The Awesomeness- Eths 210

Rant about the US

2008-12-11T21:13:00.000-08:00

Even though I realize that I am lucky
to live in the time and place that I
do and that I have many luxuries that
not everyone in the world has, I want
to look around sometimes and scream,
really loudly. I can not believe how
lazy we all have become and yes, I
do include myself in this rant. When
I say lazy I mean both physically and
mentally. People are not using their minds
to their full potential and see people
getting bigger and bigger every year
(meaning fatter). And does anyone else
think that it is ridiculous that people
who play professional sports get payed
millions of dollars when teachers get
paid CONSIDERABLY less. That is insane
to me because the teachers are in charge
of educating the future of this country
and if they are worried about paying
their bills on time or getting to their
second job, then they can not do the job
to the full extent of their abilities.
Basically, the recent election of Obama
to the Presidency has shown that the
United States has made several good steps
forward, but a quick glance around what is
going on in the country shows that we
"Still have miles to go before we sleep."

Looking Back

2008-12-11T20:41:00.000-08:00

Looking back over the semester, I realized that
I learned a lot and had a lot of fun doing it.
This class was one of the most entertaining
classes that I have ever taken part in. The
people in the class with me and the teacher
made the experiences that I had in the class
highly enjoyable. However, the class was not
just fun and games. Over the course of the
semester my eyes were opened to a piece of
history that had before been unknown to me.
When I was a junior in high school, I went
on a ten day trip to the south, that took me
through the major events of the Civil Rights
Movement. So, before I took this class I was
not unaware of the racial injustices that are
part of this countries history. I knew about
the Trail of Tears and about the Japanese
Internment camps after Pearl Harbor was
bombed. So, I was not completely unaware of
those pieces of history, but I did not know
the extent or the whole story. And I still don't,
even if my eyes are opened a little wider then
they were before, because the denseness of the
material can never be completely and wholey
covered in one semester. So at the end of the
semester, I realized that though I have learned
a lot, there is still more that I need to learn.

Pop! Producing Our Power

2008-12-11T20:29:00.000-08:00

This last Monday, the SFSU Ethnic Studies 210
classes gathered at the Brava theater in the
Mission and performed for the people. Even though
I am not a theater inclined person myself, or
inclined towards performance of any kind, but I
have to admit I was moved by the event. Everyone
there was so full of energy and purpose that it was
hard not to get caught up in the whirl-wind of it
all. The way that the other classes took what we
had learned all semester and taught the audience
something was really fun and funny. One group from
another class did a skit about how people should
not try to change who and what they are to fit in.
In the skit, the group showed the audience that
being Asian-American is not something to be ashamed
of, but something to be proud of. What made the skit
entertaining was that it was set in the world of
Harry Potter. What my group did was we made a news
cast about SFSU as if a full-scale strike
was taking place on campus right now. In the news
cast we interviewed students, a TA, and a teacher
about the "strike." Granted the strike that we
talked about in the news cast was fake and the
people we interviewed were peers from our class,
that did not make their answers any less truthful.
At the end of the night, I felt a sense of relief
that the madness was over and also a sense of
purpose. The purpose that I felt was not focused,
it was just a sense that I would not take any
injustice that I witnessed lying down. If I ever
see something that does not ring true or right, that
I would do everything in my power to try to change
it or at least move towards the right direction.

"A STORY TO FAMILY"-By:Crystle Presa

2008-12-11T01:25:00.000-08:00

I wrote this poem in response to break the media image of Asian American women, as well as break the image of how my family percieves me and how they assume they know the real me.

"A Story to Family"-by: Crystle Presa
Young, dumb, pretty, and naive is all you think of me.
Look where I've grown up, what I've gone through, and where I'm at today,
How can dumb and naive even be a possibility?
In a testosterone driven world, respect and acceptance granted to a double headed people.
Respect given based on physical strength and thoughts of cerebral smarts.
Lemme break it down to you my brotha, I own it.
Mentally capable, inner strength is what rules me to those before.
Brown colored skin resembles royalty and greatness in my book, striving for better, working hard at any cost.
Exploitation of my sisters on the screen, don’t you see it’s a white man’s corporate dollars running this fictitious game?
Educated with state smarts and street wisdom, mama didnt raise no fool.
A brown bitch under minority lines, you think you have it hard, double up on my pain.
Independent to stand alone head to the sky, following the kulintang beat of my heart.
Graciously walking through bamboo obstacles
I choose my own path, not conforming to society, but what's right for me and the god that judges me.
Error pop ups, woman enough to own up to mistakes and grown enough to learn from them.
Misunderstood, underestimated, and complex, you think you know, but the diary says you have no idea.
I'm grown. I've grown.
A woman. A pinay to be exact.

ROCK THE SCHOOL BELLS 2

2008-12-11T00:45:00.000-08:00

On November 22, 2008, Skyline College produced their second annual show "Rock the School Bells 2". It's a Hip Hop conference containing workshops and a showcase of performers. This conference is used to educate the community about the history of Hip Hop and to gain a better understanding of its elements. One of the things I found interesting about the showcase is that most of the performers were Asian American or of a different nationality besides African American. A lot of the dance crews consisted of mostly Asian Americans, but some had a mix. The MCs were mostly Asian American as well and the ones with Pilipino MCs spit a little bit in Tagalog. This showcase displayed how Hip Hop is becoming more diverse not just by its listeners/viewers, but also by its performers. I think Asian Americans have gotten into Hip Hop not only because it's the most listened genre of music amongst our youth, but we also share the common struggle of those who first started this music we call Hip Hop. Poverty, corruption from the government, injustice, racism, and inequality is what we face as well as African Americans, Latin Americans, Native Americans, etc. Hip Hop became an outlet for our voices to be heard. For so long, Asian Americans were seen as quiet, kept to ourselves, and allowing others to step on us. Now, "they" no longer have that power of us because we're finally doing something about it. Hip Hop seems to be the passageway into other sources of rebellion like protest.

ASIAN AMERICAN WOMEN ON THE BIG SCREEN

2008-12-11T00:40:00.000-08:00

In my Asian American sex history class, we watched a film about Asian American women in films and how we're portrayed by the media. Early Hollywood films, Asian American women were perceived as lotus flowers or dragon ladies, but never both. Asian American women were submissive, weak, and meek or they were displayed as promiscuous, exotic, and dangerous. These perceptions have caused men outside of the Asian American community to think that this is how Asian American women act. Perceptions like these create thoughts that Asian American women can easily be used, mistreated, and manipulated into sex toys and women who would bend over backwards for their man. This mindset is dangerous to the Asian American woman because these thoughts can lead to different types of violence like rape. In all actuality, Asian American women are not just lotus flowers or dragon ladies, but a mixture of everything. The portrayal of Asian American women in film now is a bit different than before. Asian American women roles are more realistic to the common Asian American woman next door. There are roles that display Asian American women as submissive, promiscuous, exotic, and dangerous. The more degrading traits as weak and meek rarely occur. I think these roles have changed in order to relate to Asian American women of today, instead of some made up idea created years ago by American producers and directors. Nowadays we have actresses, celebrities, and models that portray Asian American women in a better light such as Lucy Lu, the Asian girl who played the female Wolverine in X-Men 2, Kimora Lee Simmons, Masuimi Max, Margaret Cho, and much more.
Besides the overall portrayal of Asian American women in cinema, the issue of interracial relationships occurred. In the film we watched in class, it displayed Caucasian women playing Asian American roles due to the fact that interracial relationships were not allowed. This was interesting to me because the overall perception of Asian American women by ethnicities outside of the Asian community brought out generalizations and stereotypes of Asian Americans. Hollywood felt that chinky eyes and a submissive weak or dangerous personality fully represented an Asian American woman. To some extent, that was more offensive than giving an Asian American woman a stereotypical role because I felt the average Asian American woman was being mocked and misunderstood by the media and different films were giving the message to its viewers that these representations were okay and valid. If it was not for the film "Walk Like a Dragon", the idea of interracial relationships would still be unaccepted.

POPPOP

2008-12-10T23:34:00.000-08:00

POW -BANG and it was over, haha. POP! it was fun, although it was stressful to bang it out in 2-3 days! It was no ones fault, but our own...we had all thanksgiving break and didn't do anything. But, like every big project we've done in this class, it never fails to be empowering and ...just a really good experience. If you are the type of student who puts your all in your classes then this class can't fail to teach something new about culture, whether it may be your own, or a culture that you didn't know shit about. And the reason why this class was such a good experience was because we created a safe place amongst ourselves, in this classroom, and in front of these particular people -to open up about our thoughts and feelings, we opened the floor to opinion, argument, agreement, constructive criticism, but never embarrassment or put downs. We were comfortable to perform, to speak, and at the same time stand for what we beleived was right or wrong. Creating this safe environment we've made ourselves realize that "People Power" STILL exists. This kind of power is easily forgotten in the everyday and definitely taken for granted. People forget - if you get enough people to stand with you and feel as strongly as you do about something, that you hold the power for change.

Fil-Am presence

2008-12-10T23:06:00.000-08:00

I've noticed that we Filipino Americans have trouble holdin' down a spot in the downtown, castro and other parts of the city. I know, I know "we come from Daly City where it's foggy because we make a lot of rice"......who the heck made that up? although it is where many of the filipino americans reside, we have no significant mark in downtown like- chinatown! or japantown! or little italy? there are cultures in the city that have a designated place, even though they are mainly for tourists, it is still marked as their own. I can't help but let it bother me. I've had an uncle try to put up a cafe in the castro area...which maybe some of you knew about- it was called "Kape @ 16th & Dejon". I even worked there for a short time and there were barely any filipino americans coming to support the cafe on weekdays, but many white folks came to check it out, and even just asked what the heck was up with the word "Kape"?? Sadly the cafe closed down in less than a year. The filipino food served on the weekends attracted filipinos from daly city just to eat, but it wasn't enough to support the amount of loss during the week. That was where i realized that there were plently of folks in san francisco who barely knew anything about filipino american culture, and partly because there isn't much of a strong presence.

POETRY RESPONSE

2008-12-10T22:56:00.000-08:00

BARBIE III
A child's play thing, once felt fortunate to own.
Pretty blonde hair, blue eyes, perfect nose,
skinny body, a fashionista with a million shoes,
a pink corvette, a dream house.
Your overall image entailed "The Good Life",
irony to your foreign makers.
Exploited factory workers.
Long hours, a few bills,
a struggle to make ends meat
and education is key,
a continuous fight over injustice and corruption,
living in a land paying for endless dues.
Poverty stricken archipelago,
Our people can make you, but can never own you.
So they try to be like you,
lightened skinned, blue eyes hovering its honest quality,
a reconstructive science project,
why can't you leave them be?
Our access to those like my sisters,
are denied...value or by order.
But why are you easily plastered?
Overlooked, am I not worth it?
INSIGNIFICANT.
Barbie, where is the life you portray?

House of Sisig

2008-12-10T22:50:00.000-08:00

I'm used to eating filipino food at home, and usually nothing compares to the taste or "timpla" of my family's cooking. Every filipino restaurant you go to makes something wrong, or it tastes more like mexican food -or something completely different. Especially if you go to filipino restaurants like Goldilock's, Jollibee, or Red Ribbon...it never quite tastes right. One sunday, my family and I decided to try eating at House of Sisig in Daly City (across the street from Ihop). We found that the food was not bad at all, the bangus (milk fish) tasted really good and they never failed to give you the RIGHT sauce to go with any food you were eating- like bangus goes with white vinegar---not soy sauce damnit!! (like other restaurants) There is a wait time for the food because the they cook the food fresh for you, instead of leaving it under a heating lamp all day (ahem-Goldilicks) until it gets stale and crusty. The customer service is good, but not the best! They are very polite, but sometimes forget to check on you if you need something more. Despite all that, the goodness of the food and politeness of the servers made up for everything else. If you can't find home-cooked food at home, I recommend House of Sisig!

Mmm..CRAVING THAI FOOD?

2008-12-10T21:59:00.000-08:00

Location: 5937 Gear Blvd.

(btwn 23rd & 24th)
San Francisco,CA 94121
(415) 668-6654

Price: $$

Portions: Moderate
Parking: Street

Takeout: Yes

Attire: Casual

Overall Rating: A

If you're looking for a new experience and good moderate priced Thai food, Khan Toke Thai House is the place for you. Khan Toke Thai house provides you with an authentic Thai experience with an interior decorated like an actual Thai house. And if sitting down on chairs or benches is what you expect, then forget it! Khan Toke provides comfy cushions to sit on the floor both in the open or in booths. Like any Asian home you enter, taking off your shoes is a must, so prepare to do so when coming here. Their menu is authentic Thai food, nothing Americanized or mixed with Asian fusion. The servers here fit well with the atmosphere with their traditional Thai outfits. The overall experience was great. My boyfriend, his cousin, and I loved the food, ambiance, and the kind staff. We wanted a different dining experience and this restaurant provided that for us. I'm a big fan of Thai curry because of its spice and the tad sweetness from the coconut milk. Khan Toke had a couple good dishes of curry one of them was the duck. The portions were just right for the three of us. Overall we spent $30 something for the 3 of us and that consisted of an appetizer, salad, an entree, dessert, and 3 thai ice teas. Not bad if you're on a budget!

