I thought we lived in the 21st century, well more than halfway into its first decade at that.
Proms are still segregated?
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/23/turner.prom/index.html
It's my night to be naive. Sorry.
-jp
April 23, 2007
On "Being Colorblind"
I haven't made a post in a while, but I feel that it's time again.
As the semester drives to a close, my Diversity/Identity class is putting the finishing touches on our exhibit, which we hope to soon have up in front of the Co-Op. My specific part of the exhibit deals with "Diversity on Campus." Let me share a few quotes from opposite ends of the spectrum:
“There’s diversity—but I don’t know, I just feel like everyone is—there’s people of every ethnicity here, but it’s not like we’re intermingling with one another. It’s like we’re all in our little cliques. So it’s’ kind of like some people say like a melting pot or a salad. It’s like somebody just threw a big chunk of lettuce in there, and then somebody threw a whole tomato in there, instead of chopping it up and mixing up the whole salad.”
“And so I guess with UT, I don’t see it as diverse because I see really—for me, I see the population being really Asian and White. I don’t really see anything else, and so I don’t really see it as diverse…to define diversity, I guess you have to look at the—not only just the different species or types that are in one little area, you also have to look at the numbers. I mean, I don’t think you want to say that just because you have one of each one, that’s diverse; because you can have one of one species, and fifty of another species, and I don’t think that’s diverse at all, and that’s kind of what I see at UT.”
“…I think that UT could use more diversity not for my sake but for everyone else’s sake—because I think that it is really sad when people have to rely on stereotypes to know a race because they don’t know a lot of Black people and have misconceptions and ideas that are most of the time just wrong. And if there were more Blacks or if there were just more of anything I think it could open people’s minds.”
(I'm keeping all quotes anonymous although all narrators have signed appropriate release forms)
While extracting quotes from a series of about 24 interviews, I came across many that had to do with the concept of "being colorblind." And I present:
“I’ve just been brought up in a way that’s colorblind and I don’t understand how people can be like that [so conscious of race]. When I was younger, I used to think that people were Black if they had Black hair, so I thought that my grandpa was Black because he had Black hair. But he was White. And I thought I was White because I had blonde hair, so I just don’t understand how people—how they can be like that and why it means so much.”
“It doesn’t matter what race I am. To me, it’s wherever you grew up at, wherever you were raised is how you’re going to act.”
“And so that’s always been sort of my stance as far as that, that you know, race and color doesn’t really matter. And I try to prove that performing well academically, and showing people that everything is based on skill, and that’s what’s important, not color.”
All interviews were conducted with people of color.
I've run into a huge problem while putting together my exhibit. Obviously, my narrators care about diversity, no question about it. But if all we should strive to be is colorblind, WHY IN THE HELL WOULD DIVERSITY BE IMPORTANT?!
Explain that one away and I'll give you...hell, I'll let you have the A on my project.
--jp
As the semester drives to a close, my Diversity/Identity class is putting the finishing touches on our exhibit, which we hope to soon have up in front of the Co-Op. My specific part of the exhibit deals with "Diversity on Campus." Let me share a few quotes from opposite ends of the spectrum:
“There’s diversity—but I don’t know, I just feel like everyone is—there’s people of every ethnicity here, but it’s not like we’re intermingling with one another. It’s like we’re all in our little cliques. So it’s’ kind of like some people say like a melting pot or a salad. It’s like somebody just threw a big chunk of lettuce in there, and then somebody threw a whole tomato in there, instead of chopping it up and mixing up the whole salad.”
“And so I guess with UT, I don’t see it as diverse because I see really—for me, I see the population being really Asian and White. I don’t really see anything else, and so I don’t really see it as diverse…to define diversity, I guess you have to look at the—not only just the different species or types that are in one little area, you also have to look at the numbers. I mean, I don’t think you want to say that just because you have one of each one, that’s diverse; because you can have one of one species, and fifty of another species, and I don’t think that’s diverse at all, and that’s kind of what I see at UT.”
