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NYCAASC 2015 hits Critical Mass
Last weekend, I had the pleasure to be one of the 400-some students who attended the 9th annual New York City Asian American Student Conference, held at the Kimmel Center at NYU. NYCAASC is a student run intercollegiate program dedicated to addressing issues pertinent to Asian/Pacific/Americans on local, national and global scales. It was founded in 2007 as a collaboration between New York University and Columbia University but has since grown to include students from Fordham University, Hunter College, Baruch College, City College and Brooklyn College and School of Visual Arts.
This year’s theme was Critical Mass: Collective Bodies for Action, directly addressing the current events in America such as #BlackLivesMatter. “The goal of this year’s conference is for the Asian/Pacific/American community to reach that critical mass: a point of large scale rupture, but also of creation.”
The keynote speaker was Asian American journalist and cultural critic Jeff Chang. He called for us to further examine the nuances of what it means to have “representation;” he looked at A/P/A solidarity for other minority voices such as the Black and Latino communities. Spoken word poet Paul Tran opened the conference with his powerful poems that examine his Vietnamese heritage. Jess X. Chen also performed spoken word that ranged from topics like the Tienanmen Square Massacre to questions of sexuality matched up to personal art pieces displayed from above. Magnetic North & Taiyo Na brought down the roof with their honest rhymes, organic beats and one sick saxophone.
The 17 workshops in total all looked to address questions of colonized minds and bodies. One workshop, “Your Parents are White?” Transnational Adoption: Thinking from Their Perspectives and Histories looked at personal and academic perspectives on transnational adoption, discussing the cultural historicity and the psychological impact of adoption. Another workshop #JusticeforAkaiGurley: Asian-Americans on the Indictment of Officer Liang dealt with developing an understanding of the issues of police brutality and the tensions and solidarity between Black and A/P/A communities. The last few workshops focused on concrete strategies to spur attendees into action. Digital Storytelling: How to Create Your Own Web Series set the stage to inspire students to do their own storytelling.
By the end of the day, I, along with the other students, organizers and speakers, was left exhausted, my head crammed with new information and perspectives to later wrestle and process. But I was also left oddly moved by the energy and the motivation pulsing throughout the conference. The A/P/A community is not often recognized as one with a voice; often times, we are silenced with the dismissing “model minority” label. But here, I saw hundreds of voices speaking up, yearning to reach out. I’m listening. We’re listening.
Generasian’s AHM Event Guide: New York City Asian American Student Conference (NYCAASC)
Asian Heritage Month is fast approaching and promises to be more packed with exciting events than ever before. Want to know more? This week, Generasian will bring you the inside scoop on the various culture shows and major events happening throughout April in celebration of Asian Heritage Month. Check back for all the latest updates!
Come out to the 5th annual New York City Asian American Student Conference (NYCAASC - pronounced NYE-SACK). This year’s theme is “eMerging Profiles.”
Date: Saturday April 16, 2011
Location: NYU Kimmel Center, 60 Washington Square S.
Time and format: Free all-day conference, event starts at 9:30
NYCAASC’s Background:
The NYCAASC website contains its mission statement, history, as well as the full description of this year’s theme, “eMerging Profiles.” Please check it to get a full and detailed overview on how NYCAASC came to be and what it wishes to achieve as a legitimate presence in New York City.
The 5th Annual New York City Asian American Student Conference (NYCAASC) is:
an annual gathering dedicated to promoting awareness of Asian Pacific American issues and history among youth. Based in New York City and planned by college students, NYCAASC offers a broad range of engaging workshops and panels that address issues pertinent to Asian Pacific Americans on local, national, and global scales. There will be three different “track”’ times of workshops, each followed up by a 30 min. “break out session,” where participants will reflect on the workshop through discussion and group activities. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner will be provided at the event!
In addition, NYCAASC is a way to meet high school and college students from different schools. In the past, we’ve had 350-400 attendees from various schools in the New York City area, as well as others nearby schools in Boston, Philadelphia, etc. All participants are welcome - you do not have to be of Asian descent to attend. We just ask you to come with an open mind and an interest in thinking critically about issues affecting APAs!
