Hyphen magazine - Asian American arts, culture, and politics

After Cynthia took off I checked out the second half of the Page Turner Literary Festival. It was fantastic and inspiring to see so many people packed into one space for this event. On a personal note, I credit the Asian American Writers Workshop with changing my life -- an internship there back in 1996 introduced me to an amazing community of writers, artists and activists. (I also edited their magazine for several years after college.) The AAWW  offered me real-life examples of being a working writer, something that I never even saw as possible before that. It's great to see it not only still going strong, but also expanding its programming to include larger-scale events like Page Turner.

Not much information is available on Ah Bing, but his namesake remains ubiquitous: the Bing cherry, an American fruit favorite.

The Bing cherry was first grown in Oregon in 1875, created as a crossbred graft from the Republican cherry, and is the most produced variety of sweet cherry in the US today.

For me, the back story is the juicy stuff. I want to know about ingredients and underpinnings -- the stuff that comes before the conclusion. Maybe that's why I've always loved a good obituary.

In this column, I'll be offering "old news" of people and events of the past or not-quite-present, profiling Asian Americans who may not be the most famous or the most influential -- or even the most likable -- but like everyone, have stories of their own.

If you've got a suggestion for someone you want to see profiled, please leave a comment.

Remember Hyphen's feature on Asian Americans and growing obesity rates in issue 7? The New York Times just put out its own story on the topic, concentrating on skyrocketing diabetes rates among recent Chinese immigrants in Queens, as well as the fast-food indulgence of kids in the community. Regardless of the cheesy "East Meets West" headline, this article is pretty damn depressing, also because it points out the huge disparities in the public versus private school system (eight-minute recess? no gym class?) as well as the Pavlovian responses of kids to TV consumerism--says 10-year-old Tim Wong, "I see the new items on television and I want them." I guess I grew up in a similar situation: my family almost always ate Chinese or Filipino dishes at home, so eating crappy Burger King or McDonald's was an incredible treat for me. I would beg my mom to buy me Happy Meals. My adult stomach wants to retch every time I smell fast food fries, though.

R.I.P. Pat Morita, forever immortalized as Mr. Miyagi on The Karate Kid and formerly of Happy Days fame. A pioneering Asian American actor, comedian, and internment camp survivor, Morita was the first Asian American actor I ever saw in a lead role on the big screen.

Get out your wallets and head to the mall! Banana Republic launches its new "East Meets West" line as a tie-in to promote their Memoirs of a Geisha getaway sweepstakes. The clothes themselves aren't that bad (I guess), but come on, East Meets West? I'm so over it.

Henry Hwang, founder of the first Asian American bank (and father of playwright David Henry Hwang) passed away last Saturday at the age of 77. His story is the stuff of immigrant fairytales: arrive in the U.S. with nothing but a few bucks, toil away in a Chinese laundromat, get a CPA, start a bank, and eventually sell it for 90 million big ones. No wonder he was a big Republican supporter and Reagan crony.

New Jersey ex-professor Jonathan Nyce was sentenced to eight years in prison yesterday for murdering his wife Michelle, a Filipina mail-order bride, and staging a fake car crash to make it look like an accident. He's eligible for parole in five. The jury convicted Nyce for a "crime of passion" since his wife was having an affair with the gardener. Sorry, but the much-abused term of "passion" is no excuse for beating your spouse to death, and eight years is a joke when you can get 25-years-to-life for minor drug posession.

Add spelling bees to the list of Asian American competitive triumps (along with ping-pong, competitive eating, and the Westinghouse Science Awards). The top four finishers in last week's National Spelling Bee were all Indian American kids, who have garnered first place in five out of the past seven Bees. Is it a nerd thing, a cultural thing, or both? The New York Times seems to think so.