Erin May Ling Quill's explanation for why there are no Asian Americans on TV and in the movies is making the rounds on the Internet. No great bombshells, but she's someone on the inside and sheds some light on how Hollywood works.
Posted by harry at 9:34 PM | Comments (4)
Erin May Ling Quill's explanation for why there are no Asian Americans on TV and in the movies is making the rounds on the Internet. No great bombshells, but she's someone on the inside and sheds some light on how Hollywood works.
Posted by harry at 9:34 PM | Comments (4)
Erin May Ling Quill's explanation for why there are no Asian Americans on TV and in the movies is making the rounds on the Internet. No great bombshells, but she's someone on the inside and sheds some light on how Hollywood works.
Posted by harry at 9:34 PM | Comments (4)
George Takei, who played Sulu in Star Trek, comes out publicly in an interview with Frontiers, a gay magazine.
In the interview, he says he's not so much coming out, but, "It's more like a long, long walk through what began as a narrow corridor that starts to widen. And then some doors are open and light comes in, and there are skylights and it widens. Brad’s my partner, we’ve been together for 18 years. So, I've been 'open,' but I have not talked to the press."
He also talks about his childhood experiences in a Japanese internment camp and the duality of feeling ashamed for being different -- because he is Japanese American and gay -- earlier in his life.
I'll admit it, I'm a Star Trek fan, and though they have problems like most of the entertainment media, the Star Trek shows and movies have always had the most diverse casts in Hollywood. A gay-Asian-starship captain fits right in in Star Trek's make-believe world of the future and in today's society.
Posted by harry at 10:06 PM | Comments (3)
George Takei, who played Sulu in Star Trek, comes out publicly in an interview with Frontiers, a gay magazine.
In the interview, he says he's not so much coming out, but, "It's more like a long, long walk through what began as a narrow corridor that starts to widen. And then some doors are open and light comes in, and there are skylights and it widens. Brad’s my partner, we’ve been together for 18 years. So, I've been 'open,' but I have not talked to the press."
He also talks about his childhood experiences in a Japanese internment camp and the duality of feeling ashamed for being different -- because he is Japanese American and gay -- earlier in his life.
I'll admit it, I'm a Star Trek fan, and though they have problems like most of the entertainment media, the Star Trek shows and movies have always had the most diverse casts in Hollywood. A gay-Asian-starship captain fits right in in Star Trek's make-believe world of the future and in today's society.
Posted by harry at 10:06 PM | Comments (3)
George Takei, who played Sulu in Star Trek, comes out publicly in an interview with Frontiers, a gay magazine.
In the interview, he says he's not so much coming out, but, "It's more like a long, long walk through what began as a narrow corridor that starts to widen. And then some doors are open and light comes in, and there are skylights and it widens. Brads my partner, weve been together for 18 years. So, I've been 'open,' but I have not talked to the press."
He also talks about his childhood experiences in a Japanese internment camp and the duality of feeling ashamed for being different -- because he is Japanese American and gay -- earlier in his life.
I'll admit it, I'm a Star Trek fan, and though they have problems like most of the entertainment media, the Star Trek shows and movies have always had the most diverse casts in Hollywood. A gay-Asian-starship captain fits right in in Star Trek's make-believe world of the future and in today's society.
Posted by harry at 10:06 PM | Comments (3)
No piece, no peace, hook a brother up.
Last Saturday I went to a very San Francisco occurence- the Exotic Erotic Ball. It's conveniently placed just before Halloween so people are already in a costume mindset and with enough time after Burningman for people to have found treatment for whatever they've picked up out there. Being that this is San Francisco, though, I imagine this event could happen anytime of year and the markers would just change to being between Folsom Street Fair/Cinco de Mayo/Pride/any other excuse to dress up and be seen. Personally, being rather vanilla (and lazy), all three of these time markers pass me by without much notice, but this time around, as is my usual excuse, I was part of the entertainment/background, playing with the SF Samba School, so I just had to stick around to check out the event I would have otherwise not attended.
Aside from the blowjob in the backstage area, the beefy guy standing on a table stroking himself (part of some company's merch booth, apparently), a lot of naked guys walking around (the total guy costume- no effort, just take off your clothes) and a mix of hot and not so hot topless women, what interested me were the ways in which men of different ethnicities ogled women. I say women not because there weren't gay guys there, but because, let's face it, gay guys are going to participate a little more and aren't just going to go for the show. But what can you do, a clear-thinking man is going to realize that $95 for a general admission ticket is going to get him access to a lot more skin at this event than he'd get at a strip club on a normal night so it's a bargain.
Here's a quick summary of what I saw:
White: most likely to make loud comments or be talking on the phone trying to get their buddy down to the event, greatest age range- from twenties to fifties or sixties;
Black: most likely to just walk up and pretend they are familiar with a group of women (women were in groups of two or more- I don't think I saw any single women) yet often dumbstruck by breasts while there, one member is usually most hyphnotized while others comment occasionally to affirm they are cooler than the one, mostly under 40;
Latino: generally quiet throughout, often alone, seemingly reverent in their onlooking, seemed under early-30s;
Asian: travel in small groups of 2 or 3, quiet during observation but more vocal in transit, mostly under early-30s;
It's likely there were exceptions, but I was too busy checking out the hummus in the VIP lounge to get a larger samples size.
In Hyphen news, keep your eye out in an upcoming dead tree edition of Hyphen for an interview with Annabella Lewin, the English/Burmese lead singer of BowWowWow, the band behind a string of '80s hits including, "I Want Candy". They headlined the Ball and are riding the revival of that rather embarassing decade of excess.
Oh, yeah, I also ran into Hyphen staffer Mike Lee and his film crew shooting their new tv show, Night Shift. Mike's on-air personality was getting all the make out action so all Mike could get were pictures. Poor guy.
(That's Mike and a pixie)
(I took a wrong turn somewhere between the clowns and the slaves)
Posted by Seng at 7:13 AM | Comments (8)
No piece, no peace, hook a brother up.
Last Saturday I went to a very San Francisco occurence- the Exotic Erotic Ball. It's conveniently placed just before Halloween so people are already in a costume mindset and with enough time after Burningman for people to have found treatment for whatever they've picked up out there. Being that this is San Francisco, though, I imagine this event could happen anytime of year and the markers would just change to being between Folsom Street Fair/Cinco de Mayo/Pride/any other excuse to dress up and be seen. Personally, being rather vanilla (and lazy), all three of these time markers pass me by without much notice, but this time around, as is my usual excuse, I was part of the entertainment/background, playing with the SF Samba School, so I just had to stick around to check out the event I would have otherwise not attended.
Aside from the blowjob in the backstage area, the beefy guy standing on a table stroking himself (part of some company's merch booth, apparently), a lot of naked guys walking around (the total guy costume- no effort, just take off your clothes) and a mix of hot and not so hot topless women, what interested me were the ways in which men of different ethnicities ogled women. I say women not because there weren't gay guys there, but because, let's face it, gay guys are going to participate a little more and aren't just going to go for the show. But what can you do, a clear-thinking man is going to realize that $95 for a general admission ticket is going to get him access to a lot more skin at this event than he'd get at a strip club on a normal night so it's a bargain.