A peek at confirmed workshops so far (workshop titles are still in the works):
- Activism from the Korean Diaspora: Bridging a Movement of Social Change
- Bam! A New Generation of Food
- Decolonize Your Jack Off Session
- Human Trafficking
- Queer Adoptees Speak Out: LGBT Issues in Intercountry Adoption
- Slicing Up the Pie: Towers and Tenements in Chinatown and LES
- The Superhero Alter-Ego: Comics and Asian American Identity
What does “eMerging Profiles” mean?
As the theme for this year’s event, we keep in mind how new media has been a catalyst to vast social/political movements today. We play on the wording “eMerging” to convey the dynamic processes of merging and emerging. We opt to highlight tangible “profiles” rather than the often hard-to-grasp concept of “identities.”
Blogs, YouTube and other forms of new media have been helpful in reaching across physical boundaries, increasing the accessibility of resources, and connecting with those that seek commonality and recognition. Moreover, we want to emphasize that this theme surrounding “new/alternative media” also recognizes that throughout history, when traditional media and spaces were exclusionary, Asian Pacific Americans have consistently showed creativity in forging new media through which to think for themselves.
From Latin, the word “profile” comes from pro and filare – “to make an outline out of thread,” reminding us of the agency that Asian Americans possess the power to form and shape our identities. As we self-reflect, we will weave together the strands of knowledge we will share with one another and emerge to shape a prominent, legitimate presence.
Where can we find you?
The NYCAASC planning board meets on the 7th floor of Kimmel (and sometimes at Columbia University) on Sundays at 2:00 PM. If you have any questions, you can contact the NYCAASC NYU directors, June Kao (june.kao@nyu.edu) or Joseph Lin (jfl286@nyu.edu).
NYCAASC is one of the events also planned by the Asian Heritage Month (AHM) planning committee. Make sure to also support AHM’s opening ceremony, RISE with Wong Fu Productions, happening on Friday, April 1st.
http://www.nyu.edu/clubs/asian.heritage/
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=173570836028749
Social media:
- Visit our website www.nycaasc.com to register and/or volunteer for NYCAASC. On the site, you’ll also find a link to contact the NYCAASC planning board if you have any questions, concerns, etc.
- Follow NYCAASC updates on Twitter
- Add NYCAASC (Nyc Aasc) as a friend on Facebook!
Storm the Gates: Jeff Yang on the eMerging Asian America
Saturday April 16th was the date for the Fifth Annual New York City Asian American Student Conference, a student run, student led event run by a coalition of New York City schools. NYCAASC, which is part of the ongoing Asian Heritage Month programming, is an amazing event- due mainly to the unrenumerated blood, sweat and tears poured into it by the executive board, members and volunteers. But NYCAASC is also an incredible resource, for scholars of Asian/Pacific/American issues, A/P/A students but also people who are interested in the evolving political and social fabric of this country.
Jeff Yang, is, well is there really a word that could encompass him? This man is the founder of Amagazine which was literally the first publication for Asian Americans by Asian Americans. He writes a column for the San Francisco Gate Chronicle called AsianPop, edited the first Asian American superhero anthology Secret Identities, blogs all over the internet and he does all of this as a hobby. He (like many other Asian American cultural standard bearers by the by) is a trend analyst by day and some sort of supercharged dynamo at night. I walked in when he was explaining that part of the writing process of Jackie Chan’s biography was interpreting his hand gestures in a series of interviews Jeff did while trapising around sets with him.
As Jeff pointed out, the dialogue of the 2010 Political races in this country proves that the theme of ‘the alien Asian’ is still alive and well (Nikki Haley’s race for the governorship of South Carolina still comes to mind. A senior Republican, i.e. someone from her party, upon hearing that she, a Sikh-American, won the ticket remarked “We already have a raghead in the White House, are we going to have another one here!?”) .
