Hyphen magazine - Asian American arts, culture, and politics

Last you heard from me on this topic, I was promising some profiles of AzN Wimmin! And I haven't delivered! Yet!

Okay, okay, I'm on a roll. No, no, just let me say it:

This flick moves at the speed of life.

No, seriously, I get it: if you don't quite know how to make a movie make people feel something, then SLOW IT DOWN. Even if they don't feel something, the slow pace will convince them that there's some profundity happening.

The joke is so obvious, I'm almost ashamed to make it. But cut me some slack, I had to sit through two hours of this stuff:

This movie doesn't have a running time, it has a half-life.

Okay, I got it out. Now: it's not that bad.

The Asian American Film Fest in San Francisco is doing a big hapa thing this year, including launching a website they co-did with hapa hogfather Kip Fulbeck. (The site is at www.hapas.us; don't bother clicking over until after March 14, which is when it goes live.)

One thing we haven't talked about yet is the start of Women's History Month, which is March. It's a great time to highlight the accomplishments of women, and a lot of organizations are jumping on the bandwagon.

One of the coolest things I've seen so far is a Glamour photo spread showing female "American Icons," played by current celebrities. E.g.: Hayden Panettiere as Amelia Earhart and Lindsey Lohan as Madonna. It's a great idea, and highlights national treasures of sports and political action as well as entertainment.

However.

Last Saturday I heard a story on "All Things Considered" on NPR about how Ecuador's new open-border policy this year has seen a flood of Chinese coming through, in hopes of getting to the US:

Sorry, but it's raining. I have no little sarcasm, and no made-up theme, for Hyphen Lynks this week. It's just the news, plus a few undigested opinions, from all over the place. Please feel free to insert your own sarcastic comments below. Or to suggest themes. Above, enjoy a vid of Our Tamlyn explaining why everyone needed to vote last November. Glad she did. Why Tamlyn? See below.

Perhaps more horrifying than last week's alleged assault on singer Rihanna by her boyfriend, singer Chris Brown, was the general response in blogs and comment threads, excusing Brown and other abusers, and even admitting to abuse on the part of commenters. Yeah, some people were saying that it was okay for Brown to (allegedly) bite Rihanna's body, give her black eyes, and choke her until she passed out, because she pissed him off in a variety of ways.

So, just in case anyone's unclear on this: beating, choking, slapping or hurting anyone physically is UNACCEPTABLE for any reason. Why?

Are you a poet interested in working in an exclusively Asian American workshop? Kundiman is taking applications for its 2009 Retreat.

The following is directly quoted from Kundiman's announcement. Please don't ask us for more information; we don't have any! Just go to the links below and ask them.

How do you like our new administration so far?

Apparently, your friend and mine Senator Daniel Inouye slipped a provision into the recently passed stimulus package awarding the $15,000 each the US promised to Filipino veterans last year (if they're US citizens; only $9000 if they're not). Now, all it has to do is survive the committee reconciling the differing House and Senate bills.

These Filipino vets were recruited by the US to fight the Japanese during WWII and promised citizenship and payment. Truman reneged and it wasn't until Clinton that any veterans got to emigrate on the strength of their war service.

Last year the Senate awarded the vets a monthly pension, but it was changed to the (honestly, tiny) lump sum in the House. And then they waited for yet another year. That's okay, they'd already been waiting sixty years for what the US promised them. What's another 360-odd days? Especially since this lump sum is just a token.

"This is not a stimulus proposal. It does not create jobs,'' [Inouye] conceded. "But the honor of the United States is what is involved.''

Indeed.

Read all about it in the San Jose Merc. And check out our 2007 article about Filipino veterans in Queens, "Still Fighting," in issue 11.