“…I think that UT could use more diversity not for my sake but for everyone else’s sake—because I think that it is really sad when people have to rely on stereotypes to know a race because they don’t know a lot of Black people and have misconceptions and ideas that are most of the time just wrong. And if there were more Blacks or if there were just more of anything I think it could open people’s minds.”
(I'm keeping all quotes anonymous although all narrators have signed appropriate release forms)
While extracting quotes from a series of about 24 interviews, I came across many that had to do with the concept of "being colorblind." And I present:
“I’ve just been brought up in a way that’s colorblind and I don’t understand how people can be like that [so conscious of race]. When I was younger, I used to think that people were Black if they had Black hair, so I thought that my grandpa was Black because he had Black hair. But he was White. And I thought I was White because I had blonde hair, so I just don’t understand how people—how they can be like that and why it means so much.”
“It doesn’t matter what race I am. To me, it’s wherever you grew up at, wherever you were raised is how you’re going to act.”
“And so that’s always been sort of my stance as far as that, that you know, race and color doesn’t really matter. And I try to prove that performing well academically, and showing people that everything is based on skill, and that’s what’s important, not color.”
All interviews were conducted with people of color.
I've run into a huge problem while putting together my exhibit. Obviously, my narrators care about diversity, no question about it. But if all we should strive to be is colorblind, WHY IN THE HELL WOULD DIVERSITY BE IMPORTANT?!
Explain that one away and I'll give you...hell, I'll let you have the A on my project.
--jp
April 12, 2007
Faulty Scanners
My brother recently got hired to work in San Francisco, threw away his furniture and car, and headed up there last week. This is the first time the "baby" of the family is really showing some independence and it is a proud moment for our family.
As he was checking in his ticket in one of those self-serve kiosks at the airport, 2 guards came up and asked that he be scanned. Supposedly, he was consistently setting the alarm off, even after several articles of clothing were removed. Then, he was taken to another room - to take off all of his clothing for a full body search.
After he put his clothes back on, he was held and questioned repeatedly: they wanted to know why his ticket to San Francisco was one-way and what his real plans for the city are.
Oh, I'm sure the search was completely random.
As he was checking in his ticket in one of those self-serve kiosks at the airport, 2 guards came up and asked that he be scanned. Supposedly, he was consistently setting the alarm off, even after several articles of clothing were removed. Then, he was taken to another room - to take off all of his clothing for a full body search.
After he put his clothes back on, he was held and questioned repeatedly: they wanted to know why his ticket to San Francisco was one-way and what his real plans for the city are.
Oh, I'm sure the search was completely random.
April 10, 2007
My Cousin, Part II
Brought to you by the Jean family tree.
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Chinese Food Buffet, a rant about that which really isn't.
FRIED CHICKEN, MEATBALLS, TERIYAKI CHICKEN, CORNED BEEF, FRENCH FRIES, PUDDING; since when did these become part of Chinese cuisine? I guess one could call them Chinese fries and 90-degree angle beef and Pu-Ding, yet we must realize that they are still truly NOT Chinese. How misleading and deceptive it is to call a buffet restaurant “Chinese” when it actually has few authentic dishes; even these few “genuine” Chinese dishes are not genuine. It is true that they serve General Tso’s Chicken, Orange Chicken, and Sesame Chicken found in China. Yet why give these three dishes the different names here when THEY ARE ESSENTIALLY THE SAME??? Admit it “Chinese” buffet restaurants, you use the same sauce and you use the same chicken. The only difference is that difference in the name. No need to ask the waiter what's in each dish, it's all in the name. Orange flavor is added to Orange chicken and sesame is added to Sesame Chicken. However, General Tso presents some astounding change with the brilliant idea of adding peppers and pineapple to the mono-tasting “chicken sauce”, thus giving his name to the exhausted dish today. Thank you General Tso for some nominal diversity, otherwise we’d have Pepper and Pineapple Chicken, and can’t have that, for we are the nation of diversity. Oh wait, it’s supposed to be Chinese food, not American.
