Asian American Coalition Committee

Hey Look its a Post

2010-10-21T08:06:00.001-05:00

More updates later on what this post is about. I have to get to school =/

Asian Americans generally appreciate the U.S.

2009-04-22T14:20:00.003-05:00

Saw this on Asianweek.com....for some reason something doesnt seem right about this:

Asian Americans Increasingly Favorable of U.S.

Washington, D.C. - Public attitudes toward Asian Americans in the United States are increasingly positive, according to a recent report. Citing the survey, Chinese language newspaper World Journal reports that only 9 percent of the general population interviewed said they would not elect an Asian American as the US President, compared to 23 percent in the same survey done in 2001.

However, the survey also shows that 45 percent of the general population believe Asian Americans are more loyal to their countries of ancestry than to the United States, increase from 37 percent in 2001. Community leaders and academic professionals believe that China’s uprising power help post questions on Asian Americans’ loyalty, but the fact that President Obama got elected last year strengthens the belief on minorities’ political influence.

The survey was commissioned by Committee of 100’s (C-100), a Chinese American organization is committed to improving interracial relations. A full report is available at www.Committee100.org.

-World Journal

There's something really wrong this info, I just can't really articulate it.

From MAASU

2009-04-04T01:22:00.002-05:00

Hello world, sorry for the nearly two month span between updates.

Nine of us from UIC [not all from AACC, but all are certainly, at least on some level, friends of the program, or friends of AARCC] have made it to the Midwest Asian American Student Union in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

But anyway, we were unable to make any of the festivities for the opening day of the conference. Tomorrow we will be taking in workshops, headlining speakers, and likely other things as well. I'm personally very excited about Ashwin Madia, the morning speaker. I'm currently unsure of my workshop selection, but I will no doubt be reporting on it later.

Look out for other updates from MAASU attendees within the next couple of days! For now, here's a link drop:

Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology is out now! Parry Shen, Jeff Yang, and Keith Chow stopped by UIC earlier this week as part of their book tour, and I can say that it's quite a read. Check out if they're coming to your campus, or to your city, and go see them! They're great guys, and they put together a great anthology.

Chicago Asian American Film Festival, running from now until April 16. Check out a movie, I think we will.

Asian American Institute in Chicago is soliciting applications for its Impact Fellows Program. As a participant in the program two years ago, I can personally say that it's a great experience.

If you're around the University of Illinois-Chicago, check out any of the events during Asian American Awareness Month!

Speaking of UIC, if you clicked on that link up there it took you to a page on the Asian American Resource and Cultural Center website. Turns out, they're hiring for the 2009-2010 school year! You could have my job! Whoa! Go check it out.

Ok, that's all for tonight. I'm out for now, but keep an eye out for MAASU updates throughout the weekend. Time to try and get some sleep so I'm not zonked out through the whole day tomorrow.

Day of Remembrance 2009

2009-02-13T10:56:00.002-06:00

Upcoming event, check it out. It's this upcoming Sunday, February 15. Where it says "panel of young people," that's gonna include Brandon.

----
COMMEMORATING THE JAPANESE AMERICAN INTERNMENT DURING WORLD WAR II

February 15, 2009
Chicago History Museum
1601 North Clark Street
Chicago, IL
2 p.m.

An event commemorating the World War II internment of Japanese Americans will be held at the Chicago History Museum on Sunday, February 15, 2009 at 2pm*. This Day of Remembrance is annually sponsored by major organizations in the Japanese American community in Chicago.

On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which led to the forcible internment of approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans in concentration camps during World War II. The Day of Remembrance program will recognize former internees who testified about their experiences before a federal commission hearing held in Chicago in 1981. The program will feature the recollection of these individuals, a new video on the hearings and a panel of young people who will reflect on this history.

The Day of Remembrance is sponsored by the Japanese American Citizens League, Japanese American Service Committee and the Chicago Japanese American Historical Society. Free admission and open to the public.

Jesus made me do it

2009-02-10T18:16:00.005-06:00

Well um...at least she used the word "sorry" this time?

