Increasing the Stereotypes!

SO, I've been meaning to blog about this, but it kept slipping my mind. About a month ago (Ha, hella late) me, Scott, Kim, and Amanda all kicked it at stonestown mall. So we're trying to find parking on this typical school day and we're waiting on this one person to pull out of this parking. First let me note that she was driving a BMW, which would make her way more cautious. Anyways, this girl is trying to make a U turn in the parking lot so it'll be easier for her to exit, but for some odd reason she decides to take 6 months to make a 19 point turn. And we're all sitting in the car saying to ourselves "Who is this person, she's taking days" because at that point she was holding up traffic in every which direction. SO, finally she decides to finish her 19 point turn and grant us the parking spot. And when she's about to leave, I say out loud "I bet she's asian" and guess what! She is. -_-

So we're all sitting in the car discussing how everyone in the parking lot who saw her hold up traffic must be thinking the same thing. It's really a bad day when Asian Stereotypes are reenforced. That is why this is a message to us all, Let's make an extra effort to break away from that stereotype and be good drivers! Agreed? Agreed.

Just my two cents,

Vincent Santiago

Asian American Artist- Jin Tha MC.

Well I posted about this man before, but I figured since Ben asked us to write a bio on an Asian American Artist, I might as well do it again. OK, well a little background before the bio, Jin is an Chinese American MC who appeared on freestyle friday of BET's "106 and Park" and he has slowly crept up in the music world to join wyclef's label the Ruff Ryders (However today he has decided to leave the label). But, I first knew of jin when he had battled and won on freestyle friday 7 weeks straight. He's a lyrical genius, but i'm not going to lie, his songs aren't always on point. Anyways, I did Jin because he's an inspiration and although he knows of asian american stereotypes, he battles them by embracing them and telling the world he's more than that.

Bio:
Jin the MC was born in miami, florida and was raised by chinese-immigrant parents.
Jin had aspirations of becoming a professional rapper and was inspired by 2Pac, Nas, Wu-Tang, Notorious B.I.G, LL Cool J, and Big L. In 2001, Jin moved to Flushing, NY to begin pursuing his dream. Jin sold mixtapes on the streets and soon had a huge following.








I know Jin is illlllll.

Anyways, Lateeeeeers!

-Vincent Santiago

Quickly

Last night my some friends and I went to Quickly, the one by Westlake, and while we were waiting for our drinks I was chillin’ and listening to the music that was playing from the flat screen. I couldn’t hear the lyrics clearly because there were a lot of people there so it was pretty noisy. And when I started watching the t.v. I saw some Asian guys dancing and singing and they were pretty good. Then I asked one of my friends if they were singing in English and they weren’t. The next song was an Asian girl singing in Japanese and she was a good hip hop dancer and the video was good. I think it’s a good thing that Quickly plays these videos because it showcases Asian artists.

-ashley

Asians can't drive

Of coarse I’ve heard that racial comment that “Asians can’t drive” and I’ve even heard it from some people who are Asian American and I think they say that because they don’t identify themselves as those fob Asians who still have an accent but whatever that’s they’re problem but after watching this video with one of my Asian friends he got all offended and I found it rather amusing because it’s just one of those jokes that pokes at some of peoples doings. Like how you could find a rock in a Filipino person’s shower. It’s just funny to look at some of those things. And in this particular joke with driving I see the funny part as driving away and being unaware of the honking because I could see someone I know who isn’t Asian doing that

-ashley

The Slanted Screen

Today in class I watched this documentary The Slanted Screen, it was about Asian and Asian American actors sharing their thoughts on the image of Asians in film. Sessue Hayakawa was the first actor viewed. He started in silent films and at the time was one of the highest paid and respected actors. He starred and directed about ninety films and was one the first sex symbols in Hollywood. When I saw the clips from some of the movies he was in I thought of an Asian Pierce Brosnan. He was handsome, suave, and a lady’s man. Some of the characters he played had a romance with a white woman. However, in a more recent movie Romeo Must Die one of the themes for the movie was Romeo and Juliet. Jet Li was Romeo and Aaliyah was Juliet. For the movie they shot two scenes where Jet Li and Aaliyah are sharing a romantic moment on the dance floor. In the first shot Jet Li and Aaliyah kiss and the producers didn’t like the scene so they shot it again where the two just hug and that shot was the one that made it in the movie. The second actor viewed was Bruce Lee. Before the hero was always a white guy like Clint Eastwood. Bruce was the new phenomenon because he portrayed an Asian man as the action hero. He changed the portrayal of Asians and Asian Americans in film forever. Audiences expect to see white actors cast in higher roles such as the boss, doctor, or the rich guy. They expect to see black and Hispanic actors play lower roles such as the maid or the janitor and with Asians, they don’t expect to see them at all. Somehow audiences just expect Asian men to be a nerd or doing kung fu. And in movies the good guy is usually white and they rather see Asians as the bad guys because white America needs to feel good about themselves and seeing them as the good guy and the triumphant in movies do that. The producers of the show The O.C. took on a new writer who was Asian. He decided to introduce new characters on the show who where Hispanic and Asian. The producers read the script and changed the minority characters to white characters because they thought the main characters, who were white, wouldn’t hang out with people like that. Thankfully, Some Asian American actors and comedians are doing things to break this nerdy, kung fu stereotype by doing skits and roles that show the different side to Asians. Fortunately, today Bobby Lee and other Asian American actors and comedians have huge contracts and deals which is big because it means producers and t.v. shows, want to see them.

