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McDonald’s sponsored “My Inspirational Story” Essay Contest Award Ceremony took place yesterday in PS. 24, lower East side. Host David Yi, from Daily News, guest speaker Donnie Kwak, senior editor at ESPN, and Jef Castro, photo-editor at Entertainment Weekly, were among the invitation list. In addition, McDonald’s Martial Arts Dance Crew delivered a special performance at the ceremony.
Ten outstanding essays were chosen, and amongst these ten contestants, who are all students age from 8 to 11 years-old, 3 were chosen respectively for 3rd, 2nd, and 1st prizes.
Generasian’s very own staff members Joey Wang and Emily Q. Lu had the chance to conduct interviews with the guests, performers, and host of the ceremony, as well as Ronald McDonald and Michael Sullivan, owner of McDonald in Queens and Brooklyn.
When questioned about the recent controversial ESPN headline regarding Jeremy Lin, Donnie Kwak, being an Asian-American employee at ESPN, expressed his shock towards the discovery. However, Kwak does not believe the intention of the former editor, who has been since fired from ESPN, was malicious; it only showed his incompetence of being in the position of an editor.
For more information about the interview, please follow our blog and check for updates of a video interview in the near future!
Hello friends! Please join members of Generasian this Saturday as we participate at an event for a great cause. IW Group, Inc., a leading Asian Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations agency, will be celebrating the winners of this year’s My Inspirational Story Children’s Essay-Writing Contest. The event will feature the winners, who are between the ages of 8-11, reading their winning stories as well as a special performance by the McDonald’s Martial Arts Dance Crew featuring b-boys from the New York area, including international winner Jason “Chem” Ng.
The event will be hosted by New York Daily News fashion reporter David Yi and will also feature a keynote speech by ESPN The Magazine Senior Editor Donnie Kwak. Judges of the essay contest included several Asian American journalists from ESPN, New York Daily News, Entertainment Weekly, Wall Street Journal, and SepiaMutiny.com.
IW Group will be giving away free gifts as well! For college students, this can go towards community service credits.
Here are the details! Saturday, February 25, 2012 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM PS 124, The Yung Wing School Auditorium 40 Division Street New York, NY 10002
Many online bloggers, writers and readers have been openly and harshly critical of the ESPN employee who was responsible for the recent controversial “Chink in the Armor” headline on Jeremy Lin. Rumor has it that the accused writer of ESPN, Ian Begley, was so-called responsible for the headline, which has triggered many to openly accuse him for the event.
However, while Begley was announced as responsible for writing the article, he did not come up with the headline.
This had nothing to do with me being cute or funny. I’m so sorry if I offended Jeremy.
Federico said he also understood why he was fired, saying that “ESPN did what they had to do.” Unfortunately for him, Federico also openly expressed that he had used the phrase “at least 100 times” in headlines, and did not even realize the potential offense it would cause to the Asian community when he used the phrase on a Lin story.
Federico called Lin one of his heroes - not just because he’s a big Knicks fan, but because he feels a kinship with a fellow “outspoken Christian.”
“My faith is my life,” he said. “I’d love to tell Jeremy what happened and explain that this was an honest mistake.”
California Congresswoman Judy Chu, an Asian American politician, said that “the ‘C’ word is just as bad as the 'n’ word when it comes to racial slurs, and she isn’t letting ESPN off the hook for using the term to describe NBA breakout star Jeremy Lin.” (New York Daily News). She said Monday that “the use of that term is appalling and offensive” on MSNBC.
While this unfortunately cost Federico’s career, the American audience is now becoming aware of the cultural sensitivity the Asian community faces when it comes to the word “Chink”. It is truly unfortunate that Federico lost his job over something that he did not intend. At least now he understands that the word has serious consequences when used in the wrong context - something many in the American public may not have known, scarily enough. Lin responded to the incident:
I don’t think it was on purpose or whatever, but they have apologized and so from my end I don’t care anymore. Have to learn to forgive and I don’t even think that was intentional. Or hopefully not.
Courtesy of New York Daily News writers Rheana Murray, Irving Dejohn and Helen Kennedy.
Just a few days after the “Chink in the Armor” headline was taken down underneath the image of Jeremy Lin, ESPN fired the employee responsible for the offensive headline.
Lin had addressed the controversy during a news conference Sunday, after the Knicks won against the Dallas Mavericks 104-97. Lin expressed,
I don’t think it was on purpose. At the same time, they’ve apologized. I don’t care anymore.
ESPN wrote,
We again apologize, especially to Mr. Lin. His accomplishments are a source of great pride to the Asian American community, including the Asian American employees at ESPN.
Through self-examination, improved editorial practices and controls, and response to constructive criticism, we will be better in the future,“ ESPN said.
Although we never will know what the true intentions were of the writer and copy-editors who wrote and approved that headline, let this be a hard lesson to ESPN that no matter what time of day or night something of that level is posted, it will get out there. Power of the internet, people.
When in doubt, just don’t write it. It’s just never worth taking the risk, using slang terms and phrases that could just potentially offend anyone. While sensational reporting may very well grab the attention of online readers, it is just never worth someone risking their career for something as silly and easily avoidable as submitting that controversial, four-word headline. What a writer might believe is a subtle pun or punchline might be taken critically and offend someone else.
