So for Halloween this year, maybe I should dress up as white person. I mean, white people seem to think it’s OK to dress up as Asian, Native American and Middle Eastern people.
The costumes above are from an online store that even has categories for the ethnic flavoring of your choice, like “”Spanish/Mexican”. Alas, they are unable to help with my costume. There is no “White” category.
Posted by Melissa at 4:29 PM | Comments (3)
We’re in the final stages of putting Issue 13 to bed, so I’ve been in super-editing and proofing mode. In two of our stories about Asian American literature, Amy Tan’s name comes up.
The girls from the Pan-Asian Repertory Theater's revival of The Joy Luck Club, from Broadwayworld.com
This seems to happen a lot – collective bashing of Amy Tan by progressive, intellectual Asian Americans for creating that Chinatown-centric, exotified genre of writing that publishers can’t look beyond.
I remember hungrily reading the thick paperback version of The Joy Luck Club when I was in 9th grade, but more visceral was going to see the movie when I was 15 years old with my mother. I remember crying boatloads of tears, feeling some kind of release at seeing the portrayals of difficult mother-daughter relationships. I was in the throes of teen angst back then and my mother and I didn’t see eye-to-eye on anything, the cultural gap between us was a giant chasm. It was years before I understood this seperation more clearly and we worked through it – but I remember, for a moment, in that theater that we felt connected. Later, my hip, intellectual uncle asked me what I thought of the movie and I told him how much I loved it. He chided me for falling for such crap and I remember defending it by saying he didn’t understand because he was a man. Sigh, how far I’ve come from those hungry days of grasping at any kind of representation.
But even though I’ve grown a lot in the past 16 years since I first read the book, the story refuses to go away. The Pan-Asian Repertory Theater in New York City is doing a revival of Susan Kim’s stage adaptation of The Joy Luck Club.
I don't know a whole heck of a lot about theater, but I know revivals come with a lot of thought. So, why this play at this time? Is there a certain political or cultural resonance? Last year, the theater showed a one-act by Philip Kan Gotanda about a troubled marriage between a Japanese American woman and her African American husband and Tea, about five Japanese American war brides who move to Kansas. PLus a revival of the Vincent Chin-inspired Carry the Tiger to the Mountain, which actually sounds really awesome.
Anyway, in this interview, the young, Asian American actresses talk about the universality of the play and the strong characters they get to play, but I'm still not sold. Shouldn't big Asian American theater companies be pushing for new, interesting work? Or is this a ploy to get mainstream America to come to the play?
Posted by neela at 11:20 AM | Comments (5)
Big ups to Cielo Oreste, Hyphen's very own art director, for her recent collaboration with Timbuk2.
Posted by Seng at 10:39 PM | Comments (2)
On Wednesday the Senate voted to kill debate of the Dream Act on the Senate floor. The Dream Act would grant provisional legal status to undocumented high school students and enable them to attend college.
Motivating the Dream Act is the belief that undocumented students, many of whom were brought here as children, should not be punished for their parents' mistakes. The Act was basically the warmest, fuzziest and most digestible piece of immigration legislation that could have been proposed, and the Senate couldn't even muster up enough votes to get the Senate to even debate the Dream Act. The White House- the same one that vetoed the children's healthcare bill- expressed its trademark compassion and came out against the Dream Act right before the Senate voted.
According to the Korean Resource Center, "Over 65,000 undocumented immigrant students graduate from high school each year. One in five Korean Americans are undocumented, with a large percentage under the age of 18. These students consider the U.S. to be their home."
Many immigrants' rights advocates and undocumented students are angry and saddened by the death of the Dream Act in the Senate. "The Dream Act would benefit thousands of innocent students, including many Asian Americans," said Karin Wang, Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Vice President of Programs. Congressman Mike Honda from California, Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, expressed similar disappointment at the Senate's vote.
