As we approach Labor Day, I ponder the map of my labor life, my resume, and realize it is the history of the boom and bust of the American economy.
Hired in good times, reduced in recessions. And, because I’m an Asian American, it all works in conjunction with that time honored employment lament, “...
The spectre of the U.S. Justice Department coming down on the First Amendment rights of reporter James Risen should have been bad enough. (See my blog post on Risen here.)
But as the Asian American Journalists Association convened in Washington, DC this week, the situation in Ferguson, Missouri was...
In a time when all the world could use a laugh, we got a shocker.
Robin Williams, who had spent so much time entertaining the world, had forgotten to leave something for himself.
As someone who had covered Williams as part of the Bay Area’s entertainment scene while the arts and entertainment repo...
In my California, home of the severe drought, I grew up listening to the Beach Boys and the dream of an “endless summer.”
I can’t imagine this summer in Israel and Gaza, home of what appears to be the “endless war.”
Actually, thanks to the media reports, I don’t have to imagine the war. I see it p...
When Richard Nixon died in 1994, 20 years after he left office, I can recall how almost all the news stories about him in Washington were like a gigantic free pass. I suppose if you deserve a free pass, the time of your death would be the best time to get one. Out of respect, no one wanted to kick o...
On Fox News’ “The Five,” there’s a move afoot to make it “The Four.”
That’s because the show’s co-host and token liberal Bob Beckel used the racial slur “Chinaman” while ranting about Chinese hackers, whom Beckel says are the “single biggest threat to the national security of the United States.”
B...
On the current immigration issue, President Obama is doing what a politician with no real direction can do: Throw money at the problem.
Asking Congress for $3.7 billion is actually a puny response in a world where $600 billion goes to defense spending.
But it still could end up being a fight anywa...
How about some fireworks to start just to cheer us up?
After a week in which Hobby Lobby made reshaping democracy a new form of conservative arts and craft activity, and residents in a small California town blocked innocent refugee families seeking safety, I worry for America.
And on its birthday,...
I don’t know why I didn’t do it this year. Maybe because it’s too painful, and rounded-year anniversaries give us an easy excuse to let it go.
But I couldn’t help noticing this year, as I looked at the calendar and remembered the dates. There’s really no reason why we shouldn’t call for a national ...
A day after the Washington football team’s trademark of the Redskins name was cancelled, activists are cheering, but the effect is the same.
We are still far from home on the range, or anywhere else, where seldom is heard a disparaging word. So the deer and the pro bono attorneys can still play.
A...
Father’s Day is closing in on us. And while I love to talk about baseball and my dad (see a reprise of my traditional Father’s Day essay here), my dad really was all about the Sport of Kings.
That’s right, horse racing. And you can bet he’d have something to say about what happened to California Ch...
You could tell by his face–Seattle Pacific University student Jon Meis was at least part Asian American.
But the mainstream media mostly used one word to describe him: hero.
Meis wasn’t a victim, like my cousin Stephen in San Francisco on May 3.
Or the gunman, like half-Asian Elliot Rodger in I...
I thought I was pretty hardened after my cousin Stephen Guillermo’s recent shooting death. But when I heard about the Isla Vista rampage and the 7 dead and 13 wounded, I realized Stephen’s case was just a subset of the larger picture of gun violence in America.
Once you’ve experienced the pain and ...
The Guillermo family buried its dead last week.
In a bit of justice for my 26-year-old cousin Stephen, thank goodness I checked my email during the funeral.
Dr. Sophie Clavier, his advisor at San Francisco State, had informed me the school would grant his degree in International Relations posthu...
We all know how elusive justice can be. But just try seeking it after a family member has been murdered–a victim of gun violence.
Amisi Kachepa, the self-professed killer of my cousin, 26-year old Stephen Guillermo, was released from San Francisco County jail this week. The SF District Attorney Geo...
Let’s not bury the lead. I already have to bury the dead.
Stephen Guillermo, 26, my first cousin, once removed, was shot and murdered in his apartment building early Saturday morning after a night on the town with friends in San Francisco.
There’s no crime being drunk if you’re responsible enoug...
May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Is everybody AAPI?
Perhaps not, especially if we are forced to revisit the Vincent Chin murder reinterpreted by someone who is not Asian and was not a direct participant in any of the events of June 19, 1982.
But it happened this week, and it ...
With his media conference in New York on Tuesday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver elevated his game for America.
There was much talk that this would be a defining moment for the league. How about society?
By his actions, Silver was more than just NBA Commissioner.
He was the country’s de facto Race,...
A strike? Boycott? Talk of a union?
Not exactly what you’d expect to hear from a humble Nepalese sherpa. But these days, the Sherpa wants to be seen more as an elite mountaineer and less of a lowly manservant/mule.
Indeed, if Twitter were around during Sir Edmund Hillary’s historic scaling of Mt. ...