Here's a quick summary of what I saw:
White: most likely to make loud comments or be talking on the phone trying to get their buddy down to the event, greatest age range- from twenties to fifties or sixties;
Black: most likely to just walk up and pretend they are familiar with a group of women (women were in groups of two or more- I don't think I saw any single women) yet often dumbstruck by breasts while there, one member is usually most hyphnotized while others comment occasionally to affirm they are cooler than the one, mostly under 40;
Latino: generally quiet throughout, often alone, seemingly reverent in their onlooking, seemed under early-30s;
Asian: travel in small groups of 2 or 3, quiet during observation but more vocal in transit, mostly under early-30s;
It's likely there were exceptions, but I was too busy checking out the hummus in the VIP lounge to get a larger samples size.
In Hyphen news, keep your eye out in an upcoming dead tree edition of Hyphen for an interview with Annabella Lewin, the English/Burmese lead singer of BowWowWow, the band behind a string of '80s hits including, "I Want Candy". They headlined the Ball and are riding the revival of that rather embarassing decade of excess.
Oh, yeah, I also ran into Hyphen staffer Mike Lee and his film crew shooting their new tv show, Night Shift. Mike's on-air personality was getting all the make out action so all Mike could get were pictures. Poor guy.
(That's Mike and a pixie)
(I took a wrong turn somewhere between the clowns and the slaves)
Posted by Seng at 7:13 AM | Comments (8)
No piece, no peace, hook a brother up.
Last Saturday I went to a very San Francisco occurence- the Exotic Erotic Ball. It's conveniently placed just before Halloween so people are already in a costume mindset and with enough time after Burningman for people to have found treatment for whatever they've picked up out there. Being that this is San Francisco, though, I imagine this event could happen anytime of year and the markers would just change to being between Folsom Street Fair/Cinco de Mayo/Pride/any other excuse to dress up and be seen. Personally, being rather vanilla (and lazy), all three of these time markers pass me by without much notice, but this time around, as is my usual excuse, I was part of the entertainment/background, playing with the SF Samba School, so I just had to stick around to check out the event I would have otherwise not attended.
Aside from the blowjob in the backstage area, the beefy guy standing on a table stroking himself (part of some company's merch booth, apparently), a lot of naked guys walking around (the total guy costume- no effort, just take off your clothes) and a mix of hot and not so hot topless women, what interested me were the ways in which men of different ethnicities ogled women. I say women not because there weren't gay guys there, but because, let's face it, gay guys are going to participate a little more and aren't just going to go for the show. But what can you do, a clear-thinking man is going to realize that $95 for a general admission ticket is going to get him access to a lot more skin at this event than he'd get at a strip club on a normal night so it's a bargain.
Here's a quick summary of what I saw:
White: most likely to make loud comments or be talking on the phone trying to get their buddy down to the event, greatest age range- from twenties to fifties or sixties;
Black: most likely to just walk up and pretend they are familiar with a group of women (women were in groups of two or more- I don't think I saw any single women) yet often dumbstruck by breasts while there, one member is usually most hyphnotized while others comment occasionally to affirm they are cooler than the one, mostly under 40;
Latino: generally quiet throughout, often alone, seemingly reverent in their onlooking, seemed under early-30s;
Asian: travel in small groups of 2 or 3, quiet during observation but more vocal in transit, mostly under early-30s;
It's likely there were exceptions, but I was too busy checking out the hummus in the VIP lounge to get a larger samples size.
In Hyphen news, keep your eye out in an upcoming dead tree edition of Hyphen for an interview with Annabella Lewin, the English/Burmese lead singer of BowWowWow, the band behind a string of '80s hits including, "I Want Candy". They headlined the Ball and are riding the revival of that rather embarassing decade of excess.
Oh, yeah, I also ran into Hyphen staffer Mike Lee and his film crew shooting their new tv show, Night Shift. Mike's on-air personality was getting all the make out action so all Mike could get were pictures. Poor guy.
(That's Mike and a pixie)
(I took a wrong turn somewhere between the clowns and the slaves)
Posted by Seng at 7:13 AM | Comments (8)
Our friends at the Asian American Theater Company have got some events coming up you should check out. First, on Saturday November 5th, is Sweet, a fundraiser with wine, chocolate and theater. (Sounds like a good combination to me.) The party starts at 6 and goes on til 4 am.
Also, running November 3-20 is the world premiere of Banyan by Jeannie Barroga. AATC describes Banyan as a modern-day variation on the Wizard of Oz, incorporating Pilipino fantasy, folklore and humor.
Want to go to both? You can get a discount on entry to both events for $50 (saves you $15). We've got the secret password for you. Just enter the code "Sweet" when you purchase tickets online. (Click on the links above to find out more and buy tickets.)
Posted by Melissa at 9:59 AM | Comments (0)
Our friends at the Asian American Theater Company have got some events coming up you should check out. First, on Saturday November 5th, is Sweet, a fundraiser with wine, chocolate and theater. (Sounds like a good combination to me.) The party starts at 6 and goes on til 4 am.
Also, running November 3-20 is the world premiere of Banyan by Jeannie Barroga. AATC describes Banyan as a modern-day variation on the Wizard of Oz, incorporating Pilipino fantasy, folklore and humor.
Want to go to both? You can get a discount on entry to both events for $50 (saves you $15). We've got the secret password for you. Just enter the code "Sweet" when you purchase tickets online. (Click on the links above to find out more and buy tickets.)
Posted by Melissa at 9:59 AM | Comments (0)
Our friends at the Asian American Theater Company have got some events coming up you should check out. First, on Saturday November 5th, is Sweet, a fundraiser with wine, chocolate and theater. (Sounds like a good combination to me.) The party starts at 6 and goes on til 4 am.
Also, running November 3-20 is the world premiere of Banyan by Jeannie Barroga. AATC describes Banyan as a modern-day variation on the Wizard of Oz, incorporating Pilipino fantasy, folklore and humor.
Want to go to both? You can get a discount on entry to both events for $50 (saves you $15). We've got the secret password for you. Just enter the code "Sweet" when you purchase tickets online. (Click on the links above to find out more and buy tickets.)
Posted by Melissa at 9:59 AM | Comments (0)
Graduate students at Yale are protesting what they say is discrimination against Chinese graduate students at the University. Xuemei Han, 26, is at the center of this particular protest, saying that her "imperfect English" is the real reason behind her department asking her to leave.
It seems like debate and controversy about Asian graduate students and their English skills have been a hot topic for years. There was a great post on South Asian issues blog Sepia Mutiny back in June that I thought was a good perspective on the issue.
I would be really interested to find an Asian American student who is interacting with an international Asian graduate student. Do they have the same issues? Most of the students who complain seem to be Anglo students -- check out the all-American girl in the NY Times article who complained about her prof at Berkeley. Now, how many Asian American students were there in her same class? Did they have the same problems? Are Asian American students or immigrant-family students better at deciphering accents?
Posted by neela at 1:45 PM | Comments (9)
Graduate students at Yale are protesting what they say is discrimination against Chinese graduate students at the University. Xuemei Han, 26, is at the center of this particular protest, saying that her "imperfect English" is the real reason behind her department asking her to leave.
It seems like debate and controversy about Asian graduate students and their English skills have been a hot topic for years. There was a great post on South Asian issues blog Sepia Mutiny back in June that I thought was a good perspective on the issue.