The 52-44 majority vote was so close, considering that only 60 votes were needed! Four Senators who were known to support the Dream Act dropped the ball for some reason and didn't show up to vote. (Those calls to Senators can really make a difference people!) Given how close the vote was, there might be some small chance the bill could be brought back to life this year, but don't hold your breath. For undocumented students, any dreams of bettering their lives through college have been deferred AGAIN. Now they have to wait and wait some more for change....
Related posts:
Dream Act
Immigration Reform
Posted by carmina at 12:20 AM | Comments (1)
Finishing the Game: actors Roger Fan, Dustin Nguyen, director Justin Lin, producer Julie Asato
Thanks to everyone who made it out last Friday to Bruce or Bust, Hyphen's opening night party for Finishing the Game. The place was packed! We were excited to help promote independent Asian American films and toss a few back at the same time. Double whammy.
Photos are now up at Vaindeer.com and Mochamonkey.
[quick vanity moment here: why do I always end up with my eyes closed or making a crazy face in these things?]
Justin Lin and Evan Leong plead with Sung Kang for his firstborn child. photo: Mochamonkey.
Far*east Movement
The only hitch was the damn fire alarm that interrupted the Far*east Movement's set. And, unfortunately, they had to take off for a benefit they were playing in Sacramento. We discovered shortly that it was a prankster at a different party in the same building--but, of course, it affected everything. I guess that means people can crash a party without even stepping foot inside. It really is too bad, because the Far*east Movement is insane!
Since they only got about two-and-a-half songs worth of glory at our party, I thought I'd let them have a little virtual moment. If you can, you should try to check them out live. They deliver a tight performance.
Trawling around on the internet, I found this earlier Far*east Movement video for "Holla Hey." It's, um... adorable.
Posted by rebecca at 2:11 PM | Comments (2)
As the resident "America's Next Top Model" expert here at Hyphen, I was watching the CW last night and saw a commercial for "Aliens in America."
The show is about a socially-awkward teenage boy in Wisconsin trying to survive high school. To help improve her son's popularity, the mom decides to get an exchange student. But the exchange student turns out to be not who they expect: a Muslim teenager from a small village in Pakistan. Hilarity ensues.
The commercial seemed OK, but as with any portrayals of Asians on TV, I am always a little afraid at first. I haven't seen the show yet, so I can't say whether my fears are justified. Has anyone seen it yet? Does anyone know anything about Adhir Kalyan, the actor playing exchange student Raja Musharaff?
Here's Sepia Mutiny's thoughts on the first episode.
Posted by Melissa at 12:13 PM | Comments (2)
I just got a press release about the book Mythix I: Revelation by 12-year-old Justin Tse.
Here's what it says:
HONG KONG (Oct. 23, 2007) – Mythix I: Revelation by twelve-year-old Justin Tse is a wildly imaginative tale about three friends who discover that the invented game they have been playing is now quite real.
Sometimes, there is a thin line between make-believe and reality, and in twelve-year-old Justin Tse’s extraordinary novel for kids, Mythix I: Revelation, that line is crossed with dramatic flair. This is the story of a group of kids who find themselves thrust into an enchanted and war-torn world of Mythix. Suddenly gifted with magical powers, the friends soon discover that it’s up to them to bring peace back to Mythix. But can they succeed? Or will they all be destroyed trying?
Gorgeously written and power-packed with colorful characters, Mythix is set in both an imaginary world and Dallas, Texas, where his family is from and where the rest of his extended family resides. Originally written to entertain Tse’s family, Mythix is now the first book in an ongoing series. Fast-paced, fun, and full of adventure, Mythix announces the debut of a fantastic new fantasy series and a talented new writer.
In Issue 12, Mimi Lok reviewed Swordbird, which was penned by Nancy Yi Fan when she was 12 years old. Then there's this seven-year-old literary giant and humanitarian.
I have a renewed interest in the diversification of Asian American child prodigies, which you'll see in the next issue of Hyphen, but I think the young writers get under my skin since I am a writer myself. At least a little kid doctor has to know what they are doing, while a little kid writer seems a bit of a novelty. But I guess we'll see. We wouldn't want any more kids to go down the path of this young upstart.
