Expectations

Here is a submission that I got from a reader:


"I hate when people say I only get good grades because I'm Asian. It's because I try, and they justify their reasoning because I'm adopted. My parents just have high expectations. The Asian culture has high expectations. Something Caucasians need to realize instead of justifying our intelligence on race.
Race doesn't matter. It's you and your family."

What do you guys think? Malcolm Gladwell argued in his book Outliers that perhaps the Chinese ARE better at learning math than other races because of certain cultural factors.

Family or culture, or both? Comment below!

Pyung Kim: Comedy Writer

There is a new film that Pyung Kim is putting together with Michelle Opitz, a graduate of the American Film Institute whose work has circulated lots of Asian American film festivals. The cinematographer, Bill Otto, also shot the movie "White on Rice."  Support interracial relationships by checking out their trailer at:

www.ihateyoufilm.com

Inspired by Joyce

Here is something from a reader:


"My name is Joyce and I'm an Asian-American writer, actress and filmmaker.  I've directed several shorts that have won awards and screened at festivals around the world.  I'm getting in touch with you today to tell you about my newest feature film. It's called The Real Mikado and you can check out the campaign here: http://www.indiegogo.com/The-Real-Mikado-A-Feature-Film"

Check Joyce's work out!

East West Magazine Design Contest!

To celebrate a fall re-launch, East West magazine has announced the East West Exhibit, a cover design contest for the October/November issue, available nationwide on October 6. East West is welcoming submissions of original artwork interpreting the meaning of East West and the merging of cultures. The winning design will be featured on the cover, along with a profile of the winner in the magazine.

East West is the first and only lifestyle magazine with a pan-Asian American focus. Launched in 2003, the publication went on hiatus last year to retool operations. “During this time, we maintained an online presence, and realized the East West audience was anxious for the magazine’s return,” said Anita Malik, founder and editor in chief of East West. “We are excited to re-launch the magazine with a cover contest that involves our readers.”

All contest entries will be posted at eastwestmagazine.com for online voting from September 2-16, 2009. Based on online vote totals, the top five designs will be announced at the end of September. East West staff will choose the final cover from the top five, and the final decision will be made public on October 6, when East West officially returns to print.

Entrants must submit original artwork—including photography, painting, graphic design and drawing—and a signed authorization/consent form. Contest rules include:
· All entries must be original artwork created by the entrant(s) and answer the question: “What is your interpretation of East West today. What does the merging of cultures look like to you?”
· No black and white.
· Entries must be postmarked by August 31, 2009.
· Digital artwork must be 300 DPI and at least 9.25”x11.125”.
· Non-digital artwork will be accepted via mail and scanned for Web site/print use.
· Only one entry per person, team or company.
· Entries will not be returned. Any or all materials/information may be published.
· A signed entry/consent form is required for an entry to be valid.
· All entrants under the age of 18 on August 1, 2009 must have a parent/guardian signature.

For complete contest details, visit EastWestMagazine.com. Submissions, as well as questions about the contest, can be emailed to theexhibit@eastwestmagazine.com.

Good Luck!

Lest We Forget - Tiananmen

Dear Tank Man,

As the pack of mechanical beasts drove towards you, I wish I knew what was driving you. I like to think of it singularly as disgust. I like to think that that was your fuel.

Alone, there you stood.
A symbol of freedom.
An inspiration.
Just.
An affirming flame.
I hope Auden agrees.

The journalists, who risked their lives to document your moment of glory, reported as much. Thanks to you and thanks to them, your story has reached me. It has grabbed a hold of me.

It has grasped the whole of me.

While it is impossible to know what you were saying that day, your actions in the name of free speech were heard, loud and clear, around the globe.

People have secret admirers. Your admirers are nothing of the kind. Instead, it is your identity and fate that may forever remain a secret.

Of no consequence, I say. Neither tank nor umbrella shall have any leverage over truth and justice.

May peace be with you. May peace soon be upon us.

-alatus

The "Guess where I'm originally from" Game

When you ask me
“Where are you really from?
“Where are your parents originally from?”
Or my personal all-time favorite,
“Where are your ancestors from?”

