Yesterday was the Third Annual Hate Crimes Prevention Art Exhibit, presented by OCA-New York and coordinated by our great friend and Blaaag-writer Ryan Fukumori / Heiroku. A bad night and some bodily ailments left me unable to go at the last minute (sorry, Ryan!), and no word yet on whether or not fellow writer David went, but those of you who are in New York and heard about the art exhibit - Did you go? How was it? Was New York City Councilman (and Comptroller Candidate) John Liu fantastically vague and diplomatic as usual? Did our dear friend Taiyo do a good job of counteracting that by being provocative and saying too much (which, I think, is how it should be done)? What were students' art work like? Did it inspire any new thoughts or emotions in you?

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.
    

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.

Yes.










Hiro got some action... by far the most important part of Monday's episode. That's all I've got to say! Read the rest of my Racialicious recap here.

We're back! And back from an awesome night of knowledge-gathering...



Wish we could get this sort of attendance at an AAA event...

"Beyond Beats and Rhymes", which brought together tonight distinguished guests such as Talib Kweli, Piper Anderson, Lumumba Bandele, La Bruja, and Tim'm West (as well as our very own Bryan Mercer, honorary PC member!) was smashing success. Sixty minutes of documentary film and sharing truth with an all-star panel of hip-hop and spoken word artists... events don't get much better than this.

What did we take away? Among all of the complaints in contemporary America about misogyny, homophobia, and violence in the world of rap, very is little is talked about masculinity in communities of color. For the first time, these qualities in hip-hop are deconstructed not as the faults of a culture but the effects of persistently being on the short end of the power stick. (Think: What would you do if a highway built by your city destroyed your neighborhood? Disenfranchised by your country? How would you assert yourself?)

Of course, the dynamics of this pressured identity associated with assertion and virility plays out differently in Asian American communities, but the logic is absolutely the same - the gangs in schools and ethnic enclaves, domestic violence against wives and children, and overcompensation against constant emasculation... all the effects of similar issues. Think about it.

P.S. There was another hip-hop related event tonight at NYU - the Magnetic North concert. I'm not sure who on The Blaaag went, but I doubt it could have been anything less than spectacular.

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.

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.

Here are some AAA-related events that happened/are happening/will happen during this hell hole of a week:

• National Walkout for Jena 6 (and, in Columbia's case, for SIPA)
• Ethnic Studies Meet & Greet
• Documentary screening for Finishing the Game, as well as a meet and greet with members of the cast and crew (yes, we got numbers; no, we will not disclose them)
• KSA Date Auction (where people dance, sing, and do crazy things for money) at Tokyo Pop
• IFC premiere of Finishing the Game (Look out for AAA members in yellow jumpsuits)
• KAPA Voter Registration Drives at the Korean Day Parade in Manhattan
• Brownscape Made in India screening