Miley Cyrus says:

"I want to thank all of my fans for their support not only this week, but always! I really wanted to stress how sorry I am if the photo of me with my friends offended anyone. I have learned a valuable lesson from this and know that sometimes my actions can be unintentionally hurtful. I know everything is a part of GOD's ultimate plan, and mistakes happen so that eventually I will become the woman he aspires me to be. Peace and love, Miles"

I think one of the things that I've learned growing up and doing stupid shit, as well as what I've learned in observing politics, is that apologies that start "I'm sorry if..." are different than apologies that start "I'm sorry for...", in the sense that apologies that start the way of the former don't really mean much. I think the "if" implies that, somehow, the person who is being apologized to is a little abnormal, because the act is not something that should always be apologized for. "If you're offended, then I'm sorry." It's a qualified apology.

To actually apologize "for" doing something removes that sort of air of fucked-up-itude on the part of the person being apologized to. "I'm sorry for offending you", I think, means that the person making the apology takes some sort of level of accountability. Something like that. Not that she would know the difference, and honestly, I would be surprised if Disney knew the difference, but yeah, there's something.

Info via Idolator.

Comics are Cool

2009-01-23T11:41:00.003-06:00

Here's a neat site that showcases Asian American Comic artists. Pretty awesome to look into :-):
http://www.asianamericancomics.com/

miley trying to be asian? >:O

2009-01-19T23:49:00.003-06:00

(miley's friend?, miley, and miley's 20-something boyfriend. keep in mind miley's only 16. ick)

WHAT-THE-FUCK-EVER, MILEY CYRUS. WHAT-THE-FUCK-EVER.

Oh those hipster kids and their cultural appropriation.

2008-12-17T11:32:00.004-06:00

So while I never extensively listened to her music, from what I had heard, I had a little place in my heart for Lady Sovereign. As a female rapper, her rapping seemed decent, inflicted with that British accent of hers. And she just seemed like this quirky persona who had some weird-ass, eccentric videos. In short, she did what she wanted and I admired her for it.

So I watched the video for her latest single, "I got you dancing" and was somewhat disappointed to see that she and her background dancers had donned some Indian apparel. When will people learn that dressing up in suede attire, headbands with feathers, and applying random lines of paint on your cheeks does NOT make you Indian and is in fact, offensive. "Oh look at me, i'm one of those craaaazy redskin injuns now!"
SO ridiculous.

Anyway, check out the video. Perhaps i'm 'overreacting.' But I don't think so.

What I talk about when I talk about not liking food

2008-12-02T21:44:00.006-06:00

I love food, ok, don't get me wrong. Food is great.

But at the same time, I don't like food.

I've been trying to reconcile this in my head for the past couple of weeks. It's something that's been sort of in my head for a while, but not really something that I could put into words. It's not that one day I woke up and decided "you know what, I don't like food." I knew that I didn't like it, and in my head I could say "you know what, there's decent reason for this," but I couldn't say what exactly that reasoning was.

A point came a couple of weeks ago where I needed to articulate my feelings. Joyce asked me to be part of her ethnography on Japanese Americans in Chicago, and food was going to be a large part of the interview. When she asked me to participate, I was very enthusiastic, but when she mentioned that food would be one of the topics, I made a face and said something along the lines of "don't get me started on food." At the end of the interview she gave me an opportunity to get started on food, and I couldn't take the opportunity. It could be that I choked, it could be that I didn't know what I meant in my head, but ultimately, I didn't really say anything of substance in response to that question.

So I've been thinking about it more recently. Why do I feel this way about food? (whatever way this is) What brought this feeling (whatever it is) about? Why do I feel such a disconnect from something that I so obviously do not hate?

Now, I guess, what I did not take into account here was the importance of food on a family level. I think that, personally, I am a bit disconnected in this respect. Being 4th generation, I don't think I can say that I have ever eaten real Japanese food, but at the same time, I also don't know what real Japanese food is. Certainly, I've eaten Japanese food, or what I know/think to be Japanese food, and I eat rice with most every meal I eat at home, but I don't think that, necessarily, it is a way to keep us connected to our "Japanese roots," whatever those are, or whatever that may mean.

