Hyphen Blog

Where are We? California Redistricting Sorely Lacking AsAms

2010-02-08T12:16:27Z

Always we carp about not being represented. Where are all the Asian Americans on primetime TV? Why so few in the higher corporate executive tiers? Where are all the positions for us in government?

Well? The lines are being drawn. Where are we?

California voters passed a proposition a few years ago demanding a say in how voting districts are drawn, because the demographic and party distribution across districts can make it possible for minority voters to make an impact on statewide elections -- or dilute their ballots into statistical insignificance.

Now the commission we created is looking for members, and Asian Americans are offering our civic energies at an anemic 6% of the applicant pool. We are 15% of the state population. We are under-representing ourselves.

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Or, we can keep whining about Dragonball and 21, and not throw our hats in this ring, but at some point it gets a little embarrassing.

This commission may make some important changes. But regardless, the mere fact of our putting our names in the hat changes the narrative of Asian Americans as California citizens. Do it -- or hell, make your significant other do it, if you're convinced you can't. They don't need all of us. But we need us.

We have until February 12th -- only [4]* more days! -- to apply here: http://www.wedrawthelines.ca.gov/ Real easy. It'll take under 5 minutes.

And those of you reading this who don't live in California, don't think you're off the hook. Go ... volunteer for something.

Of course, if you have already, thank you.

*updated and reposted for countdown and continuing visibility.

Please Welcome the Asian American Literary Review

2010-02-07T21:55:15Z

Exciting news everyone: A new literary journal dedicated to Asian American writing -- the Asian American Literary Review (AALR) -- is mere months away from hitting the stands. As a writer, I think that the pulse of American writing is found in its literary journals. Sure, they may not be as sexy as The New Yorker, or even get top billing at bookstores, as Stephen King wrote about a few years ago, but it's the place where you find the real writing, both from established writers and emerging ones. Even in this hyper-connected world, journals continue to be a place where literary arts can be both showcased and discussed with abandon. My very first creative publication was in the pages of the Asian Pacific American Journal, the literary journal of the Asian American Writers' Workshop, back in 1998. I remember how exciting it was to have my poem be a part of this collection of writings from Asian Americans all over the country. Now, the AALR hopes to create these kind of creative connections for a whole new era of Asian American literature.

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Hyphen: Tell me about the origins of the AALR.

Lawrence-Minh Bui Davis: We really wanted to fill a void. Asian American journals -- like the Asian Pacific American Journal or the Asian American Renaissance journal -- were no longer in publication. But the idea also came out of my own MFA experience. I was down in San Diego. I wasn't in San Francisco or New York and those places seem to be the regional hubs, where you can find a mentor or other Asian American writers and talk to them or work with them. If you weren't in those places, you were cut off from the possibilities of those communities. I wanted to do something that would offer that sense of community to younger writers and older writers, and hopefully bridge some of those separate regional communities.

What have you noticed about Asian American writing through this process?

I think the first thing that I noticed when I started querying people about being part of our advisory board, was the tremendous enthusiasm and support that we got back. People wanted to be a part of it and people wanted to see it happen. Once we got onto Facebook, there were hundreds of people writing and commenting about the need there is for a journal like the AALR or asking when they can submit work. I was shocked at how much support and how excited really established writers were that this was happenning. I'm talking about long-established writers who don't have a lot to gain by running work in a fledgling journal. It was very heartening and a sign that it was the right time for this to happen.

What will we be seeing in the first few issues of the journal?

Like most literary journals, we are going to run poetry, fiction, interviews and book reviews -- but also translations and maybe some graphic novel excerpts in the future. We really wanted to include a forum, where we pose a question that is not necessarily literary in nature and ask our advisory board members to have a dialogue. This has turned out really well in our first issue, where we asked about the struggles Asian American literary journals, and Asian American literature in general, faces today. This dialogue idea is something we can really hang our hats on. We're trying to showcase the best work that's out there. We also want to have a role where we can have a discussion and dialogue that maybe takes place when people are sitting around a dinner table or at a conference, which doesn't really make it to the page as much as it should.

The first two issues also feature poetry by Cathy Song, Oliver de la Paz, Nick Carbo, and Kimiko Hahn; prose by Ed Lin, David Mura and Brian Ascalon Roley; a video by Kip Fulbeck and much more.

Jeremy Lin a Finalist for Bob Cousy Award

2010-02-05T13:08:31Z

Jeremy Lin has been named one of eleven finalists for the Bob Cousy Award (named after the Boston Celtics legend), given to the best college basketball point guard. The selection criteria emphasizes "leadership, team work, success, and fundamentals," which I believe describes Jeremy Lin to a T, with his old-school style play leading Harvard to one of its best seasons in history.