Posted by neela at 9:04 AM | Comments (0)
I have a theory that if I went through a database of American males under the age of 40 and, looking only at their first names, sorted out the Gilberts and Godfreys, the Howards and Hamiltons, they'd all be Asian. Pretty much. And actually, most of them would be Chinese: the sons of Chinese immigrants. If they're sporting oddly musty "Anglo" names that recall old white men in tweedy suits, I'm willing to bet.
So I'm appealing to you today to help me understand this phenomenon of Asian American culture. Most of us who are 1st or 2nd generation arrivals have some form of the Name Drama-Trauma story to tell. (There's even been a book and movie about it recently; thanks, Jhumpa Lahiri!) I've been collecting these stories, informally, in my head, and have identified a couple genres:
1) The Mortimer Adler. Names like the list above, saddling the bearer with a lifetime of dorkish stereotypes to defy--or fulfill. If you know culturally unsavvy parents who proudly picked a stinker, tell me: where did they find it? They can't have been casually inspired by the beauty of a handle like "Egbert" in the late 20th century; they had to go looking for it, right? I'd like to know the proud story behind these names: the selection process, the hopes for the first-born son...
Or, if you've just got a great example to share, do tell. Here's my favorite: I have a friend who goes by Jeff. Usually, you might assume this is short for Jeffrey, but since he's 2nd generation Chinese American, you'd be wrong. It's short for Jefferson. More on Jeff later.
2) The Jennifers. Interestingly, the equal-and-opposite phenomenon for AsAm girls' names does not seem to be a proliferation of Elsbeths or Ethels. No, we just get Jennifers. Lots of them. Admittedly, the name Jennifer seems to have been a passion that united people across the land in the last few decades, not just the Asians. In the '70s it was the #1 girls' name in the country, peaking at over 17,000 parts per million (or 1.7% of the baby girl population). In the '80s it dropped to the #2 spot, and finally reached saturation point at the turn of the millennium. See for yourself (<-- I love this site).
So in this case, Asian parents seem to have gone with the people's choice of the moment--but then, why the gender difference in the popular vs. the arcane? I have my suspicions, but I'd like to hear from some of the Jennifers. (Graces, you can chime in, too.)
3) "It's not short for anything." These are the kids who are legally named by other people's nicknames. So when you call the kid Davey, it's not short for David; it's not short for anything, it's his name. And on the birth certificate, it may well be spelled "Davvy" but pronounced "Davey." Not a hugely common scenario, I'll admit, but who knows--all you Davvys out there, holla at me.
And now, back to Jeff. Whose middle initial is not a middle initial. His parents looked around and thought, "These Americans seem to have letters between their first and last names. How about O?" So his middle name is O.
4) "Thank god we're here; now go to school." These are names given in honor and gratitude for the good fortune of having successfully arrived in the United States, and to inform the baby boy in no uncertain terms what his academic goals will be. Like the young man named Stanford who went to Stanford.
When I was at UCB, I did tae kwon do, and on our team we had a Vietnamese guy named California, and a Chinese guy named Berkeley. This became particularly delightful when they sparred during a tournament, and the cheering (from opposite sides of the ring, with lots of giggling) went something like this: "Go Cal!" "Go Berkeley!" "Go Cal!" ...
5) "Oh no, you didn't." This is kind of a grab-bag category. In which I'd place stories like this:
Also at Cal, I met a young man born in the year of the dragon, whose parents wanted to name him something auspicious. Looking around, they perceived that Americans tend to tack these "ee" sounds to the ends of boys' names, like "Tommy" or "Bobby." To make their son's auspicious name user-friendly, they dubbed him Dragony.
And then there's my uncle. Who's just named his first-born son Nixon.
6) And finally, there are the names in the original tongue, that just make a person's life too hard. In Vietnamese, "Bich" and "Dung" come to mind. Actually pronounced "bic" and "zung," kinda, but that doesn't help in elementary school. Or in making restaurant reservations, for that matter.