Jeff walked his rapt audience through the ins and outs of racial discrimination against Asians in the United States, covering about two hundred years of history from Chinese immigration in the late 1800’s to today. He identified the change in immigration statutes in 1965, which eliminated the quota system for Asians that had barred so many from coming to the States; as being the moment in American conciousness where Asia was defined as the “new, new World” and Asians “the new, new people”.
In the 1980’s, came the “Model Minority” myth, albatross, what have you. Jeff suggested, as have others, that this was considered a kind of olive branch moment. To borrow from the Arab-American comedian Dean Obedallah- we were the peaceful, friendly minority.
The 1990’s marked the dominance of multiculturalist mindset, in the sense that “an open war around culture” was storming the discourse.
Multiculturalism is considered by some people in the discussion, though certainly not all, to be the softest of imperialisms by creating and demanding adherence to token categories. Multiculturalism is about being ‘with it’, with coffee table books, curios that you bought along a dusty road side and your culinary appreciation for ‘curry’.
(To lay this to rest: there is no food called curry in the Indian culinary lexicon. The only place where curry exists is the U.K., where it lingers as an imperial relic of their racism and destruction on the subcontinent. Period).
Who can capitalize, brand, and sometimes inadvertently (and often deliberately) fetishsize this demographic fastest? Only time will tell!
The part that really fascinated me was his description of the 2000’s as the rise of metaculturalism. I have never heard anyone use this term before but it is apt beyond words. Jeff Yang described it as the moment when “identity politics become more complicated, fluid and less discrete. Self-definitions have emerged”. There is a blurring in the lines between local and transnational, Asian Americans and Asians. I think my favorite part of the talk was when he broke it down like this:
“Asians are… ‘Asian’ is
multiculturalists an expression
metaculturalists an option ”
Well…maybe not that far. There’s all kind of racism out there and will always be- but how loud that element is and how much sway it holds is always up for debate. We are a cosmopolitan peoples, and increasingly a bigger slice of the pie. In 2040, the United States will be minority white and although a small percentage of that will be an Asian American presence in 2050 Asia will account for 59% of the world’s population. Does that necessarily mean anything? Who knows, but it is a provocative thought.
And p.s. Asian America might well become the kind of polyglot that we strive to envision. By 2020, it is predicted that 1 out of 5 Asians in America will be multiracial and by 2050 that fraction has jumped to 1 in 3. Then there are, what Jeff called, ABC’s- Asians By Choice (too late! He’s got the rights for that book), people who choose to embrace Asian-ness as a lifestyle choice.
“Being Asian isn’t a liability, its a renewable resource,” Jeff said, “it’s sustainable or something”.
Indeed. Jeff closed his speech by talking about the subject that, acquaintance has led me to believe, is close to his heart- pop culture.
Basically Jeff said that the paradigmatic approach to pop culture success- paying dues, breaking in, being given an opportunity- is archaic and not actually how it goes down. He played us a brilliant mashup of Asian American artists, from Far East Movement, to Das Racist, to Vienna Tieng, from hip hop to alternative piano ballads, to underscore his point. A) that there is an incredible range of talent in Asian America, B) that no one gave these artists an opportunity they had to work for it every day.
“If you can’t join ‘em, beat ‘em”. Many of these artists survive by building their own following, their own tribe- because a tribe will look after their own. To mix a few metaphors, if we wait to be invited into the castle that train will leave the station.
eMerging was definitely the theme of Jeff’s speech, the internet, YouTube- all of these are tools by which Asian Americans can assert their voices in this cultural project. Four years ago, I interviewed Wong Fu Productions for GenerAsian and I remember Ted Fu saying to me that without YouTube they never would have made it.
So just you know, think about it. People are coming up from around all the time, and the important thing is that we remember each other and keep building connections.
Ready? Let’s burn it all down.
Asian Americans building community at NYU
Guest post by Venus Chui, president of NYU’s Asian American Christian Fellowship.
On Friday February 22, the NYU A/P/A Bridge hosted their first ever Asian/Pacific/American Leadership Summit (APALS). The event gathered close to fifty NYU students in Washington Mews to explore the Asian American student community and representation on campus.
