appearance.")



One article, however, is just ridiculous. In "The Real Thing", Tama Janowitz tries to make herself immune to criticism about what seems like crass child-rearing ways while telling us the deeply ignorant things she says to people about her motherhood... things like, "I say to Willow: 'Well, you know, if you were still in China you would be working in a factory for 14 hours a day with only limited bathroom breaks!'" Her snarkiness knows few bounds. After calling her daughter's features "Mongolian", she proceeds to minimize the problems that other Asian adoptees have had with not having forged a cultural identity. Great writing, Tama - let me know when you want to peddle more of your irreverent, insensitive garbage over the internet... unless after Googling your own name you found that to be a bad idea.

I'm not alone in my disgust. If you want to see the problems that bloggers have already found with this writing, every word in this sentence links to a verbal lashing of this blog. And this is just what Carmen linked on Racialicious.

There's more... Carmen reports that the Times bloggers have been censoring dissenting comments from adult adoptees. Denying claims of their own racism... wow, we haven't seen this before. Relative Choices, all in all, makes me slightly sick. Of course the posts by adoptees themselves are pretty okay, but this should be a reason why we "loosely ethnicity-oriented" blogs exist - to catch mainstream writers in the very troubling things they say.

At this point, it's pretty obvious that whatever praise or criticisms I give will sound ripped off the commentaries of CU-Strike, Spec, and Bwog. So I'm going to let my commendations remain on the previous entry and move on.

It's easy to package campus events into convenient, airtight time frames; on Facebook, many happenings have set beginnings and ends in a typical "8:00-9:30 PM" fashion. It seems that the CU-Strike blog's sudden silence and packing up of South Lawn tents have marked an equally definitive end to the past two weeks' madness. The general climate on campus seems lighter and happier (partly due to the impending break). So has the wish, "We just want this shit to end", been granted? Can the groups against the Hunger Strike rest in peace?

During last night's IRC One Love/Open Mic event, over a heavenly plate of baked mac & cheese, a friend and I shared some casual conversation about these concerns.

And this is what I learned: Yes, students involved with the strike have consented to hitting the books again. Since South Lawn was cleared, the Kulawiks of Columbia/Barnard don't have to worry anymore about the Gentrification Octopus intruding on their finely-sliced-and-doused-with-wine lives. But they should savor the peace and quiet while they can, because Expansion into Harlem (Demand #3) has mostly been left untouched.

The Manhattanville expansion issue is another time bomb waiting to explode. The Harlem community and groups on campus have been working closely together since before the strike, so don't expect #3 to go ignored (Sorry, Colombo - we see how schlumped and bored you get after meetings). Plus, given the rate at which things have been going, I wouldn't be surprised if some campus riots were to take place in the next few days or weeks.

(Note: there's also a new Barnard dialogue tent. Figure it out.)

It seems so. Read about it here.

From my crappy but beloved camera phone:


A candle in a Dixie cup.


Supporters at the vigil. About 200 showed up.


That is a candle on David's poor phone.


The Justice Will Be Served! campaign is alive and kicking. Check out their newest action against Ollie's, (blogged by the NYT here) another chapter in the fight against discriminatory practices at restaurants like Saigon Grill and Flor de Mayo, among others. Nice going!


In other news, my sister's gifting me a copy of Chang-Rae Lee's Native Speaker when I get home this winter. Will The Blaaag start doing book reviews? (Uhm, depends how quickly I finish...) Oh wait, don't we have two Blaaag writers in Wen Jin's Asian American Literature? Riiight.


P.S. There's good news over at the hunger strike blog. Check it out! (Three of four issues conceded upon? Yes.)

P.P.S. Our co-editor Mar got a picture in the Spectator h-strike vigil slideshow. (Picture nine, here.)


Awww!


This time nothing even peripherally to do with Asian American issues (because Masi wasn't in this episode!), or the brain-eating Sylar for that matter, but you can read my Racialicious recap here.

This week is Lucha's Immigration Week. Check out the great events planned! Below is our statement in solidarity...
--------
On June 6th, 1993, a rusty freighter named Golden Venture ran aground in Queens after nearly circling the globe with almost three hundred Thai and Chinese immigrants. Most of these immigrants had paid thirty thousand dollars to be able to work in this country free from China's coercive reproductive policies. But as the Golden Venture crashed, these passengers jumped a mutinous ship to freezing waters and swam toward shore, where the immigrations services laid in wait.

Among the passengers of that fated vessel, ten drowned, six disappeared, and the rest were detained, to be deported to a punishing homeland or left in a difficult legal limbo in this country. Like most Asian immigrants, these people came to the United States primarily to earn a living. They were met instead with years of detainment, deportation, and forced sterilization in their home country.

Today, the individuals who remain help make up America's evolving history of migration, one which is already shared by Asian American Alliance and Lucha's predecessors. Just as Filipino and Mexican farm workers came together in 1936 to form a dual-ethnic AFL charter, just as Philip Vera Cruz and Cesar Chavez fought side by side to improve working conditions of migrant workers, so are we coming together today to build coalitions against the forces that weigh us down.

Tonight, we celebrate not just the rights of immigrants but the rights of all people of color. Let us take this time not only to remember our privileges deprived but also the ones received, thanks to those fighting since before our time. Without our predecessors, our teachers, we would not know the true meaning of what we deserve. Let us thank and remember them for the history which they made, for the history which we will continue writing.

