Hyphen magazine - Asian American arts, culture, and politics

Hyphen is not unlike many of the subjects in this Survival Issue. While the Internet was killing traditional media, Hyphen survived by finding a niche as a nonprofit telling stories about Asian America that were missing from the mainstream press.

Disruptive change is part of our DNA: Hyphen’s creation was spurred by the demise of a.Magazine, which for more than a decade, was one of the few Asian American publications before it died during the early 2000s dot-com bust.

In its nine years of existence, Hyphen has evolved. When I took over as editor in chief in 2007, Facebook was just emerging from college campuses and Twitter was something birds did. Today, we’ve built a vibrant community on social media (like us and follow us at facebook.com/hyphenmagazine and twitter.com/hyphenmagazine) that augments our redesigned website.

The Hybrid Issue was my first as editor in chief, and the theme was about how Asian Americans can encompass many combinations of ethnicity, generations, languages, races and sexual orientations. I wrote in my first editor's note that, in many ways, every edition of Hyphen was like a hybrid issue because of this wonderful mixture.

Now in my final note as the editor in chief of Hyphen, the community we serve is still incredibly diverse but blogging, social media and other innovations have changed how we disseminate our coverage. After this issue, I’m stepping down, and my hope is the transformations during my time as editor will leave Hyphen in a better place.

The founding vision of the renegades who gathered around a kitchen table to start Hyphen — to create a magazine that depicts Asian America in a more nuanced, accurate way that’s a fun read — not only survives, but thrives. No doubt it’s due in large part to the hundreds of volunteers who’ve given their blood, sweat and tears to Hyphen. I salute them and the readers they’ve served. It’s been an honor.

Harry Mok
Editor in chief