August 2010
2 posts
Gifts
It’s been months since I graduated from Hunter College High School but Justin’s graduation speech came right back to me, this time on the front page of the NY Times. Reading all the comments from NY Times readers makes me sad because they’re reacting to the article and not what Justin is really trying to say.
A lot of the comments address the idea of “affirmative...
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Privileged
Okay, so I admit that today’s SLI discussion left my brain totally fried to the point where I could hardly think. But as we did the Walk of Privilege today, one statement struck me in particular. It was something along the lines of [excuse my horrible memory], “If your religious holiday is observed on the American calendar, take 1 [2?] steps forward.”
Why isn’t Lunar New...
July 2010
1 post
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Family History Part I
It started out with how good the pizza from Costco was, but somehow I ended up asking my mother, “Why aren’t we living in Malden?”
My parents were born in Communist China and were the youngest of their family. They were raised in their own respective villages of Yung and Chen.
My dad’s side wasn’t very well-off. I still remember him telling me, “I used to eat roaches. Did you know they help with...
June 2010
6 posts
Soccer: The World's Sport
Soccer, like many sports, has the ability to bring people together. This was exemplified by the host country of this year’s 2010 FIFA World Cup: South Africa. Torn apart by apartheid and deeply-rooted hatred, the African nation was suffering from political and domestic turmoil before the turn of the millenium. Many people were innocently kept in jails and prisons, cast away in solitude and...
Oh no you didn't...
by Sisi Huang
As Asians, we need to stand up for ourselves.
Though it’s the twenty-first century, racist slurs and views still color a city such as New York.
For starters, just take what I saw happening on the bus this morning.
A Caucasian woman boarded the bus and immediately began looking for an empty seat. Finding one next to the window, she quickly approached it and demanded that...
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Food For Thought
I was reading a Cracked.com article about sexist stereotypes which science says are true, and one of them is “Women are wimps.” It was really interesting because it is actually true according to science. Women have a lower pain threshold than men. Women and men actually feel pain in different ways, and when men feel pain, they feel much less of it than women do. Scientists believe...
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reflections of an nyc native
and I realized I left my Metrocard at home; I only had a few coins on me, not enough to buy a $2.25 single fare Metrocard and take the NYC subway. I had no other choice, and thankfully, I had an hour to spare before my meeting started. I decided to walk—from the Staten Island Ferry Terminal at South Ferry to 14 Street, Union Square.
It was 8am on a Saturday morning. I remember walking...
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Based on a true story
The bus rumbled and moved forward, stopped and started again. Green lights turned red and red again turned green. Cars honked and people talked. People walked past me, people stood in front of me. I bet all that happened, but I am not so sure. I was too busy in a faraway place—somewhere in Scotland, to be exact—learning the spells and magic of the wizard world and happily stalking the lives of a...
Controversal Topics to Mull Over
Some of these topics might not be related to Asians, but as active members of the United States and of our local and national community, we should definitely take the time to consider why we would agree or disagree with some of these debating points:
1. The US should approve the use of torture in the War of Terror.
2. The emergence of China as a global superpower is a threat to American...
May 2010
12 posts
Homosexual Rights
The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was recently voted to be repealed by the House. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, according to Wikipedia, is “the act that prohibits any homosexual or bisexual person from disclosing his or her sexual orientation or from speaking about any homosexual relationships, including marriages or other familial attributes,...
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The 5 Circles of Immigration Hell
Hey ya’ll, if you got the time, check out this article from Cracked.com. The article was written by an Australian man who immigrated over to the US in order to be with his American-citizen wife. This article gives a good depiction of the long, arduous immigration process. At the end of the article, the writer even jokingly suggests that it’s easier to just pay someone to smuggle you...
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HB 2281
Governor Jan Brewer has done it again. Just weeks after signing the controversial (and dumb) SB 1070, the law that allows officials to stop any suspected illegal immigrants and demand proof of citizenship, Brewer signs another bill targeting Mexican-American, African-American, and Native-American ethnic studies in the Tuscon school districts of Arizona.
HB 2281 bans schools from teaching classes...
'Los Suns' jerseys ready for Game 2 in wake of...
Phoenix Suns’ Managing Partner Robert Sarver and starting Point Guard Steve Nash both denounced the controversial immigration bill, SB 1070. Sarver, who also decided to allow the Suns to wear the “Los Suns” jerseys in Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Spurs in honor of Cinco de Mayo, discussed the potential harm the bill will have to Arizona’s tanking...
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Say What?