So what's your name, dear reader, how did you get it, and how do you cope? What are your stories, and what are your theories? I know you've got 'em, and you've been dying to tell. Give 'em here.
p.s. Someone with a much better memory than mine pointed out that we've blogged on the topic of names before. Last year. In fact, before Melissa wrote this earlier piece, she and I gabbed about it (contributing to greater, though still fairly slight, overlap), and when it was posted, I even read and commented on the piece. And then I clean forgot.
Wait, what was I saying? I don't remember.
Posted by erin at 12:56 PM | Comments (7)
Spoken word poets Bao Phi and Giles Li and emcee Kiwi kicked off their Beats, Rhymes and Rice tour last week to challenge “assumptions of Asian manhood in America.”
“A lot of people suggest, and have advised, that trying to promote anything involving Asian American men, in any capacity, is bound to failure. We’re through with such pessimism – we’re leaving, on a jet plane, for a microphone near you,” Bao Phi wrote in an email announcing the launch of the tour.
More Asian Americans are turning to hip-hop and spoken word as a means of self expression, so it’s only right that three of the most vocal and active artists from both of these art forms embark on this journey. Each of the artist-activists hail from different regions where they’ve gained loyal support for their art and work in their communities – Phi from Minneapolis, Li from Boston and Kiwi representing L.A. and the Bay Area.
The Beats, Rhymes and Rice tour will weave spoken word and hip-hop throughout their set. I haven’t seen Bao Phi or Giles Li live but if former Native Gunner Kiwi endorses them, then they must be dope; he’s one of the most humble, positive and revolutionary emcees, getting crowds hyped off his energetic performance.
But so far, the trio has only booked two dates, rocking a show at the University of Central Florida on October 17, with the next confirmed date set for November 8 at Northwestern University in Boston.
Though they're building a buzz and getting strong support, if they're to truly alter assumptions of Asian American men, they're gonna need to rock as many venues across the country as they can. Let's hope they do.
For more info about the tour and booking info, visit:
www.baophi.com
www.myspace.com/kiwi
www.gilesli.com
Posted by Zoneil at 4:21 PM | Comments (5)
Lance Hahn, singer and guitarist for prolific punk rock band J Church and general icon of the American punk rock scene, died Sunday after complications relating to dialysis.
The one and only time I saw J Church was in Minneapolis, I guess it was 1995 or so. A friend of mine kept yelling out "Ito! Ito!" because with facial hair he was ringer for Lance Ito, the judge presiding over the O.J. Simpson case. Sure, maybe there were only two Asian Americans in the whole club, but and I have to admit that I had the same thought before he voiced it. And I thought it was pretty funny.
Since I moved to the Bay Area, it's always made my day a little brighter when I saw that Muni train ride past the Safeway near the Castro. There will be tinge of sadness now, but the world was made better for the music was brought about in its name.
RIP Lance.
Posted by Seng at 1:01 AM | Comments (2)
Hyphen's been writing tidbits about Bobby Jindal for a while, whether it's in our "Heroes/Villains" chart back in Issue 8 or blogging about him.
He recently won the governor's seat in Louisiana. Not only is he the youngest elected governor in the country at 36, he's also the first Indian American governor ever in the U.S. and the first nonwhite governor of Louisiana since Reconstruction.
Jindal took 53 percent of the votes, beating out 11 opponents.
He's also Republican. And a born-again Christian (he's Catholic).
I wonder how folks in the Indian American community view him, since I would guess many are not Republican, nor Catholic.
It's interesting to see how the initial stories are framed: First nonwhite governor in the state; youngest governor; son of immigrants; pursuing the American Dream; etc.
His politics are strictly conservative - he's against abortion and supports the war, among other things.
And Louisiana doesn't have a huge Indian American population - does that put him even more at odds with the rest of the country's larger South Asian population?
Posted by momo at 8:53 AM | Comments (0)
Who says Asian women can't drive?
