MASAE

What's good? MASAE, the Massachusetts Asian Society Athletic Establishment. Check out their video on Youtube and it'll tell you all about them. That's all I'm gonna give you.

Blue Man Group

Last night, I went to Blue Man Group with my brother. And when the blue men came out to the stage, my brother whispered "Hey, Asian blue man!" He was right! An Asian Blue Man! Perhaps its neither here nor there, but I thought it was pretty cool.

Carrying on the Conversation

Daniel K. Eng said...

"Does the judge have the right to pick and choose who he marries? If he does, then he can't be denied his rights, as lame as his reasoning is.

As a pastor, I should be able to choose if I will marry a couple. Of course, I could get sued in civil court if I refuse, but it's still my choice. I wonder if it's different for the judge because he's a civil servant, though."

I think there's a difference. As a pastor, your authority comes from the church, and you are obligated to follow the church's rules. Thus, if a couple outside of your church's rules wants to marry, then you may choose to deny them the spiritual blessing of the church.

A judge, however, gains his authority from the nation state, and is obligated to follow the nation state's rules. He cannot choose to enforce only the rules he likes, or to break the rules of the state. Imagine if a pastor decided that he would no longer pray with people who had a criminal record. Such discrimination surely goes against the ideal of forgiveness that the church espouses. If a pastor refused to follow the church's ideals on such an issue, surely someone would tell him so. In the same way, if a judge refuses to enforce the laws of the nation state, he should be censured.

Its Like, WTF?

The United States stepped in the make interracial marriage legal in all states in 1967. Since the landmark Loving v. Virginia case, judges in all states are supposed to marry people of all colors to each other, as long as one's a man and one's a woman (another story for another time).

Now, a judge in Louisiana is refusing to marry an interracial couple and not for the first time. His excuse goes something like this: "Its for the kids. These interracial marriages never last. I'm not a racist. I'm not saying they can't get married, I'm just not going to do it. After all, I'm not racist. I have tons of black friends. I even let them use my bathroom!"

I'm not making up the bathroom quote. I mean, celebrities can get married for a day. And drunk people can get married in Vegas, and no judge stops them on the grounds that their marriage might not last.

Think I'm twisting the facts? Check the article from the SF Chronicle.

Storefront Library

WBUR picked up the Chinatown storefront library story. Check it out on their website

If My Mother is a Mirror

I don't think my mom reads my blog. She's perfectly able, in technological capabilities, but I still doubt that she does.

After I wrote my post yesterday, I asked my mom if she thought I looked like her. She laughed. "No, no," she said. "You don't. But maybe you look like a relative. Like a Lee. You remember. You look like your grandmother." Then amended herself. "You resemble your grandmother. But, you've seen the pictures. You don't look like her. You act like her."

How much does our appearance reflect our spirit?

My grandmother had a round face, naturally curly hair that the other Chinese girls envied, and tiny eyes. She was graceful. She appreciated the value of things, but was not taken in by things because they had value. She didn't force her opinion into conversations, so when she spoke, you had to listen. Whatever it was, it was the right answer. I'd like to resemble my grandmother, to see her spirit reflected in my face when I look in the mirror.

A Library for Chinatown

Once upon a time (1896-1956), there was a little library in Boston's Chinatown. The library served all the people in the area, Chinese and not, until one day, the City had to tear it down. The City had to tear the library down because they wanted to put a highway there. Instead of moving the library somewhere else, they never gave it a new home. And what happened to all those books? I don't know.

The neighborhood waited and waited for a new library. They waited almost 50 years, and when a new century began, a group of them decided to take the matter into their own hands.

After an 8 year campaign, the City hasn't decided to open the library back up, but a group of community partners is opening a temporary storefront library in Chinatown to gather support for a permanent location. That storefront library opens tomorrow, October 14. Check out the website for details.

When I Look in the Mirror, I Just See Me

A professor posed this statement to his class, an intro to Asian American Studies: "When I look in the mirror, I don't see Asian. I just see me."

Everyone in the class agreed with the statement, except one. Later, a friend of mine agreed as well, saying that it depended on how people treated her that day. In Vietnam, she didn't think about it at all. In the US, if she came up against a racial situation, she sometimes saw an Asian face staring back at her.

My reply was this: I always see my face staring at me from the mirror. I see my physical features, and sometimes my thoughts behind them. Sometimes I see a white woman staring at me, with freckles and hazel eyes. Sometimes I see an Asian woman staring at me, and my eyes seem more almond shaped, my skin smoother. And some days, I see a woman with multiple races layering themselves like so many palimpsests. But always, race is there. To say that my race is not a part of me is disingenuous. My experiences shape my being, and those experiences are deeply rooted in how people treat me, based on my perceived race.

What does it mean to look into a mirror and not see race? Color blindness has proved itself untenable. When we as a society "refuse to see race", we simply ignore it and the problems it has caused in our history. Discrimination goes underground. Or white becomes normal and everyone else is supposed to assimilate.

When people say they don't see race in the mirror, do they mean they're moving towards colorblind? If someone said they didn't see Asian, but instead saw white, how would the situation change? Race is generally immutable. We can't become one or the other depending on choice, can we?

When my friend said she saw race, I think she meant she felt different that day. In Vietnam, she saw no racial difference between her and the other people around her. My answer, then, as a mixed-race woman is based on my experience of not really looking like anyone else. Even in my own home, neither of my parents really looks like me. I am constantly conscious of race because I am constantly surrounded by difference.

The Devil Writes Progpaganda

When I read newspapers or testimonies or websites or pretty much anything I try to be aware of where the author is coming from. If I can tell what their opinion is, I won't mistake it for truth.

I'm paranoid for propaganda.

This brings me to a conversation I had this weekend. We were talking about choices. A guy said that if he had one choice he would know it's the right one. Like God was pointing him in the right direction. The voices in our heads don't always belong to God. One job offer doesn't mean you always have one choice. You can always walk away and wait for another choice.

They say that the devil is the best propagandist. He tells the entire truth except for the point he wants you to believe. His arguments look good to you because they're almost true. And that makes it that much harder to tell what's true and what's not.

Its true isn't it? The best propaganda is the the kind that's almost true.

The Really Important Things in Life

Stereotypes REALLY get to people. They're like a blatant slap in the face, especially when they're on national TV or backed by really powerful corporations. Remember how upset people got over those Abercrombie shirts? Or Memoirs of a Geisha? Or that Gay or Asian spread in Details magazine? Petitions and internet outrage flew so fast they probably broke the speed of sound.

During one such outrage, a friend of mine told me that he didn't get fired up over these stereotype battles. Not because they weren't important, but because they happened too often to be worth his time. He had better things to do. Better things to do, like build positive images of Asian Americans and communicate to people as individuals, I suppose.

He's probably right. Harold and Kumar have probably made a bigger impact on perceptions of Asian Americans than any of those petitions that circled around after Details magazine compared gay and Asian men. I mean, John Cho and Kal Penn made us look funny. Petitions make us look like whiny sallies.

This is a piece on tactics. In resistance, we can be reactive or proactive. We can respond or we can create.

Go CAPAY!

Are you a high school student in Massachusetts? A teacher? School guidance counselor or administrator? A parent of a high school student?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you should go check out CAPAY. They'll be hosting their annual leadership conference, the Symposium October 29. Its a great opportunity for Asian Pacific American high school students to visit a college campus, explore their history and identity, meet other APA youth, and learn how they can contribute to positive social change.

Its pretty legit. Check out the website for more information, and download the registration packet.