APAAM is here! Come join some cool folks at the APAAM opening ceremony. Details below.

Asian Pacific American Awareness Month 2008 Presents:

APAAM 2008 Unscripted: Opening Ceremony

Featuring:
Keynote by Helen Zia
Performance by Ishle Park

Wednesday, March 26th at 8pm
C555 Lerner Hall

Facebook event
Registration is required for non-CU guests.

*Helen Zia is the author of Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People, a finalist for the prestigious Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize. President Bill Clinton quoted from Asian American Dreams at two separate speeches in the Rose Garden. She is also coauthor, with Wen Ho Lee, of My Country Versus Me, which reveals what happened to the Los Alamos scientist who was falsely accused of being a spy for China in the "worst case since the Rosenbergs."

Ms. Zia is an award-winning journalist, a Fulbright Scholar, and former Executive Editor of Ms. Magazine. Her articles, essays and reviews have appeared in numerous publications, books and anthologies. She was named one of the most influential Asian Americans of the decade by A. Magazine. She has received numerous journalism awards for her ground-breaking stories; her investigation of date rape at the University of Michigan led to campus demonstrations and an overhaul of its policies, while her research on women who join neo-Nazi and white supremacist organizations provoked new thinking on the relationship between race, gender and sexual orientation violence in hate crimes.

A second generation Chinese American, Helen Zia has been outspoken on issues ranging from civil rights and peace to women's rights and countering hate violence and homophobia. In 1997 she coauthored a complaint to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and testified at commission hearings on the impact of bias in the campaign finance investigations. Ms. Zia traveled to Beijing in 1995 to the UN Fourth World Congress on Women as part of a journalists of color delegation. She has appeared in numerous news programs and films; her work on the 1980s Asian American landmark civil rights case of anti-Asian violence is documented in the Academy Award nominated film, "Who Killed Vincent Chin?" and she was profiled in Bill Moyers' PBS documentary, "Becoming American: The Chinese Experience." An out-lesbian, Helen and her spouse were married during the gay marriages that took place in San Francisco during President's Day Weekend of 2004; Helen's elderly immigrant mother gave a sworn affidavit on behalf of marriage equality, which was presented as part of the argument on appeal to the California Supreme Court.

Helen received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the Law School of the City University of New York for bringing important matters of law and civil rights into public view. She is a graduate of Princeton University's first graduating class of women. She quit medical school after completing two years, then went to work as a construction laborer, an autoworker, and a community organizer, after which she discovered her life's work as a writer.


*Ishle Park is a Korean American woman who is a world-traveling poet, singer, and the first woman to be named the Poet Laureate of Queens - the largest and most diverse borough in New York. Dubbed "the Queen of Queens" by her fans, the Borough President declared Park's birthday as "Ishle Yi Park" day in her hometown.
Asian Pacific American Awareness Month is an annual celebration at Columbia University dedicated to promoting awareness of APA issues and history among the Columbia student body.

Postsecret is for anonymous viewers and senders.

So how can one not expect a little bigotry?

What I'd like to know is: Frank Warren (creator of Postsecret), what are you trying to prove by posting this?

Not as you usually see him (like this):

But like this:

Fallout Central has finally caught NYCAASC fever. Through a chain of e-mails, they requested that David go down and talk on the air about the conference. Through another chain of e-mails, "just David" became three two Co-Directors and one Workshop Coordinator. Fortunately, that group includes includes David, Nhu-Y (she isn't feeling well) and myself -- the Blaaagers whom you know and love (or hate, whichever). Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing how the Fallout Central guys will handle three two female Co-Directors on their show, given their noted pattern of ignorance towards issues concerning female Asian Americans. Stay tuned for the podcast link. (Update: See Listening to ourselves talk)

We'll be down at the FC headquarters in Union Square 1-4 PM, and then at NYU Tisch 4-6 PM for our weekly conference planning meeting.