Not guitarist/facial hair devotee Dave Navarro, who wrote about Verena Mei, the first Asian American woman and first import model to earn a NHRA Pro Drag Racing License, on his blog (linked from Gawker). Seems like his Internet radio show is one of her sponsors. Check out her site here.
Eat that, Devon Aoki. Too fast too furious indeed.
Posted by lisamac at 2:30 PM | Comments (0)
Filipino Americans have been up in arms lately over the highly publicized Desperate Wives bashing of Filipino doctors, as Harry reported, and also about the way Frannie Richards, 33, was mistreated by employees at a Chicago H&M.
Richards was entering the department store to shop last month when she allegedly overheard a male employee say “Mail order bride,” and then giggled with another co-worker. According to Quon, after some time, she asked where she could try on some clothes, while the same employee said, “Can’t you read? It says fitting room,” in a mocking way. Walking away, she heard the employee say, “Ching. Ching. Chong.” In the lawsuit, Richards claims that H&M created a hostile work environment with harassment based on race, national origin, martial status and sex.
Now, the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) is filing a $500M class suit against ABC Network, saying the apology they offered was not enough.
Honestly, when I first heard about the lawsuit, I thought it was somewhat ridiculous. I’ve actually never watched Desperate Housewives, but I gather it is about a group of wealthy, white women who live in the cultural isolation that most rich white women in America live in. In that context, the character’s offensive comment makes sense to me. It seems like something that character would say and it resonates with the experience I – and my community – have had in our interactions with White America. In doing some research, I gathered in the storyline that it wasn’t just Hatcher’s comment but the whole set up of the Filipino doctor’s office as being subpar.
One Filipino lawyer said the class suit is needed to protect the reputation and credibility of Filipino doctors.?“The reputations of doctors are affected, their income is affected and this is a major damage inflicted not only on them but also the universities in the Philippines," said lawyer Ted Laguatan.
Am I being naïve because I think that this statement is extreme? The NaFFAA is arguing that because this statement is being made in a vacuum of no Filipino American representation on television, it is especially damaging. I agree with this, but is a lawsuit the way to fix this?
And I can’t help but think about the art of writing fiction. Other storylines in the fantasy universe of Desperate Housewives include a woman faking her pregnancy, or an African American family who hid their mentally disabled son in the basement, not to mention egregious murdering and adultery. In this skewed world, doesn’t Hatcher’s over-dramatized, ridiculous experience make some kind of (non)sense?
And, in terms of organizing, how much do you think the lawyers leading the $500M litigation are costing the Filipino American community organizations? Could this money be used instead to deal with larger problems in the Filipino American/Asian American community? Filipinos are supposedly the fourth largest group of undocumented immigrants in the United States. How can the wealthier, more influential members of the Asian American community – the doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc., who came to this country in the 1970s as professionals – help those who are coming now and are suffering under stringent anti-immigrant laws. Now, I could get behind a $500M lawsuit taking on the Department of Homeland Security.
Posted by neela at 12:33 PM | Comments (6)
It looks like John Cho of Harold and Kumar fame is going to be the new Sulu for the next Star Trek movie, according to multiple news stories and StarTrek.com.
Yes, I am a Star Trek fan. I'll admit it publicly (stop giggling). So, I was curious as to who would be chosen to take the part George Takei originated. I would imagine every male Asian actor in Hollywood was fishing for the part.
The plot for the movie is a closely held secret, but it will be a prequel revolving around the early days of Kirk, Spock and the rest of the Star Trek crew.
I hope they portray the early Capt. Sulu as a strong leader he eventually becomes rather than the more meek, sidekick-type of Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) from the Star Trek: Voyager TV series.
Look for Cho as well in Harold and Kumar 2, maybe my second most anticipated movie of 2008.
Posted by harry at 11:32 AM | Comments (5)
A couple of weeks ago I attended the Zine and Comic Expo at APAture, which is always a treasure trove of finds.