So for anyone unaware, this past Saturday (11/10) Mayor Choi came to Columbia to speak about politics, campaigning, and what it means to be Asian American in a very non-Asian American arena. As he talked I was confounded by Mayor Choi’s ease in speaking about Asian Americans and Asian American issues. He spoke about Asian Americans supporting political representatives who advocate for Asian American issues, yet also informing us that many Asian-origin peoples vote in ethnic blocks (if they vote at all). So then, what are these Asian American issues that unite us? It seems problematic that Asian Americans are supposed to share common bonds yet when voting we fall into ethnic categories. This tension especially highlighted in the political arena has led me for the past several days to re-think the term Asian American and what it means.

After endless thinking and conversations with my roommate I have arrived at a tentative conclusion: the term Asian American is inherently destructive and must be re-thought, re-labeled to reflect something more unified. I feel that the term is too broad. I cannot see the connections between Indian, Pakistani, Korean, Vietnamese peoples --- I believe others can’t also. Further proof is this inner group label of South Asian, or South East Asian. Why if there is unity do these sub-labels persist? I feel as if these sub-labels point out to the inherent weakness of the Asian American label. Part of this weakness stems from Asian American not encompassing a single culture, which it cannot even attempt to do because the term reflects too many different ethnic groups. This emphasis on culture comes from my need to find this common thread that is strong enough to connect such differences. This thread doesn’t have to be culture, but religion doesn’t work, appearance doesn’t work, even political outlook doesn’t work. Mayor Choi mentioned how different ethnic groups support opposing political parties. Moreover, while Mayor Choi mentioned that political power comes when groups have a solid economic foundation I would argue that only certain ethnic groups have such a foundation. So what does that mean for our unity under this umbrella term of Asian American?

I ask people to comment, to advise, and share their own knowledge on this issue of Asian American identity. I want someone to tell me that I am wrong (that the term Asian American is not destructive) because I want that safety of knowing I am connected to a greater community.

Day Six



At noon, a reporter from Al Jazeera approached Bryan Mercer for an interview.

Yes, the Al Jazeera.

As many of you are aware, many individuals including one of our own have been on a hunger strike for the past 4 days. Unfortunately, due to the extrenuating circumstances, aretha felt ill today and is currently recovering at St. Luke's.

Lena, David, Shilpa, and I are at the hospital right now and according to the people tending to her, she is doing fine and recovering well.

please join me in wishing her the best as she has our unconditional love and support.

C

---

Read about it here.

Also: as one striker exits, five more (incl. a professor) enter.

Day Four













Community members and students gather on Low Steps to show solidarity with banners, posters, flyers, and speeches.

We, members of the Asian American Alliance Political Committee, stand in solidarity with the hunger strikers and the demands that they have made, and extend our political, personal, and emotional support to the strikers and the movement for which they stand.

We deplore the acts of hatred and racism that have shocked and tainted our campus over the past several weeks, and, like the strikers, seek an administration that will better hear the concerns of student populations that are so easily and readily marginalized. We have been active participants in advocating the amelioration of Ethnic Studies programs for years, and see our intellectual and organizational endeavors as part of this collective campaign for student demands to be met. Moreover, we recognize the inextricable ties between the different issues and concerns that the strikers have put forth, and that any one matter cannot be abstracted from the others.

We celebrate a long-standing history of Asian American students’ participation in struggles for justice and equality, including in the student protests of 1996 at Columbia that led to the formation of the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race and Asian American Studies as a discipline—-and similar efforts on campuses all across the country. We encourage all concerned students, Asian American or not, at Columbia or elsewhere, to also stand in support of the strikers, and for what they fight.

As famed Asian American activist Yuri Kochiyama once said, "I don't think there will ever be a time when people will stop wanting to bring about change." May this be the next chapter in that legacy of struggle.

-the Asian American Alliance Political Committee

This Blaaag'er here just did a nine-hour late night shift at the tents.

More pics up soon... but here is some other news.

1. We are hosting an speaker on Saturday - Mayor Jun H. Choi of Edison, NJ will speak in a lecture titled, "Campaign Management & Political Advocacy: Preparing for the 2008 Elections". We are partnering for this event with Columbia's Korean Students Association as well as our law school's Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA). Do join us - Lerner Cinema, 11:30am - 1:30pm. As one of the first and only Asian American mayors in the United States, his lecture will no doubt be an informative one.

2. Intercultural Benefit Dinner! Talk about a classy affair... The Chinese Students Club is putting on this semi-formal event bringing together foods of different cultures to benefit Action Against Hunger. Check it out: Lerner C555, Saturday 6:00pm to 8:00pm.

3. Diwali Celebration by the Hindu Students Organization and Ahimsa! I just get really excited about this every year. Celebrate the festival of lights this Saturday from 8:00pm to 10:00pm in Roone Arledge Auditorium. RSVP at CUDiwali@gmail.com and bring the suggested $3-5 donation for Engineers Without Borders!


 

Copyright 2006| Blogger Templates by GeckoandFly modified and converted to Blogger Beta by Blogcrowds.
No part of the content or the blog may be reproduced without prior written permission.