But it’s not. It’s what we Chinese call “Americanized-Chinese food”. It’s the Sweet and Sour Chicken. It’s the Sesame Beef. It’s the Broccoli and Beef. It’s everything that isn’t. It’s the great culinary paradox that is diluting the Chinese cultural cuisine in this country. I go to a Chinese buffet and expect to eat Chinese food, yet what I find is the same everywhere: dishes as repetitive and bland as a bad English essay. The blooming entrepreneur restaurant owner and chef of today can splash some “Chinese Sauce” over everything, give out fortune cookies (which I must say have not yet once been correct), and BAM you got yourself a 100%, true dat, authentic, bona fide, genuine Americanized Not-So-Much Chinese Buffet. Way to go, now all you have to do is compete with the twenty other identical buffet’s and you’re set.
The American customers love it, and even some Chinese have become accustomed to eating at these spurious buffets. I admit to having eating my share of General Tso’s Chicken and generic Lo Mien, but honestly, it’s not real. It's so superficial. It satisfies the stomach but not my soul, not my desire to absorb and eat the scrumptious dim sum of my true heritage. But what can I do, for it IS America, and everything here is American to some extent. Maybe I might be too cynical (nah), to critical (no), and to demanding (nope). Oh well, it’s hopeless. At least there are a few good actual Chinese (sit-down) Restaurants; our last resort. Perhaps the massive buffet’s will take a hint, and realize quality might be better than quantity, and authenticity better than conformity.
Or perhaps not. Either way, finish your Chinese Sauce smothered chicken, eat your fortune cookie, and leave with a full stomach, happy that there are no dishes to wash tonight.
Don’t forget to jack some Skittles on the way out.
-peta pong
---------
Chinese Food Buffet, a rant about that which really isn't.
FRIED CHICKEN, MEATBALLS, TERIYAKI CHICKEN, CORNED BEEF, FRENCH FRIES, PUDDING; since when did these become part of Chinese cuisine? I guess one could call them Chinese fries and 90-degree angle beef and Pu-Ding, yet we must realize that they are still truly NOT Chinese. How misleading and deceptive it is to call a buffet restaurant “Chinese” when it actually has few authentic dishes; even these few “genuine” Chinese dishes are not genuine. It is true that they serve General Tso’s Chicken, Orange Chicken, and Sesame Chicken found in China. Yet why give these three dishes the different names here when THEY ARE ESSENTIALLY THE SAME??? Admit it “Chinese” buffet restaurants, you use the same sauce and you use the same chicken. The only difference is that difference in the name. No need to ask the waiter what's in each dish, it's all in the name. Orange flavor is added to Orange chicken and sesame is added to Sesame Chicken. However, General Tso presents some astounding change with the brilliant idea of adding peppers and pineapple to the mono-tasting “chicken sauce”, thus giving his name to the exhausted dish today. Thank you General Tso for some nominal diversity, otherwise we’d have Pepper and Pineapple Chicken, and can’t have that, for we are the nation of diversity. Oh wait, it’s supposed to be Chinese food, not American.
But it’s not. It’s what we Chinese call “Americanized-Chinese food”. It’s the Sweet and Sour Chicken. It’s the Sesame Beef. It’s the Broccoli and Beef. It’s everything that isn’t. It’s the great culinary paradox that is diluting the Chinese cultural cuisine in this country. I go to a Chinese buffet and expect to eat Chinese food, yet what I find is the same everywhere: dishes as repetitive and bland as a bad English essay. The blooming entrepreneur restaurant owner and chef of today can splash some “Chinese Sauce” over everything, give out fortune cookies (which I must say have not yet once been correct), and BAM you got yourself a 100%, true dat, authentic, bona fide, genuine Americanized Not-So-Much Chinese Buffet. Way to go, now all you have to do is compete with the twenty other identical buffet’s and you’re set.