I walked away with sketchbooks, comics, beautiful tiny art books and magnets. I just wanted to call attention to some of the artists I encountered there.
Esy Casey
This woman was AMAZING. She was selling all kinds of tiny, little books that I fell in absolute love with. Especially one called “Lost: Blue Parakeet” and another one in a matchbox called “Live Asian Girls.”
Here's an example of her illustration:
Mari Nomi
I was the very first person to purchase Kiss and Tell, Mari Nomi’s latest comic, which is now in the prized position of first-string bathroom reading. (I hope that’s not insulting because I dig it.) Her style reminds me of Marjane Satrapi, but in Northern California instead of Iran/France.
Check these ladies out!
Posted by neela at 1:30 PM | Comments (0)
Vancouver Chinatown
I was in Vancouver's Chinatown last weekend, and I wondered: do all Chinatowns have a public cleanliness problem?
San Francisco does, as does Boston, DC, and London, as far as I can tell. New York City's Chinatown takes the grand-ol'-seething-cesspool-of-stink cake for sure.
So what's the problem? Is it city oversight? Is it the sheer number of shoppers looking for those $0.89 bags of bok choy or Haw Flakes every day? Or is related the the 'broken windows' theory - if you see a piece of trash on the ground, are you less likely to want to keep the place clean yourself?
This is particularly baffling considering that Chinese families tend to keep their houses crazy clean (see: leaving your shoes by the door) and are particularly fastidious about cleaning their chopsticks, plates, and cups before eating at restaurants. I've also heard that Asians tend to like "clean" smells when it comes to perfumes and scents, more than other races.
So what gives? Any ideas?
And, related: do Asian Americans feel obligated to visit Chinatowns when traveling?
Posted by lisamac at 1:51 PM | Comments (8)
The man who revolutionized running in the kitchen won the third season of Top Chef last night.
Hung Huynh, a 29-year-old, Vietnamese American from Massachusetts who had been cooking in Vegas, was not the audience favorite but won over the judges with his Asian-themed final meal.
I was no big fan of Hung, but I am really interested in how well Asian Americans do on these hip Bravo reality shows. Hung and Chloe Dao are representing for the Vietnamese Americans. When are the South Asian chefs/designers going to make a splash?
Were people rooting for Hung?
Posted by neela at 3:47 PM | Comments (6)
Swing by the Asian Art museum tonight and check out this month's MATCHA, the museum’s monthly Thursday evening mixer.
Heaven & Earth
Thursday, October 4 from 5 pm to 9 pm
FREE with museum admission ($5 after 5 pm)
Be part of a Gallery Sessions Radio Show live recording, hosted by ADORNO Ensemble and featuring chamber music performed by contemporary Asian composers. View Jupiter and its moons with handmade telescopes, learn about cosmology through Asian art, stroll through the galleries, and mingle over cocktails on this celestial evening.
Posted by lanlian at 10:21 AM | Comments (0)
There's a petition started that demands an apology for a derogatory remark about the Philippines made in last week's episode of Desperate Housewives.
In the show, Susan was told by her gynecologist that she might be hitting menopause, when she replied, "Can I just check those diplomas because I just want to make sure that they are not from some med school in the Philippines."
OK, I admit it, I watch the show. When I heard the line in question, I did take notice. It made me wonder if medical schools in the Philippines had a bad rep. If they do, I wasn't aware of it. As the petition points out, there are a lot of immigrant Filipino Americans working in the medical profession so they must be doing something right.
I'm not defending them, but the writers seemed to have chosen a country almost at random to pick on. Probably any country they used would have offended someone. More than 24,000 signed the petition as of this posting.
Given that, I wonder if there had been some or more Filipino Americans or Asian Americans in the cast or writing staff of Desperate Housewives, would that line have made it?
And it also made me do a mental count of Asian Americans on TV. Masi Oka of Heroes is everywhere these days (cover of Entertainment Weekly, promos for Sunday Night Football), and there's Sandra Oh of Grey's Anatomy and Daniel Dae Kim and Yunjin Kim on Lost. Continuing a tradition of Asian spotting on the Hyphen blog, here's two from new shows this fall. If you know of more, please post in the comments.
