EPICANTHUS

This year’s Miss New York Chinese beauty pageant gave full access to The New York Times writer Brooke Hauser and she responds with “The Rainbow Runway,” a portrait that captures the pathos, rumors, scandals, contradictions of the pageant and how ethnic “beauty contests” reflect the idealized, sometimes skewed dreams of their communities. C.N. Le of Asian-Nation responds with a piece on the pressure to succeed in Asian America. (And don’t miss the NYT’s Miss N.Y. Chinese beauty pageant slideshow.)