Geo and Sabzi, according to their website, "are just as much rooted in community as they are in music." They are "second-generation sons of working-class immigrants" that seek to "keep the music grounded." Through their lyrics and their beats and their continual support of progressive causes, they indeed remain true to these ideals. But, they do enjoy to struggle in style.

When we received the Blue Scholars "rider", we laughed. There was no other visceral reaction except general amusement. Then we realized that their demands were serious. The list included 12 bottles of Odwalla juice, 12 bottles of San Pellegrino mineral water, a deli tray, a fruit and vegetable platter, many clean white towels, 12 water bottles, and as Heiroku remembers, reparations for Filipino colonization. Panicked, poor, and caught off-guard by this perceived "bourgieness", we scrambled to meet their demands. I admit that what they required pales in comparison to what other artists want (see J. Lo), but the specific desires they had seemed so opposed to their message of being working-class, immigrant folk. What kind of message do you espouse when you water your plants in San Pelligrino? And write manifestos while sipping on some Odwalla?

To this day, we still find it funny, and the list did not detract much from our general admiration for the group. Many of us still find Sabzi attractive, no matter how aloof and broody he makes himself out to be. We will still scream out Sagaba's name whenever Geo walks by (and he will stop to acknowledge us, and also, like the night of the Columbia performance, spend hours eating cheese fries and talking to us in a college dorm about various causes). And we will still identify with their music and message. Yet now that they have become, in relative terms, a bit more famous, getting noticed by the likes of MTV, I wonder what else they have added to their rider. Filipino veterans’ rights, perhaps?

I admit I felt like a big deal that night with this pass of arbitrary power.

... then blow a kiss at YouTube. I caught these on camera - too bad I only did this for only three artists. Still, here they are: Magnetic North, El Gambina, and Koba with DJ Boo. This is all from Taiyo Na's release party at Sunday March 16th's Sulu Series.

Magnetic North (We later saw Direct at Kenka's)



El Gambina & Marie Choi



Koba & DJ Boo

If you haven't seen it on the website already, check out our awesome conference postcard, designed by our Blaaager Tian:

Also check out these amazing t-shirt samples (note: we have a new design! stay tuned for more updates), designed by Harry Go (Fordham U.):

If you're sitting at home (in the NYC area) with nothing to do on a Sunday evening, take a trek down to the Bowery Poetry Club and check out some amazing APA artists at Sulu Series (of George Takei / Star Trek fame):

Hosted by Regie Cabico, curated by Artistic Director Taiyo Na, with music by resident crowd mover DJ Boo, and brought to you by the Sulu Artist Network, the Sulu Series, named after Sulu of Star Trek - the first Asian American character to venture into unknown galactic quadrants - and a remote island in the Philippines, features Asian American performers in music, spoken word, video and multidisciplinary performances from the local and national scenes.

Sulu Series begins at 9 PM. Tickets are $8 reg price, $5 student discount.

David, Nhu-Y, and I will be there, along with some NYCAASC-ers (say hello!).

---

The Aftermath

Well, it was awkward to sit in the second row with a pencil and paper at hand (especially when I got up with the rest of the audience and "danced"); but at least I got good notes!

For some reason, Regie Cabico didn't show; but Taiyo held his own by telling personal stories of each artist before they came on the stage ("When I first met Magnetic North, I was like, 'Man, who are these kids?' Then I heard them perform and knew why they're so big -- they put such heart into the mic.").

Here's the lineup (with the songs that I wrote down):

• Ishle Yi Park
• Taiyo Na, Jason Kao Hwang, Vudoo Soul, DJ Boo, Craig Chin: "Love Is Growth" "Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother)"
  
• Fay Chiang
• Vong Pak
• Conchita Campos: "Runaway Day"
  
• Craig Chin: "Skeeball"
  
• Kelly Tsai
• Magnetic North: "Within The Rhythm" (previously "Drift Away")
  
• El Gambina w. Marie - "Sunny Days"
  
• DJ K-Swift
• MISNOMER(S)
  
• Koba & DJ Boo

If anyone was there and remembers songs, please comment and let us know!