Things such as Taste of UIC, wherein student organizations sell food representative of their ethnic backgrounds, strike me not necessarily as a point of unity, but as a money making endeavor. Which is fine, I have no problem with that. Whenever someone brings up food related events for AARCC to present, or to try doing for Asian American Awareness Month, I always get a little skeptical. Strikes me as more "Asian" and less "Asian American." It's great for making money, but I feel as though "I am more than the food my ancestors ate."

I know that at events, even AACC centers them around food sometimes. This weekend we're having our end of the year outing, and we're having it over a meal. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. It's not about the food, necessarily, though. Yeah, the food is great, but I think we would all go even if the outing was at a McDonald's (Maybe? I hope? I would!). Food might enhance the experience, but I don't view food as the experience. Like, for example, the Mentor Program pot-luck. Everyone brought food. The event itself, though, wasn't about the food, really. Yeah, food would be there, but so would all these other people you know, and whose company you enjoy. Like, you can go on a really great date, even if the restaurant you go to is shitty.

Ultimately, food is great. I love food, and I don't plan to stop eating any time soon. It's great to sit down with friends and eat, and to sit down with friends and eat new things. Food can be the medium through which you can get people through the door, but it shouldn't be the end of the line. There is so much more out there that defines us and who we are than just what we eat. I guess the take home cliche here would be "we aren't what we eat." I ate bowls and bowls of udon from Japanese restaurants while I was growing up, I doubt that really shapes my identity, and in the event that it does, and it shapes my identity far less than some of my other experiences. So yeah. We aren't what we eat.

I hope that made sense. Sorry if it didn't.

2008-11-26T18:50:00.001-06:00

Speaking of Gwen Stefani at our book club discussion that one time, I came across this video. Has anyone else seen it before? Aren't Asians great?

New York, I'm not loving you so much right now.

2008-11-23T17:18:00.003-06:00

So, there's this film called Paris, Je'Taime [translates into 'Paris, I love you] which I saw this past summer and while there were some films I was kinda iffy about, some of them were rather cute/good.
Essentially, it's a collection of short films by a bunch of well-known directors from around the world and they all take place in Paris. Anyway, following the success of Paris, Je'Taime, they are now coming out with a 'New York, I love you' in 2009. Same concept except all the short films take place in New York [durr].
So while procrastinating on homework as per usual, I decided to check out the trailer on YouTube. At first I was really excited about it [and hoped that a Chicago, I love you was in the works] buuuuut now I'm not so sure.
While watching the trailer, there are indeed a few Asian faces in there [yay!]. But my excitement was shortlived as they seemed to be rather stereotypical depictions. Granted, what I saw of these faces was only a few seconds but oh that was enough.
One of the scenes that made me raise my eyebrow was when the the voice over narration was saying how the thing they love about new york is that everyone comes from somewhere else. and during that, the second image they show is of an Asian girl. Okay, maybe they didn't do that intentionally. Maybe they just wanted to show how diverse New York is. blahblah. Okay. Maybe I'm overreacting. Keep watching.
The second one is when Maggie Q is walking out of a dry cleaners and the guy after her [i know him!! just can't remember his name. dammit] says 'same to you' in what I believe is cantonese.
Maybe she was speaking in Canto to the guy working at the cleaners so he thought he'd try to impress her with his Canto, I dunno. But really, was that necessary? Don't assume that every Asian you see speaks an Asian language, buddy.
And the next scene, is when Ethan Hawke is talking to Maggie Q on the street and he asks her what she does and she says she's a hooker.
Okay, that made me GROOOOANNNNN. Dammit! Why, Maggie Q, WHY? Why does she have to be a hooker?! Perpetuating the notion that all Asian women are hyper-sexual and/or all they want to do is have sex and/or all they're good for is sex. Waaahhhh.
Anyway, again, like I said, it's a trailer. So I could have interpreted these scenes completely wrong because they're out of context. But STILL. WHAT THE FUCK.

It also made me chuckle in a 'durr' kind of way that they listed Shu Qi as a 'Chinese woman.' Well, right.
And come to think of it, I don't think I saw one Asian male face in the trailer. Except for the possibility of the taxi cab driver. But I'm not sure.

Anyway, check out the trailer and let me know what you think.

Lack of posts

2008-11-17T01:07:00.001-06:00

Sorry for the lack of posts, everyone. It's not that I haven't had a lack of ideas for starting blog entries, as there are currently six drafts sitting on here waiting to be finished. Whether they ever see the light of day, we cannot say for sure.