I would be really interested to find an Asian American student who is interacting with an international Asian graduate student. Do they have the same issues? Most of the students who complain seem to be Anglo students -- check out the all-American girl in the NY Times article who complained about her prof at Berkeley. Now, how many Asian American students were there in her same class? Did they have the same problems? Are Asian American students or immigrant-family students better at deciphering accents?
Posted by neela at 1:45 PM | Comments (9)
Graduate students at Yale are protesting what they say is discrimination against Chinese graduate students at the University. Xuemei Han, 26, is at the center of this particular protest, saying that her "imperfect English" is the real reason behind her department asking her to leave.
It seems like debate and controversy about Asian graduate students and their English skills have been a hot topic for years. There was a great post on South Asian issues blog Sepia Mutiny back in June that I thought was a good perspective on the issue.
I would be really interested to find an Asian American student who is interacting with an international Asian graduate student. Do they have the same issues? Most of the students who complain seem to be Anglo students -- check out the all-American girl in the NY Times article who complained about her prof at Berkeley. Now, how many Asian American students were there in her same class? Did they have the same problems? Are Asian American students or immigrant-family students better at deciphering accents?
Posted by neela at 1:45 PM | Comments (9)
Check out the profile of Phil "Angry Asian Man" Yu that ran in the Washington Post.
And look for Phil's list of Top 10 Asian American blogs and a podcast in Issue 8 of Hyphen, due out in December.
Posted by harry at 8:25 PM | Comments (1)
Check out the profile of Phil "Angry Asian Man" Yu that ran in the Washington Post.
And look for Phil's list of Top 10 Asian American blogs and a podcast in Issue 8 of Hyphen, due out in December.
Posted by harry at 8:25 PM | Comments (1)
Check out the profile of Phil "Angry Asian Man" Yu that ran in the Washington Post.
And look for Phil's list of Top 10 Asian American blogs and a podcast in Issue 8 of Hyphen, due out in December.
Posted by harry at 8:25 PM | Comments (1)
Sports Illustrated reporter Michael Bamberger, rather than just covering the story, seemingly broke a journalistic taboo and became part of the story, by telling LPGA officials that he thought Michelle Wie cheated on a drop ball at the Samsung World Championship on Saturday.
There's some funky rules in golf, read here for a better explaination, but basically, Bamberger thought he saw Wie drop her ball too close to the hole. So he wanted to question her about for a "gotcha" story.
A day later, he decided he should tell rules officials about it. By that time Wie had signed her score card. Officials went over video of the hole in question and had Wie and her caddy point out where she dropped the ball. The officials said she did indeed drop the ball too close. So, she was disqualified for signing an inaccurate score card. Not too many sports allow you to keep your own score. Like I said, funky rules in golf.
Not a good way to start a career. But seems like she's gotten so much attention, people are out to bring her down.
Posted by harry at 11:12 AM | Comments (19)
Sports Illustrated reporter Michael Bamberger, rather than just covering the story, seemingly broke a journalistic taboo and became part of the story, by telling LPGA officials that he thought Michelle Wie cheated on a drop ball at the Samsung World Championship on Saturday.
There's some funky rules in golf, read here for a better explaination, but basically, Bamberger thought he saw Wie drop her ball too close to the hole. So he wanted to question her about for a "gotcha" story.
A day later, he decided he should tell rules officials about it. By that time Wie had signed her score card. Officials went over video of the hole in question and had Wie and her caddy point out where she dropped the ball. The officials said she did indeed drop the ball too close. So, she was disqualified for signing an inaccurate score card. Not too many sports allow you to keep your own score. Like I said, funky rules in golf.
Not a good way to start a career. But seems like she's gotten so much attention, people are out to bring her down.
Posted by harry at 11:12 AM | Comments (19)
Sports Illustrated reporter Michael Bamberger, rather than just covering the story, seemingly broke a journalistic taboo and became part of the story, by telling LPGA officials that he thought Michelle Wie cheated on a drop ball at the Samsung World Championship on Saturday.
There's some funky rules in golf, read here for a better explaination, but basically, Bamberger thought he saw Wie drop her ball too close to the hole. So he wanted to question her about for a "gotcha" story.
A day later, he decided he should tell rules officials about it. By that time Wie had signed her score card. Officials went over video of the hole in question and had Wie and her caddy point out where she dropped the ball. The officials said she did indeed drop the ball too close. So, she was disqualified for signing an inaccurate score card. Not too many sports allow you to keep your own score. Like I said, funky rules in golf.
Not a good way to start a career. But seems like she's gotten so much attention, people are out to bring her down.
Posted by harry at 11:12 AM | Comments (19)
Get out your wallets and head to the mall! Banana Republic launches its new "East Meets West" line as a tie-in to promote their Memoirs of a Geisha getaway sweepstakes. The clothes themselves aren't that bad (I guess), but come on, East Meets West? I'm so over it.
Posted by Lisa at 8:13 AM | Comments (12)
Get out your wallets and head to the mall! Banana Republic launches its new "East Meets West" line as a tie-in to promote their Memoirs of a Geisha getaway sweepstakes. The clothes themselves aren't that bad (I guess), but come on, East Meets West? I'm so over it.
Posted by Lisa at 8:13 AM | Comments (12)
Get out your wallets and head to the mall! Banana Republic launches its new "East Meets West" line as a tie-in to promote their Memoirs of a Geisha getaway sweepstakes. The clothes themselves aren't that bad (I guess), but come on, East Meets West? I'm so over it.
Posted by Lisa at 8:13 AM | Comments (12)
Henry Hwang, founder of the first Asian American bank (and father of playwright David Henry Hwang) passed away last Saturday at the age of 77. His story is the stuff of immigrant fairytales: arrive in the U.S. with nothing but a few bucks, toil away in a Chinese laundromat, get a CPA, start a bank, and eventually sell it for 90 million big ones. No wonder he was a big Republican supporter and Reagan crony.
October 13, 2005
Henry Y. Hwang Dies at 77; Founded Asian-American Bank
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Henry Y. Hwang, who founded the first Asian-American-owned federally chartered bank in the continental United States, died Saturday at his home in San Marino, Calif. He was 77.
The cause was colon cancer, his son, the playwright David Henry Hwang, said.
Mr. Hwang (pronounced wong) arrived in the United States at 21, speaking virtually no English. He later owned a laundry, became a certified public accountant and began one of the first accounting firms in Southern California owned by a Chinese immigrant.
In 1974, he opened the Far East National Bank with $1.5 million in capital and a single office in the Chinatown section of Los Angeles.
The bank was later publicly traded, and its assets exceeded $500 million in 1996, the year before it was bought by Bank Sino-Pac of Taiwan for about $90 million.
Mr. Hwang became an active investor in China. He was also a leading Republican Party supporter, and in 1984, President Reagan appointed him to the White House Advisory Committee on Trade Negotiations.
Henry Yuan Hwang was born in Shanghai on Nov. 28, 1927. At 21, he left Shanghai just as the Communists were preparing to take over the city and went to Oregon.
He had already earned a bachelor's degree in political science in China and earned another at Linfield College in Oregon.
He then studied accounting at the University of Southern California and operated a laundry business. In 1960, he opened his accounting firm. California Business magazine said that Mr. Hwang became adept at building and manipulating personal connections to gain ground in the Asian immigrant community. He gradually extended this activity to China itself.
"I don't like Communism," he told the magazine, "but I see a lot of business opportunities in China."
