Dr. Martin Luther King's legacy is looking like the streets we named after him -- permanently under construction...
Directed by Zia Mohajerjasbi, Blue Scholar's "Back Home," off of the recently released Bayani, is powerful, poignant and necessary. Sure, the video's not terribly original (cemetery setting, weeping widows, kids holding portraits of lost loved ones) but it captures the inevitable suffering and pain that comes with war.
I know I've posted about Blue Scholars before but I'm just geeked off the fact that there are still some rap cats making meaningful music instead of those annoying ass dance songs. If only the masses would start taking note...
Posted by claire at 7:52 PM | Comments (3)
I've never been one of those New Yorker magazine junkies, like many people I know. I guess I'm more of a secret New Yorker junkie because I have enough things piled up in my life to feel guilty about not getting to. But the annual "Summer Fiction Issue" is kindof a must for me. I picked it up a few weeks ago on the way back from a trip to Mexico and have been carrying the increasingly more tattered thing around with me ever since.
Continue reading "Awesome Francophile Korean American Fiction in the New Yorker"
Posted by neela at 2:01 PM | Comments (4)
The New York Academy of Medicine released a report in May on the needs of APIs living with HIV/AIDS in the New York City area.
Some key findings show no real surprises (many barriers to care like cost and language, evidence that APIs delay testing, and overall low knowledge of HIV prevention and treatment), but something to note:
• Extreme Isolation and Mental Distress Because of HIV Stigma. Reluctance to disclose one’s HIV status because of HIV stigma was a major theme in the qualitative interviews. Many participants experienced extreme social isolation because of their fears about disclosing their HIV status and the sometimes negative responses they received when they did disclose. Social isolation appears to have had significant negative mental health consequences. 71% had low or very low mental health scores, compared to 50% for the cohort. (emphasis mine)
Yet even given these high levels of isolation and mental distress, relatively few had utilized mental health services; providers said the barriers were both clients’ reluctance to seek mental health services and the lack of appropriate services. Once again, we see mental health as a major unaddressed issue in our community.
There are many APAs around the country trying to bring more attention to the issue of AIDS in our community and prompting folks to get tested (Boston City Councilor Sam Yoon got an oral test in front of the press in May). But at the same time, HIV clinics and researchers are seeing their funding slashed as the result of an administration that prefers to promote abstinence instead of sex ed to combat AIDS. Here in San Francisco, a Japanese American researcher at UCSF who worked with Asian and transgender communities was recently fired (he claims racial prejudice and lack of concern for transgendered communities).
I wrote about undocumented Asian immigrants living with HIV/AIDS in New York City in HYPHEN’s Fall 2006 issue (The Music Issue), and it never fails to amaze me how invisible this issue is to our community. Maybe people think it’s a nonissue; it has fallen off our radar since the ’80s and ’90s when it was on all the celebrities’ lips and lapels. Or, more disturbingly, maybe people think that Asian Americans simply don’t get AIDS. I once read a submission from a writer who didn’t use condoms because he assumed the Asian women he slept with were “clean” (his words).
So what to do? Volunteer with or donate to APA AIDS/HIV research and service groups, don’t assume HIV is just a gay or White issue, get tested regularly and for God’s sake, use a rubber.
Posted by lisamac at 11:21 AM | Comments (0)
In D.C., a judge is suing an elderly Korean American couple for $67 million in damages for allegedly losing his pants...
The administrative law judge, Roy L. Pearson, Jr., claims the family-run Custom Cleaners, owned by an immigrant couple that doesn't speak English and works a 70-hour week, breached the District's consumer protection laws by displaying a "Satisfaction Guaranteed" sign in their window while misplacing his pants.
While pundits are having a heyday lampooning the lawsuit, the New York Times reports, the trial is being held-up by activists as a case book example of the abuse of lawsuits and the legal system in the U.S..
Continue reading "Taking 'em out to the Cleaners, to Court"
Posted by melanie at 9:06 PM | Comments (0)
The film Colma opens this Friday in SF, and I'm excited to see it. I missed this one at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival because it was sold out. This time I'm buying my tickets in advance.