I’ll play a little game with you to answer your question
A guessing game, for kicks and giggles
And your job is not to guess what ethnicity I am
But rather to figure out what makes me ME

Before you get to learn what my colored skin is all about
And the complicated, terrible, and beautiful history that it carries

Let me tell you the passions of my life and what drives me forward
Let me excite you as I tell you where we as people will move towards
Let me be enigmatic and mysterious to your perceiving senses
Let me show you what I’m all about before you make any pretenses

I’ll be a question mark in your desire to box and label me nicely,
Turn myself into an exclamation, a comma, or perhaps a semi colon
When we get to the end of the game and I let you in on my skin
You’ll see me the way I want you to see me.

-Eddy

i am half asian
i joined an asian organization
so that i could feel accepted, finally
truth is, i've never felt more rejected

April 16th, 2007.

The day when a repressed and conflicted college student decided that the best way to express his feelings to the world was through violence and hatred. As his world around him became covered with the blood of people who did not deserve his rage, he ended the slaughter by ending his own life.

To society, he was deemed a lunatic, a monster.

To his parents that loved him, he was Seung Hui Cho, their only son.

To me, he was my brother who I never had. My brother who made it possible to say the things that I needed to say, my brother who helped me come to terms with my racial identity and acceptance as a human being. My brother who I wanted to tell this poem to so he can understand that he was not alone in feeling the rage and hatred that he felt for the world, and that this feeling does not make him a monster. My brother who I wanted to tell that everything will be alright.

For the longest time in my life, I’ve had this rage and self-hatred that was inside of me, this corrosive force that made me ashamed of being an Asian man and all the stereotypes and misconceptions that this skin came with.

This rage and self-hatred that started at home, with my father, with a man who could not handle the beatings and temper of his father before him, a man who could only express his love to me by repeating the sins of his father.

But because of him, this rage and self-hatred would define my childhood and my identification with being a Korean. If we are to suffer the uncontrollable rages of our fathers, the silence of our mothers, then I want nothing to do with this, this yellow skin, this yellow sin, this terrible reminder of a race that I have nothing but the utmost contempt for.

My hatred for my old man turned into hatred for myself, hatred for the entire Korean race. I saw nothing but race, and every words of “chink”, “gook”, the sounds of “ching chong”, would strike me hard every single time and I would feel the burn of self-hatred eating into me.

Self-hatred. What a powerful force it is. It is a force that has made me contemplate inflicting my rage to people who did not deserve it. It is a force that has made me contemplate suicide to prevent such a disturbed boy as myself expressing his feelings in the most pathetic manner possible.

So when April 16th came around, I could not help but feel the connection that I had with Seung Hui Cho. That if people labeled him a lunatic and a monster for feeling the way he did and for committing such an atrocious act, then I cannot be too far behind because my rage have dangerously come to that breaking point several times.

As our lives intertwined closer and closer together, as my world would grow darker and over shadowed with his, I realize I have a choice in how I want my story to be told. I can be ashamed of my ugly past and inflict it on the world or I can accept it and let it be told, let something ugly be turned into something beautiful.

I realize that I have too much love to give to be driven to such despair, that I need to live out my life and give my love to the people around me. I want to give hope and joy to my children so I can give to them what my father never gave me. I want to remind myself and be proud of my Korean heritage but know that I will always be a human being at heart, unwilling to allow labels, boxes, stereotypes to define who I am and who I want to be.

by Eddy

And so we begin...The first Mimi

1. I love half asian people. They are incredibly beautiful, and I'm excited as an Asian woman dating a white man to one day produce one of these beautiful creatures.

2. I wish I spoke better Chinese so I could better communicate my life to my Chinese dad. My parents divorced when I was young, and so every couple of weeks when I meet up with him I have so much to say, and so little to convey it with.

3. It always feels so easy for people to mock a Chinese person, especially when their English is subpar. I think my parents are always a little scared of the world, that someone will harass them for their grammar and race. That makes me sad.

PostSecret for Asian-Americans

"MiMi" is the Chinese word for "secret." What's yours? Share your inner happiness, joys, sorrows, triumphs, and frustrations in being an Asian-American today. Sometimes, other people just don't "get it," but we can help each other.

NOTE(s): Do not think that your MiMi's HAVE to be culturally related. Just make what comes organically. Your background and culture already colors how you perceive everything. Also, if you are not Asian-American, but have something to contribute, submissions from ALL people are welcome.

E-mail your lovely, thought-provoking, Asian-American creations to:
postmimi.blogspot@gmail.com.

All submissions will be kept anonymous unless otherwise specified.