ASIAN AMERICAN POET: EILEEN TABIOS

2008-12-10T20:20:00.000-08:00

Eileen Tabios ( September 10,1960)
* Born in Ilocos Sur,Philippines and moved to the United States when she was 10
* She has her B.A. in political science and M.B.A in economics and international business
* She started writing poetry in 1995
*Eileen has published and released fourteen print, four electronic, one CD poetry collection, an art essay collection, a poetry essay/interview anthology, and a short story book.
*She has also translated her poems in different languages and through different styles of art such as dance, drawings, paintings, ect.
* She helped to form an Asian American Writing Workshop to help build a strong AA writing community.
*Her style of poetry is "prose" aka abstract poetry. This type of poetry helps the reader to come up with their own conclusions and ideas about the poem. A prose poem does not have any sort of format, so its writer has the freedom for lyrical expression.
*Her reason for getting into poetry: "A reporter can't anticipate what will become the news event requiring coverage, nor an analyst what factors will come to influence the rise and fall of the stock market. She notes, "I'm rather restless; I believe Hell is boredom."-(interview with The Asian Pacific American Journal) She wanted something that would challenge her and in the end changed the way she thinks and lives.

I chose poems from her book, "The Light Sang As It Left Your Eyes", a book which was written after her father's passing. She discusses some personal experiences and other thoughts. I first Googled "Filipina American" poets and Eileen Tabios came up. I wanted a Filipina American poet because I wanted to understand their personal transition between moving to the U.S. from the Philippines, the issues they went through growing up to present, and if I can identify with them culturally, politically, economically, socially, etc. Eileen's style of writing was intriguing to me because each page had a different style like one page would look like a formal poem and another would contain pictures. I wanted to explore more about Eileen and what she was about because I could tell that by her writing style, she had a story to tell and I wanted to listen.

BARBIE
...When we arrived in the United States, we became poor. My parents could not afford to give me what I, at age ten desperately wanted: a Barbie doll. From visiting some classmates' homes, I learned that American girls love Barbie. Many owned at least a dozen Barbie dolls, complete with homes, cars, friends, surfboards...and, good Lord, so many shoes!

I only wanted one. I asked for it many times. My parents never said "No." They would only smile and promise, "Soon."

...Two years later my parents gave me my first Barbie doll, At 12 years old, I was hovering on the edge of still wanting to play with dolls and wanting something else---something larger but which I could not define.

At age 12, I ignored that Barbie doll.

At age 35, I discovered that writing poems was inseparable with facing up to those shadowed parts of the past. That's when I bought this Barbie doll who now keeps me company with her own computer,books,pens,and shoes. Six months after acquiring her, I bought her a blonde-haired friend dressed in an equestrian outfit. That friend would come to teach her something I've always wanted to do but never had the time or money to develop: expertly ride horses.

I will never feel the wind blow through my hair as it has for my Barbie doll twin riding her horse. But I do have a fireplace in my writing studio. On it, ten Filipina Barbies pose in various Filipino costumes, including "Philippine Centennial Barbie." Their packaging proclaims:

The Philippine Centennial marks the 100th year of the Philippines as a nation. It is a celebration of the emancipation of the Filipino from the tyranny of colonialism and his transformation into a citizen of an independent and proud nation.

The Philippine Independence was declared on June 12,1898 with the ratification of a Philippine Constitution in January of the following year. These events give the Philippines the distinction of having the first constitutional democracy in Asia.

The Centennial of Philippine Independence represents the history, struggle and solidarity of the Filipino people. It tells the story of the birth and growth of the Filipino race and serves as a reminder of the Filipino's moral duty to spread the inherent nobility, courage, and wealth of his heritage.

BARBIE II (from her favorite poet: Nick Carbo)
ANG TUNAY NA LALAKIMEETS BARBIE AT THE SHARK BAR
on Mulberry and Spring on a rainy night.
Her head sticks out of some woman’s tote bag
placed on top of the bar, she winks
at Ang Tunay na Lalaki. He looks at his gin and tonic,
looks back at the doll and hears her tiny voice
even though her lips aren’t moving. "Hi there,
big guy. I was made in the Philippines. You look
like you were made there too." He responds
just to humor himself, "Where, at the Subic Bay
manufacturing plants? Did you enjoy
being made by exploited laborers?" Barbie crawls
onto the sticky bar and sits herself on the edge
crossing her legs. "I remember those delicate fingers
expertly sewing the hairs to my head. Those women
were so nice to me." She bends at her waist
to let her hair down and dramatically lifts her head up
so her blond locks turn into a glamorous puff,
"See, they did a good job. You must admit."
"You’re incorrigible," he exhales a cloud of smoke
after lighting up a cigarette, "And you’re
all plastic, petroleum based plastic."
Barbie places her palms against her face
and begins to sob. Ang Tunay na Lalaki sticks out
his middle finger, strokes the back of her head,
"Now, now, doll. First time anyone ever told
you the truth?" Barbie lifts her left arm
to swipe away his finger, "My name’s Barbie!
Not Doll, Sweetie, Honey, or Dolly. It’s Barbie!"
Ang Tunay na Lalaki sips his gin,
"Look, Barbie. You have the perfect life,
you’re the world’s best-selling doll
and millions of little girls are buying you dresses.
Even the top fashion designers design
for you." Barbie straightens her back
as if she had a spine, places
her hands on her lap, "But you don’t know
how hard it is to be beautiful all the time. See,
you made my mascara run." He takes a napkin,
dips it into his drink, proceeds to wipe off
the small black streaks on her cheeks, "It’s acrylic,
a water based paint." He reaches into his pocket
for a ball-point pen, draws rich eye lashes
around her eyes. Barbie slides over to a shot glass,
stares at her reflection, "Hey, you’re good
at this. Have you ever considered a career
in make-up? I could recommend you
to our designers, you know."
Suddenly a woman’s human hand plucks
Barbie off the bar, stuffing her
back into a tote bag. His eyes follow
the tote bag out the door. All he can see
is a puff of blond hair and a stiff arm
swaying back and forth like a metronome.

Asian American Culture 210 - An Eye Opening Experience

2008-12-09T18:48:00.000-08:00

In my Asian American Culture class (ETHS 210) at San Francisco State University, we're ALMOST at the final day of the class and I have to say that I'm incredibly happy that the semester is nearly over, but am incredibly sad that the class is coming to an end. I have had so much fun and have had so many good memories with my group mates (Team Awesomeness), my guerrilla invasion group (Team Awesomeness + Team Lau), with my dance group for our POP (Producing Our Power) event (Oscar, Sam, Amanda, Melisa, Khay, Nicole, Crystle), and with everyone else in the class. Although I came into the class not really sure about who I am as an Asian American individual, this class has helped me to realize and slowly understand my identity within American society. And I'm truly thankful for Irene Duller (my teacher), Lawrence (my class' T.A.), and all my peers in the class who helped shape more of my identity and who I am today.

At the beginning of the semester, I found myself constantly thinking, "What does it mean to be Asian American? Am I white washed in some ways and not truly Asian? Am I too black in some ways and not Asian? Because I don't know all of my family's culture, ancestry, traditions, etc. am I not truly Asian? What changes need to be made in today's society for Asian people to be understood and accepted?" All these questions lingered in my mind but I began finding the answers in this class. One of the most important things that I learned about my identity through my Ethnic Studies 210 course is that the term "Asian American" has a double-edged sword feel to it. Asian American people do share the similar experiences and struggles and can be encompassed into this one category or group. On the other hand, Asian Americans (and Asian people in general) are always fighting and trying to help other people understand that there are so many different cultures, traditions, histories, lifestyles with each Asian group and that each group is unique and different. Most importantly, I learned that it is important to have an Asian or Asian American categorization but also that it is important to respect the culture of each Asian group; it allows all others to understand the troubles ALL Asian people have felt as a whole but also gives respect to the differences between cultures. Another common misconception I always had was that because I didn't understand my family's culture and ancestry fully, I was too "white washed" and not "Asian" enough. My teacher Irene taught me that one truly learns their culture by learning what happened in the past and also connecting it to the present, the contemporary time. She taught me that the past, the present, and the future all coincide and interweave together and that the past lays a foundation to make change in the present and in the future. I guess all in all I learned that it is important to know and understand history and who important people are like Jose Rizal but it's just as important to understand what is going on in the Asian American community in today's society. Irene, Lawrence, and the class taught me that learning about culture means that you have to feel it, embrace it, allow it to penetrate and permeate into your body, and then retain it within you. It's not simply something you learn in just a short time. Learning and understanding culture is something that develops within you over your entire lifetime. Finally the most important thing I learned through this class is that change can occur as long as you and others are willing to fight hard and long for it. The Third World Liberation Front and the Black Student Union fighting for a college of Ethnic Studies at SF State is plenty reason to believe in fighting for your rights. Irene showed that change can be made if you put your heart and soul into it. Put some effort and you will produce.

I started out this blog saying that Hyphen Magazine was an eye opening magazine. I'd like to go full circle and state that Irene Duller's Asian American Culture class (ETHS 210) opened my eyes to new thinking, to new experiences, and to a new outlook on things in life.

So thanks Irene for everything. Although the assignments you gave pushed me out of my comfort level, I'm glad you did it in the end. I'll always have a special bond with Team Awesomeness, Team Lau, my dance crew POP team, and with everyone in the class because of the way you oriented the class to giving it that family feel.

This is a class I'll never forget and it truly was an eye opening experience.

Supermarkets, Media, Gimmicks, Rants, and Asians

2008-12-09T08:19:00.000-08:00

The other day I was out with my family doing our weekly supermarket shopping at the Safeway supermarket in Daly City. I'm browsing around the aisles, picking and choosing food I want to eat for the upcoming week when I truly take the time to look in Aisle 9, the aisle dedicated to Asian, Hispanic, and Kosher items/meals. Usually, I would often pass by this aisle because my family and I all knew that we wouldn't get any authentic Asian and Asian American food from a big chain company like Safeway. My family instead goes to places like Ranch 99 Supermarket, Pacific Supermarket, and other Asian-oriented supermarkets to get our fix of Asian food. However, I felt the urge to see how Asian American culture and food is seen in our society. I entered the aisle with low expectations as Safeway originally called this aisle the "Oriental" food section, a term that is derogatory towards Asians and Asian Americans. As I walk through the entire aisle, I find that all my assumptions were true; there were all these stereotypical Asian-looking fonts, as well as "True Authentic ______ (name of Asian country/identity) Food" all marked on the boxes.

Honestly, what's up with the way Asian Americans are portrayed and grouped together in America today? At times when I see things like this at the supermarket with the big name companies using "Asian" fonts and the phrase "Authentic Asian Food" to persuade customers to purchasing these products, or in media today with Asians being seen as permissive, nerdy, conniving, or goofy, it makes me feel that our society is taking a step back. To me it seems like being Asian is a gimmick with stuff like the Harajuku/Gwen Stefani fad going on. Harajuku fashion was originally made for Japanese youth to express themselves through fashion! Also, why are Asian Americans, better yet, minorities grouped together into one category? I thought now-a-days people are more open and understanding to other people's cultures and struggles. Ideally, I wish our society could work to understand other people's cultures and values. Asian American people are not always about the ching-chong, anime-loving, sex-slave, nerdy people some might think we are; we are people just like you. I guess I'd like to live in a world where we could judge people purely by character and not by grouping them with others who look like them. But then again, that's asking for people to not be bias and prejudice towards others, something will never be possible. But we can all try to understand one another.

Just my random rant.

Restaurant Review: Tokyo Tempura House

2008-12-08T09:09:00.000-08:00

(Front of Tokyo Tempura House.)

(Front banner of Tokyo Tempura House.)

My Rating: A-/B+

If you're looking for great Japanese American food at very reasonable prices, Tokyo Tempura House is just the place for you. Take a trip on weekday afternoons, especially during lunch time where the prices are especially low if you show them your school ID.
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Yesterday, I found myself craving for some Japanese food. So for dinner I drove five minutes away from my house to Skyline Plaza and made my way to this awesome Japanese restaurant (shown above). Back in high school and my middle school years, this place was always the spot to eat great Japanese food at a reasonable and affordable price. And thank god, nothing has changed since those years that I've last eaten at this place. The food, the prices, everything is GREAT!

The Restaurant itself and its Employees

(Inside the restaurant.)