There is actually a fan voting component, where the top vote-getter will receive one vote by the Hall of Fame selection committee. You can vote here. Voting begins now until March 5th. The winner will be presented with the award during Final Four weekend of the upcoming March Madness tournament. Given his relative obscurity playing in the Ivy League, it would be nice if Lin got a little more national attention from college fans, and consideration from pro teams.

]]> In other related news, Jeremy Lin was recently interviewed by NPR (transcript as well as audio interview). He was also named one of thirty-one finalists for the John Wooden Award, given to the best college basketball player in the country. And, he was recently covered in a long article by Sports Illustrated. The SI article mentioned how barely any of the college basketball programs even gave Lin a look coming out of high school, but noted that a former UCLA coach admitted, "In hindsight... he'd probably be starting for UCLA at point guard." Try that for a massive understatement, given that Lin is among the few finalists for best college point guard and best overall player, out of hundreds of colleges that make up the NCAA.

Here are some previous Hyphen posts about him, chronicling the attention he's been getting:

Basketball Player Extraordinaire, Pioneer

Jeremy Lin Story Gaining Nationwide Interest

Trend (TV) Setters: Indian-American Sitcoms Join Major Network Lineup

2010-02-05T05:57:36Z

One year after feel-good Bollywood-esque flick Slumdog Millionaire took the cinematic stage, sweeping the American awards circuit with eight Oscar wins, the Mumbai momentum keeps on rolling. From Bollywood big screen to situation sitcom small screen (that's a mouthful) -- TV's latest additions to what one historian refers to as the "ethnic comedy mix" features Asian American leads. Two new comedies -- Fox's Nevermind Nirvana and NBC's Outsourced -- represent the latest in culturally inclusive primetime: both are ensemble shows centered around Indians and Indian Americans.

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Enter the newest wave of situation sitcoms: Indian-themed comedies. Both Nirvana and Outsourced, which were tabled after their initial pitches in 2004 and 2007, respectively, are being revived for some major network play.

Nirvana, written, directed and produced by Canadian-born Indian American Ajay Sahgal, will resemble the highly successful Everybody Loves Raymond and focus on the day-to-day lives of two grown Indian American sons living with their immigrant parents.

Outsourced will take a cultural twist on the single-camera office comedy and tell the story of an American manager who is sent to India to manage a call center. Part Lost in Translation, part The Last Samurai, the series is rooted in cultural misunderstandings and commentary on American culture.

A dramatic 2007 film rendition of Outsourced followed a similar premise, but with a very different vibe.

So what does the emergence of two sitcoms boasting Indian American leads mean, exactly?

A lot of jogging -- that is, a few steps forward and hopefully not a whole lot back.

Following in the footsteps of other cultural comedies like George Lopez and CBS's short-lived My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Nirvana and Outsourced are breaking through barriers to expose viewers to the kinds of cultural groups they might not otherwise understand or know about. Normalizing the experience, removing the exotic mystique, is something to be happy for.

The fear, though, is that in stereotyping the Indian American experience -- or in the case of Outsourced, the Indian experience -- the shows run the risk of alienating more mainstream audiences altogether.

"An American audience is very American-centered and not interested in other cultures for their own sakes," TV historian Tim Brooks told The Hollywood Reporter. "For a show such as these to succeed, it can't be just about an (exotic) culture. Americans want things that they can relate to."

"Hollywood, and TV in particular, always tries to jump on a trend."

It'll be interesting to see how much of a Stickiness Factor (cue Malcolm Gladwell) the two shows have, and whether the trend is one that's here to stay.

Small Press: Lantern Review

2010-02-04T17:56:10Z

Hello all, long time no blog!

I wanted to put this out there as part of my ongoing interest in Asian Americans involved with small presses. The new online Asian American poetry journal, Lantern Review, is now accepting submissions to its inaugural issue.

]]> blogging since November 2009, spotlighting poets from different parts of the country, and providing writing prompts to nudge us gently out of writers' block. Here's some more good stuff about them:

Mission Statement
Lantern Review aims to serve the literary community by providing a virtual space in which to promote and discuss the work of contemporary Asian American poets and artists. We seek to publish expertly crafted work in a variety of forms and aesthetics, including traditional and experimental pieces, hybrid forms, multimedia work, and new translations. We welcome pieces from anglophone writers of all ethnic backgrounds whose work has a vested interest in issues relevant to the Asian diaspora in North America, as well as work created collaboratively in a community context.