No, it's not too late to say so -- I just finished my third essay in two days. I also swore not to go near another computer again; but that obviously didn't happen.

March is ending and April is fast approaching, which means that the Blaaagers will be busy busy busy. Here are some events organized by AAA (with other groups) to look out for:

• Sun 4/6, 9 AM - James Room, Barnard Hall
  Chinese Adopted Siblings Program for Youth (CASPY)
  An all-day program designed to let Chinese youth adopted by non-Chinese families to get back in touch with their heritage. There will be counselors, food, and performances from various Asian performing groups on campus (Lion Dance, Chinese yo-yo, etc).
  Collaborator: Taiwanese American Students Association (TASA).
  Director: David (AAA Community Chair) and Janice Liu (TASA Community Chair)
  Information: www.columbia.edu/cu/tasa/caspy
  
  
• Sat 4/12, 9:30 AM - Kimmel Center, NYU
  New York City Asian American Student Conference (NYCAASC)
  A kick ass, day long, FREE conference featuring Dennis Chin as Keynote Speaker and over thirty APA activists, artists, entertainers, academics, and entrepreneurs as panelists / workshop leaders / entertainers. Our list of fame includes: John C. Liu, Heather Park, Timothy Huang, Gary Okihiro, and Phil Yu (Angry Asian Man). This year's theme is Redefine.
  Collaborators: CU APAAM, CRAASH (CUNY Hunter), CUNY Baruch, Fordham University, and NYU AHM.
  Co-Directors: Francis Bermisa (NYU), Agnes Chung (NYU), Nhu-Y, and myself
  Information: www.nycaasc.om
  
  
• Fri 4/18, 8 PM - Roone Arledge Auditorium, Alfred Lerner Hall
  CultureSHOCK:Exposure
  Our yearly "variety" show, known for its relatively low price tickets and brilliant off-campus acts (admittedly, the argument of whether our show is really "cultural" or not drags on forever). This year's performances include: Raw Elementz, Lion Dance, Stone Forest Ensemble (Jie-Song!), Magnetic North (Hip-Hop/R&B duo of "Drift Away" fame), and more. This year's theme is Exposure. Look out for racy advertisements.
  Director: Laura Chin (AAA Social Chair)
  Information: www.aaacolumbia.org

Stay tuned for more updates, and congrats on surviving the week!

In response to our outcry against the CU Boulder column, The Blaaag and the AAA listserv received a very warm email from a certain Chris Dahmen. The letter is printed below for your reading pleasure, spelling/grammatical errors, ignorance, hate and all.

I am a student at the University of Minnesota. I want to say that the criticism of Asian culture that Max Karson articulated is entirely valid from my personal experience, things I've read, and things I've heard from others. I have lived in Hawaii for 5 years which is 80 percent Asian. I have also lived in China for three months and Taiwan for seven months and I am almost fluent in Mandarin Chinese. Studying at the University of Hawaii taught me many valuable lessons about multiculturalism and diversity; especially Asian diversity, namely, it doesn't work. In case you like most Americans are too small minded to know even the first thing about non-western culture or their ideology, let me tell you that we are the only one's in the world who really believe in Multi-culturalism. No-one else really does. In fact, it's a stereotype in Asia that Westerners are naieve and too open. I know personally that Asians do not respect Western civ. traditions, culture, or ethic. They come here for self interest and stay for identity politics, not because they love our culture so much. I find it hilarious that so many Americans see Asians display a superficial showing of politeness that is paper thin and they believe unequivocally that Asian culture is equal to Western civilization. Furthermore, they have no tradition of debate in their culture. This fact I believe is the central reason why they have not achieved a more progressive society like we have and continue to have which is a unique expression of our culture that has nothing to do with Asians. Lastly, Asians are more racist than anyone I have ever seen or heard of in the entire world during any time period, and that includes whites. Whites wake up and smell the coffee before its too late.