I'll try to post some stuff this week. I hope y'all consider doing so as well.

Stop being such a hater. Sheesh.

2008-11-06T02:44:00.002-06:00

found this article thanks to steve adler. it's a pretty great piece so you should definitely take a look. i've been so irritated with people these last few days who feel like this election was a whole joke and that obama being president means nothing because it's not like he represents real change.
true, obama is not nearly as progressive as most people think. he has his flaws. but to say something like him being elected president means nothing is plain disrespectful and untrue. if you were in grant park tuesday night alongside 250,000+ other obama supporters, you know that this elections means something.

this particular quote resonated with me:
"If you are incapable of mustering pride in this moment, and if you cannot appreciate how meaningful this day is for millions of black folks who stood in lines for up to seven hours to vote, then your cynicism has become such an encumbrance as to render you all but useless to the liberation movement. Indeed, those who cannot appreciate what has just transpired are so eaten up with nihilistic rage and hopelessness that I cannot but think that they are a waste of carbon, and actively thieving oxygen that could be put to better use by others."

now go read, yo.

Well that's just something else, isn't it

2008-11-05T14:41:00.007-06:00

This is not a partisan blog, nor is AACC an overtly partisan organization, but considering how we feel about certain things I can't help but think that at least some of us feel pretty alright (to put mildly) about the results of the presidential election last night.

A person raised by a single parent and his extended family will be President of the United States.

A Hawaiian-born Chicagoan raised in Jakarta and Honolulu will be President of the United States.

A community organizer will be President of the United States.

A person of color will be President of the United States.

It's a new day.

November 4th is the Day!

2008-11-03T22:13:00.003-06:00

I can't believe nobody has posted this yet, but tomorrow is election day and anyone who reads this blog should go out and vote!

Go OBAMA!

P.S. My Shortcoming "review" will eventually get posted once, I get my thoughts gathered.

-DMEI

Godspeed Studs

2008-11-02T20:51:00.007-06:00

A Chicago institution, Studs Terkel passed away last week at the age of 96. He was a long time Chicago guy (moved to the city at age 8), and his presence will be missed immensely.

But what role does Studs Terkel play on a blog for an organization such as this?

My first experience with Studs Terkel was at a Day of Remembrance event back...oh, a while back, I can't remember the year exactly. Day of Remembrance is a day in the Japanese American community where we look back on the signing of Executive Order 9066 and the experiences that came from it, usually on the weekend closest to February 19, when EO9066 was issued. At my young age I wondered "well, wait a second. This is a Japanese American thing. What does that old white guy have to do with any of this?"

What I learned that day was that Studs was a man who got it.

He challenged the notion that World War II was the "good war," and was a time of great national unity. He was a great listener, and actually listened to people who were affected by internment, and others who experienced extreme hardships during the war. He cared about the working class, and chose to look at the 20th century United States from a wider range of economic and racial spectra, as opposed to the prevailing narrative that was often written by the white and wealthy.

He truly believed in progressive causes, was a long time workers' rights advocate, opponent of excessive government surveillance (he himself was blacklisted during the McCarthy era), and more than just listening to those who often went unheard, he actually took their stories and gave them a voice. From the Tribune:

It would be wrong to say Terkel was colorblind. He was deeply curious, deeply intrigued, about all the colors of the rainbow, whether in skin tones or political stripes or philosophical shadings. His only bias was on behalf of the powerless, the oppressed and the unheard.

As a Chicagoan, as an Asian American, as a progressive, and as a human being, I will miss Studs Terkel. I'm just sorry that I wasn't more appreciative of his work while he was around. He will be missed, maybe not by all, but almost certainly by those to whom he listened.

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T09:35:00.002-05:00

Now here's some food for thought around why dressing up as an Indian or Geisha or Mexican, etc. for Halloween is offensive:

Take Back the Halloween

Here's something to draw your attention:
"The reason why “ethnic costumes” are so problematic is because they posit a cultural identity as a costume - they compress the complexity and intricacy of an entire culture into dress-up; into something that anyone (or really, usually someone with class and race privilege) has the right to use for the most superficial purposes."