(The restaurant with customers in it. For their own privacy, the smiley faces are put in front of their faces. Hopefully no one knew that I took a picture. =X)

The restaurant is clean by all means. The only place that was close to not being clean was the bathrooms in the restaurant but the only problem I had with it was that the floors were a bit sticky. Everything else was completely spotless. The restaurant looks like many typical Japanese restaurants with large wide tables, as well as small square tables for the couples (;D). Along the walls there are all the fun Japanese art and lanterns, as well as one television set right in the corner of the wall near the door with surround sound speakers all around the restaurant. Look at the Lucky Cat statue at the front. Definitely has that Japanese stereotype thing going on but that's all good.

The employees in the restaurant seem decent when it comes to customer service, not providing amazing or terrible customer service but just doing enough to get the job done. The woman that asked for my order didn't greet me in any way but went straight to the point and asked "What do you want to order?" in a serious and monotone voice. Honestly I was hoping for more enthusiasm from the waitress but didn't get any at all from her. After I had made my order she was incredibly quick to ring me up and she kind of yanked my credit card out of my hand. It might just be me being anal and one special case but who knows? In the end, she made up for it all by offering Free California Rolls with my order.

The Food

(All that I ordered for my sister and me.)

(Beef Teriyaki and Tempura Combination Meal with Salad and Tempura Sauce.)

(Chicken Katsu with Salad and Katsu Sauce.)

(Tempura Roll drizzled with the Salad sauce they provide. Also I got FREE California Rolls on the HOUSE! Good stuff.)

As you can see, the food looks absolutely amazing. And the great thing is that the food truly tastes amazing too! This restaurant offers an array of different items to choose from including sushi, teriyaki dishes, katsu dishes, etc. The great thing about this place is that the quantity and quality is there for lower prices than other high-end Japanese restaurants. At local Japanese restaurants in my area, some combination dinners go from $12 to up to $15 which is absolutely absurd in my opinion. Here at Tokyo Tempura House, the prices for combination meals is about $10-11 (not too bad in my book).

Ending Comments

Maybe I'm not too picky when it comes to my Japanese food but I really enjoyed eating from this restaurant. The food is cheap but comes at a price with so-so customer service. All in all, I highly suggest it if you're in the Skyline Plaza area for cheap, affordable Japanese food.

Showcasing Pilipino American Artists and Musicians (S.P.A.M.)

2008-12-07T00:41:00.001-08:00

Awhile back at the beginning of the school year, my cousin Geraldine (a member of the Pilipino American Collegiate Endeavor "PACE" program at San Francisco State) encouraged me to attend this PACE-sponsored event called S.P.A.M. (Showcasing Pilipino American Artists and Musicians). I was hesitant at first and didn't want to go but ended up going with her and my sister to the show. And I have to say that I had an absolutely great time supporting and watching these Pilipino artists showcase their talents. At the show, there were artists showcasing their talents on the stage through dance and music, while there were other individuals who were making art live in front of the audience to the side of the performance stage. Some of the Pilipino stage artists sang covers of current songs and their own personal favorite songs, there were dance groups performing their groups' dance routines, and there was even a Pilipino magician showcasing his magic with a mix of comedy. The artists on the side of the stage area showcased several forms of visual art including photography, paintings, and graffiti art. Overall, I had a really great time and the show filled me with laughs, joy, excitement, and pleasure. I enjoyed that this event wasn't about "going back to our roots" and "preserving the Asian American culture" (I'm not saying that isn't important) but rather just Asian American people (and people in general) showing their love for art, whether on the main stage or off to the side of the stage. The music was contemporary and something I could personally relate to. So here are some performances from the SPAM event. All credit for the videos goes to Ilikejoaquin on Youtube.com. Go visit his other links! http://www.youtube.com/user/ilikejoaquin

(Flier of the SPAM Event.)

(Sexy Tito Performance - Freakin' Hilarious! In order to fully understand the whole story behind the Sexy Tito, you had to/have to watch the 2008 P.C.N. "Pilipino Cultural Night" that SFSU's Pace held. But anyways, check out how accurate their dancing is to Danity Kane's "Bad Girl.")

(Future Shock Dance Group - Pretty dope dance group from San Jose.)

(MissCarolinexoxo and Lex - The two are performing a medley of "Lollipop" by Lil' Wayne, "Whatever You Like" by T.I., "Sweetest Girl" by Wyclef Jean, "Paper Planes" by M.I.A., and so many more covers of songs. Lex performing with a ukulele was pretty ill I have to say.)

(Stevie Nader with Randall on the MIDI (?) controller thing and Raener on backup guitar. Probably my favorite performance of the night! Stevie has a unique and good voice and Stevie chose a good variety of songs to cover including Robin Thicke's "Teach You A Lesson", N.E.R.D.'s "Anti Matter", T-Pain "Can't Believe It", M.I.A.'s "Come Around", and Prince's "Erotic City." The best part of the performance was when he covered "Can't Believe It" as you can hear and see that everyone got into it. I really got into it too.)

(FJD, a dance group made at SFSU, had this whole intergalactic theme going on. Very cool performance and they were pretty sharp. Good stuff.)

(Kayla singing and Mike V beatboxing. Another one of my personal favorite performances that night. Mike was on point with the beatboxing and Kayla also has a great voice. Song medley choice was really good too.)

Hope you guys enjoy! Please support SFSU PACE and go to their future events if you're in the Bay Area!

The I-Hotel: Now and Then

2008-12-06T19:06:00.000-08:00

In the beginning of my Asian American culture class, we watched a documentary about the struggle low-income Filipino senior citizens faced fighting to save their home, the I-Hotel. After watching the document, I knew that I had to take a trip to see the hotel so during Thanksgiving break I went with my sister to visit the remodeled hotel. When I arrived I found that the I-Hotel was split into two sections, one section was a cultural center displaying photographs and artwork from the I-Hotel protests while the other section was a low-income senior citizen housing facility. Here are some pictures of the new I-Hotel (all pictures are clickable for full resolution pictures):

(Front sign of I-Hotel.)

(Side view of building.)

(View of I-Hotel from across the Kearny street.)

(Fliers outside the window of the Filipino Cultural Center.)

(More fliers outside the Filipino Cultural Center.)

(Window photo on Cultural Center documenting a Filipino senior citizen speaking during a I-Hotel protest.)

(Window photo of protesters in front of old I-Hotel.)

(Window photo depicting life in the old I-Hotel.)

("Positively no Filipinos Allowed" window photo. Simply crazy and absurd that people use to/still think like that. )

(Poster inside the remodeled I-Hotel building.)

I was absolutely in awe at the photos that they displayed in the Filipino cultural center, as well as in the lobby area of the I-Hotel. The photos of the Filipino senior citizens in the old I-Hotel truly showed their positive character and how great the I-Hotel was them for the past. As one can see in the third to last picture above, the Filipino senior citizens were having a good time keeping each other company with music, conversation, dancing, and much more. The I-Hotel allowed all Filipino senior citizens to find camaraderie amongst themselves and to live in place where they could be who they wanted to be. No one judged them because they all understood each other and their own struggles. Although the I-Hotel building and the area completely changed from what it use to be in the past, I found an appreciation how the I-Hotel had tried to retain some of the history of Filipinos in San Francisco with the large posters and photos in the center and in the lobby area of the apartment. However, I was really upset that there was nothing left of the Manilatown that use to be in that area along with the old I-Hotel. It was really sad to go through Chinatown and that area of San Francisco and see that big businesses have truly taken over what we had left of Manilatown. All I saw was a bunch of restaurants and large corporation buildings right behind them. Large corporations always take out people out of the neighborhoods that they are so fond of in order to make profit. Originally the future of the I-Hotel was to make it into a parking lot for people to park in and I am truly glad that people dedicated their time in the past to protest and to protect the senior citizens' rights to live in that building they called their home. Those protesters helped to retain what is left in Manilatown and I have so much appreciation for them. All I can say is "Thanks." Anyways here are some pictures I took from the I-Witness event in Japantown last year showing the protests for the I-Hotel. Enjoy.

(Signs against demolition of I-Hotel.)

(View of Manilatown.)

(People coming together in I-Hotel.)

(Protesting in front of I-Hotel.)

(More protesting in front of I-Hotel.)

(Another shot of protesting in front of I-Hotel.)

What happened to Assimilation?

2008-12-05T13:08:00.000-08:00

When I go out and mingle, or I'm in any public setting, (like parties or get togethers) I try my hardest to make no one feel left out- even though its not my party. I'm not judgemental, and I don't make fun of people because of appearance or disabilities. It is common courtesy that when you are talking in a group of people your not supposed to speak a different language if there are people standing there that might not understand. Myself and many others are known as the "Americanzied", raised in the USA, no detectable accent, and able to make friends with any race, and our parents won't yell. I've been to a significant amount of parties all very different and always very diverse. But, for some reason whenever I step into a party that contains about 98% Asians, I ALWAYS feel left out. I've observed that they are very closed to their own group of friends, and its very hard to feel welcome when all they talk about is Jenny from summer camp in '06. Even though you try to change the subject and talk about yourself or get to know others in the group, they all cut you off and eventually ignore you after they bring up another person that did something stupid and funny last semester. I just feel as though theres never any interest to open up or get to know someone new. Is this just not my scene? But, I've known quite a few people who agree with the vibes they get at these kinds of parties or get-togethers. Maybe someone has ideas as to why these vibes are present?

EYE opener

2008-12-05T12:45:00.000-08:00

I was at the mall a couple of weeks ago with Nicole and we were in this Japanese store at serramonte called, Daiso. We didn't find anything unusual until we got to the makeup section. For a minute me and Nicole couldn't figure out what it was. It was in a small package and we could read japanese so we turned it over and there were the visual instructions. Particularly for Asian People who had no visible double eye lids--you were supposed to put this clear sticker on your eyelid right above your eyelashes so that your eyes would look more "American". Both of our jaws dropped as we stood there dumbfounded as to why such a product would still exist?! I've read about it, and watched Asian American videos about how hard it is to assimilate and try to look and act as "American as possible, but I've never actually met an Asian American person who really complained about how their eyes looked funny or any other physical feature that dissatisfied them.Trippy! I think no matter how "weird" I look, I'm comfortable with who I am and wouldn't resort to putting clear stickers on my eyelids to try and fix the problem.

My chosen Asian American Poet

2008-12-05T12:25:00.000-08:00

Sun Yung Shin
• I chose this Poet because She comes from a completely different background, she was adopted and taken out of her Asian American family and life and was raised in Chicago by a Polish –Irish- German and Catholic family. I was interested to see what her poetry would sound like and what her main focus or theme would be.
• Sun Yung Shin was born in Seoul, South Korea and was raised in Chicago. She has lived in Boston, Pittsburgh, St. Paul, and Minneapolis and has worked at a variety of jobs including a clerk at a sheet music-and-band instrument store, drugstore delivery girl, a nanny, an often laid-off software development analyst, and a poet-in-residence. Shin's poetry, reviews, and essays have been widely published. She currently lives in Minneapolis with her husband and their two children. She recently published her first childrenÕs book, CooperÕs Lesson.
• Sun Yung Shin is the author of a book of poems Skirt Full of Black (Coffee House Press, 2007); co-editor of Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption (South End Press, 2006); and author of bilingual Korean/English book for children Cooper’s Lesson (Children’s Book Press, 2003). Her essays and fiction are anthologized in Transforming a Rape Culture (Milkweed), Echoes Upon Echoes: New Korean American Writings (Temple University), The Encyclopedia Project, Vol. 1, A-E, and The Praeger Handbook of Adoption (Greenwood Publishing). With Rachel Moritz she publishes and edits WinteRed Press; they have recently published work by Fanny Howe, Rodrigo Toscano, and Gabrielle Civil. She lives in Minneapolis.
• Sun Yung Shin was born in Seoul, South Korea and grew up in Chicago as the adopted child of a Polish-Irish-German Catholic American family. This experience as a transcultural adoptee was highly influential on her later work and the themes and issues she addresses. She was encouraged to write by one of her teachers in school, although she had been writing in school for a long time, this teacher encouraged her to write poetry.
• She likes to work with themes like: women's economic status, class shifts, and transnationalism. As she says in her interview with Asian American Press “Read into the past. Don't just look at what your contemporaries are doing. Read criticism. Read outside the U.S. Look at how language is used for what purposes and by whom, examine how our condition has been located in language. And fight the Man! As my teacher Mark Nowak says, poetry should be revolutionary”

One of her poems:
American Missionary, 1895, Korean Peninsula

I am a union of devices. My fruit farm, my zeal.

Carve me from labor.

I will smooth the brow of any convert. My thumb fears no flesh.

I am her husband, I am his wife. I am their large and luxurious children, flinging themselves through the blue on the see-saw. Her very bare feet, my woman, my wife. The white feet and inside her white bones.

At night her body makes a white cross against the sheets. Star liquor and the red scent of freckles—

Nothing creeps under our door to paint its headlights across the headboard. No natives. No verse. No Latin.