And to have some (hopefully) closure, I close with a thought-provoking comment from AngryAsianMan:
I guess that’s an important component of how Jeremy Lin has inadvertently opened up the dialogue on what it means to be Asian in America. With all the hero worship and scrutiny of number 17, the lone Asian face on the court, will people think twice about making a dumbass Asian comment? I wouldn’t hold my breath, but like I said, it’s a start.
Courtesy of Yahoo! News, AngryAsianMan.com, and CNN.
Set as a broad bio mockumentary/musical parody, “Jeremy Lin: The Musical” will be based on the “true” story of Jeremy Lin’s life in Harvard to his success in the NBA. For those of you in the San Francisco area, you can watch it at the Phoenix Theatre Annex from October 26th - October 27th.
It might be that with Jeremy Lin, the NBA–with its stagnant audience and image problems–may have found an ideal, squeaky-clean star for bringing new fans to the sport.
But more than the just reviving the NBA, Lin’s squeaky-clean image is seen by companies as a holy opportunity.
“They say in the world of gems, the more facets the greater the design,” says Doug Scott, the CEO of Ogilvy Entertainment. “The fact that Jeremy has so many facets is a tremendous plus for him. The more relatable that he is, the better for the brand over time.”
For all the fellow New Englanders snowed in these past few days, take the extended vacation and do something productive! For all of our younger readers and readers with younger siblings in the tristate area, there are 6 more days before the deadline for the ‘My Inspirational Story’ video contest. 10 winners will receive a portion of a $4,500 prize. Rules and applications can be found on the Facebook page. Good luck!
Pictured above are the winners of Ronald McDonald Charity House’s 2014 My Inspirational Story contest. This contest sought to give Asian American teenagers both encouragement to and an outlet for development of self-expression and personal voice. The winners were selected by an esteemed panel of judges, which included award-winning journalists, writers, bloggers and hosts from The Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Complex Media, US Weekly, Entertainment Weekly and MTV. The videos were judged on the basis of originality, content development and production quality.
Winners were along a spectrum of ages, from the youngest winner Michael Ye at 14 and the oldest (Yee Man Chan and Thomas Mun) at 18, covering topics from breakdancing and rapping to the significance of family. All videos can be watched at RMCH’s website. This contest serves as a great impetus for Asian American students to let their voices be heard beyond just their immediate community. Here’s to all the filmographers, fashion designers, and story-tellers of tomorrow!
“In his three bolt-from-the-blue games with the Knicks, Jeremy Lin has proved too quick for opposing defenders, too quick for professional basketball’s marketing machine, even too quick for New York’s black market in counterfeit goods.” Amidst the “Linsanity” that has taken over the city, fans have been scrambling to find and buy Jeremy Lin merchandise, only to find that they have not yet been made. Jim Root, owner of the official Knicks uniform store near MSG, reports that the earliest shipment of authentic Lin jerseys will come in two weeks time. After being on the starting lineup for only a week, Jeremy Lin has become an overnight sensation with his fans. Even David Chang, owner of Momofuku restaurants, has commented that “dressing up as a superfan is not his style,” yet he is enticed to buy a Lin jersey. He calls the introduction of Lin to the NBA “the most important event for Asian-Americans in sports history.”
So, the 60th Annual Grammy Nominations were announced yesterday morning, and somehow it left me with more mixed emotions than I’ve felt in a long time. On the one hand, we have many reasons to celebrate this year–the 2018 list of nominees is the most diverse group in all of Grammy history, especially when it comes to Black and LGBTQIA inclusion. Jay-Z, Childish Gambino, Kendrick Lamar, and more were all (deservedly) nominated for record of the year. Kesha and Lady Gaga were both nominated for two Grammys each, and out songwriter Justin Tranter was nominated for his first award as well.
When it comes to inclusion in the entertainment industry, we’ve come a long way, and these nominees are just one example of that. Unfortunately, this progress has not been reflected within the Asian American community, as you can clearly see by the lack of Asian nominees for the 2018 Grammys. I can’t say I’m surprised, considering there aren’t really any huge Asian American names in the music industry. But it’s not because we’re not trying–it’s because those who run the system aren’t listening. This year I got the chance to discover Alice Gao, Niki Zefanya, Yaeji, and several other incredible Asian artists whose music deserves recognition–but none of them are getting the attention they deserve.
While Grammy nomination entries can by submitted by any artists/record companies with commercially released music, all submissions are reviewed by a group of over 350 experts in the fields of jazz, R&B, rock, classical, new age, and more. These experts within the Academy go through several rounds of screening, being advised to vote in up to 15 categories in their areas of expertise as well as the 4 general categories (Record of The Year, Album of the Year, Song of The Year, and Best New Artist). Unfortunately, if you are a lesser known artist in the US (aka most Asian American artists) signed to a label with more well known artists, your label will most likely submit their song/album to be considered for Grammy nomination over yours. At the end of the day, it’s pretty much a self fulfilling prophesy. Since Asian American artists are almost never well known enough to qualify for the final rounds of nomination, their work is not often submitted. As a result, Asian Americans are continuously left out of the mainstream. The whole thing is a cycle that seems to have no end.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe we should celebrate the victories we achieve, but I’m honestly so tired of writing and complaining about Asian American representation. You guys have heard it all before and I’m not here to preach the same message all over again, but my soul is tired y’all. While we should celebrate and cheer on our fellow POC, let’s remember that the entertainment industry is still far, far, from being the all inclusive community that we so desperately need.