About the Name
Lanterns are cross-cultural symbols of aesthetic beauty, hope, festivity, and enlightenment. They have historically been a feature of community celebrations, and are also linked with exploration, discovery, and the forging of new paths. By choosing a lantern as our emblem, we hope to reflect our desire that Lantern Review would help to shed light on the multifaceted, ever-evolving creature that is “Asian American poetry,” as well as to be a stage on which the question, “What is contemporary Asian American poetry and where is it headed?” can be played out.

Those are some very good and useful questions they're asking. It's exciting that we can participate in providing answers.

Find out more about Lantern Review at their website.

Some Movie-Related News: 'Extraordinary Measures,' 'Snow Flower and the Secret Fan'

2010-02-04T13:45:24Z

Some news to pass along...

1. Another whitewashing case over in Hollywood. The movie Extraordinary Measures, starring Harrison Ford as a brilliant scientist, is based on real-life Dr. Yuan-Tsong Chen and his research while at Duke University. Dr. Chen has been mentioned as a possible future Nobel Prize winner for his research, and now heads a research institute in Taiwan. Roger Ebert called out the movie's whitewashing in his recent review. Add this to the list of recent Hollywood movies that have whitewashed characters: from 21, to Avatar: Last Airbender, to remakes (more like near-copies) like The Departed.

2. Hugh Jackman is set to star in Hollywood's next White Knight-genre film. According to one movie site, "Set in 19th century remote China, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan revolves around the lifelong friendship of Lily and Snow Flower and their imprisonment by rigid cultural codes of conduct for women." The film will be directed by Wayne Wang, a veteran of the White Knight genre after his pandering work The Joy Luck Club. The film is co-produced by Wendi Murdoch, who also acts in the film.

Based on the author's own description of the book, it depicts illiterate women, whose feet were bound, isolated in single-window rooms. It also features physically abusive husbands. I'm not surprised to see the author's page list what the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote about her book: "With Snow Flower, See has written a novel that ranks with the best fiction of Amy Tan and Maxine Hong Kingston, the modern luminaries of Chinese storytelling." Entertainment Weekly wrote, "You can relish See's extraordinary fourth novel as a meticulously researched account of women's lives in 19th-century China, where it is 'better to have a dog than a daughter.' (And where the girls' feet are bound in a stomach-turning ritual that See describes with admirable precision and coolness)." Amy Tan and Maxine Hong Kingston rave about the book as well on the author's page -- no surprise there.

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Color me not amused.

When will there be a movie set in 19th-century Britain or America, about illiterate women who must wear suffocating and damaging corsets, who can be legally raped/beaten and are treated like property, who must give all their possessions and wealth to their husbands, who must obey marriage laws and a religion which specifically describes them as 2nd-class, who are blocked from education or work, and who are not considered citizens? There probably aren't enough self-righteous consumers in Asia, or elsewhere outside the United States, to create an art market for works like that, in a way that exists in the United States.

Here is what one blogger had to say about white privilege in film. This writer asks why movies like Avatar (and also District 9, Dances with Wolves, Last Samurai, etc) must insist on using a white protagonist in order to be "relatable" to audiences. In these stories, the white protagonists side with foreigners and must save/lead the people against whatever aspect of Western civilization endangers them. The White Knight genre is related to this as well, and is an even worse case of white privilege, where a white protagonist character is needed to save oppressed (and more backwards) people from their own savage and uncivilized cultures. It becomes even more damaging when minority artists themselves help to create works that pander or support these existing white-privilege structures, consumer tastes, or ideologies, and give them credibility.

The Hyphenite's Social Calendar: GO!Style, Beware of Cupid

2010-02-03T18:45:04Z

Thursday February 4th -- San Jose

South Bay First Thursdays: Rebuilding Trust Between Community and SJPD

Have you ever wanted to make a complaint about the police, but didn't know where to turn? South Bay First Thursdays presents an interactive community forum highlighting the role and responsibility of the Independent Police Auditor. With panelists Anne Im of Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI), Daniel Katz, Assistant Chief of Police -- City of San Jose, Richard Konda of Asian Law Alliance, and Shivaun Nurre, IPA Deputy Director of San Jose.

6:30 to 9 pm
AACI
2400 Moorpark Ave, Suite 210, San Jose

]]> Friday February 5th -- San Francisco

GO! Style

This Bay Area showcase brings together hip hop artists, comedians, dancers, and musicians for a one-night performance extravanganza. Featuring Ali Wong, Sheng Wang, Magnetic North, Goh Nakamura, and more. Complete artist lineup here. Co-Sponsored by Hyphen.