Now go read!

Support UAAO at UMich!

2008-10-26T23:50:00.003-05:00

Hey y'all,

Thought it'd be important to pass this along:

"Hey all,

Sorry to spam your facebook inboxes but this is really important.

First off, I'm so glad to have met you all at NAASCon, and heard all of your suggestions regarding getting our student orgs more support from the community. With that in mind, at the University of Michigan, the Housing Administration has been enforcing a policy on room reservations and how many times student groups can reserve rooms. Such that we haven't been able to use the Yuri Kochiyama Lounge every week, or have had our time cut short. (the Yuri Kochiyama Lounge is a lounge in a residence hall that is dedicated to the Civil Rights activist Yuri Kochiyama. It was dedicated in 1999 and since then has been the main meeting space of United Asian American Organizations which serves as the umbrella group for the A/PIA student orgs on our campus)

We believe that this policy disproportionately affects student groups of color, as all of the Multicultural and Minority-Cultural Lounges that are meant to be especially for student groups of color, are located in the Residence Halls.

As one of the only A/PIA spaces located centrally on campus, we feel that to not have unrestricted access marginalizes and limits our space, voice, and community on campus.

We hope that you will stand with us and sign our petition:

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://www.ipetitions.com%2Fpetition%2Fyklounge%2Findex.html

If you go to the University of Michigan, please attend our general meeting this Wednesday to receive a copy of the resolution we have come up with on this issue, and again the following Wednesday (Nov. 5th) so you and your orgs can vote and be represented on this resolution.

If not, please read/sign/pass on this link and the petition to your A/PIA student orgs on your respective campuses!

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://www.ipetitions.com%2Fpetition%2Fyklounge%2Findex.html

Thanks again,
Laura Misumi
Co-Chair '08-'09
United Asian American Organizations
University of Michigan"

As a student organization ourselves, I don't want to speak for everyone, buuuut I think we can all agree that having a space for meetings/events is crucial! And that this policy UMich is trying to implement is totally unfair for people of color student orgs.

So please sign the petition and pass it on!

Thanksss.

Dao Strom

2008-10-26T17:33:00.006-05:00

With the exception of the incredible Alejandro Escovedo, you would be hard-pressed to find very many people of color making music the realm of Americana/alt-country/insurgent country genres/sub-genres. Of course, it's hard to define what exactly those terms mean, or what music/artists they encompass, but regardless of how you choose to define the terms, it's difficult to find people of color who make music that could tangentially be considered to fall under those categories.

Speaking as someone who enjoys this type of music, I find it a bit disheartening. Alejandro Escovedo is amazing, but these genres consist, mostly, of white people, both in terms of the people making the music, and the people consuming it.

That brings us to Dao Strom.

She is a Vietnamese American, born in Vietnam, grew up in Northern California, and currently operates out of Juneau, Alaska. She makes some pretty awesome alt-country/Americana/[whatever you want to call it] music. She self-released an album this year, as well as one a couple of years ago. I first came across her on the blog Songs:Illinois a few months ago [link below], and thought "oh my god, a person of color on this blog!"

There are some tracks for preview from her new album, Everything that Blooms Wrecks Me on her website [link below]. She has also written a couple of books, into which I have yet to look.

Rec'd if you like: Lucinda Williams kinda, Neko Case sometimes, Marissa Nadler minus feedback plus twang. Songs:Illinois says "Devandra, Alela Diane and Marie Sioux...hybrid of Loretta Lynn and Gillian Welch"

Anyway, here are some links. Check her out.
Dao Strom homepage
HerSpace
Songs:Illinois writeup

A small history lesson

2008-10-24T16:25:00.001-05:00

*This isn’t much of like an identity sort of thing, more like a history lesson.

So for ENGL 160, my newest assignment concerns memorials and what not (design, significance) and we were discussing the Viet Nam (correct spelling and spacing by the way) War Memorial. I realized that there are no names of Vietnamese soldiers who fought alongside the United States on the wall. This might be of little concern to readers but for all the Vietnamese children who had family involved in the war, this is pretty insulting. To Vietnamese people, this was a CIVIL war, this battle was more important to us than the American explanation for them going to war. But then again, you might say “hey, we invested hundreds and thousands of our sons and fathers to fight Communism, so we had as much contribution to the war as the Vietnamese people.” Not exactly true. The Americans only cared about Viet Nam when Ho Chi Minh managed to route the French soldiers out of the country. They didn’t care about the Soviet Union (Communist at the time) influence of giving military arms to the Viet Cong or giving political support to force the French (Allied) out of Viet Nam.