In 1999, some of these transactions with Chinese banks drew the attention of American regulators as possible sources of illegal campaign contributions or funds for Chinese espionage, among other possibilities. No charges were brought, and no regulatory actions were taken.
In 1989, Mr. Hwang was at the center of a major scandal in Los Angeles when it was disclosed that he had hired Tom Bradley, then the mayor, as a consultant. Mr. Bradley had also received a loan from the bank and appeared to have helped it secure $2 million in deposits of city funds.
Mr. Bradley resigned from the consultancy, returned his $18,000 in payments and was never charged with wrongdoing.
In 1976, Mr. Hwang told the police he had been abducted, made to drink a liquid that disoriented him and robbed of $300,000. The bizarre case was never solved.
In addition to his son, Mr. Hwang is survived by his wife of 50 years, the former Dorothy Huang; his daughters, Margery Anne Hwang of Rochester, and Grace Elizabeth Hwang of West Hollywood, Calif.; two brothers; two sisters; and four grandchildren.
Posted by Lisa at 8:07 AM | Comments (4)
Henry Hwang, founder of the first Asian American bank (and father of playwright David Henry Hwang) passed away last Saturday at the age of 77. His story is the stuff of immigrant fairytales: arrive in the U.S. with nothing but a few bucks, toil away in a Chinese laundromat, get a CPA, start a bank, and eventually sell it for 90 million big ones. No wonder he was a big Republican supporter and Reagan crony.
October 13, 2005
Henry Y. Hwang Dies at 77; Founded Asian-American Bank
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Henry Y. Hwang, who founded the first Asian-American-owned federally chartered bank in the continental United States, died Saturday at his home in San Marino, Calif. He was 77.
The cause was colon cancer, his son, the playwright David Henry Hwang, said.
Mr. Hwang (pronounced wong) arrived in the United States at 21, speaking virtually no English. He later owned a laundry, became a certified public accountant and began one of the first accounting firms in Southern California owned by a Chinese immigrant.
In 1974, he opened the Far East National Bank with $1.5 million in capital and a single office in the Chinatown section of Los Angeles.
The bank was later publicly traded, and its assets exceeded $500 million in 1996, the year before it was bought by Bank Sino-Pac of Taiwan for about $90 million.
Mr. Hwang became an active investor in China. He was also a leading Republican Party supporter, and in 1984, President Reagan appointed him to the White House Advisory Committee on Trade Negotiations.
Henry Yuan Hwang was born in Shanghai on Nov. 28, 1927. At 21, he left Shanghai just as the Communists were preparing to take over the city and went to Oregon.
He had already earned a bachelor's degree in political science in China and earned another at Linfield College in Oregon.
He then studied accounting at the University of Southern California and operated a laundry business. In 1960, he opened his accounting firm. California Business magazine said that Mr. Hwang became adept at building and manipulating personal connections to gain ground in the Asian immigrant community. He gradually extended this activity to China itself.
"I don't like Communism," he told the magazine, "but I see a lot of business opportunities in China."
In 1999, some of these transactions with Chinese banks drew the attention of American regulators as possible sources of illegal campaign contributions or funds for Chinese espionage, among other possibilities. No charges were brought, and no regulatory actions were taken.
In 1989, Mr. Hwang was at the center of a major scandal in Los Angeles when it was disclosed that he had hired Tom Bradley, then the mayor, as a consultant. Mr. Bradley had also received a loan from the bank and appeared to have helped it secure $2 million in deposits of city funds.
Mr. Bradley resigned from the consultancy, returned his $18,000 in payments and was never charged with wrongdoing.
In 1976, Mr. Hwang told the police he had been abducted, made to drink a liquid that disoriented him and robbed of $300,000. The bizarre case was never solved.
In addition to his son, Mr. Hwang is survived by his wife of 50 years, the former Dorothy Huang; his daughters, Margery Anne Hwang of Rochester, and Grace Elizabeth Hwang of West Hollywood, Calif.; two brothers; two sisters; and four grandchildren.
Posted by Lisa at 8:07 AM | Comments (4)
Henry Hwang, founder of the first Asian American bank (and father of playwright David Henry Hwang) passed away last Saturday at the age of 77. His story is the stuff of immigrant fairytales: arrive in the U.S. with nothing but a few bucks, toil away in a Chinese laundromat, get a CPA, start a bank, and eventually sell it for 90 million big ones. No wonder he was a big Republican supporter and Reagan crony.
October 13, 2005
Henry Y. Hwang Dies at 77; Founded Asian-American Bank
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Henry Y. Hwang, who founded the first Asian-American-owned federally chartered bank in the continental United States, died Saturday at his home in San Marino, Calif. He was 77.
The cause was colon cancer, his son, the playwright David Henry Hwang, said.
Mr. Hwang (pronounced wong) arrived in the United States at 21, speaking virtually no English. He later owned a laundry, became a certified public accountant and began one of the first accounting firms in Southern California owned by a Chinese immigrant.
In 1974, he opened the Far East National Bank with $1.5 million in capital and a single office in the Chinatown section of Los Angeles.
The bank was later publicly traded, and its assets exceeded $500 million in 1996, the year before it was bought by Bank Sino-Pac of Taiwan for about $90 million.
Mr. Hwang became an active investor in China. He was also a leading Republican Party supporter, and in 1984, President Reagan appointed him to the White House Advisory Committee on Trade Negotiations.
Henry Yuan Hwang was born in Shanghai on Nov. 28, 1927. At 21, he left Shanghai just as the Communists were preparing to take over the city and went to Oregon.
He had already earned a bachelor's degree in political science in China and earned another at Linfield College in Oregon.
He then studied accounting at the University of Southern California and operated a laundry business. In 1960, he opened his accounting firm. California Business magazine said that Mr. Hwang became adept at building and manipulating personal connections to gain ground in the Asian immigrant community. He gradually extended this activity to China itself.
"I don't like Communism," he told the magazine, "but I see a lot of business opportunities in China."
In 1999, some of these transactions with Chinese banks drew the attention of American regulators as possible sources of illegal campaign contributions or funds for Chinese espionage, among other possibilities. No charges were brought, and no regulatory actions were taken.
In 1989, Mr. Hwang was at the center of a major scandal in Los Angeles when it was disclosed that he had hired Tom Bradley, then the mayor, as a consultant. Mr. Bradley had also received a loan from the bank and appeared to have helped it secure $2 million in deposits of city funds.
Mr. Bradley resigned from the consultancy, returned his $18,000 in payments and was never charged with wrongdoing.
In 1976, Mr. Hwang told the police he had been abducted, made to drink a liquid that disoriented him and robbed of $300,000. The bizarre case was never solved.
In addition to his son, Mr. Hwang is survived by his wife of 50 years, the former Dorothy Huang; his daughters, Margery Anne Hwang of Rochester, and Grace Elizabeth Hwang of West Hollywood, Calif.; two brothers; two sisters; and four grandchildren.
Posted by Lisa at 8:07 AM | Comments (4)
Yay! My new cultural hero is a 22-year-old stand up comedian from South Carolina named Aziz Ansari. And he walked all over New York City with a boom box blasting "Kiss Me". In front of girls.
If you wanna see the video it's here.
Here's his mutual starfucking with fellow Tamil M.I.A. (Turns out she's not just hot and talented, but also a sick computer geek and a "24" fan.)