8 pm
Palace of Fine Arts Theater
3301 Lyon St, San Francisco
$ 36 to $ 40, tickets and $ 10 discounts here

The Lost and Found: Truong Tran Exhibit

Kearny Street Workshop presents the opening reception of "the lost & found" by visual artist Truong Tran. Tran makes his work accessible through the creative reuse of everyday materials and disparate objects. Solo exhibit runs through February 26th. More info here.

7 to 9 pm
Mina Dresden Gallery
312 Valencia St, San Francisco

Friday February 5th -- Miami

"All You Need is Love" Date Auction for Haiti

The University of Miami Asian American Students Association presents "All You Need is Love", a date auction for Haiti relief. Includes theatrical performances with a modern take on fairytale classics. More info here.

6:30 pm
Clarke Recital Hall
Frost School of Music, Miami
$ 7 at door

Friday February 5th through Sunday February 21st -- Los Angeles

Beware of Cupid: A Valentine's Day Show

photo by Steven Lau

"Beware of Cupid", the inaugural production fromActors at Play, presents a collection of stories based on love and other matters of the heart. Directed by Julia Cho and Benjamin Kim. More info here.

Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm
Sunday matinees at 3 pm
The Actor's Playpen
1514 N Gardner St, Los Angeles
$ 14 presale, $ 20 at door, tickets here

Saturday February 6th -- San Francisco

FACTSHEET: Activism is Not a Crime Exhibit

The Manilatown Heritage Foundation and BAYAN USA present an opening reception and exhibit of 30 posters by artists in the US and Philippines about the international human rights movement. Includes live performances. Exhibit runs through April 24, 2010. More info here.

4 to 6 pm
I-Hotel Manilatown Center
868 Kearny St, San Francisco
FREE

Sunday February 7th -- San Francisco

Annual Tet Festival

The Vietnamese Community Center of San Francisco presents its 14th Annual Tet Festival -- with musical performances, crafts, food, and community booths. The event attracts over 30,000 annually and seeks to promote cultural awareness and preserve Vietnamese heritage.

10 am to 6 pm
Little Saigon (on Larkin St b/w Eddy and O'Farrell Sts), San Francisco
FREE

Opportunities

Monday February 8th -- San Mateo

Casting Call for MYX Promotional Shoot

MYX, a new 24/7 nationally distributed, independently owned TV channel featuring programming for Asian American Youth, will be staging a rock concert in downtown San Mateo and is seeking diverse and energetic volunteer extras between the ages of 18 and 35. The piece will be a television commercial broadcast on MYX, associated networks, and online.

3:30 to 6:30 pm
Level 236
236 South B. Street, San Mateo
To sign up, email myxtvpromo(at)gmail(dot)com with name, email, phone, and availability.

Casting Call for Health Awareness Ads -- San Francisco

The San Francisco Hep B Free Campaign is seeking Asian Americans for a health awareness advertising campaign and PSAs which may include billboards, bus shelters, print, and TV. These are unpaid positions, and acting experience is not required. Categories include: 10-15 member multigenerational Chinese, Vietnamese, and Filipino families, and Asian Americans who work in the same office. Email group photo and contact info to castingcall(at)sfhepbfree(dot)org. More info here.

Call for Submissions - Annul Asian Film Festival of Dallas (AFFD)

AFFD is now accepting submissions for its Ninth Annual film festival, occurring July 23-29, 2010. AFFD is open to any film or video productions by Asian Americans and Asian international filmmakers, or with subject matter concerning Asian issues from any year, country, state, age, category, and serving any theme. Complete rules and regulations here. Early deadline: February 15, 2010. Final deadline: March 15, 2010.

Asianspotting: Hiroyuki Sanada Joins the Cast of 'Lost'

2010-02-03T18:00:00Z

Throughout five seasons of Lost, Asian and Asian American characters abound: Korean couple Sun and Jin Kwon (played by Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim -- who probably boasts the sexiest male build on the Island), psychic ghost-whisperer Miles Straume (Ken Leung), Dr. Pierre Chang/Marvin Candle/Edgar Halliwax (Francois Chau), and several other minor characters.

If you caught last night's Season 6 premiere, you know Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada has joined the cast on the island, playing what appears to be the leader of a group of the Others.

Sanada is a major Japanese actor, who is perhaps best known for his role in the postmodern classic Twilight Samurai. He has recently crossed over into several major western films, including Danny Boyle's Sunshine, The Last Samurai, and Speed Racer.

While Sanada's character raises more questions in the Lost series (namely, who is he?), we know one thing already: he's a martial arts Asian! Every desert isle's gotta have one of those, eventually.

Master of the Brush Strokes: Velina Hasu Houston's 'Calligraphy'

2010-02-03T08:56:04Z

In Zen calligraphy, the zenith is becoming one with the characters. The artist must free herself from outside disturbances. Otherwise discord will be revealed in the fluidity of the brush strokes.

