Asian Americans usually never miss the boat. But maybe we have when it comes to Rush Limbaugh. (That would be a big boat, too.)
If you haven’t heard Limbaugh try to sound like your Asian ancestors, that’s good. You’ve been spared the slur.
But to hear it may be different.
Just a few weeks back wh...
As an Asian American and the longtime writer of a column called “Amok,” I felt a strong spiritual obligation to be at the inaugural celebration of Fred T. Korematsu Day held last Sunday, Jan. 30, in Berkeley.
Now here’s a guy who went amok in the most metaphorical sense of the word.
Sunday would h...
If you feared that this State of the Union address would be a sharp right turn from hope and change, relax.
It was the best speech our first bi-racial president searching for middle ground could make.
President Obama was purposefully in the key of C all night. No sharps. No flats. No real exciteme...
The final list isn’t official yet. But if San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and Oakland Mayor Jean Quan are among the guests at tonight’s state dinner for Chinese President Hu Jintao, then surely someone in the Obama administration can make space for Tiger Mom.
Tiger Mom?
Unless you’ve been living in a m...
It’s official. And in Asian American history, it’s a big deal.
San Francisco’s new mayor is named Lee—Ed Lee, the first Asian American of Chinese descent to hold that position.
Anyone who jokes that he’s mayor because they lowered the height requirement, you’ve got to like. Then again, you might j...
In California, with 4.4 million Asian Americans–the most Asian state in the nation–Jerry Brown is once again the chief executive.
Are you ready for the pain?
Previously a two-term governor at age 36, Brown is back for a third term at age 72, after a mid-life spent in pursuit of the White House, an...
I don’t know about you, but I’ll be watching Sunday night football on Tuesday and feeling happy that Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania will be out of office on Jan. 18.
It couldn’t come soon enough.
He may not like it that America is getting “soft,” but that doesn’t mean he has to go borderline raci...
Too many historic votes in the Senate this past weekend. Some good. Some bad.
So maybe it’s appropriate that my week began by attending a funeral of a young Asian American.
My nephew Brian Francisco was just 31, an American born Filipino with a little “rasta” accent thrown in.
A “Rastapino,” we c...
When Barack Obama gets in trouble, he usually rallies with a rousing and passionate speech. But his compromising ways have turned him into just half the man we thought he was.
So as the hot talk in Washington turns to tax cuts, we don’t get a passionate president fighting for the common man. We get...
This week when Congress is expected to finally vote on the so-called Dream Act, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) will vote to kill it.
And what of his one-time role as a lead sponsor of the original bill many years ago?
It turns out THAT was just a dream.
Hatch is one of a handful of legislators now poi...
For all journalists, this I know to be true: We all love a good leak.
It’s the sexy part of the news game, to reveal something that heretofore was so off-limits and so verboten. That makes it one lucky day when a reporter is leaked upon for subsequent dissemination. It’s practically orgasmic.
Stil...
In the last few weeks, airport security has gone X-rated in the hunt for terrorists. A new era has arrived when airline passengers are being quoted in the New York Times saying, “I didn’t really expect her to touch my vagina through my pants.”
We didn’t have to go there. But we have. And we’re stil...
Nineteen years ago, the musical Miss Saigon first came to Broadway with a white actor augmented by eye prosthesis and bronzing cream to make him look more Asian.
Sound a bit too Charlie Chan-like for the modern day? It seemed that way to me, and I said as much in a commentary on NPR at the time.
A...
George W. Bush smiled and chatted up Matt Lauer on the Today Show Wednesday. “I’m enjoying selling the book,” Bush said. “My debating days are over.”
Yes, with his memoirs out now, Bush is all about retail. And I certainly understand his not wanting to debate.
Who wants to get into a debate, say, ...
So Democrats lost the House, but the Republicans couldn’t win the Senate.
It means on the national level, we are in for two years of “incremental nothing,” when things only seem to be happening but aren’t. We’ve seen gridlock before. And it really isn’t too bad–if you’re at a parade. Makes it go sl...
Even before the results are in, the Tea Party has impacted this year’s mid-terms.
But have you seen any Asian Americans in its ranks?
I haven’t noticed any. Which leads me to wonder, how can you call yourself a TP and not have enough Asians in it to fill a teepee?
Where are all the Asians? Servin...
While we wait to see if New Jersey prosecutors will pursue hate crime enhancements against Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei in connection with the outing of Rutgers student Tyler Clementi, is there anyone out there in the community who may want to see this with a more positive spin?
Just think, after year...