No traffic but the blank heat of my prayer, tracing the white cross, bone against bone.

My appeal, my plea, my application of restraint.

My Response To Justin Chin's Poem

2008-12-02T08:08:00.000-08:00

Here I have made a response to Justin Chin's poem Hypothermia. On Justin's website, http://www.queerculturalcenter.org/Justin/ Justin scratches other people's work out and makes poems of his own out of it. So here you go, enjoy!

~~Hypothermia~~ The World (I made the new title)
~~[for Adam]~~

~~Stranded mountaineers have~~ been known to lie
in the ~~slit bellies of their pack animals,~~
~~crouched in the vapor of~~ warm ~~blood~~
~~to prevent hypothermia; the~~ human ~~body~~ being
that frightfully fragile pack
of skin, flesh, organs, bones,
one fierce dip in temperature
and it betrays without even a kiss;

when rescuing cattle trapped
under ice, farmers have been known
to draw warmth from the animals' ears;
that last night I woke with your warm slab
of body next to me, your strong arm
draped heavy over my chest, the piercing,
a metal bar across the lobe of your right ear,
pressing ~~into the back of my neck,~~

on~~e small touch of the cold night~~
me~~asured against ambivalence,~~ mixed
emotions. Leaning into your still sleeping
body, I gently fondled your stiff ears, nuzzled
my lips against the stubble of your head,
followed the flicker of your tattoos
as it crossed mine like a game of Snakes
& Ladders; one false move and you fall

~~down the slippery scaled back of a snake,~~
back to the start, back to Square One,
to finding your way ~~around the game~~
~~of boys~~ pretending ~~to be men and men~~
never knowing what it ever was like
to be boys, finding where you fit in,
~~where I fell out;~~ and hearing your voice
on the phone again after all that ~~time,~~

remembering that one last fling, I know
that a clear and present memory is another

~~trick of~~ stay~~ing~~ warm, another way
to keep holding ~~for that~~ one lucky throw
that will allow me to scramble up a long
sturdy ladder where perhaps we'll find something
definite, real time, hard proof,
apologetically waiting there.

Poetry Section- Part 2 "This Is for the One Whose Aura Was Silver"

2008-12-01T18:44:00.000-08:00

This is for the one whose aura was silver
Whose heart was gold
and whose life was short

This is for the one whose eyes were far seeing
Whose mind was like quick silver
and who tried to make a difference

This is for all of those who do nothing
Who watch while the darkness moves in
and simply wait for time to catch up with them

This is a wake up call

This call is for all of those
who dawn the rose-tinted glasses
and avert their eyes

This call is for all of those
who cover their ears
and try to drown out the screams

This is a wake up call
that you WILL listen to
because it is the one that
is going to save your life

This wake up call is asking
for the ambivalent to be
the one whose aura was silver
and to be the one with the
far seeing eyes

It is time to stop
playing possum and hope
for things to change
on their own

It is your turn to
be wrapped in silver

Poetry Section, Part 1 - Jessica Hagedorn

2008-12-01T18:22:00.000-08:00

For this blog I will be taking about an Asian-American poet named
Jessica Hagedorn. The reason that I will be taking about her
is because my ethnic studies professor told my class to pick
a poet, so Ms. Hagedorn is who I chose. Before I start talking
about her I feel that I should disclose, that I am not a poetry
buff by any means, and that I did not know anything about Ms.
Hagedorn before this assignment. The way that I found her was
that I googled "Asian-American poets" and a list of poets came up.
After reading their bios and whatever samples of their work that
they had online, I chose Jessica Hagedorn both because she was a
woman and mostly because of her poem "Sorcery."
According to my research on her, Jessica Hagedorn was born in
Manila, Philippines in 1949. She moved to the United States at the
age of thirteen. After being her for about three years, Jessica's
poetry caught the attention of San Franciscan, Kenneth Rexroth. In
fact, according to my research, it was Rexroth who edited the book
that first featured her poetry, which was titled Four Young Women.
Since that first book, Jessica Hagedorn has gone on to write
several more books and even write and produce a play.

Asian American Poet: Justin Chin

2008-11-29T12:50:00.000-08:00

In my Asian American Culture class, I was assigned by my teacher to look for an Asian American poet and read/interpret their poems. To start looking for poets, I randomly googled "Asian American poets" and found a blog on blogspot about this one individual's recommendations for Asian American poets to read. Justin Chin was one of the names I found in the person's list so I decided to further google him to see if he had any works that I could read online. I found that he sold several books of poems on Amazon so I went on to Amazon and read reviews about his books. One of his books, titled "Bite Hard" got rave reviews and in the Amazon's review it said that he wrote from his "queer pan-Asian experience." Knowing that he faces discrimination because he is Asian and because he is gay really drew me into purchasing and reading his work. With the issue of Proposition 8 in the minds of many these days, I also felt that it was appropriate to learn and see thing's through a different point of view. I wouldn't consider myself homophobic but I wouldn't consider myself completely comfortable with the idea with LGBTQQ. Also, I also found that he was a San Francisco resident so I knew that I could possibly relate to some of his experiences. With all that said, I purchased "Bite Hard" from Amazon and once I received it, I began to read some of his poems. And he is real as it gets.

But before I go on, let's get the facts about this Asian American poet and Spoken Word artist.

According to Redroom.com (http://www.redroom.com/author/justin-chin/bio), Justin Chin was born in Malaysia, was raised and educated in Singapore, got brought into the United States through Hawaii, and now currently resides in San Francisco. He has published three books of poetry, Bite Hard (1997), Harmless Medicine (2001), and Gutted (2006). He was the finalist in the Bay Area Book Reviewers Association and received the 2007 Thom Gunn Award for Poetry by the Publishing Triangle. Not only did he publish books of poetry but he also wrote 2 non-fiction books, Mongrel: Essays, Diatribes, and Pranks (1999) and Burden of Ashes (2002).

During the 90s Justin was a spoken word artist and performed seven of his works here and there. In 2002, he quit doing spoken word performances and he compiled all of the documents, scripts, and other items he used during that era and had it published in 2005 into a book named Attack of the Man-Eating Lotus Blossoms. Currently he is working on a book which is titled Book 2 which consists of books that are found on the streets and remade, remodeled, and reworked into Artists books.

So how did Justin Chin get into poetry and spoken word? And how does he write his poems? On Redroom's website, Gerry Gomez Pearlberg has an in-depth conversation with Justin Chin. (More of this conversation can be read here: http://www.redroom.com/authornewsitem/intertext-conversation-justin-chin). Basically it the article it states that Justin Chin at first wanted to be a scientist but found interest in poetry through rock music and top forty pop. He explains that his schooling had a major influence in him, especially since one of the classes he took in Singapore was a Poetry class. He explicitly states, "English literature was a mandatory subject. Every year, we studied a Shakespearean play, a modern play, a modern novel, a local novel, and a smattering of poems from a smattering of poets. Not the best way to be exposed to literature, because so much of it was focused on getting the correct answers to essay questions. But I still loved it. I did horribly at it grade-wise, though." He further explains that much of the scientific language he uses as imagery in his poetry comes from his family upbringing. He further states that with being queer, "medical talk has become much of gay speak as any disco-dolly slang." Near the end of the interview with Pearlberg he explains his writing process. He states, "I write whenever I can. When I don't feel poorly, or tired, or sick. I write a lot in my head all though my day; I take notes in my Filofax and in my notebook. Usually I get totally obsessed with an idea, a phrase, or a word and want to use it in a piece of writing."

With all that said, check out his website: http://www.queerculturalcenter.org/Justin/
It's really cool honestly and shows four random things. Especially click on 2 and 3 because it connects to concept of Book 2 where he uses other people's work, scratches out most of their work and leaves words and phrases to make a new poem.

Awesomeness and Team Lau Take on "The Man"

2008-11-19T19:23:00.000-08:00

The Commemoration of the 1968 SF State Strike

2008-11-09T18:47:00.000-08:00

From Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 to Thursday, October 30th, my Asian American Culture class at San Francisco State University made our presence felt through our campus cultural guerrilla invasion commemorating the 40th anniversary of the 1968 strike. For those of you who are not aware of what happened, here's a little background information before I go on.

On November 6, 1968, the Black Student Union and other student groups which referred to themselves as the Third World Liberation Front led a strike at San Francisco State University to fight for their rights to establish a school of ethnic studies. They presented 15 demands that they want the school to accomplish including the expansion of the college's black studies department, the creation of the school of ethnic studies, and more recruitment and admissions of minority students. The fighting continued for several months until March 21, 1969, when all protesting came to an end. After all the hard work and dedication the students put into the protesting, they won their right to establish the school of ethnic studies and they expanded the Black Studies Department.

On the morning of October 30th, my group and I came out in guerrilla fashion along with the rest of the class from our classroom (to support us) to Cesar Chavez quad area (an area that many students walk through throughout the entire day) to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the SF State Strike. As we were walking from our classroom to the Cesar Chavez quad area, we began chanting melodically over and over, "On strike, we're gonna shut it down!" As we were walking from our class through the campus to reach the quad area, this positive vibe and feeling overcame me. I felt amazing knowing that I was in this large group together with other people who supported this cause to commemorate the 1968 strike. That really pumped me up right before my group and I presented our skit.

Immediately when my group reached the quad area we ran into our positions and began our fashion-related skit. I felt so much good energy between me and the rest of the class that it was rather intoxicating (in a good way). Being in a huge group really changes the mentality of everyone to focus on one main goal and I could understand why so many people banned together to fight in the strike for their rights to a college of ethnic studies at SF State. Not to mention, our reenactment of the strike gave me a new-found appreciation for all the students who participated in the 1968 strike. Without these students before me, I would have never been able to be in an Asian American class like this. All my life I have learned of history through the Eurocentric perspective and now in college, I am able to venture off and learn about history through the eyes of other people. It makes me proud to attend a school that has the first and only ethnic studies building in the United States. After my group and CPG + Team Kamikaze presented their skit, we ended with our teacher leaving us with the note that if students come together, they can never be defeated. As we left to go on to our next classes, we chanted, "The students united, will never be defeated." And it's true. If we ban together as students and fight for our rights like the students during the '68 strike did, change will occur.

"The students united will never be defeated." Ooooooohhhhhhhhhhh yeaaaahhh.

The 40th Anniversary and Our Protest

2008-11-05T15:23:00.000-08:00

This past Thursday, my Ethnic Studies class
celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the 1968
SFSU Campus Strike. For those of you out there
who don't know what that is I will give you a
brief break down. In 1968, the student
organizations on the SFSU campus came together
and went on the longest campus strike in US history.
The strike lasted around 5 months and even the
teachers went on strike and supported the
students. At the end of the strike the students
accomplished in getting SFSU the first and
only School of Ethnic Studies. My classes
Ethnic Studies teacher split the class up
into groups and each group had to come up with
a creative way to pay homage to the 1968 Strike
and to some how create awareness about the
current struggle going on at SFSU to keep
the ethnic studies programs. My group was priviliged
enough to be able to do our "protest" with the
support of our entire class. Now, I myself, am not
someone who likes performing for big crowds, but I
have to say, that now I can see the appeal. And it
was not just that, there was an enegery there with us
that came strictly from the crowd. It was a truly
surreal experience, due mainly to what we were
talking about. If that didn't make sense, I am
sorry about that, so let me try to clearify. What
made the experience so memorable was the fact that
we were talking about the 1968 strike and were
basically walking in shoe prints that had been
created forty years ago. What made the experience
even better was when a lady walked up to us after
we were done and said how she was very moved by what
we had done, because it turns out that she had
participated in the strike forty years ago. There
are videos up on youtube, facebook, and myspace (I
think) of the different groups that participated
in the Ethnic Studies 210 protests, I recommend that
you check it out.

CELEBRATING THE 40TH THROUGH FASHION

2008-11-04T11:43:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday was one of the most inspiring and empowering days I've had in a while and it's an experience I know I could remember 40 years from now. Just like the film we watched in class about the strike, the same intensity and unity was given off from our group from beginning to end. Our freeze frame from the past really helped to capture a moment in SFState history, which felt like we jumped into a time warp into the 60's. This assignment didn't feel like an obligated midterm where we were worrying about recieving a good grade. This midterm helped us to celebrate the reason why we joined this class, to experience CULTURE. Without the fight of students, teachers, staff, and people in the community, we wouldn't have opportunities like ETHNIC STUDIES CLASSES, PACE, LFS, BSU, LA RAZA, PCN, ECT. I definitely had a positive response from people passing by, a lot of people were curious about what we were gathered about and took the flyers I gave them. I ran out of flyers maybe after 5 mins or less and the demorgraphic of people taking them were of all ethnicities including Asians. Also, our 5-10 minute presentations helped to educate everyone not only about the struggle, but demonstrated that Asian Americans can fight off the common stereotypes of being weak, meek, and submissive. We too have a voice and have something to say. "The students united, can never be defeated!"