The dualities of Zen principles are hard to grasp. How can one be expressionistic and yet not? How can one be masterful in creating when confined to a standardized set of procedures?

The characters in Velina Hasu Houston's new play, Calligraphy, are confined. Their cultural expectations, their cities, and their family history constrain them. The effects of aging also take its toll on two sisters. Their daughters are ingrained with the notion of filial piety, bound to take care of their mothers.

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Houston’s genre is the play. The format can be unforgiving when one strays too far beyond the lines. But she is a master at finding subtlety and power in her brush strokes. She blends humor and social commentary with intense emotional desperation. Her work balances her poetic style with crisp one-liners. Calligraphy packs so much into a play format. Yet the fluidity is never compromised.

The presentation I describe was a reading at the Los Angeles Theatre Center’s Playwright’s Festival. Hopefully the full production in November will continue to be helmed by Jon Rivera. He enhanced the nuances of Houston’s play and lifted indelible unspoken moments in the script. He was ably supported by a strong group of actors, most notably Emily Kuroda and Natsuko Ohama.

There were a few times in the play where Houston chose language instead of plot. I’m not sure if that’s a bad thing. She certainly is at one with her characters. Their journey hit close to home -- Tokyo or Los Angeles, it's not far to relate. Life is like calligraphy. Once you’ve brushed the stroke, you can never go back. But Houston shows us in her depth of writing that we are able to find subtle variants no matter what path we are on.

Guest blogger Ken Choy is a community organizer and promoter, and the producer of Breaking the Bow.
Photo courtesy of Pacific Rim PR.

Oscar Nods are Out, Russell from 'Up' Our Only Hope

2010-02-02T15:53:31Z

In the wee hours of the morning, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominees for the 82nd annual Academy Awards using their bizarre 10 Best Picture nominee structure.

]]> Avatar leads the pack, but I'm hoping his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow wins the Best Director statuette for The Hurt Locker instead. Her chances are pretty good since she recently won the equivalent award from the Directors Guild of America, which has historically determined the winner of the Oscar.

Plus, I am the last person on earth who has yet to see Avatar (I do not apologize for having no desire to see this film), but I thought The Hurt Locker was excellent and am glad to see a female amongst the director nominees this year. Blue people vs. bad-ass bomb squads? No contest.

Sadly, I have to report that there are no Asian American Oscar nominees this year. There aren't even any movies from Asia nominated for Best Foreign Film. We are going to have to live vicariously through Pixar's Up and its pudgy animated hero Russell, nominated for Best Picture, Animated Feature Film, Music (Original Score), Sound Editing, and Writing (Original Screenplay).

Hey, buck up. At least it's not Mulan. Also, it's been a stellar year for Lee Daniels' Precious and his lead actresses Gabourey Sibide and Mo'nique. District 9 didn't pull any punches about institutional racism and is a nice counterbalance to Avatar's "saving the natives" narrative. Or so I've heard.

Best Picture Nominees

Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

The Academy Awards air Sunday, March 7 at 8pm (PST) on ABC.

Australia's War on Small Breasts

2010-02-02T05:30:53Z

As if we small-breasted ladies didn't have it hard enough. We persevered through adolescences marred by a devastating lack of top-growth, endured comings-of-age minimized by the diminutive jabs of our bustier peers, and, as adults, find ourselves woefully relegated to Victoria's Secret's ~~young teen~~ "Pink" section, from where we covetously eye the perfectly impractical lacy/strappy/barely-there/disgustingly-provocative underthings so accessibly-sized for plumper patrons. Since childhood, men, magazines, and our mothers have ridiculed our relative lack of endowment, so maybe it was only a matter of time before whole governments made our bitty busts their business.

The first to do so: Australia, whose government censors are banning adult publications and films that feature women with small breasts, in an effort to -- get this -- curb pedophilia. Now, I'm no porn apologist, but I rather dislike having my body categorically likened to a child's, even more than I vehemently dislike censorship. [As I always say: It ain't much, but it sure ain't nothin'!] And it seems obvious to me that an industry founded on fake tits, fake orgasms, and the general fictionalizing of women's sexuality is only made worse by censors that further restrict it from realistically depicting women's bodies -- however flat-chested those bodies may be.

]]> sums up the ban's implicit sexism pretty succinctly:

Obviously, the proposed ban would not reduce smut so much as codify an arbitrary set of female sexual ideals, which is a terrible idea for many reasons...

