The New Voice of Asian America

I’m back…

sarahdamian — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 18:57:26 +0000

Sorry for the hiatus. Things have been really busy with Christmas and New Years and everything. Usually bloggers let you know ahead of time when they are going away for awhile so their readers don’t start freaking out when there are no posts. I hope everyone had a lovely couple weeks! Let’s get back into the swing of things…

Asian too…not just Asian American

sarahdamian — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 21:41:24 +0000

Although these blogs are decidedly about Asian American news, several posts will include topics concerning Asian countries. The most recent post in Asian-Nation discusses how the world views China. What with the recent negative publicity about China’s consumer products, the author of Asian-Nation looked into how other countries view China in general, now compared to 2002, and relative to how countries view the U.S. It’s interesting to see the results and why. I think such a post is relative to his blog. Whether or not some Asian Americans identify themselves as Chinese, international news can have an effect on the APIA community. In fact, Sepia Mutiny talks about India all of the time. For many 2nd generation Asian Americans, what happens in their parents’ motherland is very much incorporated into their American lives. So it would make a lot of sense to bring that into the discussion of Asian American blogging. Context is everything.

Preserving Internment Camps

sarahdamian — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 03:02:33 +0000

Angry Asian Man posted that the National Park Service plans to preserve the internment camps and the stories of Japanese Americans who were interned in them during World War II. They aim to collect $38 million to develop educational programs so the same thing doesn’t happen to those like me and many others who never learned about Japanese internment in school. It’s good to see that the Service hopes to do something about that! I feel like only Angry Asian Man and others who actively search for information related to Asian America have a solid foundation of Asian American history, which is in fact part of American history. So of course blogs like his hold a serious purpose in addition to the more entertaining rants about pop culture.

Oh Tila Tequila…

sarahdamian — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 05:54:23 +0000

Nearly every day or so, in addition to regular posts, Racialicious posts a list of links to online articles. Each link is tagged with related words and topics of interest. One link from the list on 12-18-07 was tagged “asianamerican” and “realitytv” for a JournalStar.com article: MTV dating show starring Tila Tequila a breakout hit. Apparently, “A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila” is among the top 15 cable shows and has become MTV’s 2nd most popular series. Tila Tequila, whose last name is really Nguyen, is a bisexual Internet celebrity. In the article, it mentions how AfterEllen.com questions whether Tequila was the ideal representative for bisexuals. But why does she have to be representative? The series doesn’t seem to bring up the fact that Tila is Vietnamese too often. Although I do recall one incident where one of the contestants’ mothers said she looked exotic, but MTV just showed an awkward silence and moved on. Having a main character on an MTV series be Asian American is quite rare. So it would be interesting to hear people’s opinions on the show’s overcoming or reinforcement of stereotypes.

Harold & Kumar Return

sarahdamian — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 19:58:27 +0000

Angry Asian Man announces that Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay has hit the Internet. The one movie that people roll off their tongue when asked for an example of an Asian American film… There are few that have made it mainstream. And now there’s a sequel. But the fact that it has to go the utmost extreme, with drugs, sex, and obscene language, to make it, says something about society and what will make our entertainment approval. Angry Asian Man seems to approve. He encourages others to support it also. Perhaps he knows that if movies like these do well, they may serve as a stepping stone for future Asian American cinema. Or he just loves good raunchy comedies. Either way, the move towards Asian Americans in Hollywood is a strategic one.

Politics

sarahdamian — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 19:40:13 +0000

The blog, Reappropriate, has mentioned many issues relating to politics lately. A recent one discusses 80-20′s questionnaire for presidential candidates:

“80-20 released a questionnaire to the ‘08 presidential candidates seeking a commitment from each candidate to examine key Asian American issues upon election to the presidency. Though 80-20 received a full commitment from all ‘04 candidates save Bush and Sharpton, they have yet to receive a response from most of the ‘08 candidates, including those who have already made efforts to include the APIA community.”

You can read the questionairre on the blog, which requests candidates to commit to social equality for Asian Americans. Despite the model minority myth, Asian Americans still struggle in American society. Though the author of Reappropriate encourages the active cause that 80-20 is initiating, she offers an alternative letter to send to Hillary Clinton. The entire APIA community doesn’t necessarily support a particular Asian American activist group. But 80-20′s presence could help remind them that their visibility is limited and being involved in politics is an important step in being heard.