He also has a secret superpower: if he punches a wall where racist graffitti has been inscribed, he gets visions of the perp.
Wanna know more? Check out his website at azizisbored.com.
Posted by claire at 2:02 PM | Comments (1)
Yay! My new cultural hero is a 22-year-old stand up comedian from South Carolina named Aziz Ansari. And he walked all over New York City with a boom box blasting "Kiss Me". In front of girls.
If you wanna see the video it's here.
Here's his mutual starfucking with fellow Tamil M.I.A. (Turns out she's not just hot and talented, but also a sick computer geek and a "24" fan.)
He also has a secret superpower: if he punches a wall where racist graffitti has been inscribed, he gets visions of the perp.
Wanna know more? Check out his website at azizisbored.com.
Posted by claire at 2:02 PM | Comments (1)
Yay! My new cultural hero is a 22-year-old stand up comedian from South Carolina named Aziz Ansari. And he walked all over New York City with a boom box blasting "Kiss Me". In front of girls.
If you wanna see the video it's here.
Here's his mutual starfucking with fellow Tamil M.I.A. (Turns out she's not just hot and talented, but also a sick computer geek and a "24" fan.)
He also has a secret superpower: if he punches a wall where racist graffitti has been inscribed, he gets visions of the perp.
Wanna know more? Check out his website at azizisbored.com.
Posted by claire at 2:02 PM | Comments (1)
If I had a dollar for every science fiction perpetrator who used Asian languages as a signpost of the future, BUT NOT ASIAN PEOPLE ... well, I'd have a bunch of dollars.
Take Joss Whedon ... please.
His Serenity, a feature film both summarizing and sequelizing his short-lived television drama Firefly, was eagerly awaited by fans of all of Whedon's tv dramas, which--FYI--include Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff, Angel. Opening week and subsequent viewing has been carefully strategized among Whedonites to optimize the possibility of Firefly returning to the large screen or even the small screen with new episodes and a longer shelf-life. Well ... yay fandom, as far as that goes. It probably won't work. The near-universal positive reviews of Serenity only show that everyone is capable of copping to the snarky goodness of Joss's brand of adolescent angst expressed in martial arts action, genuinely witty dialogue, and unpredictable plot reversals. That Serenity was poor man's Joss Whedon--Whedon on a bad day, Joss with a cold--doesn't really matter. Nobody wants this badly enough (Joss fans aside) and it probably won't manifest again.
But fortunately for the smokin' Joss sticks who will howl down upon this comments section, that's not my complaint (or contention) today. My beef is this: why would a man intelligent enough to read the Asian tiger on the wall (having all the characters in his future world speak an English/Chinese patois, and all of the spaceship names and call signs translated into Chinese on their hulls), be too stupid to include a SINGLE ASIAN CHARACTER in said world? Sure, there were maybe enough Asian extras in Serenity to count off on (one of) my hands, but where's the recognition, folks? The slopes are coming, and not just to buy your cheap-ass products (which they're sweat-shopping anyway.) Asian economies are just that: economies. Not wet, gaping holes for you to fill with your junk, but rather whole, integral eco-bitches of cash and power, that will only invite you to join their orgy if you're very, very relevant.
In the world of Serenity, Asians are literally inscrutable. We somehow rule the universe enough to get our main lingo (Chinese, natch) spoken everywhere, yet you can't scrut us. Anywhere. But in fifty years the world really will look more like the establishing shot of Blade Runner (which Whedon jacks with abandon, sans, of course, Asianyness), with the massive moving billboards of future cities burdened with the facets of Asian beauty and Asian power. The politicians you'll love to hate will be Asian. The CEOs who own them will be Asian. The guy in the corner store? Still Asian, but so, too, the cops that park there illegally to grab a dozen you tiu with their coffee, and the kid that stupidly holds up the store while the cops are there. You can't make up, like, over half the world's population, be poised to swoop down upon the new global economy like a hawks on a dazed field mouse, and not end up everywhere. In fifty years, much less five hundred, Asians will be more scrutable than the sky. You won't be able to look away.
Whedon's remarkable whitecentricity was well-taken in Buffy, an extended paean to the dying art of living in the suburbs. It was ridiculous in Angel, a Los Angeles mean-streets demon-ride, with, like, two black people and no Latinos. (I should thank Angel here for offering fans a months-long study of Daniel Dae Kim's jawline, but Angel also gave us the one-too-manyeth view of Bai Ling's cleavage, so I ain't gonna.) But let's take credit away where credit doesn't belong, people. Joss himself brought up the Asian, and then signally failed to embody it. Maybe it just didn't occur to him, you know, while he was hiring those linguists to inject some Mandarin into the dialogue. Or maybe it did occur to him but og forbid a white auteur privilege Asian characters in an already Asian world.
Time, Jossy, for a little rethink. I know you still consider developed black characters to be shocking and a testament to your racismlessness, but let's really follow your logic out to its conclusions. Maybe you'll find yourself a little more relevant to non-geeks if you bother to really look at the people who already populate and are going to populate the spaces you exploit for your fictions. You're supposed to be smarter than the average white boy. Use it.
UPDATE
I'm very pleased to be able to tell you that great minds think alike. Liz, over at Other Magazine's staff blog (I blog there on Sundays) came up with pretty much the same complaint about Serenity completely independently of me. We only found out about each other's blog entries after the fact.
Posted by claire at 3:07 PM | Comments (57)
If I had a dollar for every science fiction perpetrator who used Asian languages as a signpost of the future, BUT NOT ASIAN PEOPLE ... well, I'd have a bunch of dollars.
Take Joss Whedon ... please.
His Serenity, a feature film both summarizing and sequelizing his short-lived television drama Firefly, was eagerly awaited by fans of all of Whedon's tv dramas, which--FYI--include Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff, Angel. Opening week and subsequent viewing has been carefully strategized among Whedonites to optimize the possibility of Firefly returning to the large screen or even the small screen with new episodes and a longer shelf-life. Well ... yay fandom, as far as that goes. It probably won't work. The near-universal positive reviews of Serenity only show that everyone is capable of copping to the snarky goodness of Joss's brand of adolescent angst expressed in martial arts action, genuinely witty dialogue, and unpredictable plot reversals. That Serenity was poor man's Joss Whedon--Whedon on a bad day, Joss with a cold--doesn't really matter. Nobody wants this badly enough (Joss fans aside) and it probably won't manifest again.
But fortunately for the smokin' Joss sticks who will howl down upon this comments section, that's not my complaint (or contention) today. My beef is this: why would a man intelligent enough to read the Asian tiger on the wall (having all the characters in his future world speak an English/Chinese patois, and all of the spaceship names and call signs translated into Chinese on their hulls), be too stupid to include a SINGLE ASIAN CHARACTER in said world? Sure, there were maybe enough Asian extras in Serenity to count off on (one of) my hands, but where's the recognition, folks? The slopes are coming, and not just to buy your cheap-ass products (which they're sweat-shopping anyway.) Asian economies are just that: economies. Not wet, gaping holes for you to fill with your junk, but rather whole, integral eco-bitches of cash and power, that will only invite you to join their orgy if you're very, very relevant.
