You thought AAA's Fear Factor event at Night Market was bad? Take a look at this: "The Six Most Terrifying Foods in the World" (Warning: Some of these foods are legitimately disgusting!)

Some choice quotations from the article and why they're fucked up... all the reasons related to xenophobia, cultural demonization, and basic hate. Every food is examined with the "Danger of this turning up in America". That's right, protect your homeland - from food. But read the below quotations.

About an Iraqi goat head dish: "Its hollow eye sockets stare back at you with a look of grim damnation. 'Burp while ye may," the sockets say, "for the same fate will happen to you--and all too soon.' ... We wonder why the Iraqis keep blowing themselves up? Wouldn't you, if every evening meal was a festival of death?"

About a Filipino and Cambodian egg delicacy: "They are enjoyed in Cambodia, Philippines and the fifth and seventh levels of hell. They are typically sold by street vendors at night, out of buckets of warm sand. You can spot the vendors because of their glowing red eyes, and the faint, otherworldly sound of children screaming."

The lesson here? There's more to the stigmatization of food and culture than making people eat disgusting shit on Low Plaza, and the equally disgusting comments you see above illustrate this perfectly. I hope that seeing us have fun with something like Fear Factor encouraged you to think about some of these issues!

This Wednesday night, I thought I was going to die.
I had three meetings back to back from 8pm to 1am.
I didn't do my work and three midterms were waiting to attack.

So when I dragged myself to the Broadway Sky Lounge for the "Campus Climate Workshop," I realized that I would rather be doing my work in my room and wearing my pj's. And it was that moment, that I asked myself: Do you think this is going to go anywhere? What can possibly be done?

To be honest, at that point I thought the meeting was going to just be another meeting. And to be honest, I did not want to talk and talk and talk about how this campus is a breeding ground for words of racism and actions of injustice.

But, I am glad that I stayed because plans were made--plans to act upon.

At first, the meeting was frustrating because on top of the fact that everyone was stressed, everyone who attended were coming from different backgrounds with their own reason, understanding, and main objective for being at the meeting. Moreover, most of the students were skeptical about what the meeting would achieve. Nonetheless after talking and talking again, we came to a common consensus: There are things happening on campus that need immediate response of solidarity from students (whether it is support from BSO to MSA or each student as an individual).

So around 10.30pm we ended up moving from talking to listing demands and from listing demands to physical actions.

1. We prioritized demands by how urgent each issue/deadline is.
2. Right now on campus there acts of direct injustice and events promoting ideas rooted in racism hitting the students one after another. Many of these problems/situations are framed within a very specific amount of time. While student activism cannot be constrained to mobilization that is just reactionary to specific outbreaks or issues; we (as those who attended the meeting) decided that we need to build solidarity as soon as possible and to stand together on the issues that are coming up according to different frames of time (a week, a month, a semester). These are the BIG BIG issues (not all of them) that we need to join together as a community of students...

a. IN THE UPCOMING WEEK: Protest the Islamo-Fascism week. Get educated on what Islamo-Fascism really is... and if you think this is okay? Because there are some evident problems with what Islamo-Fascism is advocating.

b. In the next month: Support SPEAK in stopping Columbia's expansion. Their deadline is coming up soon. If you don't know enough about this or gentrification, use wiki or any other form of media to educate yourself.

c. By the end of this semester: 1) Outreach for ethnic studies. 2) Find ways to foster solidarity on campus during all times.

Although these seem goals may seem really narrow and reactionary, the truth is other organizations need support in their fight against marginalization and injustice...RIGHT NOW.

The most immediate case is the one in the up coming week regarding Islamo-Fascism.

So what did we do? The meeting came up with a flyering campaign that will be shared throughout various organizations on campus. Basically the flyer says: "NOT ON OUR CAMPUS". And various organizations will be flyering constantly.... PLASTERING THE CAMPUS. We will just be changing the "topic" of what we don't want on campus (ex: Islamo-Fascism, gentrification, etc).