The American customers love it, and even some Chinese have become accustomed to eating at these spurious buffets. I admit to having eating my share of General Tso’s Chicken and generic Lo Mien, but honestly, it’s not real. It's so superficial. It satisfies the stomach but not my soul, not my desire to absorb and eat the scrumptious dim sum of my true heritage. But what can I do, for it IS America, and everything here is American to some extent. Maybe I might be too cynical (nah), to critical (no), and to demanding (nope). Oh well, it’s hopeless. At least there are a few good actual Chinese (sit-down) Restaurants; our last resort. Perhaps the massive buffet’s will take a hint, and realize quality might be better than quantity, and authenticity better than conformity.
Or perhaps not. Either way, finish your Chinese Sauce smothered chicken, eat your fortune cookie, and leave with a full stomach, happy that there are no dishes to wash tonight.
Don’t forget to jack some Skittles on the way out.
-peta pong
My Cousin, Part I
So I discovered my little cousin on Facebook and I read some of his notes, and they are amazing. I wanted to post them (with his permission, of course) since when I was his age, I was no where near this level of awareness. I'm proud. =)
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Yellow Label, a reflection on individualism.
BRUCE LEE; CONFUCIUS; IRON CHEF; YO-YO MA are the persona that I embody to become that shade of yellow that we all know. Or think we know. Or rather assume to be true. "Asian" is what society labels me, how most people label me, and what I sometimes consider myself to be. Whatever that is...
A stereotype? a culture? an ethnicity?
the terms "asian" or "black" or "white" or "mexican" by themselves are meaningless, but with society, people have added meaning and implication and assumption. and history. However, whatever it comes out to be, it is always a biased view. A view that may not always be right, yet may not always be wrong - because that's the thing with opinion: one's never wrong. (Isn't that what our educators keep emphasizing?) Then what I also ask is this: is one's opinion therefore also never right? Opinion is the result of a subjective topic, and what's more subjective then attempting to place one image on millions of different frames. So we arrive at the solution that so many civil rights activists and stereotype fighters have advocated for so long: end labeling.
So what am I if I am not an implication or an assumption? if I do not study every hour of the day? if I don't eat dumplings and fried rice everyday? if I don't know martial arts? if I do not play piano of violin? if I do not play ping pong continuously? if I'm not frugal with money? what am I if I do not fit like a jig-saw into the stereotype puzzle?
I become an individual.
-peta pong
----------
Yellow Label, a reflection on individualism.
BRUCE LEE; CONFUCIUS; IRON CHEF; YO-YO MA are the persona that I embody to become that shade of yellow that we all know. Or think we know. Or rather assume to be true. "Asian" is what society labels me, how most people label me, and what I sometimes consider myself to be. Whatever that is...
A stereotype? a culture? an ethnicity?
the terms "asian" or "black" or "white" or "mexican" by themselves are meaningless, but with society, people have added meaning and implication and assumption. and history. However, whatever it comes out to be, it is always a biased view. A view that may not always be right, yet may not always be wrong - because that's the thing with opinion: one's never wrong. (Isn't that what our educators keep emphasizing?) Then what I also ask is this: is one's opinion therefore also never right? Opinion is the result of a subjective topic, and what's more subjective then attempting to place one image on millions of different frames. So we arrive at the solution that so many civil rights activists and stereotype fighters have advocated for so long: end labeling.
So what am I if I am not an implication or an assumption? if I do not study every hour of the day? if I don't eat dumplings and fried rice everyday? if I don't know martial arts? if I do not play piano of violin? if I do not play ping pong continuously? if I'm not frugal with money? what am I if I do not fit like a jig-saw into the stereotype puzzle?
I become an individual.
-peta pong
April 07, 2007
Smile, it's not that bad.
Be forewarned. This isn't about a social justice issue or an -ism.
I was walking to campus yesterday on beautiful Guadalupe Street. It had been a long night of drinking and dancing, and I was already late for my first meeting of the day. I just got finished cleaning my glasses off as I was walking. As I'm passing some person on the sidewalk, she looks like at me with disgust, and says, "Smile, it's not that bad."