-ashley

walk the runway

i was excited for the fashion show because i wanted to see everyone's oufits and i thought all the groups did very well. Of coarse im very proud of my group because we went above and beyond like always, coming to class with not one but two outfits. Although my group didn't work together as well as we did for the iron chef challenge we still managed to pull off all the requirements and give a good presentation. The models were fierce as expected and i was impressed with the groupd that made their entire outfit from scratch. fun times =]

-ashley

Fashion Shooooooooooow.

So for the fashion show, I thought every group did a pretty outstanding job. For my group in specific, I feel as though we did a great job! We were the only group that had both a girl and a guy model, and although I felt super awkward being the only guy model I was glad that I was able to rep 210s finest with the guy clothing. While I wasn't looking like anything super flashy in particular, my outfit was an example of japanese-american dress that is realistic. Even though my outfit just looked like a regular outfit someone would be wearing, there was an actual story behind my clothing.

Headwear- New Era Fitted Hat/Japanese Headband.
Baseball fitted or New Era fitted is a popular American icon, integrating that with the Japanese headband.

Shirt- Flannel Button up
A popular “cowboy” dress or just a traditional American top.

Pants- GAP Japanese Selvedge Denim
Raw denim that is popular in both America and Japan, however Americanized by U.S. clothing companies such as GAP. While it has Japanese influence, it’s our version of selvedge denim.

Shoes- Vans Sk8 Hi Hosoi
Vans, a popular skate shoe, been around for years (since 1966) and related to American dress. With a Japanese influence of the “rising sun”, a common Japanese icon.

What type of person did you create this outfit for?

We created this outfit for the male Japanese-American teenager who wants to both tradition and culture in mind when deciding what to wear out. While this style is Americanized and somewhat popular among the Asian-American population, there’s a history behind every article of clothing that is included in our outfit. And even though not only Japanese Americans may wear this outfit, it provides a cultural background that doesn’t first meet the eye.

Is there a significance behind the color, shape, texture etc.

The colors weren’t too significant besides that the rising sun and headband were traditional Japanese icons, so we just happened to match the clothing together somehow without looking too tacky. The texture of the jeans is raw denim, a popular style in Japan and in America. The texture of the shirt is flannel, to keep warm in this cold SF weather!

What is the statement that you are making and why?

The statement that we’re making is that Asian Americans can dress, and can take their outfit back to their culture if they really wanted to. Also, we are trying to show that there are a lot of influences between Americans and Japanese and while we’re thousands of miles apart, we still have similar fashion choices. We are making this statement to show that although there may be a cultural barrier between Japanese and Americans, fashion is able to bridge the gap and eliminate the hyphen in “Japanese-American Style”.

Congrats to all! =D



-Vincent Santiago

Should I change my name??

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/09/brown-asian-names/

Apparently, Texas representative Betty Brown think so. She believes Asian names are too hard to pronounce and we should all adopt a name that's easy for "real americans" to say. I don't even know what to think when I come across something as heinous as this. It's unfathomable to me how ignorant some of our decision makers are, even with a man named Barack Obama as our president, there are still bigots out there making these ridiculous statements. It's also not a surprise that she's from Texas, the state known for inbred-retards, also known as white people. Maybe asian people should all dye our hair blonde and wear blue contacts, that would surely restore the old fashion American values. I mean, what's next? are we going to start rounding up minorities in concentration camps? most of the minority populations are already in ghettos, so it would probably be a pretty easy transition. I don't know how people like Betty Brown even get elected, but if America wants to be taken seriously by other nations, people like Betty Brown must be taken out of positions of power. I have an unique name, I like my name, and I love it when white people have trouble pronouncing it. It's not my job to make sure white people feel comfortable, matter of fact, I want them to feel uncomfortable around me, I want them to know that I am nothing like them. I could have just adopted a name like Joe or David, but I feel it's important for Asian Americans to use their 'ethnic names'. By not adopting white names, we are making a statement, we are creating a counter-culture, and we are fighting the oppressive white power that has tried to dominate us for centuries. Just because we have a black president doesn't mean our fight is over, there are still plenty of racism and prejudice out there, and it's our job to keep fighting and keep pushing back, because the moment we become complacent, everything our predecessor have done will be useless. Fuck what white people think, we are not here for them. So make a statement, and change your name to something unique, represent your culture!!!