Moreover (and at the risk of re-hashing that age-old Asian fetish debate), I have to wonder how a country surrounded by Asia and with an Asian population larger than that of the US gets off discriminating against the oh-so-petite. Perhaps a better way to discourage pedophilia would be to check IDs -- or, I don't know, find some way to prevent dirty old Aussie men from traveling to the Phils and Thailand to be pedophiles over there. (For the record: I used to live in Angeles City, the sex tour capital of the Philippines, so I know who you are!)

Anyways, in closing: Thank you, Australia, for letting me know that I'm not woman enough for you. Lest I become confused at a later date, perhaps you should also consider banning women under 5'3" or with a size 6 1/2 shoe.

In the meantime, I'll be doing my part to curb American pedophilia by lobbying to have men with small penises banned from bars.

Images courtesy of Flickr user Noemi Manalang under Creative Commons License.

'Visual Crunch' Premieres on MYX Channel

2010-01-27T17:26:11Z

Back in '07, Harry blogged about MYX stepping up to bat as the next Asian American channel to try to sustain itself and not go the way of its brethren AZN and IATV. (The latter is still available in select regions but seems to focus more on Asian pop culture than Asian American programming.)

]]> Well, guess what? MYX is still around. Focusing on a target audience of Asian Americans ages 16-24 (sigh...I am too old to be included in their demographic), the music-oriented channel (think MTV about 15 years ago) has branched out to lifestyle programs, original animation, and a documentary series.

I got to preview a series Visual Crunch which premiered last week and gets a behind the scenes look at the making of independent music videos produced for under $10,000. The premiere episode featured pop pianist Vienna Teng and indie rock duo Alex Chen and Kenji Ross of Boy in Static.

I got a very strong Asian American vibe off this show and not just because of its featured artists and/or directors. There's something about being resourceful and creative when budgets and mainstream support aren't there that's just so...like us. Tips from the first episode? Put your cute nieces and nephews into videos for free and just make sure to buy them snacks.

I don't have cable or satellite TV (I'm broke!) so I'll just have to live vicariously through you all and let you tell me if MYX is fulfilling your Asian American channel needs. "Visual Crunch" airs every Thursday at 11:00 pm (EST).

MYX is available on: Comcast (San Francisco Bay Area) – Channel 368

DirecTV (across the US) – Channel 2067

Cox (Orange County, CA) – Channel 479

Cox (Northern VA) – Channel 464

RCN (NYC, Wash. D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago, and Boston) – Channel 474

MCV (Guam) – Channel 16

The Hyphenite's Social Calendar: ComedyZEN, Refugee Nation

2010-01-27T15:42:50Z

Wednesday January 27th -- NYC

So The Arrow Flies Performance

International award-winning actor/writer Esther Chae will perform her solo play So the Arrow Flies for one night only. Based on real events about a North Korean Actor and double agent who is is exiled to South Korea, the show touches on themes of political ideology, national identities, allegiance, and love for one's family. Proceeds will go towards the Asian Women Giving Circle, to fund Asian American arts and activism projects in New York City.

6:30 doors & cocktails, 7:30 show
Cherry Lane Theater
38 Commerce Street, NYC
$ 100+, tickets here

]]> Thursday January 28th -- San Francisco

Stories on Latino and Asian Labor Organizing

Join Kent Wong (UCLA Labor Center Director and National Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance President) for an evening of stories on labor leader Miguel Contreras and transational organizing among Vietnamese and Vietnamese Americans.

6 to 8 pm
International Hotel Manilatown Center
868 Kearny St, San Fransisco

Saturday January 30th -- Los Angeles

ComedyZEN

Check out ComedyZEN, a standup showcase featuring Sugar Sammy (HBO Canada), Danny Cho (MadTV), Edwin Li (Las Vegas Comedy Festival) and Dwayne Perkins (Comedy Central).

8 to 10 pm
Japanese American National Museum
369 East First Street, Los Angeles
$ 20 tickets here

Saturday January 30th -- Seattle

APA Professional Development Conference

The Executive Development Institute (EDI) is providing a conference for Asian American professionals -- including a networking and learning forum with culturally tailored, interactive leadership trainings. Featuring keynote speaker Chee Chew, Engineering Director of Google, Inc.

7:30 am to 1:30 pm
Asian Counseling and Referral Service
3639 Martin Luther King Way South, Seattle
$ 65, registration here

Saturday January 30th and Sunday January 31st -- Lafayette, Louisiana

A Village Called Versailles Screenings

As part of the Fifth Annual Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival, S. Leo Chiang's award-winning A Village Called Versailles will be screened over two nights. The documentary focuses on the New Orleans East neighborhood of Versailles, a tight-knit community of Vietnamese Americans who fought to rebuild their homes post-Katrina, only to have their homes threatened by a new government-imposed toxic landfill. The residents turn the devastating disaster into catalyst for change and a chance for a better future for their community.