Campus Events 11/28-12/4
Monday, November 28, 2011
Pakistani Students’ Association Presents:
Doors open 6:30 PM
Food served 7:00 PM
Tickets $6 with NYU ID and $8 for non-NYU guests
A multi-cultural celebration of Eid Ul Adha, attendees are encouraged to dress in their respective cultural outfits and eat delicious ethnic food, while enjoying breathtaking performances!
Co-sponsored by the Arab Students’ Union, Afghan Students’ Association, and Bengali Students’ Association. All proceeds will go to charity via UNICEF to help improve the lives of children in drought and conflict ridden areas of Somalia (www.unicef.org/somalia)
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Monday, November 28
8:00-9:00 AM &
Wednesday, November 30
5:00-6:00 PM
Kimmel 8th Floor
Asian American Christian Fellowship hosts Conversations with God
Want to play a part in God’s movement of love and renewal at NYU? Or just want to see what prayer is all about? Then join AACF for a time of listening and talking to God together. The topic of the week is “the life of a servant.”
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Monday, November 28
7:00 PM
Redeemer Offices - 1359 Broadway, 4th Floor
AACF hosts Stern Believers Meeting. Are you a Christian in Stern, wondering how you can be a light to your fellow Stern classmates? Or are you a non-Stern student who has a burden for reaching out to the Stern community? AACF will be joining Redeemer Presbyterian Church’s “Faith and Work Financial Services Ministry” meeting, a great chance to learn what God is already doing in the business world and how you can be a part of it. Click here to RSVP.
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Wednesday, November 30
6:00-8:00 PM
Kimmel 808
AACF hosts Large Group! Come be refreshed by worship and a message while enjoying fellowship with one another. This week’s topic is “The Cost of Compassion.” Christians are called to be loving and compassionate. What are the costs of loving others with passion, and how do we deal with them? AACF will be exploring those questions on Wednesday with their speaker.
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Due Wednesday, November 30
by 11:59 PM
Join the ITASA East Coast Conference Bidding Team!
Passionate about Taiwanese culture, big event planning, and e-board fun?
Every year, ITASA (the umbrella organization of all Taiwanese American student organizations in the U.S.) hosts a large conference on the coasts attended by more than 350 students across the nation. NYU TASS is hoping to host the East Coast Conference in Winter 2013, but they need help! Here is another opportunity to get involved in student activities and gain tangible experience in large-scale event planning and promotion. 9 positions are available and all applicants are welcome. Contact bid directors Angela (angelachen@nyu.edu) or Kevin (Kevin.Wu@stern.nyu.edu) for questions about the event, board or application. Click here for the application.
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Thursday, December 1
7:00 PM
Kimmel E&L (4th Floor)
NYU Chinese Student Society and Lambda Phi Epsilon present Holiday Hoopla! Click here for the flyer for information! Take on their “Minute to Win It” games to win prizes like DVDs, T-shirts, and gift cards! There’s a chance to win a prize each round of the games. They’ll also have Chinese food and yummy desserts, as well as bubble tea for the first 50 guests!
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Thursday, December 1
6:00-8:00 PM
Kimmel 904
Join NYU’s Vietnamese Student’s Association in celebrating the end of the semester, with banh mi and bubble tea!
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Due December 2 by 8:00 PM
Apply to help the Chinese Mei Society with its annual spring YUAN show! In accordance with Asian Heritage Month at NYU, CMS hosts a large-scale cultural production celebrating Chinese culture through musical, visual, and performing arts. CMS is currently accepting applications for the following positions:
-Tech Director
-Logistics Director
-Finance Director
-Catering Director
-Marketing Director
-Public Relations Director
-Performance Director
-Fashion Director
Visit here to learn more about each position and to apply! Email cms.nyu@gmail.com for any questions, and click here for their Facebook page to check out more information about CMS and photos from last year’s production.