-JIAWEI WU (yeah that's right, Jiawei motherfuckin Wu)

fashion show!!!!!

the fashion show was amazing, everybody in our group really stepped up and produced 2 unique outfits! Our group might be a little unorganized sometimes, but when it comes down to the clutch moments, we always manage to pull through. I enjoyed the whole fashion show, and felt that all of the groups did a great job of creating outfits that represented the Asian American style. There were a few costumes that seemed a little too stereotypical, personally, I think it's time to see beyond these stereotypes. Asian Americans are unique and diverse, so it's really important to represent these traits in our costume designs.
-Jiawei

Project

Over the weekend i must say that I had a very good time researching ideas for the fashion show with my friends and my mom. We brainstormed a lot of ideas and went to goodwill and the fabric store for inspiration. I really like this class project a lot and fells it lets me be creative instead of completly doing a project on paper. I especially love that our country is Japan and there are so many different directions my group can go in. I find it especially interesting to put an American twist on a Japanese classic. That makes it even more fun. I think that i have my idea made up for this project and i=am very thankful for the opportunity to do it. Its reallllllly fun!!!!!!!!!!



***heather***

Ok i recenly saw this Dr. Phil and it was on Asian Americans who get plastic surgury to change the shape of their eyes to appear more western looking. They had on a plastice surgeon and he himself was Asian american and thought that a western eye is more attactive. People had issues with this topic and felt that by doing this you are changing and are ashamed of your race. But the girls said by doing this they were more confident and felt better about themeselves. It seemed like the audience and dr. phil were sort of cold to these women. I do not think that people should say anything about the choices that others make. It is the problem that society has made. There are these certain standards that are considered beautiful. I think that this could be solved if each person made the effort to be more understanding, educated and accepting. Not every person is the same and that is what makes the world such a beautiful place!!!!!

***Heather****

Midterm Grade

I felt that this class did a great job during the midterm. It really blended together great and everyone really worked together. I think that next time we should have like matching outfits, shirts, or a color scheme to distinguish ourselves and so we can stand out. I really liked my acting group and thought that the shopping cart was really a nice touch. Our class deserves an A!!!!!! We really did a great job and we completed our original deadline!!!!!

***Heather***

Cheap A** Asians

Asian are cheap! Yes, I guess that's one of the stereotypes that people say about Asians. We have cheap food, cheap toys, and will always try to bend the dollar. Before the US Housing market entered the "dark times", Asians have been looked at as cheap people who always look for a discount. Asians will always save any penny they find or make it a mission to not pay full price for anything. With the famous comedian Russell Peters always doing a skit on how a Chinese salesman and an Indian Buyer meet inside a mall. Watch below,



Talking to one of my friend who is a Realtor, I had asked her if her job has been affected by the down turn of the economy. What she had told me was surprisingly shocking, she said that the majority of people who are buying houses are Asians. She said that they are the ones that are being approved for loans or even down right paying cash on foreclosed homes.

This negative stereotype has actually turned into a good stereotype given the times. The media today talks about how families can save cents here and there on everyday items and how to make the dollar stretch.

This is evidence of the times changing.

-Noppol S.

Cultural Invasion

The cultural invasion went off not exactly as planned, but our massage was heard. I think that the "plan of attack" was actually to surprise our audience and relay our message to them. For the preparation of our midterm, there was a lot of uncertainty of what would actually happen on the day of the cultural invasion. I think this caused a lot of confusion, there was no set place of where any of the groups were going to perform until the night before or even the day of. As for my group, the skit group, we didn't exactly know how long our skit had to be, or where it would take place. Because of this we had a very sketchy script and actually rehearsed in a different location. All in all, we were able to pull off most the things planned by our group minus the OUTSIDE interference. It was a very good idea to move to the other side of the cafeteria since it was quieter. I think the class deserved an A since the main idea was to get the message heard to as many people as possible. We spread our message in various ways using different media types for many people to understand. Good job everyone, A!