Look out and keep posted for the demands of the students expressed on these flyers.

Solidarity can only be achieved when we start to empathize with everyone's struggles. True mobilization can never occur when all you care about is yourself. Let's show our support.

I hope that this meeting will manifest itself into action.
I hope that even simple flyers can help bring our campus together.
I have faith that we will not let ourselves down.

... when all things freeze over for papers and midterms. The Blaaag is taking a nap; excuse our scarcity of news and insight in the coming week.

Some things to keep in mind for the near future:

1. Night Market! Low Plaza, October 19th, 6pm - 9pm! Be there as AAA holds its annual Fear Factor eating contest.

2. We're holding a discussion on Asian American female body image. Just watch this. The Beautiful: Asian American Body Image will be held in the Lerner Broadway room on Saturday, October 20th from 7:30pm to 9pm. Come and learn something new.

3. Enjoy contributor and Political Committee member Ryan Fukumori's act at the Sulu Series! The Sulu Series is a collection of musical artists gathered every third Sunday by the slam-poet Taiyo Na to showcase Asian American talent with strong artistic and political backbones. And, you guessed it, it's named after George Takei's character on Star Trek!

4. Protest Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week. Call out David Horowitz's thinly-veiled racism against not only Muslims and blacks, but against our very own Muslim Students Association when he comes to campus next week. And wear green on Wednesday, October 24th.

Evidently, I plan my life with Facebook. Now back to work for me.

My first Heroes recap for Racialicious. (I'll begin to do this with other shows, too, but Lost and Battlestar Galactica recaps won't appear on Racialicious.) I hereby declare this the inaugural post of The Blaaag's TV Corner.

The introduction this season of new characters of color has become increasingly of interest in the discussion about race on this show. In this Monday’s episode, we have learned more about the Honduran siblings trying to immigrate illegally into the States. As strikingly, we see in this episode for the first time a family of hurricane survivors in New Orleans. All of these characters continue to carry the burdens of expectation and typecasting in their roles. Here is just a taste of this week’s racial undertones.

Siblings Alejandro and Maya are still trying to escape the apparent lawlessness of Central America-slash-Mexico, as portrayed oh-so-accurately with palm trees, sand, and run-down neighborhoods. Throughout much of the hour, the siblings drive up to the border in a very standout, product-placed Nissan Rogue, intended to be visually discordant against the backdrop of the depicted third-world. As they drive, they meet a stranger (the baddest villain of last season, but that’s not important here). Maya translates as Alejandro warns her in Spanish.

When we talk about stereotypes on television, all accusations can be legitimate if there are no other characters to defy the claims portrayed. Here, Maya and Alejandro are the only Hispanic characters on the show, (the one last season suffered a bad heroin addiction and was killed off) and, hence, qualities embedded in their characters can become statements about entire groups of people. So in this episode, some things were clear: Maya’s constant references to God and miracles, presumably as a Catholic and their constant struggle to illegally cross the border into the States… well, what does that say about Hispanics?

There were many questionable parts to this episode other than this ride through Mexico. We see for the first time this week a family in post-Katrina New Orleans, relatives with whom a mixed-race child named Micah from last season is staying. As the child adapts to his evidently strange, new cultural surroundings, he has to put up with a hostile boy who splashes water on his face and mocks him for his different, “whiter” accent. Along with the du-rag-wearing criminal that attempts to rob a store at the end of the episode, it’s hard to miss the obvious stereotypes of confrontational black males.