In the early to mid 1960s, Viet Nam underwent a nationwide recruitment of children to send to the military (child soldiers). My dad and uncles can attest to this, as they were recruited at the ages of 10 and 11. So way before the American arrival in 1965, the Vietnamese were already preparing for a civil war that would last for many years.

Now take a look at the names on the wall, there are names of soldiers who didn’t last a day, month, or let alone a year in Viet Nam. Vietnamese soldiers have been fighting years against the Khmer Rouge and the Viet Cong themselves, they had to see their country fall after the battle in Saigon, and they had to live to see their nation regarded as a third world country. Yes these soldiers have fought, but little was said on what the military actually did in Viet Nam. Is there any memorial for the My Lai Massacre in which hundreds of people were innocently killed by the U.S. military? Is there any wall for the people that were killed when Nixon ordered a large scale bombing of Hanoi/Ho Chi Minh trail? (Estimated firepower of almost six or more times the nuclear explosion of Hiroshima and Nagasaki) Is there any way I can get the name of my grandfather who died when his platoon was trying to defend my dad’s village. It sickens me that there are probably names of soldiers who just slept with prostitutes, killed innocent civilians, and did drugs during there tours.

Is it that hard to get a name engraved on a wall? Don’t Vietnamese soldiers who died have the right to have their names on there also? Or were the Vietnamese people just clueless idiots who begged for U.S. assistance. After the atrocity of electing Ngo Ding Diem (U.S. hired him), My Lai Massacre, the bombings that destroyed the land (still destroyed to this day), and abandonment. All I want for my family and other Vietnamese soldiers is to have their name engraved on the Viet Nam War Memorial, to show the United States that although this was a radical unsupported war, the Vietnamese were willing to give democracy a chance and work side by side to defend a country against Communism (at the time).

Cultural Appropriation.

2008-10-24T15:33:00.007-05:00

So yesterday during our discussion of "Shortcomings" [are books underlined or italicized or in quotation marks? i never could remember] by Adrian Tomine, we eventually ended up around the topic of appropriation. Given that I've been running on very little sleep and am currently not very capable of making coherent statements, I tried to describe cultural appropriation the best I could but I don't think I did a very good job.

Sooooo, I vowed that when I got home, I'd find a more dependable source to give a better description for y'all. And lo and behold, I remembered that I'd posted something on my facebook [friend me!] from Racialicious [this website is amazinggggg. the link to the site is on the sidebar. check it out!] that was a piece on cultural appropriation they'd done a while back.

Go check it out:
cultural appropriation

It's fairly easy to read and digest. So go!

FACT Conference

2008-10-24T09:22:00.007-05:00

Hey everyone.

So this weekend I'm attending the FACT conference down at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. FACT stands for Filipino Americans Coming Together. At FACT, there are a lot of workshops that educate about Filipino Culture and Fil-Am Culture as well. Some of the workshops included are a Modern (Hip-Hop) Dance workshop, Filipinos and Martial Arts, Pinay Empowerment, Filipinos in Non-Tradtional Fields among many more. This years theme is "I Am" | The world around us. The culture among us. The power within ME. Filipinos from so many midwest schools are going to be there this weekend, celebrating our culture within the US and within our roots back in the Philippines. I'm hella excited and also grateful for this weekend cause I've been really stressed with school. I heard the Variety show is sick on Saturday night and I heard the afterset at Canopy is just as crazy. I'll be filling you guys in Sunday on the workshops I attended and also all the other fun stuff. Hope you all have safe and good weekends.

-Jeff

Whaaassupp?!

2008-10-22T16:01:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone!

Hope all is going well, it's Jeff here! Your treasurer! HOLLA! haha just kidding.

Just want to remind everyone on here that tomorrow we have another AACC meeting! at 4pm. Location is still kinda iffy! haha, but just contact one of us on here and we'll get back to you guys.

