Lela Lee's "Angry Little Asian Girl" describes an Asian American females' bicultural conflicts.  Margaret Cho offers a voice to the mother that enforces traditional Asian values. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4wzB04BExo

In the first episode, the protagonist expresses frustration at others comments differentiating her as the forever foreigner ("For an oriental girl, you speak English very well.") or an objectified sexual object ("I get nervous around exotic women.")  This web series offers a humorous way of seeing how one Asian American channels her experiences as someone negotiating two worlds. 

API Population Report Release

May marks Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month as well as Mental Health Awareness Month.  It is only appropriate then that the API Population Report, authored by Dr. C. Rocco Cheng on behalf of
55 community members, be released earlier this month.  The report highlights mental health disparities and promising practices, as defined by the Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) community within California.

The Asian Pacific Islander Strategic Planning Workgroup (API SPW) of the California Reducing Disparities Project is grateful to Assemblymember Paul Fong's (see photo above) office for having the API Legislative Caucus co-sponsor a legislative briefing on May 21st, 2013 in Sacramento, CA.  (see photo of the panel below)

During this time, Assemblymember Ed Chau, Assemblymember Adam Gray, (see photo below) and Senator Jim Beall remarked how this important publication could help to inform the direction of how to reduce mental health disparities among Asian Pacific Islanders in the years to come.

The report can be accessed by following the link below.

http://crdp.pacificclinics.org/resources/crdp/document/crdp-api-population-report-our-own-words.  Please feel free to offer your valuable feedback.

100 Mothers & Daughters Project

In the Asian culture, it's typically not common to share stories of one's families.  However, two organizations recently joined forces to chronicle some "Chicken Soup for the Soul"-style responses to question/answer survey.  

During the month of Mother's Day 2013, NATWA II and TaiwaneseAmerican.org released the product of the co-collaborative 100 Mothers & Daughters project (curated by project coordinator Emmy Pierce in 2012). Mother's Day 2013, which coincides with the start of Taiwanese American Heritage Week and the middle of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, stories of Taiwanese American mothers and daughters are shared.

Explore the project here: http://taiwaneseamerican.org/100people/100-mothers-and-daughters/ 

Please note that the posts were originally shared last year through the NATWA II project site thanks to Emmy Pierce's hard work: http://natwamothersanddaughters.tumblr.com/ . 

Student activism educates prestigious university members: "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention."

Duke University is one of the United State's top universities.  Earlier this Spring, Kappa Sigma held an event called "International Relations. A celebration of all cultures and the diversity of Duke."  Some deemed the event to be a racist rager.  What do you think of images associated with the event? 

https://www.google.com/search?q=duke+university+kappa+sigma&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7DNUS_en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=R3V_Ua6ZFMnjigKYiIH4Dg&ved=0CG8QsAQ&biw=1280&bih=723

Unfortunately, Duke Greek student organizations are not new to hosting racist events. 

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/duke-racist-rager-141248540.html

Even more unfortunately is that Duke University's administration did nothing to condemn the matter.  This is essentially a message that the university condones or tolerates such behaviors:  "At the moment, we're not aware of any overt violations," Larry Moneta, Duke's vice president for student affairs, told NBC News. "Acting boorish and foolish is not in and of itself a violation."

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/06/16871238-duke-students-rally-against-anti-asian-frat-party

Fortunately, Kappa Sigma's parent organization took the matter seriously. 

http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/02/07/duke-university-fraternity-suspended-over-asian-themed-racist-rager/

"In a message to Kappa Sigma members nationwide, Christian Nascimento, the fraternity's "worthy grand master," wrote Thursday:


The Kappa Sigma Fraternity is a diverse group of men, with members from all walks of life. We celebrate this diversity, as it is one of the things that makes our Order so strong. The actions taken in association with the event in question are inconsistent with our values. I personally condemn that type of behavior."

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/07/16889249-national-fraternity-suspends-duke-chapter-behind-anti-asian-racist-rager-party?lite

It seems that student activism has turned this into a learning opportunity.  “No longer can the social norms of this university be determined by a small group of people,” senior Ting-Ting Zhou, president of the Asian Students Association, said at the protest. “The dominant definition of ‘fun’ has poisoned this community for the past few years, and we must re-establish fairness and equality on this campus.”


http://www.dukechronicle.com/articles/2013/02/07/duke-student-protestors-demand-apology-action

Others not affiliated with Duke have taken notice of this event as well:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/06/duke-kappa-sigma-party_n_2630598.html
http://blog.angryasianman.com/2013/02/you-were-not-invited-to-kappa-sigmas.html

What do you think?  What might be genuine ways of truly celebrating all the cultures and diversity of Duke? 

Forever Foreigner Story inspired by The Race Card Project

The following interaction is reprinted with permission from a mentor.  My colleague was compelled to share his true-life interaction after the following post was shared on a mutual listserv http://minnesota.publicradio.org/features/npr.php?id=173816975.  The following occurred when shopping in Spokane, up from Pullman, WA:

Person on the street:  Where are you from?
Me:  Los Angeles.
POTS:  No, I mean, where are you really from?
Me:  I'm really from Los Angeles.
POTS:  No, I mean, where are your parents from?
Me:  My father is from Long Beach, CA, and my mother is from Salt Lake City, UT.
POTS:  No, I mean, where were their parents from?
Me:  They immigrated here from Japan.
POTS:  Oh, then you are from Japan.

-JM

Do you have your own story to share?

Offensive Google App: Make Me Asian

Feeling bored?  What smartphone apps do you have to entertain yourself? 

http://www.npr.org/2013/01/12/169201593/make-me-asian-app-sparks-online-backlash

Such games perpetuate offensive Asian stereotypes. 

Some may find it acceptable to mock Asian Americans, but what if we were to have an app that were to "Make Me Black" (or fill in any other racial category)? 

What can be done to send a strong message to those responsible?  Be a part of the thousands of advocates to let Google and GooglePlay know if you feel such past times are not acceptable.  Change.org created an online petition:  http://www.change.org/petitions/google-remove-the-racist-make-me-asian-make-me-indian-apps-from-googleplay. 

Let your voice be heard. 

Asian Americans and Religion/Spirituality

Pop quiz:  Are the majority of Asian Americans...
...Muslim?
...Buddhist?

...Christian?

...other?

Let's take a look at what the Pew Research Center survey found:

For more information, check out the following:   http://www.pewforum.org/Asian-Americans-A-Mosaic-of-Faiths-overview.aspx.