In the world of Serenity, Asians are literally inscrutable. We somehow rule the universe enough to get our main lingo (Chinese, natch) spoken everywhere, yet you can't scrut us. Anywhere. But in fifty years the world really will look more like the establishing shot of Blade Runner (which Whedon jacks with abandon, sans, of course, Asianyness), with the massive moving billboards of future cities burdened with the facets of Asian beauty and Asian power. The politicians you'll love to hate will be Asian. The CEOs who own them will be Asian. The guy in the corner store? Still Asian, but so, too, the cops that park there illegally to grab a dozen you tiu with their coffee, and the kid that stupidly holds up the store while the cops are there. You can't make up, like, over half the world's population, be poised to swoop down upon the new global economy like a hawks on a dazed field mouse, and not end up everywhere. In fifty years, much less five hundred, Asians will be more scrutable than the sky. You won't be able to look away.
Whedon's remarkable whitecentricity was well-taken in Buffy, an extended paean to the dying art of living in the suburbs. It was ridiculous in Angel, a Los Angeles mean-streets demon-ride, with, like, two black people and no Latinos. (I should thank Angel here for offering fans a months-long study of Daniel Dae Kim's jawline, but Angel also gave us the one-too-manyeth view of Bai Ling's cleavage, so I ain't gonna.) But let's take credit away where credit doesn't belong, people. Joss himself brought up the Asian, and then signally failed to embody it. Maybe it just didn't occur to him, you know, while he was hiring those linguists to inject some Mandarin into the dialogue. Or maybe it did occur to him but og forbid a white auteur privilege Asian characters in an already Asian world.
Time, Jossy, for a little rethink. I know you still consider developed black characters to be shocking and a testament to your racismlessness, but let's really follow your logic out to its conclusions. Maybe you'll find yourself a little more relevant to non-geeks if you bother to really look at the people who already populate and are going to populate the spaces you exploit for your fictions. You're supposed to be smarter than the average white boy. Use it.
UPDATE
I'm very pleased to be able to tell you that great minds think alike. Liz, over at Other Magazine's staff blog (I blog there on Sundays) came up with pretty much the same complaint about Serenity completely independently of me. We only found out about each other's blog entries after the fact.
Posted by claire at 3:07 PM | Comments (57)
If I had a dollar for every science fiction perpetrator who used Asian languages as a signpost of the future, BUT NOT ASIAN PEOPLE ... well, I'd have a bunch of dollars.
Take Joss Whedon ... please.
His Serenity, a feature film both summarizing and sequelizing his short-lived television drama Firefly, was eagerly awaited by fans of all of Whedon's tv dramas, which--FYI--include Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff, Angel. Opening week and subsequent viewing has been carefully strategized among Whedonites to optimize the possibility of Firefly returning to the large screen or even the small screen with new episodes and a longer shelf-life. Well ... yay fandom, as far as that goes. It probably won't work. The near-universal positive reviews of Serenity only show that everyone is capable of copping to the snarky goodness of Joss's brand of adolescent angst expressed in martial arts action, genuinely witty dialogue, and unpredictable plot reversals. That Serenity was poor man's Joss Whedon--Whedon on a bad day, Joss with a cold--doesn't really matter. Nobody wants this badly enough (Joss fans aside) and it probably won't manifest again.
But fortunately for the smokin' Joss sticks who will howl down upon this comments section, that's not my complaint (or contention) today. My beef is this: why would a man intelligent enough to read the Asian tiger on the wall (having all the characters in his future world speak an English/Chinese patois, and all of the spaceship names and call signs translated into Chinese on their hulls), be too stupid to include a SINGLE ASIAN CHARACTER in said world? Sure, there were maybe enough Asian extras in Serenity to count off on (one of) my hands, but where's the recognition, folks? The slopes are coming, and not just to buy your cheap-ass products (which they're sweat-shopping anyway.) Asian economies are just that: economies. Not wet, gaping holes for you to fill with your junk, but rather whole, integral eco-bitches of cash and power, that will only invite you to join their orgy if you're very, very relevant.
In the world of Serenity, Asians are literally inscrutable. We somehow rule the universe enough to get our main lingo (Chinese, natch) spoken everywhere, yet you can't scrut us. Anywhere. But in fifty years the world really will look more like the establishing shot of Blade Runner (which Whedon jacks with abandon, sans, of course, Asianyness), with the massive moving billboards of future cities burdened with the facets of Asian beauty and Asian power. The politicians you'll love to hate will be Asian. The CEOs who own them will be Asian. The guy in the corner store? Still Asian, but so, too, the cops that park there illegally to grab a dozen you tiu with their coffee, and the kid that stupidly holds up the store while the cops are there. You can't make up, like, over half the world's population, be poised to swoop down upon the new global economy like a hawks on a dazed field mouse, and not end up everywhere. In fifty years, much less five hundred, Asians will be more scrutable than the sky. You won't be able to look away.
Whedon's remarkable whitecentricity was well-taken in Buffy, an extended paean to the dying art of living in the suburbs. It was ridiculous in Angel, a Los Angeles mean-streets demon-ride, with, like, two black people and no Latinos. (I should thank Angel here for offering fans a months-long study of Daniel Dae Kim's jawline, but Angel also gave us the one-too-manyeth view of Bai Ling's cleavage, so I ain't gonna.) But let's take credit away where credit doesn't belong, people. Joss himself brought up the Asian, and then signally failed to embody it. Maybe it just didn't occur to him, you know, while he was hiring those linguists to inject some Mandarin into the dialogue. Or maybe it did occur to him but og forbid a white auteur privilege Asian characters in an already Asian world.
Time, Jossy, for a little rethink. I know you still consider developed black characters to be shocking and a testament to your racismlessness, but let's really follow your logic out to its conclusions. Maybe you'll find yourself a little more relevant to non-geeks if you bother to really look at the people who already populate and are going to populate the spaces you exploit for your fictions. You're supposed to be smarter than the average white boy. Use it.
UPDATE
I'm very pleased to be able to tell you that great minds think alike. Liz, over at Other Magazine's staff blog (I blog there on Sundays) came up with pretty much the same complaint about Serenity completely independently of me. We only found out about each other's blog entries after the fact.
Posted by claire at 3:07 PM | Comments (57)
One of the ridiculous things about working for no pay at a news organization is that you, in practice, must work two jobs -- the nonpaying one and a paying one -- so then you're working way too much to notice the news going on.
I’m a couple days behind reading the paper. OK, more than a couple days.
I missed Michelle Wie turning pro. I missed the Filipino American accused of spying for the Philippines. (Oh damn, spying again? So not good for the rest of us and combating “perpetual foreigner” image.) I missed the Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination (why don’t the headlines just say “Bush nominates one of his bestest friends” ?)
I missed Hyphen’s inclusion in the San Francisco Literary Map put together by 826 Valencia. (How cool is that?!). I even missed the Alias season premiere.
I did crack the paper open long enough today to see that Bush said God told him to invade Iraq. At first I thought I was reading an Onion headline.
Here’s something not to miss: Our very own literature editor Barbara Jane Reyes is reading tomorrow night at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts along with Tony Robles and some other Filipino American poets.
And thanks to everyone who didn’t miss our Issue 7 Release Party last week. Wow, what a great turnout. We raised enough money to pay for approximately a third of the next print run. Thanks for the support!
Right now I'm missing my bed. Can't wait to go to sleep tonight....