Colloquialisms occupy a lot of the space in a teenager’s vernacular. I was just thinking about it the other day and a lot of our colloquialisms come from the other people. The way we speak is influenced by phrases that other people pick up and start speaking with in daily life, and consequently, we sometimes begin thinking in colloquialisms too. It’s a whole cycle of hearing new...
High Expectations Asian Father
A spin-off of the Advice Dog internet meme, High Expectations Asian Father displays stereotypes of Asian parents. While some may find this material offensive, I find the take to be a humorous one. I can attribute this to what I call the “Facebook Like Theorem.”
Let’s take for example “X likes looking at a test and being like fuuuuuuuuuuuckkkkk”
Now when I first...
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What's in a family?
What’s a family?
According to Wikipedia, a family is “a group of people or animals (many species form the equivalent of a human family wherein the adults care for the young) affiliated by consanguinity, affinity or co-residence.”
This is a loose and scientific definition. But we, as humans, who have emotions, attachments, thoughts, and feelings will naturally give their own...
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US History, the DJI, and the Fate of Humanity.
[yes, really]
Tomorrow, May 7, 2010, is the 2010 administration of the Advanced Placement United States History Exam.
That’s 80 questions, 1 DBQ, and 2 FRQs. Together, they loosely cover 400 years of history.
I’m basically cramming for this test. And this cramming has made me realize that this history is worthless to me. Quite honestly, I hate American history. I find it a...
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Today I went to Daffy’s, where they take your bags to prevent shoplifting. I was talking to the guy who took mine, when suddenly he asked me where I’m from.
“Where I’m from?”
“Yeah.”
“New York.”
“No, I mean like, you don’t have an accent… Where are you from?”
“Oh, I’m Chinese.”
I found it amusing...
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Re: Pretty Is As Pretty Does
I find it interesting how Liu Wen — obviously considered beautiful in American culture, since she models for Victoria’s Secret — would also be considered beautiful in China. She is tall and pale, thin and ladylike, with high cheekbones and shiny, straight hair. Is there an universal standard for beauty?
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You Spin Me Right Round.
The world continues to turn. Another sunrise; another sunset. They are some of the things we take for granted.
But what else do we take for granted? Sure, the sun may rise and set everyday, but does that mean we have to accept everything else that happens in the world?
Look around you. Go on any news website or pick up any newspaper. “Stuff” is happening all the time. Good stuff, bad...
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Pretty Is As Pretty Does
Catwalking down the Victoria’s Secret Fashion show was an unfamiliar face. Unfamiliar but new, exciting, modern. The Fashion world is constantly changing and altering its models, looks and trends. The latest hip thing is Liu Wen.
Congratulations to Liu Wen, Victoria’s Secret Fashion show’s first Chinese model! And recently, she has become Estee Lauder’s new face. ...
April 2010
22 posts
7 tags
Oriental
Akron High School, located in Ohio, had a dragon as their mascot. This is awesome right? They must be like the Akron Dragons, or something cool like that. Instead, the teams’ names weren’t as P.C. as Akron Dragons.
Nope, their teams were the “Orientals.”
Now when you apply the term Oriental to an OBJECT or STYLE (not a person, that is just offensive), it means that object has come...
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Open Up
by Sisi Huang
In a recent weekend magazine edition of The World Journal, a highly acclaimed and circulated Chinese newspaper in the States, the issue of homosexuality became the focus of a heated debate. Spurred by a shocking event that had occurred in the Taiwan, the article in the magazine essentially deemed homosexuality a horrific international epidemic that needed to be contained.
According...
Fire in Chinatown Due To Poor Housing Conditions?
On the night of April 14th, the sounds of sirens and screams filled the air as the day was coming to an end. A 7 alarm fire had started around 10 P.M. on the corner of Eldridge and Grand ; on top of the local Rx Pharmacy. More than 200 people were forced to evacuate the buildings as firefighters rushed to the scene. The fire had lasted for nearly 5 hours; leaving 33 people injured and one...
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NYC Hate Crime Spree
It’s amazing to see that in such a cosmopolitan city like New York, hate crime still thrives.
Between March 31 and April 5, five Asian women (ages 50-71) were assaulted in near Manhattan’s Chinatown. Three suspects have been arrested and charged with assault as a hate crime, but two are still at large. Oh, but here’s the kicker: the suspects are all juveniles. The three that...