1/30: 1:15 pm
Lafayette Public Library: South Regional Branch
6101 Johnston St

1/31: 1:15 pm
Lafayette Public Library: Main Branch
301 West Congress St

Monday February 1st -- Los Angeles

Refugee Nation Performance

The Laotian American Organization (LAO) at UCLA presents Refugee Nation, a two -person performance ensemble based on the stories of Laotian Refugees and their descendants -- touching upon issues relating to the refugee experience, assimilation, generation gap, and mental health.

7:30 pm
Grand Ackerman Ballroom
UCLA Campus
FREE

Opportunities

Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF) Accepting Submissions

Now in its 33rd year, the AAIFF is currently accepting works produced, directed, or written by artists of Asian descent in the categories of short film, feature film, youth produced/directed films, music videos, screenplays, and works-in-progress. Submission info here. Regular deadline: January 27, 2010. Late deadline: February 24, 2010.

San Diego Asian Film Foundation Accepting Entries

The San Diego Asian Film Foundation is now accepting submissions for its 11th Annual Asian Film Festival, to take place on October 21-28, 2010. Rules, entry forms, and festival info here. Early deadline: April 30, 2010. Final deadline: June 10, 2010.

Idealize This! | Photo Relief

2010-01-27T00:51:05Z

In the aftermath of the earthquake that decimated Port-au-Prince weeks ago, journalists have worked 'round the clock to keep the flickering screens and hungry eyes of their eager public perpetually engaged. And we, in turn, have consumed, without pause, photo essay upon photo essay of devastated Haitians climbing bloody out from under piles of debris, desperate Haitians knocking over little boys, and homeless Haitians sleeping without shelter, among many other startling images captured by news photographers with Pulitzer-sized dreams (after all, Haiti's last disaster earned this guy one!).

And we are so moved by these terrible, suspended fragments of another's life that it may not occur to us that the bloody woman we saw rising from beneath blocks of concrete probably saw a photographer's lens before she saw the faces of her rescuers. Nor do we wonder whether she'll get a dime if her photo wins him any awards.

But that's nothing new. Photojournalism has always been an ethically shady enterprise. Whether Steve McCurry's portrait of the reluctantly compliant "Afghan Girl" or Kevin Carter's voyeuristic photo of a starving Sudanese baby, the trade has long borne a paradoxical reputation; while widely regarded as a public service, it nevertheless entails a level of detachment that is antithetical to most conventional conceptions of "service." It's a topic I've written about before, and one that I continually revisit, particularly as I get to know more photographers and especially as I strive to critique the ethical implications of my own journalistic projects.

]]> thoughtful piece on the ethics of photographing the less fortunate, written for PhotoPhilanthropy's blog. Recalling an experience she had while photographing for the International Rescue Committee, she writes:

It’s very easy to come from relative affluence (which you do, in this world, if you own a camera) and try to work for the betterment of others as an outsider, and end up further marginalizing or denigrating the very people you seek to assist. [Read the piece to get her full analysis].

Coming from an organization whose sole purpose is to encourage photographers to document humanitarian crises in an effort to increase support for aid groups, this kind of intelligent and humble self-criticism is refreshing -- and rare, in my experience. I've worked with a variety of non-profit organizations who have been reluctant -- even vehemently opposed -- to examining critically the indirect harm that their "good" might be doing to the very people they strive to serve, sometimes on the shaky grounds that "if we weren't doing this, nobody would be." Such an attitude on the part of activists, enacted however unwittingly, is hardly in the long-term interests of those receiving their aid.

So an org whose volunteers defy the model, by striving to do the same kind of soul-wrenching self-critique that they ask of their viewing audience, is definitely worthy of a plug.

In addition to connecting socially-conscious photographers with NGOs in need of their services, PhotoPhilanthropy also provides a platform for contributing photographers to exhibit their work, and sponsors an Activist Awards contest, which rewards winning professional, amateur, and student photographers with small cash prizes to help offset the expenses of their volunteer work (key word: small -- no $10,000 cash prizes here for photos taken by on-the-clock journalists).

Chyi-Dean Shu is just one of those contributing photographers, though, at just 16(!) years of age, he's got a bit of a head start on most of us would-be do-gooders. Not to mention his photographs are surprisingly well-executed for a teenage photographer (or so says my photographer beau, whom I trust implicitly in all matters of the art).