Continue reading "Colma the Musical Opens in SF Friday"
Posted by melissa at 10:53 AM | Comments (6)
John Chao and Ashley Yao are Misha, a charming duo from New York and Taiwan, whose equally charming new album drops today on Tomlab. Already hailed as "perfect summer pop," Teardrop Sweetheart is ice cream for the ears on a hot sunny day and is just as delicious.
Watch for a full review in the upcoming issue of Hyphen. In the meantime, download a couple songs the band wanted to share with Hyphen readers (below) and visit the band's myspace page for more info.
Download "Summersend"
Download "Weatherbees"
Posted by christine at 12:01 AM | Comments (0)
Featured in our music issue last year were the Native Guns, consisting of radical Pinoy emcees Kiwi and Bambu and Chinese American DJ, Phatrick. The group has since parted ways to pursue solo careers.
Bambu’s second solo album, I Scream Bars for the Children, which we review in our upcoming issue, was released at the end of April. The video for its lead single, “Pull it Back,” directed by Erica Eng, just dropped…
Posted by melanie at 5:15 PM | Comments (6)
Tak Toyoshima's Secret Asian Man comic strip is being picked up by United Features, which will distribute it to daily newspapers around the world.
Continue reading "Not so Secret Asian Man: comic gets syndication"
Posted by harry at 10:04 AM | Comments (0)
With contestants baring all to raise money for a good cause--from revealing the passion behind their leadership in the Asian American community to stripping off their shirts in the sleepwear round -- it's fair to say that this year's Mr. Hyphen 2007 competition lived up to the success of last year's inaugural pageant (and then some). Riding on her own coat tails, once again the righteously funny Ms. Ali Wong emceed the event, held Saturday night at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center.
In the end, Luke Patterson won the crown and $500 for his non-profit of choice: Great Leap, an LA-based multicultural arts organization. It was a great show. And along the way, with the bravado on stage and the fanfare in the audience, it was hard to tell who had more fun — the handsome and talented contestants or their admiring public. Here are some memorable moments from the evening. Share yours in the comments:
Continue reading "Mr. Hyphen 2007"
Posted by melanie at 11:31 PM | Comments (7)
Sarode artist Alam Khan talks to Mr. Hyphen 2006.
Continue reading "Alam Khan - Sarode Artist"
Posted by robin at 4:49 PM | Comments (0)
This isn't the first time we're blogging about this, and it probably won't be the last. The message is simple: get registered as a bone marrow donor. Because of the low numbers of minorities who are registered, people who need bone marrow transplants are not getting them. We've been getting emails lately from some young Asian Americans who have cancer and blood disorders and need your help.
Continue reading "Save a Life: Bone Marrow Donor Registry"
Posted by melissa at 10:36 AM | Comments (1)
The MYX, a new channel from the Phillippines' ABS-CBN network, is the latest attempt to conquer the elusive Asian American television audience.
Continue reading "Satellite channel tries Asian American MYX"
Posted by harry at 12:01 AM | Comments (0)
I admit I have been hooked on the whole VH1 Flavor of Love franchise, from the first season with the infamous spitting incident to the second season's notorious defecation act (obviously these shows are all about class). I watched every pec-laden moment of I Love New York and eagerly anticipate the (new and improved) season two.
So of course I am a fan of the newest spin-off, Flavor of Love: Girls Charm School, where Flav's cast-offs are "rigorously trained in proper etiquette and manners before competing in challenges to determine their poise and grace under pressure" and overseen by task-mistress and former Showtime at the Apollo host Mo'Nique.
One contestant who caught my eye on this show was 25-year-old Las Vegan Smiley (neé Leilene Ondrade), who, according to her Charm School bio, was raised by her grandfather "on a farm in the Filipinas (sic)" selling tomatoes and fishing for frogs. Aww.
Continue reading "Charmed by Leilene from "Flavor of Love: Girls' Charm School""
Posted by lisamac at 3:47 PM | Comments (18)
TV personality Lisa Ling married her "Doctor McDreamy," Paul Song, on Sunday.
Continue reading "Lisa Ling Marries Doctor"
Posted by harry at 9:36 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
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