Posted by Melissa at 3:00 PM | Comments (0)
One of the ridiculous things about working for no pay at a news organization is that you, in practice, must work two jobs -- the nonpaying one and a paying one -- so then you're working way too much to notice the news going on.
I’m a couple days behind reading the paper. OK, more than a couple days.
I missed Michelle Wie turning pro. I missed the Filipino American accused of spying for the Philippines. (Oh damn, spying again? So not good for the rest of us and combating “perpetual foreigner” image.) I missed the Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination (why don’t the headlines just say “Bush nominates one of his bestest friends” ?)
I missed Hyphen’s inclusion in the San Francisco Literary Map put together by 826 Valencia. (How cool is that?!). I even missed the Alias season premiere.
I did crack the paper open long enough today to see that Bush said God told him to invade Iraq. At first I thought I was reading an Onion headline.
Here’s something not to miss: Our very own literature editor Barbara Jane Reyes is reading tomorrow night at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts along with Tony Robles and some other Filipino American poets.
And thanks to everyone who didn’t miss our Issue 7 Release Party last week. Wow, what a great turnout. We raised enough money to pay for approximately a third of the next print run. Thanks for the support!
Right now I'm missing my bed. Can't wait to go to sleep tonight....
Posted by Melissa at 3:00 PM | Comments (0)
One of the ridiculous things about working for no pay at a news organization is that you, in practice, must work two jobs -- the nonpaying one and a paying one -- so then you're working way too much to notice the news going on.
Im a couple days behind reading the paper. OK, more than a couple days.
I missed Michelle Wie turning pro. I missed the Filipino American accused of spying for the Philippines. (Oh damn, spying again? So not good for the rest of us and combating perpetual foreigner image.) I missed the Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination (why dont the headlines just say Bush nominates one of his bestest friends ?)
I missed Hyphens inclusion in the San Francisco Literary Map put together by 826 Valencia. (How cool is that?!). I even missed the Alias season premiere.
I did crack the paper open long enough today to see that Bush said God told him to invade Iraq. At first I thought I was reading an Onion headline.
Heres something not to miss: Our very own literature editor Barbara Jane Reyes is reading tomorrow night at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts along with Tony Robles and some other Filipino American poets.
And thanks to everyone who didnt miss our Issue 7 Release Party last week. Wow, what a great turnout. We raised enough money to pay for approximately a third of the next print run. Thanks for the support!
Right now I'm missing my bed. Can't wait to go to sleep tonight....
Posted by Melissa at 3:00 PM | Comments (0)
Oh my gosh I am sick of talking about stereotypes and issues of representation. We "ethnic media" people are sometimes viewed as whiny and unrelenting and one-track minded, and it's kind of true. Here I am, complaining again about the way my peeps are being represented.
But we can't stop, because society at large has clearly not gotten the message. Look at this image! Just look at it! What do you think they were thinking when they came up with this?!!
I can see a person saying, "The concept of this is: 'one of these things is not like the other' (a la Sesame street). It's really not about skin color, it's about being different. Like, there's three cheeses and a baseball! One is different! Neutral!
and I say to that argument: bull hockey!!!@#$%@!
First of all, they never would have done that with say, downtrodden black people. I'm sorry to keep bringing up that analogy, but it's true. Obviously they're very insensitive, so they probably wouldn't refrain from some internal moral compass, but because they're afraid of pissing off the scary black people.
Well, what about the scary Asians? Clearly we're not making enough noise, people. And I mean scary noise. Because until people get educated enough to know that this is offensive, they need to at least be aware that right or wrong, some people are going to be pissed and there will be consequences when you step across a line. Maybe we need to instill in people is hypersensitivity to Asian representation, so that people will at least think twice before saying, "Hey Chad! Here's a great idea! Have a pudgy smug-ass white dude in the midst of some miserable-looking oriental monks! He'll really stick out and illustrate our concept of "difference!"
Because of course it's not that simple. I'll spell it out: depicting a rich, clean white guy in the midst of (praying? meditating? demonstrating?) Buddhist monks is reinforcing negative images of dirty, uncivilized Asians. Selling that white man as superior to his surroundings compounds that. And when it's as horrifying as this image, guess what! It's racism!
(Or am I getting this all wrong? Is perhaps the ad really pro-Asian, and we're celebrating how the Asians are "different" from Smug-Ass? There IS a difference between people who've taken vows of poverty, have suffered persecution and exile (they look like Tibetan monks, perhaps) and are devoting their lives to spiritual enlightenment vs. a bald, old, white guy dedicated to profits, urban sprawl, smug superiority, creating 10x as much garbage and using up all the oil in the world. Oh yes, there is a difference.)
This ad was created by the Hopkins Group, a real estate development company. Check them out at hopkinsgroup.com. They operate in California and Nevada, places where there are lots of Asians who can stop renting space in their strip mall or stop visiting stores there, or where Asians can stop doing business with them. Until they learn, the best way is always to speak to their bottom line.
Or you can contact them at
Hopkins Real Estate Group
17461 Derian Avenue
Suite 106
Irvine, CA 92614
Phone: (949) 270-2400
Fax: (949) 644-8631
www.hopkinsgroup.com
And let them know how you feel about their ad.
Many thanks to Hyphen staffer Benjamin Ng, for sharing this image with us.
Posted by jennifer at 12:01 PM | Comments (15)
Oh my gosh I am sick of talking about stereotypes and issues of representation. We "ethnic media" people are sometimes viewed as whiny and unrelenting and one-track minded, and it's kind of true. Here I am, complaining again about the way my peeps are being represented.
But we can't stop, because society at large has clearly not gotten the message. Look at this image! Just look at it! What do you think they were thinking when they came up with this?!!
I can see a person saying, "The concept of this is: 'one of these things is not like the other' (a la Sesame street). It's really not about skin color, it's about being different. Like, there's three cheeses and a baseball! One is different! Neutral!
and I say to that argument: bull hockey!!!@#$%@!
First of all, they never would have done that with say, downtrodden black people. I'm sorry to keep bringing up that analogy, but it's true. Obviously they're very insensitive, so they probably wouldn't refrain from some internal moral compass, but because they're afraid of pissing off the scary black people.
Well, what about the scary Asians? Clearly we're not making enough noise, people. And I mean scary noise. Because until people get educated enough to know that this is offensive, they need to at least be aware that right or wrong, some people are going to be pissed and there will be consequences when you step across a line. Maybe we need to instill in people is hypersensitivity to Asian representation, so that people will at least think twice before saying, "Hey Chad! Here's a great idea! Have a pudgy smug-ass white dude in the midst of some miserable-looking oriental monks! He'll really stick out and illustrate our concept of "difference!"
Because of course it's not that simple. I'll spell it out: depicting a rich, clean white guy in the midst of (praying? meditating? demonstrating?) Buddhist monks is reinforcing negative images of dirty, uncivilized Asians. Selling that white man as superior to his surroundings compounds that. And when it's as horrifying as this image, guess what! It's racism!
(Or am I getting this all wrong? Is perhaps the ad really pro-Asian, and we're celebrating how the Asians are "different" from Smug-Ass? There IS a difference between people who've taken vows of poverty, have suffered persecution and exile (they look like Tibetan monks, perhaps) and are devoting their lives to spiritual enlightenment vs. a bald, old, white guy dedicated to profits, urban sprawl, smug superiority, creating 10x as much garbage and using up all the oil in the world. Oh yes, there is a difference.)