When I'm walking alone on the street in the morning, it's not very likely I'll be smiling. Especially when you take into account all the factors listed above. Cleaning my glasses isn't a very smile-worthy activity. And I'm not sure why I should smile constantly, or why someone else feels the need to tell me I should.
What really gets me is that the person who told me to smile wasn't smiling.
I was walking to campus yesterday on beautiful Guadalupe Street. It had been a long night of drinking and dancing, and I was already late for my first meeting of the day. I just got finished cleaning my glasses off as I was walking. As I'm passing some person on the sidewalk, she looks like at me with disgust, and says, "Smile, it's not that bad."
When I'm walking alone on the street in the morning, it's not very likely I'll be smiling. Especially when you take into account all the factors listed above. Cleaning my glasses isn't a very smile-worthy activity. And I'm not sure why I should smile constantly, or why someone else feels the need to tell me I should.
What really gets me is that the person who told me to smile wasn't smiling.
Killing American Idol
This weekend at VASCON3, I was in awe at the amount of TALENT and PASSION all the entertainers had for what they do. Amongst them, there were several singers and bands such as Thomas' Apartment and Vudoo Soul. So it got me thinking, why do I have to come to a Vietnamese American conference to hear Asian Americans perform? And why is it that I hear "this is why I'm hot" three times before I get to work? Let's rewind.
A few weeks ago, I read this article: Trying To Crack the Hot 100
For those who don't feel like clicking the link, the article baisically analyzes Asian Americans in the music industry and how we seem to be unable to break that "glass ceiling" into stardom and make it to the radio. Harlem Lee won the NBC's version of American Idol but nobody remembers that. Maybe because it got swept under the rug faster than a stain you're trying to cover up before your in-laws come over. The NY Times seems to feel that the reason being is not that we lack talent or the desire, but rather we have this "Asian thing" going against us. ASIAN THING? Hmm.
Then, I thought WAIT. Every now and then, I watch American Idol. Right now, there's all this controversy about Sanjaya Malakar, the Indian born no-talent laughing-stock who is single-handedly "killing american idol." I know he can't sing, and by no means am I advocating that he should win. However, there is not a lack of talent amongst APIDAs when it comes to musical talent, including singing. Yet the ones who make it past the tens of thousands of eager auditionees and the rigorous and critical eyes of the judges are William Hung and Sanjaya Malakar. Seriously?
Either the process isn't working, or somebody thinks its funny to put William Hung and Sanjaya on national television so that they can help reinfoce the fact that Asian Americans can't sing. Which (per the NY Time's article) is just not true.
So: Is Sanjaya really killing American Idol? Or is American Idol killing the chances that Asian Americans have of breaking that invisible barrier into being taken seriously as performers and artists?
Jean
A few weeks ago, I read this article: Trying To Crack the Hot 100
For those who don't feel like clicking the link, the article baisically analyzes Asian Americans in the music industry and how we seem to be unable to break that "glass ceiling" into stardom and make it to the radio. Harlem Lee won the NBC's version of American Idol but nobody remembers that. Maybe because it got swept under the rug faster than a stain you're trying to cover up before your in-laws come over. The NY Times seems to feel that the reason being is not that we lack talent or the desire, but rather we have this "Asian thing" going against us. ASIAN THING? Hmm.
Then, I thought WAIT. Every now and then, I watch American Idol. Right now, there's all this controversy about Sanjaya Malakar, the Indian born no-talent laughing-stock who is single-handedly "killing american idol." I know he can't sing, and by no means am I advocating that he should win. However, there is not a lack of talent amongst APIDAs when it comes to musical talent, including singing. Yet the ones who make it past the tens of thousands of eager auditionees and the rigorous and critical eyes of the judges are William Hung and Sanjaya Malakar. Seriously?
Either the process isn't working, or somebody thinks its funny to put William Hung and Sanjaya on national television so that they can help reinfoce the fact that Asian Americans can't sing. Which (per the NY Time's article) is just not true.
So: Is Sanjaya really killing American Idol? Or is American Idol killing the chances that Asian Americans have of breaking that invisible barrier into being taken seriously as performers and artists?
Jean
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