-Noppol S.

Asian American Film Festival

http://www.childrenofinvention.com/about.htm



On Saturaday March 21, I went to the San Francisco Asian American Film Festival, went to see a movie call, “Children of invention.” Children of invention tell a story about two children left to live alone in a abandon house. Their mom was lock up in jail for a selling scheme, and it never show their dad because he was in China.

I really like to movie, very inspiring, seeing how kids can do a lot with their imagination.
Even without and adult around,they founded ways to keep going, take action without any parent, define what it mean to hustla.

The story is about two kid, brother 10 year old and little sister 7 year old, that live with their mom. They was kick out their house because mom didn’t have enough money to pay rent. Mom who work at two job as sell person, selling house and and products (them people that goes house to house selling stuff, like vacuum, knives and other). She was selling product for this white women, after all the sell the women left the state with all the money and no product was sent out to the buyer, which then the Law came a arrest all the people that was involve, including the mom.
The kids didn’t Know this happen because they was at school, but they understated that their mom work hard everyday and some night she don’t come home. Mom didn’t come back for more then three night, kids became sad and mad they thought there mom left them. With that big bro took action and with the skill he learn from watching his mom sell stuff, he start to invent his own item, one he call the noodle spinner. whit his inventvion his wish to make a million dollar and big their old house back, which they hope their mom will come back and dont have to work no more.

It is hella good, emotional, funny, and all the good stuff, I give this movie two thumb ups.

-Phon Chanthanasak

The professor said...

So today in my Ethnic Studies 220 class I overheard my TA’s talking. Kind a rude but whatever I was sitting right next to them so I couldn’t help it. Anyway, one of them was telling the other about his professor and the appalling things he had to say about Asian Americans. Basically he said things close to “Asian Americans made their own problems and just have to deal with them, Ethnic Studies classes are a waste of time, bla bla…”. He said some other stupid things that I can’t remember but it just got me mad. Before college I never learned about my Filipino history and now that I’ve gotten some knowledge on not only Filipino history but about other Asian and Asian American struggles and resistance I feel more comfortable in my own skin because I’m aware of this important history that many Asian Americans are uninformed of. Those people don’t bother me because most don’t get a chance to learn such important issues after high school because in public schools we only learn about American history. Anyway, today I was just really upset because these ignorant statements came from a college professor. Now I’ve already realized that people have the right to think what they want but what this professor said really made me mad where I don’t have too much to say. I just hate ignorant people.

-ashley

A

I was very nervous for the cultural invasion because I did not feel the class as a whole was prepared. Certain groups were organized and ready but for other groups scheduling everyone to meet up was difficult because of people’s busy schedules. For other groups their tasks may have been easier because they were able to them individually or not all their members had to meet up. The dance group had some trouble learning a routine because not everyone could meet up to learn the piece. However, everyone learned some part of the piece at different times so we were able to pull it off. Besides worrying about my group I was also worrying about the sequence of what was going to happen. I wasn’t too confident in the class as a whole because we didn’t spend too much time correctly organizing the event. But it was exciting and I was very satisfied in the outcome The whole experience was great. I had fun and I thought all the groups did a good job. With the little time we had I thought the class did amazing and I give our performance an A.

-ashley

Letter to the Editor

Before taking this class or any of the other Ethnic Studies courses I’ve already taken I have never heard of Hyphen. What I liked first about the magazine when skimming through it was that there were Asian models and Asian ads. I liked seeing that because most of the magazines I pick up are the usual Seventeen, Vogue, and Cosmopolitan. In those magazines I usually look through them to see the newest fashion trends, the latest celebrity gossip, and to do those quizzes titled “What Guys Like About You” or “Are You A Snob?”. And in those magazines I hardly see any Asian or Asian American models or ads. When there is an Asian or Asian American model it’s usually in a “how to wear this look” such as showing the readers what styles look good on certain sized women. Another time you might see them is when they’re giving make up tips and they show an Asian woman’s eyes to show how to apply the make up on that certain shaped eye. Other times I’ll see an Asian model in a 7-10 page spread and sometimes she’s not the only girl. Sometimes there will be several girls each having their own page in the spread. Sorry that I’ve gone off tangent talking about these other magazines that I read, so, back to Hyphen. Other than the picture art and the photographs I also found the articles very interesting. They were up to date and were about things that interested me in particular, as a college, Asian American woman, which I appreciated. And by up to date I mean that it’s not like a history or national geographic magazine. The article on Sex Education was different for me because the articles I’m used to are ones like “36 ways To Keep Him Satisfied” or “40 New Tricks To Spice Up Your Love Making”. But the one about the porn star, Hung Lo, was exciting because it wasn’t about different types of diseases or how to practice safe sex, not that those are boring things to read about but because it was more exciting since porn is “forbidden” to me because of my parents, and it was informative because it brings up the stereotype that Asian men have small.. ”you know whats”. I also enjoyed reading the article, The Jokes On Us because I enjoy watching comedy especially Margaret Cho, and Russell Peters. I’m not too familiar with Dat Phan’s jokes but the interesting part of the article was that they were interviews and the comedians gave their opinions on Asian jokes and why people enjoy them and why some people find them racist. Some Asian groups may find their jokes offensive but I feel like their comedy is realistic and that people just have to laugh, of coarse some jokes are down right racist and that’s when someone should speak up about it but these comedians are pretty chill and they know when to draw the line. The other articles were also interesting and very informative and the magazine has something for everyone to read. Sex, comedy, sports, food, income, music, and art.

