The Sleeping Giant in American Politics
September 30, 2008
Major Study Examines Why Asian America Is Virtually Unheard
By DEANNA LEE
EDITOR’S NOTE—A duPont-Columbia Award winner with eight Emmys, Deanna Lee is a veteran international journalist. A former Nightline and ABC World News producer, Ms. Lee is the Asia Society’s communications veep.
Look at Asian Americans today, says Paul Ong, “and what you’re seeing is the awakening of the new sleeping giant in politics. The question is, how fast are we going to become a meaningful force?”
Ong is the principal investigator of “The State of Asian America: Trajectory of Civic and Political Engagement,” just released by the LEAP Asian Pacific American Public Policy Institute. Ten investigations and analyses by a multidisciplinary team of Asian American scholars and community leaders delve into what, for many Asian Americans, is a central question and frustration: why our voices “are virtually unheard in the ongoing civic and political discussions.”
The State of Asian America: Trajectory of Civic and Political Engagement is available as a free download courtesy of the LEAP Asian Pacific American Public Policy Institute here. Offical release events will be held from Sept. 30 through Oct. 8 in Washington, D.C., New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco. For detailed info: leap@leap.org / 213-485-1422.
‘The Freak’ Cy Young Contender; Berkeley Grocer Pissed @LATimes; TV Drama Hooks U.S. Koreans
September 24, 2008
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- BECAUSE OF TIM LINCECUM’S high leg-kick and Olive Oyl long-stride delivery, hitters started calling the S.F. Giants starter “The Freak.” But what’s really freaky about the 24-year-old Seattle native is that the diminuitive (5-10, 170) Filipino American can crank his two-seam fastball up to the plate at 100 mph. He a guy a lot of hitters would rather not face, and he’s got a good chance to be awarded the 2008 NL Cy Young Award.
- GLENN YASUDA has risen before sun-up for the past 30 years in order to bring customers at his Berkeley Bowl market the finest fruit and veggies available in the entire Bay Area, but he can be a little cranky and could ban you from his store if you don’t toe the line. L.A. Times’s featurist John Glionna profiled Yasuda and his store in a whimsical Sept. 22 Column One piece, but evidently, the 74-year-old Japanese American wasn’t too happy with the story and has reportedly banned Glionna from his store… for life. Read the offending piece here. Visit Berkeley Bowl’s web site here.
- KOREAN TV DRAMA MANIA has reached our shores. Korean Americans from Fort Lee, NJ to L.A.’s Koreatown will be glued to their wide-screen TV’s Sept. 25 for the final episode of the insanely popular KBS TV drama Women in the Sun, the tale of two sisters who share a dark childhood secret. The 20-episode program, which garnered monster ratings in So. Korea, is targeted at the young adult audience and boasts an all-star cast of the Korean entertainment industry’s hottest male and female idols. So, break out the dried squid jerky, OB Beer and hankies. It’s gonna be a roller-coaster ride, baby!
- LIVE NOTES: Kim off to good start on final day of Cup, RyderCup.com
- Wikipedia: Anthony Kim
- Anthony Kim at a glance, stats, news, video, personal, PGATour.com
- Anthony Kim: New Kid in Town, Golf Digest, 2007
- Yahoo! Sports: Profile, stats, notes—Anthony Kim
- Anthony Kim profile, news, results, photos, ESPN/GolfWorld
- Kid Swagger, GolfWorld, 2007
Hankook Park(ing) Day L.A.
September 19, 2008
Metered parking spaces throughout the greater Los Angeles area were transformed into mini parks Friday as Angelenos celebrated the 2nd annual Park(ing) Day L.A. Organizers say the annual event is an important day for addressing park space in Los Angeles, something we are on the low side of per capita. It is recommended that there are 8-10 acres of parks and open space for every 1000 residents. Los Angeles reportedly has about 10% of that. This gives us a chance to extend kudos to KTAN-TV news director Kyung Hwa Park’s outstanding local Asian American reportage.
WWII American Legion Posters
September 17, 2008
—From boingboing
Podcast: Adrian Tomine
September 17, 2008
Under the dust jacket of Adrian Tomine’s first graphic novel, Shortcomings, printed along the bottom edge of the front cover, lies a ruler. It’s a gentle nod to a recurring joke that reveals the insecurities of the book’s main character, Ben Tanaka, a chubby, grouchy movie theater manager recently abandoned by his girlfriend. At one point, as he is considering dating a lesbian in the hopes that she’ll be less “size-conscious,” he repeats a riddle he heard in college: “What’s the main difference between Asian and Caucasian men? … The Cauc.” —Salon
Fundamentally Sound Free Fall Economics
September 17, 2008
Noah Sakamoto, Patrick Rizzo Get Stoopid in Claremont
September 16, 2008
Breakfast of Champions
September 15, 2008
All props out to Golden Boy Michael Phelps, but the title of best all-around athlete at any Olympic games goes to the winner of the grueling decathlon, and last month in Beijing Japanese American Bryan Clay smoked the competition for the gold. Now, it’s official. Clay, whose mother is Japanese and who grew up in Hawaii steeped in Japanese culture, got his Wheaties box cover and joins the pantheon of American sports giants.
Late Summer Playlist: Slow Beautiful Sex
September 4, 2008
My aural wonts change minute to minute, but this morning I awoke thinking about ’80s art band Fibonaccis’ lead singer Magie Song’s Slow Beautiful Sex and How to Kill a Millionaire. I wonder what the Korean American chanteuse is doing right now.
Slow Beautiful Sex
How to Murder a Millionaire
Update: Nishikori Run Ends at Open
September 2, 2008