AAYA!: "You're in trouble if you're really tan and... →
ewaffles:
I actually don’t follow current events as much as I should, so it took me until yesterday to hear about Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signing some ridiculous bill on Friday. SB 1070, the Arizona law enabling and requiring police officers “to detain people they reasonably suspect are in the…
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/us/20immig.html?ref=us
Check out this NYTimes article; it...
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My Last Farewell.
Farewell, beloved Country, treasured region of the sun, Pearl of the sea of the Orient, our lost Eden! To you eagerly I surrender this sad and gloomy life; And were it brighter, fresher, more florid, Even then I’d give it to you, for your sake alone. In fields of battle, deliriously fighting, Others give you their lives, without doubt, without regret; The place matters not: where there’s...
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"You're in trouble if you're really tan and you...
I actually don’t follow current events as much as I should, so it took me until yesterday to hear about Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signing some ridiculous bill on Friday. SB 1070, the Arizona law enabling and requiring police officers “to detain people they reasonably suspect are in the country without authorization and to verify their status with federal officials,” was met...
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Three Juveniles Charged With String Of Manhattan...
Three teenagers were arrested late Friday night and charged with assault. They are believed to be linked to multiple attacks on five Asian women in Manhattan, which took place between March 31 to April 5. Two other teenage suspects are still at large. Manhattan Councilwoman Margaret Chin denounced these hate crimes, encouraging people to come out with any information and to not be afraid of any...
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Plessy v. Ferguson v. The Chinese Race
I think almost everyone who has studied some version of U.S. History knows what the Plessy v. Ferguson case was all about. The court basically upheld that “separate but equal” did not imply racial inferiority and that the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth amendment does not have to do with social equality.
If you’ve studied it a little more, you’d know that Justice Harlan famously...
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Who's Who?
My friend and I were talking about the other day how we can tell Chinese from Koreans, Koreans from Japanese and Chinese from Japanese. Is there something distinctive about Oriental Asian culture that allows us to be able to distinguish? My parents and most of the Asian people I’ve met can differentiate between the ethnicities. What’s strange, however, is that both my friend and I...
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TBD: Breaking or Making the Stereotype
Stereotyping. Stereotyping is a word that is thrown around and widely used as an accusation without any necessity.
With this in mind, media representation on a certain race or ethnicity often draws upon and utilizes common stereotypes and prejudices.
Jersey Shore for Asians? Jersey Shore, the latest MTV program, has taken the nation by storm with Snooky and her hair as well as the...
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Oakland Assault - Hate Crime?
59-year-old Tian Sheng Yu and his son, Jin Cheng Yu, were brutally assaulted in broad daylight on April 16 in downtown Oakland, San Francisco. Jin Cheng was attacked by two men while shopping, and when his father confronted the two attackers, he was brutally attacked himself. Tian Sheng Yu was in critical condition and placed on life support. Four days later, he died.Two African-American men,...
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Learning Chinese →
HEY EVERYONE! I just wanted to share a really REALLY cool opportunity for everyone involved in CYI, SLI, AAYA, etc… who are interested in learning some Chinese. As most of you may know, CLP is all about teaching Asian immigrants English, but why not give being a student a try? Check out the link provided (just press the title of this post) and for a sample online course (the topic is hotel...
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At the Ramen Shop.
About 15 minutes ago, I bought some curry ramen, and I remembered Jeff’s post on ‘authenticity’.
And so I began thinking, “So… if I’m ethnically Filipino, and I adore Japanese food, what does that mean?”
It certainly sounds like an insignificant or meaningless question, but it opens up the door to broader discussion, namely, “As we live in a place foreign to our culture, how do we identify...
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I am authentically...Asian?
A friend of mine discussed what it meant to be authentic today. What is authentic Chinese food? What is authentic Chinese culture? What does it mean to be authentically Chinese?
The truth is, there is no authenticity. One can argue that authentic Chinese food is made by the people who came from the culture the food originated from. So if you want to eat authentic Shanghai food, you would go to a...
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Wonderings
Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be of a different ethnicity. I don’t dislike being Chinese or Asian in any way. I just find it strange how I think about how I really enjoy French culture and want to learn more about it, but I don’t have that same desire to immerse myself in my own Chinese or Asian culture.
I feel like, being Asian, there are just so many Asians that I...
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Dear Reader,
We would like to personally welcome you to AAYA! As a small blooming program in a growing organization, we thank you for stumbling upon us.
Many of you may be wondering what exactly is AAYA!?
AAYA! can be many things, but it certainly is not boring. AAYA! holds many memories, opinions, stories, and emotions. And we are not just one person writing, we are many.
Asian American Youth Action!, also...