EMPOWERMENT

2008-11-04T10:27:00.000-08:00

FIRST- let me thank the ENITIRE class of ETHS 210. I feel like we are such a tighter class now that the last thursday "STRIKE" performance happened out in Cesar Chavez Quad. The whole performance was powerful. And really i didnt expect the entire class to chant! whaaat!!! HAHA whether people were on their way to class or not --we made a damn good statement to SFSU. The visuals - speeches - and responses from our audience were well brought together. But, as a few of the members of Team United mentioned...we expected a more powerful response from the Asian American students on campus, but instead we were purposely avoided a lot of the time. As I observed the next group go up after us I passed out flyers and watched the people who stood behind our class to watch. I noticed the AA folks walked right by and pretended not to see the flyer being handed to them. Other than that I saw a pretty diverse group standing around to watch. The feeling of standing up for something that we beleive in is one thing, but doing something about it is another, and the demonstration that we all did on Thursday was a perfect example that the "coming together" of a large group of people who all beleive in one thing is POSSIBLE. Not only our group, but the ENTIRE class fullfilled EDUTAINMENT requirements on the midterm....power to Ethnic Studies.

APAture 2008

2008-10-27T11:39:00.001-07:00

This year, the APAture event took place over the last
weeks of September. Before this even was talked about
in my Ethnic Studies class, I will freely admit to
my ignorance about it. I had no idea that this event
took place every year. Now, that I do know about it
I will definitely try to make a solid effort to go
to at least one day each year. This year, I could only
go to the Friday event where the different bands played.
Even though I managed to go, I was only able to stay
and see one band, Farewell Typewriter. This is a four
piece rock band. Again, I went to this with some
preconceived notions about what these bands might sound
like. I thought I would go there and hear some techno-
ish rock music that is completely different then what I
listen to. However, I am happy to say that that was a
stupid blond-moment on my part. Farewell Typewriter is
an awesome band, one that I would listen to any way
because what they play is one of the types of music that
I listen to regularly. However, despite the fact that it
is rock, there is something different about it that differs
it from other little indie-rock bands. I almost want to
say that they were a little off-beat. Not in the musical
way, because I wouldn't know about that, but in the fact
that something I can't quite put my finger on, makes them
different. If that last sentence didn't make sense, I am
sorry. What I mean is that something in the way that their
songs are composed (I guess would be the word) is different
then anything I have heard. My favorite song of theirs
is "Spoils of the Spoiled." There reason I like this song
is that really good beat that they have going in the
beginning. Anyway, for anyone who has never gone to the
APAture event, I highly recommend it because there is
such a good atmosphere. The people you see and the things
that are there are just...for lack of a better word,
breathtaking. Not in the sense that it is so beautiful
that it takes your breath away, in the sense that you
know you are seeing something truly amazing.

BOOK REVIEW: Dim Sum of All Things

2008-10-22T22:10:00.000-07:00

Author Kim Wong Keltner did a good job in weaving her story telling and mixing in true aspects of Asian American culture such as cultural ignorance from other ethnicities and stereotypes. Lindsey, the main character in the book, describes herself as more than just the typical Asian American woman, "she hated hip-hop and sappy soul ballads but liked Abba...she was terrible at math...instead of hanging out at the Asian food court in college, she had spent her days reading French fabliaux at Caffe Roma". Also by her "friendship" with Steve E., she broke the common stereotype that Asian woman are meek and submissive. This was one of the reasons why I enjoyed the book so much because Lindsey's attitude and personality is a realistic view of AA women of this day and age based from my personal experience and view of other AA women. Lindsey also experiences cultural ignorance from others when she was at the work place and in her art class. Her co-worker and her art teacher generalize all Asian Americans based from outer appearance, stereotypes, or actions done by other AAs. By touching on these subjects, it displays a continuous view of ignorance from an AA point of view and can be easily relatable to other ethnicities. The book in its entirety was enjoyable and humorous especially because the thoughts,experiences,and actions Lindsey did I found similar to my own life, like spraying my house with air freshener to cover up the smell of fried fish or cooked Filipino food based from embarrassment or having an Aunty in the family that tries to act hip and young.

The Dim Sum Of All Things

2008-10-22T22:07:00.000-07:00

The Dim Sum Of All Things is a great way to learn about how a Asian American has assimilated to American culture, and who eventually learns to embrace Asian culture. I liked this book because it is very personal. For one thing, it takes place in San Francisco, my home town! So I know where a lot of the streets are that where mentioned, and it was a lot easier to imagine what was going on. Towards the beginning of the book, there was a scene where Pau Pau, the grandmother, would just push her way through the street, elboing and not saying excuse me. Khay and I had a conversation on how Asian elders are seem more strong then most other elderly people. They are able to shove there way through the streets of San Francisco to get to there destination, while many times carrying pounds and pounds of groceries. Its amazing how fearless and strong they seem to be. Another thing is the humor. Lindsey’s character has a young humor that a lot of students can relate to. The way she thinks about guys and relationships to going to a party and having a crazy night. I am not a “reader”, but reading The Dim Sum Of All Things is a book that will catch anybody’s interest. I even feel like reading more novels now!

Dim Sum of All Things

2008-10-21T22:01:00.000-07:00

This book was cute, and funny, too....there were quite a few incidences that made me laugh. The one in particular was when Lindsey had gotten drunk and in the process of finding a bathroom, she fell so hard that she pooped her pants. Honestly, i don't know what I'd do in that situation, and now a days, I dont think anyone is so kind as to strip you of your poopy clothes and bathe you. The book was good, but I felt like it lacked something, it totally covered the Asian-American identity issue and how Lindsey came to discover who she really was after her trip to China. The book introduced Michael Cartier as a person she started seeing and coincidentally was half Chinese, and asked Lindsey to teach him what it meant to be Chinese. The book introduces issues about him and the conflicts between he and Lindsey, but it never goes into detail about how the conflicts are resolved. OK i get it, the books main character is Lindsey, but HEY! why introduce a character with such "juicy conflict potential" if your not going to follow through!!! It seems as though Michaels struggle to learn to be Chinese and Lindsey trying to help him is a whole other can of worms that the book opened and never continued with. I was eager to find out how Lindsey helps him discover his Asian American self and how their conflicts are resolved when she points out to Michael that "Slant Eye" is a hurtful and derrogatory term! This whole part that the book introduces is missing! Bottom line- the book was good, but way too short.

The Dim Sum of All Things Book Review

2008-10-20T21:26:00.001-07:00

Hey to the loyal readers of this blog,
(i.e. the class of Eths 210, for now anyway)
For this blog, I am going to talk about the
book "The Dim Sum of All Things" by Kim
Wong Keltner. First off, I really enjoyed
this book and for anyone who likes a female
protagonist with a quick wit, some slightly
off beat, dorky moments, and a little bit
of romance, I think that you will enjoy this
book too. However, this book is not all frills
and happy go lucky secretaries. To give you a
little something to entice those reading taste-
buds, this book takes you through the ups and downs
of being an Asian-American in the United States. The
reader follows one Lindsey Owyang as she tries to
find a way to deal with her dual-culturalism. Lindsey
Owyang is a girl who was born in the United States
and wants to be accepted in "normal" American society,
but at the same time she does not want to forget where
her other heritage lies. Through this novel a person
who is not Asian-American, like yours truely, is given
a look into the hardships that they have to face. I
have never had the identity problems that Lindsey
faced on a daily basis. Throughout the novel
you see as Lindsey struggles to coup with both
her American side and her Asian side. She desparetly
fights to find some semblance of balance. Not only
do you watch as Lindsey struggles with just being
Asian-American, you watch as she navigates her
way through the "Hoarders" as an Asian-American
woman. In the novel Lindsey describes the Caucasian
males who like Asian women as the "Hoarders of All
Things Asian."
If all of that above didn't peak your interest, then
how about this. This is just a good book. It is a
very well written story which covers pretty much
the entire spectrum of emotion. All of the characters
are memorable and there is someone that every person
can relate to, even if you are not of Asian-American
descent. I, myself, am a blue-eyed, blonde girl, with
not a speak of Asian in my family heritage any where,
but I did find something that I could relate to within
Lindsey's character. And if any of you readers (besides
those of Eths 210) are San Franciscans this novel
will hit close to home. Yeah, that's right, you guessed
it. The story is set in the city by the bay with a
golden gate guarding her entrance...I have to admit
that that last line was pretty poetic, so good for me.
Anyway, just to reiterate, I highly recommend "Dim Sum
of All Things."

Home Is Where the Heart Is.

2008-10-15T14:35:00.000-07:00

I know that the title is cliched, but that does not make
it untrue.Home is where your heart is. For me, the
way I identify home is through smell. I know, it sounds
weird, but it's true. When I walk into my home
there is a very distinct smell, it's a good smell, that
just rushes over me and I instantly feel better. Besides
the smell of my house, there is only one other smell
in the world that causes that instant feeling
of ease. It is the smell of my grandmother's home-made
clam chowder cooking that cause the same euphoric feeling.
To give you a little background, my paternal grandmother
created a clam chowder recipe when my dad was younger. This
recipe has been passed down to my aunts, my cousins, my sisters,
and myself. Where ever you might find a large gathering of Kaufers,
you are sure to find the smell of clam chowder cooking on the stove.
We serve my grandmother's famous chowder at Easter,
Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. We always eat before the main meal and it
is always delicious. I, myself, have even made it for a gathering or two
and apparently it turned out pretty well, so yeah for me. I always loved
the fact that my family had a traditional recipe, home made recipe to
boot, that was pasted down. I think that recipes like my grandmother's
clam chowder are important to family. Maybe not the recipe itself, but
what it represents. The recipe represents tradition. Though a simple
bowl of clam chowder may not seem very important, it is something
that ties my family together because everyone loves my grandmother's
clam chowder and we all feel a certain warmth when we eat it. So here
are some questions for those of you who are reading this: Is there a
certain smell that you associate with home? Is there a traditional
recipe that has been passed down from generation to generation? If
nothing else, I hope that you will think about these questions and
realize that there is a small tradition of food within your family.

MAGNO RUBIO!

2008-10-14T12:05:00.000-07:00

Magno Rubio is about five Filipino men who are working as farmers in the United States. Despite of the harsh labor conditions and unffair treatment, they find a way to stick together and take care of each other through the mayhem. The main character named Magno Rubio is a hopeless romantic who is deeply in love with a Southern Bell named Clarybelle. Magno has never seen her in person and their only means of contacting each other is through letters. Clarybelle is seen utterly as a gold digger and completely has no love for Magno, but Magno is blinded by his love for her and a possibilty for a future with her. Working long hours in the field and saving every cent he has is his way of supporting Clarybelle no matter what the physical cost may be on his body. The play provided a large connection between Filipinos immigrating to the United States and having the same hopefullness as Magno. Just like Magno, Filipinos had such high expectations of this "new land" based from stories, but not actually seeing it with their own eyes. The United States (Clarybelle) gave an image of economic, political, and social stability, only to find out that this picture painted in Filipino minds was far from the truth. Just like the treatment Clarybelle gave to Magno, the U.S. tricked, took advantage of, mistreated, abused, and violated Filipino immigrants and Filipinos in the U.S., leaving Filipinos in the early settlement of the U.S. to hard back breaking labor.

Overall I thought the play was well written and very entertaining due to the mass amount of humor with Tagalog phrases. They did several musical numbers using Arnis (Filipino martial art) sticks and used some Arnis moves to demonstrate actions when working in the field. The cast consisted of the prince from "Cinderella" starring Brandy and Whoopi Goldberg and other actors from tvshows like CSI, Brothers and Sisters, One Life to Live, and many more.

FAMILY

2008-10-12T22:25:00.000-07:00

In my Asian American Culture class, we had to think about what Asian American culture means to all of us. To me being an Asian American, family is a huge part of my life. I decided to write a little poem about Family. Hope you enjoy.

Family

Family is diverse.
Not necessarily a man, a woman, and children living under one roof
But much more.
Friends are family.
Co-workers are family.
Anyone and everyone can be family.
Family cannot be defined by a certain set of people.
Family has no limits.

Family is about love.
Caring for others
And demonstrating you will do anything in your power
To make sure that they feel loved.

Family is about emotions.
Confiding one's feelings to others
Whether it is happiness, sadness, or anger
Or any other emotions in between
It is being able to feel their emotions
And them feeling your's in return.

Family is sharing experiences
With others
And growing together from those experiences.

Family is about unity.
Being together and enjoying the time
Shared together.

Family is about heritage.
Going back to the past
To see where you have come from
And to see where you are going
In the future.

All in all, I am a huge part of my family
And my family is a huge part of me
We love each other
And unite as one.
We share our times of joy
Our moments of pain
And we grow from our experiences

Family is all I need.

What Does Home Taste Like?

2008-10-12T19:53:00.000-07:00

So anyways, here is my weak attempt to be a poet. I know this doesn't make sense at all and it doesn't flow too well. (It sounds great when you hear me say it!)