I just felt like I should contribute to his blog, since I think everyone has already. I'll probably be one here updating you guys on new Artists and movies, and probably just some cool articles from different AA blogs! Alrite guys, take it easy!

Peace and Love,

Jeff

a sustainable lifestyle?

2008-10-20T09:15:00.000-05:00

My first blog post! Yay.

So as you all know by now, NAASCon was this past weekend at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Your very own AACC Chair sits on the national board as one of the communications chairs [y'all should think about applying to be on the '09-'11 board!!]. Anyway, this whole weekend was kind of a reminder of what's been on my mind lately: is community organizing something I really want to be doing ten-twenty years down the line?

Yes. Of course. But to what extent? The reason why I've been thinking about this is because the last few years I've been doing this, since the start of my freshman year of college, I haven't been able to find a healthy balance between doing this work and working and going to school and then still trying to find some semblance of time for myself and a social life. Last night, I had what felt like the millionth breakdown in the span of about two weeks. Granted there were other things at work that more or less exacerbated the feelings I was already experiencing, but it really made me reconsider everything.

As activists, where do we draw the line between pushing the 'movement(s)' foward and taking care of ourselves? I feel like being an activist means that you really do have to sacrifice a piece of yourself in order to make things happen.

Maybe that's true. Maybe it's not. I don't know. I think my problem is that I keep taking on all these new tasks, thinking that I can do it all, but it's become increasingly apparent that I can't. I keep forgetting that different people have different limits and that I can't keep pushing mine too far.

Anyway, life stops for no one so I've just gotta keep on chugging and hope things will get better. I mean, all this work, all this stress, all this insanity, it's all for the movement....right?

p.s. i apologize if this made no sense whatsoever. i'm still in the process of trying to recover and i don't think my brain's ability to make coherent thoughts has caught up yet.

"Whiteness"

2008-10-20T07:57:00.000-05:00

One of the workshops on Saturday morning at NAASCon talked about groups [specifically Asian American student organizations] moving beyond their own personal "silos" and working with other groups that are not "Asian American" [or something] in nature in order to achieve liberation for all groups. The workshop description talked about building a "stronger[,] more cohesive movement community to work towards collective liberation and greater access for our people."

I do agree with this sentiment. We absolutely do need to move out beyond the scope of just being Asian American student organizations. The coordinators asked us to look at oppression like a tree. At the top, the branches, you have different communities, and the different ways in which oppression affects us. Though we may be of different communities, the truth is that we are all connected through the trunk and roots of this tree, and the oppression that we feel comes from, ultimately, an institutionalized form of oppression.

We were urged to form an "intersectional social justice movement." I certainly agree with this sentiment. One of the subsequent workshops talked about how this thought might be problematic. To say that oppressed groups only come together at certain intersections doesn't speak loudly enough to the issues and problems. We can't only work together on certain situations when our paths happen to cross.

So that's something to think about. Let's branch out beyond this "Asian American" group, or "Asian American" student movement, and try to form a larger group by incorporating other oppressed peoples. Of course, something such as this is much easier said than done. We have at least some group overlap amongst our individual members [with feminist groups, other groups of people of color, and LGBTQA groups], but it's more of a matter of getting the whole group to back a movement, not individual people with some group overlap supporting different movements. Again, easier said than done, but it is important to look at this in the bigger picture with, ultimately, the same root cause: "Whiteness"

It's not "white people" as a whole who we want to pick on here, that's certainly not the case. It's more about tackling the interpretation of an "American" [one from the United States] as an able-bodied, white, Protestant, heterosexual, English speaking male. "White supremacy" in this context is not about a bunch of guys running around on horses with white pillowcases on their heads, it's more about "whiteness supremacy" at least in the "mainstream" [whatever that is] view of what an "American" is or should be. Another word to use here is "hetero-normative," but I'm not quite sure how to use that properly in a sentence. It's this view of "whiteness" that comes out through legislation, and through the media, and it's this view that needs to be challenged because, let's face it: we're not all male, some of us are individuals with disabilities, some of us are not white, some of us are not heterosexual, some of us are not Protestant, some of us do not speak English, and some of us are a few of these things. [of course, we can take this further, within individual movements where certain aspects of the "normative" thought still prevail, but we won't, at least not right now]

Sorry if this seemed like a little bit of a rambling entry, but hopefully it makes a little sense.