-ashley

An "A" For Effort and an "A+" for Skill

I feel as if we did an excellent job at the cultural invasion. If we look at the situation from the fact that we weren't even planning on performing that day than you can say to yourself that "Hey we did do a pretty good job for a couple days short notice". The groups all had there acts in check, and with just a few little bugs worked out, I think the whole thing could've been perfect. It is nothing new that we're our own worst critics, so I think maybe we're being too critical on ourselves, everyone in the Caesar Chavez building was thoroughly culturally invaded. We all made our mark that day and I truly believe that people were informed. Personally, I thought everyone did a great job, and with the lack of planning and rehearsals, it was an excellent show. While we may have slipped up on not being unified enough during chants and dancing, bystanders nearby were able to see the situation and become interested. And that's truly what we were going for, correct? Anyways, we may think we did just "Ok" but I feel as if we weren't in the class and we witness our performance from an outside point of view that we would've easily been able to grant our class with an A. But that's just me. Anywaaays, An "A" for effort and an A+ for skill, no need to sell ourselves short guys, we did an excellent job and we should be proud that we were able to culturally invade so many people at once.

Catch everyone in class!

-Vincent Santiago

1 day of prep, almost 99.7% outcome.

Based on the fact that the class have 1 day to prepare for our midterm, Invasian, I would give the class a "C" for preparation and an "A" for the outcome. Though we were very hesitant to finish this midterm, we were able to knock it off quickly with the advices we received from everyone. I think the whole point of this midterm is to create a community within the classroom. I noticed that Irene gives us choices and options on how we want the class to be. By hearing almost everyone's opinion whether we should postpone or do it on the due date, we were able to do it as a class to decide on just doing it. As a class, we were able to do it stronger and it is because we did it as a community. As a community, we fuses all our ideas and opinion and that is why the outcome of the midterm turned out great. With longer preparation, we can get rid of the flaws on this midterm. Like Irene said, not all of us knew the meaning of the chant. If we knew what message were trying to convey with saying the chant out loud, I think people would be more affected.

Asian Film

Chan is missing is a 1982 film that follows two cabbies around San Francisco's Chinatown. It is directed by Wayne Wang and is an Asian American film that has Asian American actors not being a sterotype. It follows these two men in search of there friend who has mysteriously dissapeared with their $4,000. I really liked that the movie was in black and white because the movie was shot in Chinatown and I felt that the vivid colors of red, green and gold would have distracted the viewer and would have taken away from the sceenplay and dialogue. The movie shows two Asian American men, one old and one young. The young man is your average young american male. He is somewhat of a funny streetsmart guy. The other older male is wise and streetsmart as well. Both of them are playing ameteur detective and want to find their business partner with their money. But the movie really focuses on the hardship of adapting to American society and how people try to make whats best for themselves in a setting. It also shows Aians that were born here and Asians that arrived here from boats. Its a great look into what life is like for minorities in America.


***Heather***

Letter to the editor

I was really intrigued when i came upon the article "Disposable Income". I found it to be highly insightful and very unique. I mean I live in San Jose and see elderly asian men and women with large sacks of recyclables hovering up and down the streets. I always thought nothing of it that they were just doing this in their spare time. I had no idea that it was actually a way of serious income for these people. I do not think its fair that there is a new law that hinders this and makes it harder for these people to earn an honest way to live. I do not think that this is considered stealing as it is garbage that would otherwise end up in a land fill. San Francisco recycles about 63% of its trash and I think that a large part of that is owed to these people. I do not think that there is anything wrong with this type of work. It supplies income for elderly people who would not otherwise have a job anywhere else.