---------------------------------------

I love how my home tastes
It's so great that I run quickly to chase
The amazing smells, the aroma so sweet
It's something that you simply cannot beat

Home starts with my beautiful Lola
I visit her everyday and she says "Hola!"
I give her a hug and ask her for Filipino food
She responds to me in her accent and says, "Dude
I have food for you tutoy, don't you fret"
And all I'm thinking is that it's gonna be so good that it'll make me sweat

She first starts out by making fresh lumpia rolls
She puts cooked beef and vegetables in two different bowls
Then Lola pulled out white wrappers bought from the store
Scooped out the meat and the vegetables and I ask her for more
To put in the wrapper because I like the rolls thick
But not exactly ones that are the size of bricks
She continues to roll them, one by one
And within five minutes she cooks them so they are done!
She then makes a sauce so sweet
With pineapple juice, ketchup, sugar, and other stuff, it's such a treat!
My Lola says, "Tutoy, the lumpia is done."
Which makes me feel that I have simply won
So then my Lola continues on

She puts some noodles in a hot pot
I tell her, "Lola, that's really a lot
For me to eat, are you sure about this?"
She just smiles and gives me a kiss
"The pancit will be ready, just give me more time."
So I wait and sit, just happy that I don't have to pay a dime
She adds some chicken, vegetables, and a squeeze of lime
And puts the dish in front of me, oh yeah that's mine!

I immediately thank her for her effort and the meal
I then go to work and immediately feel
So lucky to be loved by a woman like her
I'm going back to her house tomorrow, that is for sure!

After work, I drive back home
But now this time this is my actual dome
Where I truly live, where I really reside
And the place where I can confide
In my sister, my mom, and my dad
All my thoughts, whether it is good or simply bad
Anyways let's get back to the point, this talk is all about food
And I'm really feeling in the mood
To talk about things I eat at home
It's a mix of stuff that my mom buys so she doesn't have to moan
Unlike my Lola, at this "home" it's all bought
From Clement Street, Safeway, restaurants, and from other places, I forgot
So at this home, I get an array of stuff
This is the truth, this ain't no bluff
I also love how home tastes here
It also really makes me cheer
To have Chinese, Italian, Japanese, and other foods from other nations
Makes me feel simply amazin!

So all in all, Lola's food tastes like migration from one nation
Which makes me give her a standing ovation
Because she is the one who is bringing salvation
To me
And at my actual house, food tastes like diversity
Like the different people at San Francisco State University
I'm tasting a little of everyone and their culture
When I eat I am simply like a vulture

Book Review: The Dim Sum of all Things

2008-10-12T17:31:00.000-07:00

(Photo Credit goes to HarperCollins. http://www.harpercollins.com/)

My Book Rating: A-/B+

If you are Asian American and you're looking for a quick and enjoyable read, Kim Wong Keltner's The Dim Sum of all Things is a great book that will make you think about yourself and your own culture. Even if you're not, this book provides a small glimpse into the life of Asian Americans, primarily Chinese American individuals and actually does it in an entertaining and positive way. To simply put it, think of it as a concotion of Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club with crazy and funny twists and turns.

Synopsis: The Dim Sum of all Things is a story about a third generation Chinese American woman named Lindsey Owyang who is trying to find a balance between her Chinese heritage and the American customs she has learned and developed over her life. Lindsey is a twenty-something year old who does not feel as successful as her brother Kevin and cousin Stephanie who are well off into their careers and have families/significant others with them. Lindsey lives rent-free with her Pau Pau (her grandmother) in an apartment in Chinatown and works as a receptionist at a magazine named Vegan Warrior, a politically correct magazine that checks to see if its workers are truly vegans by sniffing and smelling them for possibly meat-like odors. All throughout the entire story Lindsey discusses the ins and outs of her life such as the arranged dates her Pau Pau sets up for her, her theory of white American males (which she refers to as "hoarders") preying on Asian women, her grandmother not understanding American culture and how it works, the troubles of often being compared to her cousins and her brother throughout her childhood even until this day into her adulthood, and finding her Chinese American identity in America. Although she insists that all white men are hoarders who are simply trying to get with Asian women to fulfill their fantasies about Asian women being permissive and sex slaves, she eventually gains interest in a white man who works at Vegan Warrior named Michael Cartier. She makes an effort to not fall in love with Michael because she believes he is a "hoarder" but eventually lets her guard down and listens to what her heart says, not her mind. She also slowly finds out about her family's past in China and how it greatly affects her in her life in America. She comes to the revelation that she should be proud of her Chinese heritage and that it has helped her to be who she is today.

What I Liked About The Book: Kim Wong Keltner took the time to slyly craft this novel into a hilarious piece of work. When Keltner paused moments within Lindsey's daily life for Lindsey to analyze the situation in her head, I thought that was something very unique that other novels have not shown before. One example of the book is when Lindsey is about to go to lunch with Michael and tries to figure out why Michael would put mints in his pocket:

" LET'S PRESS PAUSE FOR A MOMENT.

If Lindsey was going to lunch with Mimi, she probably wouldn't bring mints. When Lindsey ate, in general, she did not carry mints. A person carried mints when he wanted to be minty fresh. Minty fresh for, like, kissing.
This mint thing was a small coup for Lindsey. This mint thing was undeniable proof that Michael like liked her. He cared about his breath around her. Yes. The mint thing was the culmination of her efforts thus far.

PLEASE PRESS PLAY TO RESUME TAPE."

Another thing I liked about this book was how the author addressed common themes that Asian Americans face in our society such as Lindsey working to find her identity in America while trying to retain her Chinese heritage. There were many examples where Lindsey had certain ideas that I too have had before in my head. One example that I could personally relate to was when Lindsey wanted to explain to her Pau Pau that she was feeling sick because she was feeling confused about her feelings towards Michael,

" She couldn't explain her silly office romance to her mahjong-playing, soup-making grandmother. When Lindsey thought of Michael she used a totally different compartment of her brain, separate from any idea of Pay Pay and her old Chinese ways."

I too have felt before that my parents and my grandparents would not understand how I felt about certain issues because their old traditional ways of thinking would be completely different than the way I thought with my ideals.

Another example I could relate to was when Keltner wrote of Lindsey's attempt to connect with her mom but yet Lindsey's mom made fun of her for the idea of going to an antique show:

"Lindsey had asked her mother to attend the Fort Mason show because she figured it would be a good way to share quality time together while simultaneously demonstrating her interest in something Chinese. Although her mother had agreed to go, she didn't seem to notice Lindsey's effort toward cultural betterment. her only comment to her daughter was, 'Why do you want to buy used things?'"

I am always trying to find ways to please my parents but yet I always find that it is not always good enough or up to their standards.

The last example that struck me was when Keltner explained the troubles Lindsey has faced to be accepted in society as a Chinese American:

"As for her, not matter how hard she tried, she could never escape being identifiably Asian; all her life she had had the same jet-black hair and eyes like skinny minnows, which remained unchanged whether she wore preppy Benetton cardigans, ruffled Betsey Johnson frocks, or thrift-store ensembles. When she was a youngster, she had been called names. She had not understood them then, but she'd known they were meant to be hurtful and had everything to do with her being Chinese...She tried to ignore these humiliations, but each incident had stayed with her."

All these examples shown above depict troubles that Asian Americans have faced within their family environment, as well as in society.

Also, Keltner's development of Pau Pau and Michael within the story to shape Lindsey was amazing. Read the book and you'll understand.

What I Didn't Like About The Book: One thing I particularly didn't like about the book was how shallow and permissive Lindsey was depicted to be. Michael took much of Lindsey's attention throughout the entire book and while I was entertained by Lindsey thinking of Michael in different ways, mainly in a sexual or intimate way, I wish they showed Lindsey being more independent on not needing of Michael's love (I was still rooting for them the entire time. Haha, I'm a sucker). At times I felt that Keltner made Lindsey play the permissive Asian woman role when she didn't need to be. She could have stood up for herself at certain times within the book (one example is when her boss asked her to set up a menu of authentic Chinese food where she could have easily said no or said something about it to him). Another thing I didn't like was how quickly the problem between Michael, Lindsey, and the title of the humor column "Slant" he created for Vegan Warrior was solved. Michael's lack of understand of the meaning of "slant" to her caused a lot of distress and anger within herself (I mean, she avoided Michael for weeks on end before thinking about apologizing for her behavior) and then once she received the Hello Kitty toaster from him, she easily came back to him. Where's her inner strength? And also, they didn't even really discuss the problem and they immediately just went back to one another. Where's the communication that people in relationships should have (the stuff we always hear about from doctors and such)?

Overall Thoughts About Book: This book is not incredibly thought provoking, but it will make you think about your own culture, especially if you are Asian American. Lindsey and her way of thinking is hilarious and is pretty true in a blunt way. Themes are easy to understand and aren't under the surface. It's definitely something that can be read while on a bus ride or a long trip (something like that).

what AAS was-is & will be to me

2008-10-09T23:36:00.000-07:00

Asian American food was the tradition passed down from generation to generation
Asian American food is still the connector between the old generation and the young generation
Asian American food will be the timeless connector between all generations

Asian American art was the story telling of experiences of immigration
Asian American art is, in whatever form, the story of the past, of experiences now & to come
Asian American art will be the voice of Asian Americans forever

AA: what does it mean to you?

2008-10-08T22:36:00.000-07:00

AA CULTURE was overlooked, is still kind of overlooked, and will hopefully the world's perspective will change.

AA FOOD implicated a certain history, is still implicating history and encorporating new aspects, and will hopefully educate generations after.

AA ART/MUSIC/VISUAL/FASHION was not given enough "space" for self expression, is slowly clawing its way to the top, and will eventually be equally represented and gain its proper respect.

AA STUDIES was not represented,but deeply needed for personal growth, is now in the present, but there's a continuous fight to keep it around, and will have a continuous fight to keep it's program alive here at SFSTATE and/or throughout the United States.

AA FAMILY were close knit, continues to stay close knit, warm, and welcoming, and will always hold strong family values.

HOW DOES HOME TASTE?

2008-10-07T11:56:00.000-07:00

Moving away from home whether off to college or in means for a new atmosphere, the one thing that is usually always missed is "Mom's homecooking". Now you ask, "how does mom's homecooking taste?" and "what makes it so good?". For me, the taste of a homecooked meal is the taste you grew up with and the food you ate ever since you were a kid. Whether it was your grandma or your mom cooking it, the memory of the smell,look, and taste of it when you were a kid, is always stuck in your head. A homecooked meal was always a meal to welcome you after a tiring, stressful, long, or even fun day. The taste doesn't only effect your tastebuds, but in essence, it feeds your soul. My ideal homecooked meal from my mom would be Beef Nalaga(soup containing beef and a mix of vegetables like potatoes, carrots, bok choy, cabbage, green beans) because of the warmth the broth brings to your stomach after sipping it and the heaviness of the potatoes, carrots, and rice mashed up together on your plate/bowl just makes for a fulfilling and satisfying meal.
At family parties, we mix both Filipino and American food to satisfy everyones pallet. Not everyone in my family enjoys Filipino food (crazy right?) mainly because they became so accustomed to fastfood and different American chain restaurants.

A typical family party menu would be:

1.) Pasta (2 different dishes)
2.) Salad
3.) Chicken/Turkey
4.) Mashed Potatoes & gravy
5.) Lumpia
6.) Fish (fried, baked, grilled)
7.) Mechado (beef stew)
8.) Embotido (meat loaf)
9.) Lechon (Roast pig)

Iron Chief Cook-Off

2008-10-04T15:31:00.001-07:00

To the people who are reading this,

The pictures posted below are a pretty good illustration for
this blog, so if you're a visual person I'd look at the
picutres. And just if you want to put a face to this blog,
I'm the blond in the pictures. So, for our Ethnic Studies
class we are discussing how food is very important to culture
and it how food has changed can tell you how that specific
culture has changed. For this assignment, each group
had to come up with a truely Asian-American dish and then
present it to the class. For our dish, the Awesomeness made
a dessert that we named the Triple S (Sticky Strawberry Sweet).
Basically this dish consisted of a Num Treap with Coconut Sauce
a coconut, chocolate covered strawberry on top. And for those
of you who are wondering if it was good, yes it was very good.
And in true Iron Chief Fashion, we were competeing against
another teams dish and I dish won (naturally). Besides it just
being fun to bring food and eat in class, it really was educational.
While trying to figure out what dish to cook, the group and myself
learned a lot about different Asian traditions. For instance, did
anyone out there realize that Cambodians classify fruits into
a royal hierarchy-like system? Yeah, I know, I was shocked too.
Apparently the coconut is the commoner. Poor Mr. Coconut. Also, in
Cambodia, they really don't eat dessert, they just have sweet treats
(hehe, yeah I got a little chuckle out of my funny too). All in all,
I have to say that my brief visit to the world of Asian-American
Culinaries (not sure if that's a word?) was fun, but it also showed
me that I am definetly not a Chief and I am sure the rest of the
world is happy that I made that discovery now as well.