The situations introduced by this new household raises larger themes and concerns about the city of New Orleans - depicted as a place of poverty, failed healing, and broken dreams. Monica, the daughter of the family, has apparently stepped up as the breadwinner of the household, or as the mean boy puts it, “in charge because someone died and made [her] that way.” Her struggles with career advancement and hope are raised as a focus. As she sings “I Will Survive” in the store where she works, she is discouraged by a white friend and co-worker before ultimately being turned down for promotion by, conveniently, a black manager. Monica says, “It’s not right. One storm comes rolling through here and blows away my whole life: my mother, my college education, my dreams.” For wanting what she does, Monica is consoled by her friend, who says, “Given the situation, I’d say you’re pretty normal.” (Eerie resemblance to Bill O’Reilly’s comment about Sylvia’s, maybe.) Micah puts the cherry on top of the theme of hope, saying “I just wish I could fix your dreams for you,” a reference to his superpower - fixing electronics. Many kudos to the politicization of a science-fiction show (I think of Battlestar Galactica again) with a worthy issue like Katrina, but in the end is the televised activism of Katrina by white media producers truly necessary? (They do really happen not to be people of color.)

But not all things this episode were utterly wrong and disturbing. Concerning Monica’s friendship with her white colleague, I’m relieved that it is portrayed as genuine and long-lasting, for we’ve been shown something different lately by the media through Jena about the stenches of divisive racism in the South. (Not that it doesn’t exist, but it should at least make us happy to see something different.) Also, we continue to enjoy the sexualization of Hiro’s father Kaito, who is yet again hinted as having had a prolonged sexual history with a female supporting character. It’s nice to see on Heroes a statement so explicit against the emasculation of Asian males.

There were many troublesome details in this episodes of Heroes, and I hope I’ve done them all fair justice. Now I just want to ask readers: what is up with the song that Mohinder was singing? I thought the yogic mantra that played at times in the first season was cool, but… well, here I turn it over to Elton for next week.

Who would have the audacity to hang a noose over a professor's door? How did this violent symbold make a cameo on our campus? It's not so far fetched if you consider Columbia University's plan to displace 500 black and Latino people from their homes in West Harlem. The university denies resources to programs such as Ethnic Studies that teach the histories of the very people who will lose their homes. What kind of place facilitates a lynch symbol? Columbia University does.

---

Last week, SPEaK met to discuss the Manhattanville expansion issue as tied to Ethnic Studies and the recent hate crimes on campus. After hours of brutal planning, a "Workshop on Campus Climate" became a reality:

A workshop this Wednesday, October 17th @ 9pm in the Bway Sky Lounge to address the how-tos of resolving the issues concerning marginalized students on this campus. The workshop is designed to help move a critical mass of concerned students towards praxis by rethinking the interconnectedness of our struggles. (trans: get our behinds educated and organized)

As I sat in Roone Arledge Cinema earlier this month, watching Roger Fan, Sung Kang, and the rest of the Finishing the Game crew entertain the Columbia crowd, I was fixated on one thing: Roger Fan's shirt. Being Roger's "friend" on Facebook (hey, I met him at the 2007 OCA Convention in Sacramento, okay?), I am often notified of his newly tagged photos. His photo number count has gone up considerably because of the Finishing the Game college tour. They're always quaint photos. They include the classic themes--Cute College Girl and Roger, with his million dollar, former investment banker smile, and not to mention an awkward caption written by Cute Girl. It is usually something like, "omg i was sooo nervous". Or maybe a photo with College Alpha Male, who often attempts to assert his masculinity by either making a ridiculous pose or not smiling. Stoicism is the way to go. Captions run the gamut of "my Taiwanese brother" or "shit, it's Daric from Better Luck Tomorrow. SHIT." But I digress with these analyses.

Roger Fan's shirt. It seemed too familiar to me. So, that night, as I was uploading photos (obviously I spend too much time on Facebook...) and tagging Roger in one of them, I perused his other college tour pictures, and noticed a trend. Roger Fan wears the same two shirts all the time--the bird shirt and the striped shirt. I'm sure he owns many more shirts, but why, Roger? Perhaps it is the constant traveling, but the normal carry-on is fairly roomy. I cannot conclude at a rational explanation, so I leave you with photos.

APA 5 Conference - The Striped Shirt, and Another Shirt!

