An entertaining and bold parody of Joel Brinkley’s xenophobic article “Despite Increasing Prosperity, Vietnam’s Appetites Remain Unique.” Written by Hyphen Magazine.
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#xenophobia #hyphen magazine #joel brinkley #vietnamMore you might like
Joel Brinkley, a professor of journalism at Stanford University, just wrote an article on the culinary traditions of Vietnam -specifically, their meat consumption- and how “adding significant protein to their diet… also helps explain the state’s aggressive tendencies — and the sharp contrast with its neighbors.”
In my opinion, Brinkley’s article was just an excuse to highlight what he sees the wide range of meats that many people in Vietnam eat as “
gruesome.” He specifically mentions squirrels, rats, and dogs used for human consumption, and then ties this all into Vietnamese history and how this history of eating much meat turned Vietnam into an aggressive invader. Anyone else think that Brinkley went a little bit too far?
It’s been talk about, and debated - why sometimes our Asian men don’t get enough credits. They have the looks and intelligence, so what is the barrier that is dividing them and the many many women out there, who might even happen to be Asian themselves? Although recently I have personally witnessed Asian men becoming a bit more desirable (thanks to Jeremy Lin and the boys from K-pop), where a significant amount of white, black, and Latina girls I personally know have opened themselves to the Asian male market, is this population group really getting back on its two feet?
Mic Ngyugen, a talented and uniquely-voiced writer for Hyphen Magazine, borrowing the original article from Jenny An, talks of a [satirical] paradox between he and himself.
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~Courtesy to Hyphen Magazine!~
Generasian 2012 Fall Launch Party on Wed. 12/05!
Your staff members here at Generasian have finished a semester of hard work in putting together this new, wonderful issue themed Expression. Join us at our launch party on Wednesday, December 05th at 7:30PM, in Kimmel Center Rm. 808.
We have gathered some impressive group of panelists, so get ready to network! This will be the most exciting launch party, yet…
For more info about our guest speakers, please visit https://www.facebook.com/events/435527939829285/
Chew On This: Vietnamese Coffee Culture
Iced coffee in Vietnam is iced coffee. I’m not talking about your run-of-the-mill watered-down-milk-more-than-coffee cup with the orange straw from Dunkin Donuts that you down once it hits 80 degrees. I know I may sound dramatic by saying, “I haven’t taste real coffee” until I went to Vietnam, but in a sense, I did. I rediscovered what coffee should taste like—an in-your-face, flavor-packed sensation. How many of you can say the same about Starbucks?
Between the years of 2001 and 2005, the Chinese police said that they rescued approximately 1,800 human trafficking victims on the Vietnam border. The women that returned home were ousted as social outcasts by family and had no where to go.Vang Thi Mai, a brave social advocate living in Hop Tien, Vietnam, started a textile company to help provide victims of human trafficking with jobs. This slide show in the New York Times depicts the campaign Vietnamese advocates like Mai have launched over the past few years and their successes, and how local civilians can make a difference in the lives of trafficking victims.
Generasian Caption Contest!
Free People’s March 2012 catalog features a “travel theme” set in Vietnam. In this issue, models Martha Hunt and Michelle Ouellet travel throughout the country, scribbling notes about the “vibrant” colors, the “perfect parasols” and the various modes of transportation they utilized. With the aid of props such as pagodas, motorbikes, rice hats and Asian people, they capture a nostalgic sense of Vietnam.
With a nod to Gurl Goes to Africa and in the spirit of reappropriating bodies and images, I would like to offer a caption contest! The prize? An enjoyable jab at the harmful use of Asian bodies as props and our continued marginalization in Western fashion.
To enter this contest, reblog with a caption for this charming image:
To start you off, I’ve come up with a couple of my own for other images from the catalog
“Me and my new hipster friend! My outfit costs over $470 but check out her clothes to get the look for less!”
“Learned how to haggle like a local for a coconut drink! Makes me feel better about spending over $600 on my Mexican Blanket Jacket and Shaman Hip Belt combined! LOL!”
I’m sure you can do better than I, so let’s see what you’ve got! If anything, you can at least beat out Tessie Style Blog, who wrote: “So good! Obviously, these make me wanna grab a pal & head to the Orient! xoxox”
photos via Free People and Bohemian Daydream
In 2010, technologist Tan Le took the TEDGlobal stage to demo a powerful new interface. But now, at TEDxWomen, she tells a very personal story: the story of her family – mother, grandmother and sister – fleeing Vietnam and building a new life.
“It is okay to be an outsider, a recent arrival, new on the scene — and not just okay, but something to be thankful for. … Because being an insider can so easily mean collapsing the horizons, can so easily mean accepting the presumptions of your province.” (Tan Le)
In a thoughtful, provocative piece author Catherine Chung confronts the realities of privilege, prejudice, and “other-ing” in America, tastefully but forcefully calling into question the modern paradigm of post-Obama progressivism.
“I don’t believe my friends mean to be racist, but if we tell ourselves we have no relationship to racism, that we don’t participate and aren’t complicit in perpetuating racial inequality in a hundred different ways each day, we’re kidding ourselves. Myself included. My own silence in the face of discomfort is complicity. We are terrified of racial guilt. But when we’re too afraid to actually deal with what’s happening in the world, to acknowledge our responsibility or what’s at stake, we will be doomed to miss the point over and over again."
Read the full article on therumpus.net.
Deepak Sarma, Professor of South Asian Religions and Philosophy at Case Western Reserve University, writing here for the Huffington Post on the burden of racial profiling in this age of terror and paranoia:
And then 9/11 happened. It complicated things and colored people’s already tarnished perspectives. I again have had to bear the burden, forced (chained) upon me, of being complicit, of posing a potential threat, of collusion and conspiracy merely because of my brown body, my skin color. I must endure and embrace being imprisoned in a panopticon.
What a relief it would be if the vile perpetrator(s) were “white.” What a burden it will be if she/he/they are brown-skinned.
But you may say, “Deepak, this is not about you.”
Indeed.
It is not about me.
For more context, read over this piece from the New Yorker on “The Saudi Marathon man”, a victim of the Boston attacks who was mistaken for a suspect. Meanwhile, recent (and still tentative) reports indicate that a Bangladeshi man was beaten in the Bronx for being “Arab”, in an apparent retaliation for Monday’s events.
Grammy 2018 Nominations: Why We Should Be Happy and Also Weary
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.