APAture!

2008-10-04T11:09:00.000-07:00

I went to the "Groove With It" event on the 26th and the event showcased a bunch of upcoming Asian Pacific American bands from the Bay Area. The two bands I was able to see were Autonomous Region and Lumaya. Autonomous Region consisted of three male Asian American guitar players, an African American drummer, and a female Asian American singer. Their genres of music was a range from rock to funk, with a taste of Southeast Asian sounds including the Pilipino instrument, the Kulintang. Their overall sound reminded me of the popular group No Doubt and a Japanese punk band known as Thee Out Mod. The last song sang by Autonomous Region was about the fall of the I-hotel. The song discussed the night of the vacate, the strength the people in the I-Hotel gained from the protest, and their feelings about being kicked out. The song definitely impact me in some way because it brought back my thoughts and feelings when I watched the I-Hotel film in class.
Lumaya had a totally different sound than Autonomous region. Their style of music was a bit more dark and had angry fighting songs. Their band's sound was similar to AFI or Garbage since it was a band that consisted of a female lead singer with male band mates.
These two bands combined had songs and sounds with a message, anger, and revolution, highlighting the struggles and attitudes of Asians in America before our time and present day.

Getting Ready For "Iron Chef 210 - Asian America"

2008-09-28T21:07:00.000-07:00

Going ingredient shopping!

Can you spot one of our ingredient that we'll use for our winning dish! :]

Woot! Asian Foods isle

A lot of these strawberries were expired, so we're checking just to make sure we have the BEST for our judges!

Can you guess what yummy Awsomeness dish we may create...

apature

2008-09-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

I went to the apature event on saturday. The speakers were talking about Asian then American - then hip hop culture, and the one thing that stuck in my head by the end of it was--What is the difference between rap and hip hop? and Why aren't asian americans featured in this genre? RAP- i beleive is a representation of where you (or the person rapping) came from. rap tells a story of hardship, experiences and the kind of life the rapper lived. HIP HOP - is party music, its easy to listen to, its fun, it easy to dance to, and mainly (now a days) talks about sex, drugs, and money. Where has rap and hip hop originated? = African- American culture. So when can the sounds of Asian American be heard? What does Asian American music sound like? our generation has yet to hear.... since the music that asian americans compile end up copying the rock genre or copying the rap/hip hop genre... rock orginated in the U.S. and hip hop/rap originated in the U.S. as well...so what would truly original asian american music sound like?

APATURE!

2008-09-28T20:42:00.000-07:00

Space 180. Where Apature was being held.

Speakers of the Workshop

Some of the sweet art work

Define Asian American Hip-Hop. Define American. Define Hip-Hop. Before I went to this workshop I never thought to question what is Asian American Hip-Hop, more so, what it takes to be American and what is Hip-Hop. What the speakers did was break down the words into categories : Asian ,American ,and Hip-Hop. So first he wrote down Asian. When everyone was asked what we thought when we heard Asian, the first things that we’re shouted out were things location wise. What countries where considered Asian and who determined the countries boundaries. Next was the thought of American, what does it mean to be American? What was most shouted out was the things that people had to do to become American. For instance getting a green card, marrying a citizen, being native born, or just leaving here for five years; which is approximately enough to acquire American culture. Then last, what is Hip-Hop. Music, Art, Lyrics, Youth, Rap were shouted out. Then the speaker asked us to question Hip-Hop versus Rap. Everyone was a bit stumped on how to answer. Then he played a sample of an artist, of what some people consider is rap and others think as Hip-Hop, M.I.A. - Paper Planes and another one of her songs - Bamboo Banga ( where she raps more). After we listened to two of M.I.A.’s songs, most of us thought, no… she is no where near Hip-Hop. To me she did sound more electronica/alternative genre. Although her song Paper Planes is played throughout our Bay Area’s Rap and Hip-Hop stations, like106 KMEL and WILD949. The speaker also mentioned that she is featured on some of our mainstream artist’s songs like Jay-Z and Kanye West. Is she considered Hip-Hop now? I still do not think so.

Hip-Hop, to me is derived from urban, middle class city life. Hip-Hop, lingo wise, is from the struggle and accomplishments of the people in the city, whether it be the living situations, politically, socially, or love. Music wise, its followed by beats of bass and rhythm, that I think are usually andante to moderato ( not too slow and moderate tempo), although definitely music that people can bob there head to and even dance too. Break-dancing is another fundamental for Hip-Hop. Also the Fashion of Hip-Hop, which I think are usually low earthly toned colors like brown, yellow, green. I am not sure how to describe what colors I’m trying to think about but urban fashion to me is not really anything that has intense bright colors. I can agree with what the people in the workshop were saying about what it means to be American. I can see how people do not see another as being American unless they have assimilated to society, in the means of also becoming an official citizen. It was also brought up in the workshop how Americans who are not of European background, but are citizens would not consider or name themselves American. For instance, this young lady at the workshop was saying how when her mom would talk about Caucasian folks she would refer to them as “the Americans” , and then the lady would say “but aren’t we Americans too why are you saying that?”. I am not sure if her mother was born here but I can agree with that because my mom says the same thing! And my mom is a native born San Franciscan. Being Asian American is something that is tough for me to define. It doesn’t mean that you have to be born in America or you married an American and in a couple of years you become a citizen or how ever that works, but I see it as if you’re an Asian decent and you live in America you are an Asian American. However because of all the racism that still exists today, its hard to think, being Asian we are Americans but it doesn’t feel like we get the same treatment as “Americans”. Having this Hip Hop culture is a way that we can express ourselves as being Asian and in living in the cities of America, that’s what I think of Asian American Hip-Hop.

APAture 2008 - Comics and Zine Expo!

2008-09-27T14:15:00.000-07:00

Each and every year Kearny Street Workshop (KSW) in San Francisco hosts for about a week and a half a festival for emerging Asian Pacific American artists known as APAture. This year it began on September 18th and continued on until September 27th. I was lucky enough to be encouraged and by my Asian American Culture teacher to attend one of these events because I would have not known about it otherwise.

The event I attended on the last day of APAture was an exhibit showcasing upcoming Asian American photographers, painters, cinematographers, and others in an event known as the Comics and Zine expo. As I walked up the stairs of the 180 Capp St. building that the exhibit was being held in, the organizers of the event made an effort to entice and lure the audience with a taste of the unique art that was to come in the room of the exhibit. The art piece on the left was the first thing that drew my eyes on it (unfortunately I do not know the name of this piece). Newspapers are not usually used as a canvas to draw or paint something on and I found it kind of funny that material of the canvas is also what is being displayed on the canvas itself. From this painting, I was hoping for better things to come and luckily, I found it in the exhibit room. In the exhibit room I found amazing and diverse pieces of art that made me think but yet I could not help but be a little disappointed in the overall lack in number of art pieces.

I continued on and found the exhibit room (at the top floor of the building), finding myself awestruck at the array of colors used and the messages the art was trying to illustrate to the audience who attended. The first notable mention is the Japanese fingerprint (shown below) which provides two images in one, the larger illustration of a swirl shaped fingerprint and when looking closer, individual red Japanese stamps are shown. This art piece proves the point that one needs to look at the big picture of life but also not to neglect the minute and seemingly insignificant things as well.

The next notable mention is an art piece by artist Lisa Solomon named "Synchronized Tanks: Radical Formation." In this art piece, pink and red felt tanks were put along the walls of the room and on the floor in a circular pattern. With the war (the Iraq and all other Middle Eastern wars) being so prevalent now, especially during these final days before election day, I thought it was appropriate to show this art piece to y'all. This piece shows (to me) how the idea of fighting for injustice (through war) appears on the outside to be ideal and "beautiful" but yet the grim reality is that it is an ugly and unjustifiable way to fight for one's rights.

The third notable mention is a piece from four different artists, two who are photographers (Leilani Nisperos and Mike Ricca) and two who are deeply immersed into the art scene (Han Pham and Julie Kuwabara). In this piece known as "Lost in the Woods," two Asian American women (Pham and Kuwabara) are depicted in a traditional fairytale scenario with a spin of reality in it. This photo was created to illustrate issues regarding race, gender, and identity in today's society and that traditional ideas that are society tries to maintain (such as men and women being husband and wife) are not always right.

Finally, there are some pieces of art that are simply amazing but unfortunately I do not have the titles or the artists' names to properly mention them. Here are the other pictures I took as well.

Overall, I truly enjoyed attending the event. The artwork was magnificent and made me think about myself, the environment I live in, and how society works right now in the present. The artists who were in attendance were extremely friendly and I could tell that they were dedicated to their work and their craft. In fact, the whole experience felt very intimate and close because some of the artists who were there could actually explain what the work means to them which brings you as the audience closer to their interpretation. However, the walls seemed a bit bare and I expected more art to be displayed in the exhibit. If I didn't have time, I could have easily seen and looked at all the artwork within a 5 minute span. But I did have a lot of time to spend at the exhibit so I took my time enjoying and taking the experience all in. I even bought an APAture shirt and helped support an Asian American cinematographer by purchasing a DVD of his show "Eve: Beauty and the Blade." In the end, I'm glad I went to this event to help support my fellow Asian Americans.

Taste of Home

2008-09-25T12:10:00.000-07:00

RICE, lumpia, adobo, chow mien, pancit, pork buns.......and too many more for me to list. As americanized as my family has become, we've always tried to keep the tradition of food and eating at one table for dinner. Growing up, I was encouraged to learn how to cook, but unfortunately no one had time to teach me. My mom worked and schooled full time, and I was raised by my aunt, uncle and all male cousins. When I was younger we had the strict rule in the house that everyone ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at one table, now that has just come down to dinner and sometimes the meal isn't even home-cooked. Food is the tradition that is passed down from generation to generation, and when I'm away from home I miss the smell of my house. Home ALWAYS smells like rice, thats the one thing that you can never scrub out of he walls or carpet. The home cooked adobo, or when were in a rush to eat, the corned beef out of the can.....When I moved out of my house I LIVED off of corned beef, because that was the easiest and fastest thing to cook.
Without my rice and ulam (main coarse) my meal feels incomplete and i constantly get hungry through the whole day... haha...I dont know if thats just a phsychological thing becuase I grew up with it, but I need my home cooked meals.

DAHIL SIYO: A Letter to Lolo

2008-09-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

Thousands of years of colonization set for a future of economic hardship and politcal devistation.
Lost culture and ideas from the rape and abuse,
an island hardly liveable and escape is what they pursue.
So lolo heard of stories of a new land with opportunity and political relief,
eager to pack his bags in search of a better life for his family.
"Honey let me go so I can prepare a new life for you, boy, and baby,
when the time is right, you three can settle with me."
Lola allows him to leave and lolo is set to the new land.
In awe of the beauty which surrounds him, the golden gate welcomes him
with a banner inscribed "The Land of the Free".
Passing the banner lolo fails to read the fine lines,
"The Land of the Free except if you're a Pilipino immigrant".
Field work, low wages, hands calloused and chapped,
barely making means for survival, so the I-Hotel is where you rest your head at.
Lolo never imagined to leave a hell hole to only get placed in another.
Discrimination, racism, and voilence is what you faced,
but protest for equality only made your cause stronger.
Lolo I cannot imagine sacrificing a home to a parking lot project,
getting beat by police for standing up for a roof over your head,
or losing your dignity, being dragged out of your room.
Saddness and anger I share with you even though many years have elapsed.
I am proud of your struggle for it only made us tougher.
Inspired from by your drive, influencing generations after.
You have scratched out the fine print and written,
"The Land of the Free to speak my mind, fight against unjust causes, and demand for equality"
With this brown skin and bright head on these shoulders,
I'll represent you proudly.

Salamat Lolo. (Thanks grandpa)

-by:Crystle Presa

Asian Americans in Advertisements?!

2008-09-22T20:29:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I traveled to my local YMCA in the Richmond District of San Francisco to meet up with my co-workers to attend this YMCA training (I work as an afterschool teacher supported by this YMCA by the way). I was minding my own business, waiting for my co-workers to arrive when my eyes were immediately glued to this poster (on the left). "Whoa," I thought, "When do you ever see any advertisements with Asian Americans?" Besides local Asian supermarkets and stores, you are very lucky to see an advertisement like the one seen on the left in public facilities. Not to mention, once you leave the Bay Area and other areas in the United States with high concentrations of Asian Americans, how likely are you going to see a poster or some sort of advertisement like this? Once again, NEXT TO NONE! So why is this? Why is it that Asian Americans are not in advertisements and in the media? I began thinking hard about this.