Columbia University in October - The Bird Shirt

Texas - The Bird Shirt Part II

DC APA Film Festival - The Striped Shirt Returns

UC Irvine - The Striped Shirt Never Dies

UPenn - Attack of the Bird Shirt

OCA Convention 2007 - The Great Striped Shirt Surprise

Roger Fan, Fashionista

After a while of looking through the photos, I also noticed Sung Kang's affection for a particular black, long-sleeved sweater. I then realized how creepy I was being, and stopped, but the two shirts live on through many other Facebook documented photos. I now return to midterms hell.

Hey people. While we always do have many serious and heavy things to talk about here at The Blaaag, I have to say I've personally stepped into pursuits a little bit more, shall we say, frivolous...

(David, what the hell are you talking about?)

In short, I've begun my stint as Heroes recapper on the venerable blog Racialicious. Some of you might remember the piece I posted here about global representation on this show - well, now I've made an entire pastime of commenting on Heroes. Catch my intro post on Racialicious here. My first recap will be for tonight's episode on NBC 9pm Eastern.

[Update 1:03pm: The student, his friends, and Dean Nair didn't show; I left early, but maybe the other present members (three of which are Blaaagers) can show some more insight.]

Looking at the racial hate crimes that have happened since, it's been a long time since anyone's heard about the confrontation between the NYPD and the SEAS student. Many concerned members of AAA have been scrambling to pull stuff together concerning everything else that's happened (and, quoting David, "administrative red tape is a pain in the ass"); consequently, little progress was made.

But maybe today will break the silence.

At 10am today, five members of AAA & AAA PC will be in Lerner to meet with the said student, his two friends, Columbia Public Safety, Dean Colombo, Dean Nair, and Dean Schollenberger to discuss the larger issue of racial bias within the NYPD, determine the next line of action, and hopefully take those steps so that we can improve the campus community.

The meeting is a closed event, but feel free to gather outside.

Hilarity! A YouTube video called, "Asian American Rejects", detailing the epic adventures of a rejected boy chasing after... someone. This is not what we mean by APA empowerment.

If you're still confused, this has nothing to do with anything. Just thought I'd share the complete, ROFL'ing randomness of another hilarious reappropriation. (The Blaaag's posts were also becoming too text-heavy for my sleep-deprived neurosis.)

Instead of checking (or forgetting to check) The Blaaag every half hour, here's a tip from the resident internet geek.

Use Google Reader. Any of you who have access to a Gmail account will be able to use the Reader to keep track of your web feeds. What are web feeds? According to Wikipedia, a web feed is, "a data format used for providing users with frequently updated content." For all intents and purposes, a web feed is an address on the internet that you can use with Google Reader to keep track of the blogs you read. Just click "Add Subscription" and put in your web feed!

The fun part? From Settings in Reader, go to Goodies and have fun with the toys there. My favorite: the Next bookmark. It's less efficient if you have loads of blogs to read like I do, but if you have only a few, you can always see if there are new updates without ever actually checking the site.

Also, do check the cool stuff at the right of this blog. We at The Blaaag have compiled a shared items feed with content from APA blogs all over the net with topics that we care about and discuss. You can add it to your feed reader, or you can check the side of the page when you visit.

And for those of you who really care about the interesting (and sometimes extremely offensive) things people say in the comments for this blog, there's a comment feed for you, although much of what you'll see is esoteric babble from AAA and PC members.

So we're back.

And while we had many things to say about the BASIC conference at Harvard overall, we have to admit we had a fun time. It was nice to get away from the disgusting-ness on campus the last few weeks.

We might not have come back with a great deal more knowledge or awareness than we set off with, but we've certainly come back refreshed. Well, bring it on, Columbia. We're ready for you (and for NYCAASC).

Quote of today - Christina: "Columbia's not that bad," referring to how much more progressive Columbia actually seems to be than the other schools, despite all that's been happening. If we took anything from this weekend, it was an outsider's perspective of what we do have here to work with - an awful lot compared to many, many other environments. For this we're thankful.