Heroes: Stereotypically Heroic

sarahdamian — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 19:21:54 +0000

Racialicious has recently started doing weekly TV series recaps, particularly of shows that have a diverse cast, like Heroes. Heroes has had much acclaim for its effort in dynamic portrayals of various ethnic groups, including from Racialicious writers. But a couple weeks ago, a guest contributor critiqued the new Heroes online promo. Apparently there are four categories to choose from in creating a hero, including appearance. “The female icon for “exotic” is a decidedly “Oriental” eye behind a fan and some flowers. The male counterpart is the ornately tattooed face of some tribal-type.” So much for combating stereotypes. It’s sad to see such a positive show have such a negative fallback. Racialicious writers don’t want to hear such things about a show of which they are loyal fans, but it’s duly noted that they didn’t allow their entertainment bias to get in the way of the blog’s watchdog methods. That’s the point of the recaps I guess, to see how the shows are progressing, in plot and in portrayal of Asian Americans. That’s part of their role, being impressed with positive representation and disappointed with the stereotypes. It’s a neverending battle.

Stick Together No Matter What

sarahdamian — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:21:26 +0000

It seems that many Asian American blogs endorse any and all efforts of fellow Asian Americans. In October, two posts in the Angry Asian Man blog urged its readers to vote for a comedian and a music artist, both Asian Americans participating in contests. Endorsing Asian American visibility in the entertainment industry, Angry Asian Man proves once again that his blog has a distinct point of view. I would be interested in other people’s opinion, including that of Phil Yu, on the possible argument against supporting individuals mainly because they are of the same race. Given the artists are probably very talented, it’s evident that Angry Asian Man’s cause includes encouraging the acceptance of Asian Americans in non-stereotypical roles.

You Can Count Them On Your Fingers

sarahdamian — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 16:21:39 +0000

…how many hot South Asian guys are on TV. According to Sepia Mutiny, a popular blog run by a group of mostly second generation Indian Americans, there are now “FOUR beeyootiful desi guys on network television.” They would include Kal Penn (Harold & Kumar), Naveen Andrews (Lost), Sendhil Ramamurthy (Heroes), and the newly-added-to-the-list Sunkrish Bala (Notes from the Underbelly). Sepia Mutiny’s Anna posts about Sunkrish’s character on the show and how interesting it is that the program never mentions his ethnicity. Her entry, posted last week, has 78 comments, many from the same people. But the fact that the blog’s readers want to discuss in deep about South Asian representation in American media, or objectify attractive young males rather, is cause for the creation of such culturally focused blogs. A very flavorful and conversational approach gives Sepia Mutiny the appeal to invite such discussion on entertaining yet thought-provoking subjects.

Rise of the Nguyens

sarahdamian — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 15:44:31 +0000

Another blog, Asian-Nation, is very blah in terms of appearance, with no color or pictures or talk of pop culture, but the information presented remains to be significant and in-depth. The author of Asian-Nation, C.N. Le, is a professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst whose research involves the “socioeconomic and demographic outcomes of assimilation among Asian Americans.” Because the author’s professional background is one of academia, his blog provides a very serious, informative tone. Very rarely do I find information here that I’ve seen in other blogs. Thus the posts are typically longer and less frequent. They are just as interesting though, especially when I am in a learning mood.

A post from 3 days ago quoted an article that claimed the Vietnamese name Nguyen, along with Asian surnames in general, is becoming increasingly common in the United States. Of the top 1000 family names, Nguyen is currently 57 on the list. That’s 310,125 Americans with this last name. Le went on to suggest that this statistic proves the U.S. is becoming more diverse. He addressed the fact that the majority population may or may not eagerly face this reality, but inevitably you can’t avoid the effects of this social revolution.

Le clearly has strong opinions concerning the APIA community, especially since he is a Vietnamese American who works on Asian American studies for a living. But one good thing about his blog is how much he backs up opinion with facts and analysis, as well as references to previous posts and discussions. I’m not saying all blogs should do this. But for his personal purpose, his stance is well crafted in a way that doesn’t make it seem editorial. He hopes to share his knowledge with others like do other bloggers, yet it is mostly an educational atmosphere.