I will be waaaaaitiiiiiiing

2008-10-18T21:19:00.000-05:00

Cynthia Lin just performed a few songs to close out NAASCON including but not limited to a cover of Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time." It was fun.

Anyway, conference is over, with the exception of the After Party. My presence at said party is currently up in the air, but hey, how often does one get to party in Atlanta, right?

I never thought I would mention Robert Schneider on this blog

2008-10-18T20:38:00.000-05:00

We mentioned Robert Schneider at the meeting on Thursday. Turns out he's Filipino, which kinda blew my mind. He just made his way into the poetry of one of the spoken word artists wrapping up the formal part of NAASCON in the context of being Jewish and Filipino. I never thought he would make his way into things in which I was involved twice in sixty hours.

Although, truth be told, I did read this twice in a week one time 'cause I thought it was really cool.

We run on Asian time

2008-10-18T19:23:00.000-05:00

Recurring theme of the National Asian American Students Conference 2008: Running on Asian Time.

We're waiting for the final program, which was supposed to start 35 minutes ago.

Anyway, here's the Midwest Caucus [picture is a little big for Blogger, so you can't see the whole thing unless you open it in a new window; you can still see me and Elisa...Joyce is TRUANT]:

You can see the other pictures [all two of them!] on Facebook. There may be more, but honestly I doubt it. Joyce and Elisa may post some.

Live from NAASCon

2008-10-18T13:19:00.000-05:00

I went to a "workshop" this morning [I use the term "workshop" loosely; it was more like a lecture], and the first words out of the presenter's mouth were "Asian America is dead." The lecture itself still proved very informative and, on some level, inspiring, but I'll get to more of that a bit later.

I do have a couple of brief things:

- We're moving between workshops right now, and I finally had a little bit of time to get on to the Emory Guest wifi network. The Mixed Race caucus just finished, and now the third workshop session is about to begin. I'll be attending the one on police brutality, and I'll be sure to relay some information via the blog.

- The Matiott doesn't have free wifi for its guests, which is why I wasn't able to update last night.

- I'll have a bigger update tomorrow night that discusses more of the meaty, substantive points of the workshops.

See y'all soon; who knows, maybe later tonight.

NAASCON Weekend

2008-10-16T19:13:00.000-05:00

This weekend is the National Asian American Students Conference. Joyce and I are headed down there with Elisa and Ramona, and we'll have updates throughout, provided we can get internet service. If not, then there'll be a big post Sunday night or Monday morning. We'll try to keep everyone as updated as possible.

Right now we're about to embark on an 11 hour and 6 minute car ride, and that's without stops. So, basically, we'll hit Hotlanta some time tomorrow.

I'm trying to get the number of CDs I'm bringing down to a reasonable number. Needless to say, I don't want to bring a bag just for CDs, but it might come to that...

Obligatory Introduction Post

2008-10-16T00:33:00.000-05:00

Hello, fair peruser of the internets.

You have stumbled upon the blog of the Asian American Coalition Committee (AACC), a student organization at the University of Illinois at Chicago. AACC is a pan-Asian American advocacy organization, whose main causes have, historically, been the establishment of an Asian American Studies curriculum at UIC, the establishment of an Asian American resource center (accomplished! See links), and, in a more general sense, strive to provide a voice, push for social justice, and demand educational equity for not only Asian Americans, but also for other people of color and historically marginalized groups.

This is the AACC blog. This is a medium through which AACC members can post their own opinions, or spread news that they encounter via the internets. The views posted reflect those of the individual members that post them, not those of the organization (though they could, and in fact, they might). Any AACC member who wishes to post may do so [just let me know if you would like to post], and even non-AACC members may post [again, just let me know].

Personally, I am Brandon Lee, vice-chair for the Asian American Coalition Committee for the 2008-2009 academic year. You can contact me at blee21@uic.edu. The president this year is Joyce Yin, and the treasurer is Jeff DeGuia. I suspect they will both get around to posting very soon.

Please take some time to peruse the blog, check out our friends on the side, and, if you're so inclined, help support the cause!