Moon Bloodgood -- Journeyman: Her last show, Day Break, also had a time travel theme, and it didn't stick. Time travel always creates plot and logic problems, often confusing the viewer. Plus, how implausible is it for a newspaper reporter to live in what looks like a huge multi-million dollar house in San Francisco. This show may travel forward to cancellation quickly.Will Yun Lee -- Bionic Woman: Lee plays one of the bionic team members who rebuilds Jamie Summers in this remake of the 1970s show. I missed the premiere but I'm looking forward to seeing this show.
I just instinctively take notice when I see someone who looks Asian on mainstream TV. I'm sure many Asian Americans do, probably because there are still very few images of themselves on the tube. As Oka says, things are slowly changing, but do we pay too much attention to this? I ask because I was part of a conversation recently about how some people spend too much time "navel gazing" about identity and not tackling real issues like poverty or education or other harder issues. I've certainly done my fair share of navel gazing, and Asian spotting on TV is part of this, yet I still do it. Do you?
Posted by harry at 9:11 AM | Comments (21)
The Houston Chronicle reports about the flourishing of Indian American newspapers in Houston, which has a huge South Asian population.
In fact, there are three Indian American newspapers based in Houston, along with other smaller magazines. The crazy, yet typical, thing is that the guys who run the three competing newspapers all used to work together. K.L. Sindwani started the first paper back in 1982 – today it is called the Indo-American News.
By 1986, Sindwani had taken on three partners, hired a managing editor and turned his monthly paper into a weekly. The paper also published a 150-page directory of local and Texas-based South Asian businesses. Partner Koshy Thomas, originally from Kerala, India, left the paper shortly after to start his own because, he said, he thought he deserved a bigger share of the profits. Today, Thomas' paper, Voice of Asia, prints 15,000 to 20,000 copies a week, he said. And last year, Thomas, 73, launched the Asian Business Journal to cover the entire Asian business community in Houston, including Chinese, Vietnamese and other east or southeast Asian businesses. Nine years after Thomas left, Rajeev Gadgil left his post as managing editor of Indo-American News and joined a friend to publish the India Herald. “We thought we could do on our own what we were doing for others," said Gadgil, 56, who is originally from Hyderabad, India. "Ten or 15 years ago, it seemed like there would be no future for a newspaper, but with this influx in immigration, the market remains pretty strong for the desi media." The India Herald distributes about 2,000 copies a week.
The inability of first-generation Indian men (and women) to work together was something I observed from my childhood when any and all Indian community groups would self-destruct after a few years, only for a new group to pop up. Then there would be the “Bengali Association of Greater [Insert Metropolitan Area here],” the “[Greater Metropolitan Area] Bengali Group, and “Bengali Americans of [Greater Metropolitan Area.]” When I moved to the Bay Area, there were three separate Indian Independence Day celebrations because of in-fighting.
Anyway, I think this article hits on the trend we reported on in the Transit Issue about the growth of South Asian media: “Desi Media’s Next Generation." We spoke to the folks over at Ego Magazine, who aren’t doing things a bit differently than the guys in Houston.
Speaking of desi media, I just got an email from these guys today. I’m not sure what exactly they mean by “progressive Indian American lifestyle,” but that’s not the feel the magazine has to me. Maybe “progressive” is a synonym for “wealthy?”
Posted by neela at 5:36 PM | Comments (1)
Lately I've been thinking a lot about the role of grandparents -- and also other extended family -- in raising a child.
Little me with a silly face and my nainai in Taiwan, c. 1980s.
My paternal grandparents played a huge role in my childhood. I used to spend every summer for 2 + months in Taipei with them until I was almost in middle school. That's how I learned most of my Mandarin, Chinese brush painting, and how to haggle with street vendors.