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Happening Throughout
Thai-SA
Support Thailand’s flood victims by purchasing a T-Shirt and wristband! All proceeds will be donated to the “One Heart” Campaign in December. Organized by the Royal Thai Air Force and The Mall, the goal of the campaign is to provide humanitarian relief by distributing supplies to those devastated by the flood. Donations can be made directly by clicking here. Click to watch a video here.
Recap: AHM Opening Ceremony x Spoon University
Yesterday was the Opening Ceremony of NYU’s Asian Heritage Month! It was a triumphant event with a staggering number of generous food vendors as well as performances that celebrated the talents of our fellow NYU students.
Highlights of the night include the routines of Denny George and Moss Perricone from Astor Place Riots NYU, the beautiful singing of Veronica Balce, as well as the exuberance Bollywood dance routine of Farhin Lilywala. The powerful honest spoken word performances of several students were extremely memorable and resonated with much of the audience. If you are a spoken word performer, AAWA is having a Spoken Word Concert in a few weeks! see the image below for details.
Two of Generasian’s own members were a part of the lineup as well: Shashank Rao played “Jashn-e-Bahaara” from the Indian film ‘Jodhaa Akbar’ on the flute. His performance was emotional and conveyed the complex nature of the song. Nicole Bernardo read her poem Balikbayan, about her experiences visiting the Philippines as a child, enticing us with her imagery.
This was a great kickoff for Asian Heritage Month. Hopefully all of you will be able to attend many awesome events as the month proceeds!
Be sure to attend our Launch Party! It will be April 27th from 7:30-9 PM in Kimmel 912. Our guest will be animator, illustrator and comics artist Matt Huynh. We will have food!
On Campus Events 12/7-9
Wednesday (TODAY), 12/7
7-9 PM
Kimmel 405/406
AATA’s Final Event
Come for food, games, and a slide show! AATA is also looking to recruit a new treasurer, for next semester. Email them at nyu.aata@gmail.com for an application!
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Wednesday (TODAY), 12/7
7 PM
Kimmel 905-907
Come out to Asian Cultural Union’s FINAL EVENT of the semester, and participate in their Gingerbread House Competition put together by ACU Freshmen Representatives! A theme will be announced at the beginning of the event, and winners will get a large treat to share within each group, and everyone will get to eat the gingerbread houses after, with hot chocolate!
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Ongoing
The A/P/A Institute at NYU is offering an excellent opportunity to discuss current APA issues. APA BRIDGE (Asian Pacific Americans Building Relationship to Inspire Diversity, Growth, and Empowerment) is seeking a diverse group of student leaders from various backgrounds that include race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability, spirituality, academic study, and socioeconomic level. Applicants with a range of experiences are encouraged to apply. The program is only open to freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. APA heritage is not required, but an interest in issues affecting APA communities is key. Be as honest as you can with your answers but keep your responses within 250 words per question. Interviews may also be requested. Click here for the APA BRIDGE application!
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Thursday, 12/8
12-6 PM
Near Bobst Library / Stern, 70 Washington Square South
Want to find a way to give back this holiday season? NYU’s Korean Students’ Association is hosting a toy drive for Toys for Tots, providing toys for underprivileged children. Come donate your toys, used and new!
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December 8-10, 2011
Great Room, 19 University Place
Hosted by the Conference Department of English at NYU, Commodities and Migration: Things Out of Place. Click here for details!
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Friday, 12/9
5-6 PM
Cosi’s on 8th Street
If you speak Khmer, would like to learn Khmer, or just want to hang out with APASA, then come join them for a Khmer Language Group!
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Friday, 12/9
6:30-8:30 PM
Kimmel 804-805
Come join TASS for their Fall Finale Event! Take a break from studying and catch up with friends over dinner and bubble tea. They will be having a karaoke competition as well as introducing their Night Market and ITASA E-Boards.
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Friday, 12/9
9-11 PM
Kimmel 908
CEAMS will be having their last meeting of the semester! Watch 13 Assassins with them, and participate in some trivia games with great prizes, grand and mini. Food will be provided.