This ad was created by the Hopkins Group, a real estate development company. Check them out at hopkinsgroup.com. They operate in California and Nevada, places where there are lots of Asians who can stop renting space in their strip mall or stop visiting stores there, or where Asians can stop doing business with them. Until they learn, the best way is always to speak to their bottom line.
Or you can contact them at
Hopkins Real Estate Group
17461 Derian Avenue
Suite 106
Irvine, CA 92614
Phone: (949) 270-2400
Fax: (949) 644-8631
www.hopkinsgroup.com
And let them know how you feel about their ad.
Many thanks to Hyphen staffer Benjamin Ng, for sharing this image with us.
Posted by jennifer at 12:01 PM | Comments (15)
Oh my gosh I am sick of talking about stereotypes and issues of representation. We "ethnic media" people are sometimes viewed as whiny and unrelenting and one-track minded, and it's kind of true. Here I am, complaining again about the way my peeps are being represented.
But we can't stop, because society at large has clearly not gotten the message. Look at this image! Just look at it! What do you think they were thinking when they came up with this?!!
I can see a person saying, "The concept of this is: 'one of these things is not like the other' (a la Sesame street). It's really not about skin color, it's about being different. Like, there's three cheeses and a baseball! One is different! Neutral!
and I say to that argument: bull hockey!!!@#$%@!
First of all, they never would have done that with say, downtrodden black people. I'm sorry to keep bringing up that analogy, but it's true. Obviously they're very insensitive, so they probably wouldn't refrain from some internal moral compass, but because they're afraid of pissing off the scary black people.
Well, what about the scary Asians? Clearly we're not making enough noise, people. And I mean scary noise. Because until people get educated enough to know that this is offensive, they need to at least be aware that right or wrong, some people are going to be pissed and there will be consequences when you step across a line. Maybe we need to instill in people is hypersensitivity to Asian representation, so that people will at least think twice before saying, "Hey Chad! Here's a great idea! Have a pudgy smug-ass white dude in the midst of some miserable-looking oriental monks! He'll really stick out and illustrate our concept of "difference!"
Because of course it's not that simple. I'll spell it out: depicting a rich, clean white guy in the midst of (praying? meditating? demonstrating?) Buddhist monks is reinforcing negative images of dirty, uncivilized Asians. Selling that white man as superior to his surroundings compounds that. And when it's as horrifying as this image, guess what! It's racism!
(Or am I getting this all wrong? Is perhaps the ad really pro-Asian, and we're celebrating how the Asians are "different" from Smug-Ass? There IS a difference between people who've taken vows of poverty, have suffered persecution and exile (they look like Tibetan monks, perhaps) and are devoting their lives to spiritual enlightenment vs. a bald, old, white guy dedicated to profits, urban sprawl, smug superiority, creating 10x as much garbage and using up all the oil in the world. Oh yes, there is a difference.)
This ad was created by the Hopkins Group, a real estate development company. Check them out at hopkinsgroup.com. They operate in California and Nevada, places where there are lots of Asians who can stop renting space in their strip mall or stop visiting stores there, or where Asians can stop doing business with them. Until they learn, the best way is always to speak to their bottom line.
Or you can contact them at
Hopkins Real Estate Group
17461 Derian Avenue
Suite 106
Irvine, CA 92614
Phone: (949) 270-2400
Fax: (949) 644-8631
www.hopkinsgroup.com
And let them know how you feel about their ad.
Many thanks to Hyphen staffer Benjamin Ng, for sharing this image with us.
Posted by jennifer at 12:01 PM | Comments (15)
Duuuude ... whaddaya WANT from us?
I'm writing this on Saturday, with a deep, shady hangover from our Issue 7 release party. Were YOU there? I drank a little too much. It was hard not to, because I got into a very exciting discussion with our Advisory Board member Sonny Le (whom I keep trying to get onto our blog). Sonny's one of those eyes-everywhere-ears-everywhere community consultants who has the breadth to see the big picture, and the detail-orientedness to have a thousand peculiar stories at his fingertips. He's a Hyphen type of guy.
In the space of an hour, Sonny came up with enough stories to fill the next two issues of Hyphen. It wouldn't kill us to have a few more Sonny Le's out there. So I'm opening up this space to hear about what you folks wanna know, the kinds of stories you wanna hear. Or the kinds of stories you wanna tell us, or that you want us to tell for you. How've we been doing? What do you think of our redesign? What stories have we been telling that you're glad you got to hear? What are we doing wrong? What's still missing? What terrific thing is happening in your neck of Asian American that we should know about? What have you got for us?
As we speak, Issue 7 is winging its way along the postal routes to our subscribers and the lovely indie newsstands that carry us. If you don't have a subscription, now's a great time! And check in here to help us shape your magazine!
Posted by claire at 4:24 PM | Comments (7)
Duuuude ... whaddaya WANT from us?
I'm writing this on Saturday, with a deep, shady hangover from our Issue 7 release party. Were YOU there? I drank a little too much. It was hard not to, because I got into a very exciting discussion with our Advisory Board member Sonny Le (whom I keep trying to get onto our blog). Sonny's one of those eyes-everywhere-ears-everywhere community consultants who has the breadth to see the big picture, and the detail-orientedness to have a thousand peculiar stories at his fingertips. He's a Hyphen type of guy.
In the space of an hour, Sonny came up with enough stories to fill the next two issues of Hyphen. It wouldn't kill us to have a few more Sonny Le's out there. So I'm opening up this space to hear about what you folks wanna know, the kinds of stories you wanna hear. Or the kinds of stories you wanna tell us, or that you want us to tell for you. How've we been doing? What do you think of our redesign? What stories have we been telling that you're glad you got to hear? What are we doing wrong? What's still missing? What terrific thing is happening in your neck of Asian American that we should know about? What have you got for us?
As we speak, Issue 7 is winging its way along the postal routes to our subscribers and the lovely indie newsstands that carry us. If you don't have a subscription, now's a great time! And check in here to help us shape your magazine!
Posted by claire at 4:24 PM | Comments (7)
Duuuude ... whaddaya WANT from us?
I'm writing this on Saturday, with a deep, shady hangover from our Issue 7 release party. Were YOU there? I drank a little too much. It was hard not to, because I got into a very exciting discussion with our Advisory Board member Sonny Le (whom I keep trying to get onto our blog). Sonny's one of those eyes-everywhere-ears-everywhere community consultants who has the breadth to see the big picture, and the detail-orientedness to have a thousand peculiar stories at his fingertips. He's a Hyphen type of guy.
In the space of an hour, Sonny came up with enough stories to fill the next two issues of Hyphen. It wouldn't kill us to have a few more Sonny Le's out there. So I'm opening up this space to hear about what you folks wanna know, the kinds of stories you wanna hear. Or the kinds of stories you wanna tell us, or that you want us to tell for you. How've we been doing? What do you think of our redesign? What stories have we been telling that you're glad you got to hear? What are we doing wrong? What's still missing? What terrific thing is happening in your neck of Asian American that we should know about? What have you got for us?
As we speak, Issue 7 is winging its way along the postal routes to our subscribers and the lovely indie newsstands that carry us. If you don't have a subscription, now's a great time! And check in here to help us shape your magazine!
Posted by claire at 4:24 PM | Comments (7)
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