Aside from those important lessons, I got to spend time with my nainai and yeye. I was super close to them. As they got older, my parents moved them from their 2 bedroom apartment in central Taipei to Rowland Heights, a suburb in Los Angeles County that was just beginning to boom with Asian Americans and Taiwanese Americans specifically (a "new" Monterey Park, if you will).
I remember my nainai would make food for me after I got home from school. While she didn't speak English, she would answer the phone whenever we were out -- this was before cell phones -- and 9 times out of 10 the call was for me. She would talk to my friends in Chinese. She always had a friendly smile for my friends when they came over. And even if they didn't understand her Chinese, they would smile back. I got to see my grandparents grow old. They lived with us until they both passed away.
I guess I feel very lucky and blessed to have been so close to at least one set of my grandparents. They played such a huge role in my upbringing that I often associate childhood memories with them. And needless to say, when they both passed I was very sad. I still think about them a lot.
What I am getting to in this post is that nowadays, I noticed a lot of my friends and peers live far, far away from their own parents. And now that I am a new mom, I realized that my child is going to be raised very differently from how I was raised.
My parents still live in LA county. While I am in Oakland, only (plus or minus) an hour's plane ride away, it's not the same as being in the same house, town or general area. Papa T's mom lives even further, in the Midwest.
I know I am already blessed to have my parents this close by. But juggling a schedule with a very busy, activist papa, and myself (also very busy), is very hard. You have to choose between dragging poor little T around to every event or friend's social gathering, or one of us staying at home with him. Oftentimes it means we have to skip out on a lot of things.
I have to always remember that living away from my parents is something I chose. It seems that so many in our generation have chosen to move far away from their parents, whether it's to go off to college or for work. Some of us continue bouncing around and globe-trotting. Some of us have settled down, but far away from our parents and where we grew up. We were raised believing that we can get a good college education, do what we want, and live where we want. Many of us, like myself, planted roots in the same general area where I went to school. So here I am.
And I do love living here. I don't think I would be "me" if it weren't for the Bay Area. I feel very free to do what I want, to pursue my interests and passions. That's a blessing.
But more and more now, I am longing for the good old tradition of living with or at least close to extended family. I'm not saying that I'm going to move -- but I am definitely starting to see the benefits of have a bunch of people in one house or street and helping each other out, especially with childcare.
Sometimes I feel like raising a child - though I have a wonderful partner and awesome friends who have all helped out already -- "alone" or without extended family is pretty tough. It's also new, vastly different from my own parents' experiences. I often envy the friends I have who have kids and live close to their parents. But to move either way would be a compromise in who we are and where we want to be. So for now, we've chosen to stay put.
I also feel like instead of relying on family for help, we have to reach out to our friends more. It's not the same, though, because while we have some super-duper friends, they are all busy and have their own lives and crazy schedules. When new things come up -- trust me, there's always something on my mind when it comes to the little one -- I turn to our nanny, Kaiser (or more like the advice nurse line), La Leche League mother-to-mother forum, friends who have babies/kids, and books. Lots and lots of books. We are literally raising our baby "by the book," or pretty darn close to it. It's like I have to cram sometimes to read the "What to Expect.." book -- when T turns six months, I won't know what to expect in the next month until I read the chapter on Month 7!
And when I watched Sicko -- well, it literally made me feel ill. I cried. I saw that in France they not only have free healthcare, but they have low cost childcare. And hello, everyone gets lots of time off from work! Paid time off. And on top of that, they have someone come over and do your laundry after the new baby arrives. Trust me, that is a big plus. We were doing laundry every other day for the first couple of months.
But we don't get those benefits here, which I think compounds the stress and need for help with childcare.
So here's are some questions for you all:
How many of you live far -- or even, far, far -- away from your parents? How many of you would move closer to your parents -- or even have your parents move closer to you -- as you are considering starting your own family? How many of you lucky parents, or parents-to-be, live close to at least one set of parents?!
Posted by momo at 9:00 AM | Comments (4)
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