Overall, I'm really saddened that in today's society where people are suppose to be more understanding and more conscious of different cultures, we are still behind in representing all cultures and ethnicities to the fullest extent in the media, as well as in other areas. In the television shows and commercials the public watches, to billboards and ads on the streets, one can see that white people are the ones who dominate the media. And trust me, I am far from being an activist for Asian Americans but being Asian American, I feel it is important to be known within our society that my people and I do not always follow the stereotypical ideas others have about us - we are not the nerds, or permissive, exotic, spiritual, kung-fu fighters etc. We are regular people who do regular everyday activities just like you!

Then I read an article in the Road Trip Issue (Issue #15) of Hyphen Magazine (www.hyphenmagazine.com, check them out!) named Commercial Success that discusses the representation of Asian Americans in television commercials. The article points out several commericals in which Asian Americans are in including some from companies such as Home Depot, Baskin Robbins, Shell Oil, and Careerbuilder.com. Although Asian Americans are being more represented in television advertisements, the article explains there is not enough representation in the media to see it as being part of the "norm". However, an Asian American actor named Randall Park is optimistic as he claims, "I feel like to see a family, like, on a 30-second commercial - an Asian family - to me, that's powerful. It's subtle." And I have to say I totally agree with Park's words. Are Asian Americans making a subtle impact (but an impact nevertheless) in the media? Yes. Do we still have a long way to go? MOST DEFINITELY. The article concludes by saying, "Perhaps one day we will reach a point when Asian Americans (whether East, South or Southeast) on the tube will have become so common that we won't even care." And I don't want to be excited every time I see an Asian American person on the television (I do get excited each time), but until that time when it does become a norm, I will continue to look for that familiar Asian American face.

- Jordan

Letter To the Editor Of HYPHEN

2008-09-21T14:16:00.000-07:00

Hyphen Magazine,

Hi my name is Nicole Roldan and I am from San Francisco State University's ETHS 210 course. I really like the way that the magazine is put together. An article I read in Hyphen was in "The Road Trip Issue", "Driving Music". What caught my eye was the two photographs. Reading on to the article, it was very interesting because I have a lesbian friend who is chinese and did not get accepted with her family. After reading this article, I let my friend read it aswell and she told me that she felt better about her family situation. Its good that they have asian american queer speakers, so that they could support people of the asian community.

Going back to what caught my eyes are the photography in Hyphen. Even the first headlining pages of both " The road trip issue" and "issue 4" just makes me want to open the magazine. I am a photographer myself and I just love the way the photo's and art work in the magazine looks.

Sencerly,
Nicole Roldan

Is this Racist?

2008-09-21T13:18:00.000-07:00

A Train From Caltrain Station. The Tiny Cone Says "Sh*t Happens"

I was only able to take one photo because Khay and I got kicked out of the tracks. :[!

Find Khay!

I was born in the philipines but moved here to San Francisco when I was 1 years old. When one of our assignments in ETHS 210 was to write about a time when I got discriminated agianst, or somthing racist happen, I couldn't think of anything. Although, throughout working at this cafe I feel like people are being ractist towards me, but indirectly...

So Khay and I work at this cafe called " Tazza De Amore" in the Caltrain Station on Kings street. While I work at the cafe, I often feel looked down on by many Caucasians. For example, there was this one time when there were two caucasian woman approcaching the cafe. They seemed to be enjoying themsevles.. laughing and what not. Then when they came came close enough to order, I smiled at them and there faces turned straight and moodless. I asked them
"what can I get for you today?"( I'm still smilling!) and they said "two lattes...".
"Anything else for you?" I said
Then the lady who was ordering said,"No."
Then one of the ladies started searching in her purse for her wallet.
Somtimes the screen thats facing towards, which tells the total amount they owe goes out. So I just got myself into a habit of telling customers how much whatever they're buying costs.
Once I told them the total, the lady with the money didn't even look at me, she just looked to the side ( she wasn't looking in her purse, at her friend, or anything else) and handed me the money.

These types of incidents occur inevitably every time Khay and I work there. Khay and I talked about this and remembered how while working with our co-worker, who is Caucasian, she never seems to run into any rude Caucasian customers as Khay and I do. I am not sure what it is , Racist or what, but I do feel some sort of vibe that it is somthing like it. Is it?

racist!

2008-09-18T22:18:00.000-07:00

San Francisco is sheltered to a lot of things, this city is liberal, free thinking, and absolutely filled with diversity. I'm not saying this happens to everyone...but these have been MY experiences within the year of 2008. I went down to southern cali. visited my family, and hung out with my cousin's friends. Don't get me wrong--im not a hater....but is everyone still tryn' to look like barbie?? blond (or dyed blond) CAKED make-up, mini skirts galore and tank tops. And all the boys looked like they were in rock bands? As soon as I was introduced they questioned me, the style of clothing that i wore, the different slang i spoke, and like I was some creature of outer space! So, feeling really out of place at this point, I try to mingle with the ONE asian chick standing in the group. I asked her "so are u feeling as left out as i am?" and she replies "as long as you look like them, dress like them, and act like them they wont treat you too bad". honestly i couldn't beleive what i just heard, but at the same time i was trying to process what she meant by it. This totally opened my eyes to the fact that as diverse as the bay area is, we are sheltered to the racism and discrimination out there

Journal - About the Class Presentations

2008-09-18T12:01:00.000-07:00

To the Person or People Reading This,

I decide that this blog would be about the presentations that we had in
my Ethnic Studies class this week. Basically each group in the class had to
pick an Asian American culture, study up on it, and present their finds to
the class. The cultures that we could choose from we Cambodian (that's
what my group choose), Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Filipino.
Before the presentations I had a cursory knowledge of each of this ethnic groups,
but really nothing in depth. To say the least, the presentations were eye opening,
especially about my own ignorance. I don't consider myself a dumb person, but there
are moments when I realize that I am a little sheltered from other cultures. Also,
I had no idea that there was such a large correlation between the many different
cultures and their experiences. Again, my lack of knowledge astounds me, but in
a good way because now I know and can share this knowledge with someone
who also did not know.
Like I said above, my groups chosen culture was Cambodia, and I never
realized that a genocide had happened in Cambodia. I mean, something
that major and that horrific happened in a country not to long ago, and I
had absolutely no idea. At least I know now and maybe I can do something
with that knowledge. I guess only time will tell. One of the people in my
group stumbled across a youtube video about the genocide, so I thought
I would share it with you. Just a warning though, it is very sad and gruesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-SI8RF6wDE

Hyphen Mag. Roadtrip Issue

2008-09-16T11:58:00.000-07:00

Dear Hyphen,
This is the first magazine I've ever seen that concentrates itself around Asian American cultures. In high school I practically stopped watching T.V., buying or looking at magazines and shut out mainstream media because all I saw before me was a Caucasian, strictly American lifestyle that no one lived. I wanted the down-to-earth and get-real look at Asian American culture today. Something that represents the way myself and others like myself live and something that voices Asian American thoughts and feelings. Im tired of hearing about Paris Hilton in Beverly Hills! Hyphen magazine represents ALL Asian-American cultures not exactly putting everyone under ONE title, but representing every KIND of Asian American. I feel pretty damn represented. Thanks to you, Hyphen.

Kathryne "Khay" Hembrador
ETHS 210.02

HYPHEN- COMMERCIAL SUCCESS

2008-09-15T23:05:00.000-07:00

Dear Editor,

The article placed in your road trip issue called "Commercial Success" brought forth the overall message of why Hyphen magazine exists, which is to better portray Asians and Asian Americans in the media and to take a greater glimpse at an overlooked culture. I like the under the surface point that Alex made about learning to talk the talk and walk the walk. Nowadays, Asians and Asian Americans constantly discuss their concern about the portrayal of Asians in the media, but fail to take matters into their own hands by getting their feet wet in the performing arts or get themselves in organizations/companies which fight toward the cause of displaying Asians and Asian Americans properly. Hyphen has given another opportunity for Asians and Asian Americans to fight the media stereotypes that Asians are nerdy meek racket playing pushovers and displaying us with voice, talent, intelligence, and complexity. Thanks Hyphen!

Sincerely,

Crystle Presa
San Francisco,CA

Hyphen Magazine = Eye Opening Magazine

2008-09-15T21:53:00.000-07:00

As you are reading this right now, you are probably thinking, "What in the heck is this Hyphen Magazine?" To be honest, that was the first thing that came into mind when as my Professor spoke so highly of it in my Asian American Culture class. Last week she even had the chief editor and two other volunteers come in to our class to speak about the magazine, and at the end we each purchased two magazines as two of our four required texts for the class. I thought she was crazy and I really thought that this "Hyphen Magazine" was just a joke of a publication that would not address issues Asian Americans face in today's society but I was easily proven wrong.

Tonight, I began flipping through the pages of this completely unfamiliar magazine and began my eye opening experience.

Now on to educate you guys about the magazine...

Hyphen Magazine (shown above in the picture, picture was taken by www.hyphenmagazine.com) is one of the few media outlets for Asian Americans within this country. It first began in San Francisco in 2003 by San Francisco journalists and community leaders who wanted to see something come out that represented Asian Americans in a positive light. This magazine showcases Asian American people who are slowly making a change to help America see and understand the Asian American community and what it truly means to be Asian American in today's society. Art, music, culture, politics are just some of the many topics that are addressed in this magazine through the perspective of Asian Americans. The writers and people who have worked on Hyphen magazine hope that the magazine "showcases people outside the boundaries of stereotypes" and that it "acts as a cultural catalyst, inspiring its readership to branch out — to do, think and create."

After reading one of the articles in Issue 15 (The Road Trip Issue) titled "The Power of the Journey," I began thinking about my culture and how involved I am with it. And boy, did I start thinking about it.

The article was about a Cambodian American filmmaker by the name of Sochea Poeuv who made a documentary called New Year Baby, a film showing her family's struggle in Cambodia during the rule of Pol Pot. Pol Pot, a communist leader of Cambodia, attempted to form a Communist peasant farming society during the 1970s but failed miserably killing 25% of Cambodia's population by starvation, overwork, and execution. The article explains that Poeuv's family emigrated to America in 1982 after her parents survived the genocide and that she never knew much of her history until Christmas Day 2002. She explains that her mother brought the whole family together and explained the story of their journey from Cambodia to America. Pouev then decided to take a trip to Cambodia in 2003 with her family to experience her family's past and how it connects to her today. She expected only to use her video footage for her own documentation but later felt that it was important for others to see and understand the struggles that her family faced. Her documentary won numerous awards and was very highly regarded.

Now what comes into my mind is this question: What do I actually know about my culture? Sure, I enjoy watching the Filipino Channel and mainstream Filipino shows such as Wowowee and Filipino movies such as A Very Special Love but what exactly do I know about my past? Absolutely NOTHING. I don't know who Jose Rizal is, what he did, and how important he is to Filipino people. I don't know too much about how Filipino people were taken over by the Spanish and the United States. Honestly, I know nothing and that is a very sad thing.

I think that Hyphen Magazine has opened my eyes to see that as a Filipino American, I have to dive in to my Filipino heritage, as well as learn about the history of this nation which I live in. In America, learning the past and history of this nation is stressed through all the history courses we have to take in elementary school, middle school, high school, and even at college. But how often is learning the history of another culture ever asked of from students? Hardly ever. I know that my family's history in the Philippines shaped who I was in the past, who I am now in the present, and hopefully who I am in the future so I know that I need to take advantage of the resources in front of me who can teach me about my culture. My parents, my grandparents, my aunts, my uncles, and so many others can instill knowledge and wisdom about the Filipino culture. I'm hoping that like Poeuv, I can also take a step in the right direction to learn about my culture.

It's only the right thing to do.

Thanks Hyphen Magazine. Much props to you guys for opening minds. You guys definitely opened mine.

- Jordan

To The Editor of Hyphen

2008-09-14T16:04:00.000-07:00

To Whom It May Concern,

This letter to the editor started out as a tedious class assignment. You remember when you
were in school and your teacher tells you to read and article and send a letter to the editor
or writer telling them how it made you feel. However, after reading the "Life after 9/11" article in the Road Trip Issue, my view on this assignment changed. I am ashamed to admit that after 9/11 it never occurred to me that other minority groups would be harassed by the ignorant bigots in this country. I was so focused on how it would affect the Middle-Eastern Americans, that not one thought was spared for any other minority. It is when I read articles like this that I get a tiny sliver of fear that shots through me. When I read about what people do to their fellow country men, I sometimes fear that the United States will not last. Much like the Romans, the U.S. will shine for a period of time and then be lost into the pages of history due to internal strife. I never understand why people always forgot that an Asian-American is still an American. They are US citizens no different from you or me. Why do people always focus on the "Asian" part of it when situations like 9/11 occur? I hope that my fear for this country is just me being paranoid and over dramatic. I wish for the day when this country, and every country in the world, will be truly united. United in the sense that laws and governments are fair and just to everyone and that people's past and heritages are remembered.

Sincerely,
Kristen Kaufer