Dean's PhotoPhilanthropic journey began last year when he volunteered with Red Cross Taiwan (for which he performed a variety of manual labors in addition to more creative pursuits) and continues with his ongoing support of a variety of other nonprofit organizations. As someone who is effectively merging his passion for art with a deep commitment to serving others, he has a lot to teach us about the ethics of activist art. While his photographs (featured above and below) depict individuals being served by the Red Cross, his approach is respectful and empathetic -- by design.

"There [have] been situations where I wasn’t sure if the subjects knew that I was taking pictures," he tells me, "but...I have gotten consent first if they are recognizable in the photographs. I try to put myself in their shoes and ask myself, 'If I was that person, would I appreciate someone['s] taking my picture?' As a result I shy away from shots involving the homeless and terminally ill."

His approach is a far cry from the candid suffering shots preferred by many other documentary photographers, whose means of promoting a cause or crisis is to epitomize a single subject in anticipation of a disconnected third party's reaction. One wonders what tangible benefit this process, which strips subject of agency (and, often, context), can offer to the parties involved. Increased revenue for NGOs? Sometimes, though not always. Direct aid to the individuals pictured? Unlikely. And while such images may increase global awareness of an issue, we ought to question whether awareness is a worthwhile goal if it only sometimes results in donations, and rarely serves the individuals who are most intimately affected and portrayed.

Ultimately, the only party who is certain to benefit from exploitative "art" in some way is the artist, who may gain notoriety or manage to sell a few pictures or build his/her portfolio in the name of service.

For Dean, none of those so-called gains are worth violating an individual's privacy or unscrupulously appropriating someone's image.

"I'm no saint," he says, "but in this sort of situation, I always put ethical concerns over artistic concerns. In a way, obtaining fame and recognition for [an] unethically-taken photograph is like blood money... Art is about pursuing your passions, and I don't think anyone's passion is guilt."

But even when the art is far from exploitative or the artist's conscience is guilt-free, it can be difficult to balance necessary photographer recognition with the ethically obligatory emphasis on service. Fortunately, maintaining this balance is something PhotoPhilanthropy does quite well. While it does a good job of recognizing photographers (photo galleries, activist awards, etc), that recognition is tempered with, and accomplished within the framework of, a sound focus on service. You won't find photographer bios on the website, or self-centered testimonies about what they got out of the experience; rather, each photo gallery is accompanied by a short essay describing the featured NGO's programs and its beneficiaries, which is authored by that gallery's photographer. There's a link to the photographer's email, or sometimes his/her website, but that's about it.

PhotoPhilanthropy isn't the only organization of its kind, but for many of the reasons already outlined, it is rather unique. Art-activism projects can, by nature, very easily become superficial, self-aggrandizing caricatures of activism. Take Help-Portrait, an organization founded by a self-described celebrity photographer whose mission is to "equip and mobilize" photographers into taking portraits of people who can't afford professional photographs -- free of charge. The goal seems admirable... until you get to the part of the website that specifies "who needs pictures" (evidently, homeless people, orphans, sick kids, and the elderly all need professional portraits done, though I have to wonder if they need those more than, say, the obvious necessities they lack) followed by the founder's description of why his organization is necessary:

"Because I love seeing a 45-year-old single mom work the camera and have the chance to live out the dream of modeling since [sic] she was a little girl"

"I love seeing women glow as they get pampered with hair and make-up for the first time"

"I love the tears of a woman hugging me because this is the first photo she's seen of herself since losing 300lbs 8 years ago"

Without trying to belittle the good intentions of the participating photographers, I have to question the need for a non-profit organization whose broad categorization of "people in need" includes under-made-up women, formerly over-weight women, and middle-aged women who wish they were models. Not exactly my idea of service.

Nevertheless, it demonstrates the ethical murkiness of so-called activism, and reinforces the importance of self-critique when it comes to community service -- or even journalism parading as a public service. Truly, self-awareness and perspective are tools greatly underused by those dedicated to serving others -- and one wonders why, since wee babes like Dean seem to have it down long before seasoned pros.

View Dean's photographs at his PhotoPhilanthropy Gallery as well as on his website.

View Eliza Gregory's work on her website or read her at the PhotoPhilanthropy blog.

Asianspotting: Apolo Ohno's DayQuil & NyQuil Commercial

2010-01-26T22:36:32Z

It's Apolo Anton Ohno!

Seriously. What an awesome name. If I were to name my kid Apolo, he better live up to it, like this Apolo.

The end of the commercial is a little gross, but that's where DayQuil and NyQuil come in I suppose.

It looks like he'll be competing in the Vancouver 2010 Olympics short-track speed skating competition at Pacific Coliseum. The events will be held between February 13th and 26th, 2010. Break a leg, Apolo, and bring home the gold!