Through different combinations of social media, in-person connections, and good ol’ Googling, I’ve found a variety of different Asian American organizations. I’m not familiar or involved with all of them, but I wanted to post some of the list to share solidarity in community.
18 Million Rising: 18 Million Rising (18MR) brings Asian American communities together online and offline to reimagine Asian American identity with nuance, specificity, and power. We are using this Asian American identity as the foundation to build a more just and creative world where our experiences are affirmed, our leadership is valued, and all of us…
A while ago I signed up for an online essay class where we learned and wrote in different styles. Our first one was list, and one of the prompts was to write about someone we knew really well. I decided to write about Jonghyun, and to think about that dynamic celebrity creates: we feel like we know these people, but really we don’t.
I didn’t really know you, but it felt like we all did.
“Sherlock Clue + Note”
I was still learning everyone’s name, and for the longest time I thought you were Taemin. I remember noticing your cheekbones…
I’ve had a lot of mixed feelings about coming out, especially as a cis-gendered straight person. Even though I’ve known and identified as asexual for a few years, in my mind I still saw it as “I’m still attracted to men, thus socially acceptable, so what’s the point?” But I’ve talked to a lot of my queer friends who’ve encouraged me that being ace is still an important part of the queer community, and you know I’m a sucker for a good “representation matters” story.
As I thought about being ace and coming out more, I started paying attention to…
I’ve seen too many lists of “top recommended songs for new K-Pop fans,” and each one that’s written by a major, non-music related outlet gets very predictable. However, it’s never a complete list without SHINee.
Pick any song or music video to start: “Replay,” “Lucifer,” “1 of 1,” “Good Evening,” or “Countless,” to name a few, and you can’t go wrong with their constantly changing styles. Originally with an R&B influence, SHINee debuted in 2008 with the instantly recognizable “Replay.” The members — Onew, Jonghyun, Minho, Key, and Taemin — started off with the expected boy bad charm and charisma…
Don’t do it y’all, just don’t do it.
In about two weeks it’s Anime Boston, one of my favorite things ever in the city. Anime fans from all over are spotted across the city in different styles of cosplay, earning weird (almost scared) looks from normal people everywhere. I love cosplay, both wearing it and photographing it. But there’s one trend, specifically in the anime community, that needs to stop: wearing a kimono as a costume. AKA: cultural appropriation.
“Cultural appropriation” isn’t a new term, a lot of people have heard it and now at this point (depending who you are) the first reaction is immediate eye rolling…
By now, you may have heard of the massively popular subtle asian traits, the Facebook group full of memes and inside jokes started by a group of high school kids in Australia.
From that sprang dozens of other Facebook communities like subtle curry traits, subtle asian dating, and even subtle asian Kevin traits. But there’s one offshoot with even bigger plans — merchandise, showcases, a book, and maybe even a convention — the Asian Creative Network.
The Asian Creative Network (ACN) was started in November 2018 by Han Ju Seo, a third-year undergrad student at Washington University, St. Louis. She’d…
In the vast canon of Sherlock Holmes, only one woman stands out: Irene Adler. Introduced in the short story, “A Scandal in Bohemia,” Adler receives the dubious introduction as “ the woman.” She’s an object of affection or desire, because the great detective Sherlock Holmes could never feel something so base as love; instead Dr. Watson recalls that to Holmes Irene Adler “eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex.” Now over a hundred years and two successful TV shows later, Irene Adler evolved from a mildly scandalous New Jersey opera singer to the classic femme fatale.
A standard trope…
As a film crew sets up shop in Los Angeles’ Chinatown, a little girl watches with rapt attention. Pestering the crew with questions about the movies and hoping to end up in one, she earned herself the nickname C.C.C., Curious Chinese Child. Years later, her loitering around would pay off when a casting agent in need of Chinese extras put her on screen and launched the career of one of the most successful silent actresses and one of the first Chinese American actresses in Hollywood: Anna May Wong.
Anna May Wong’s parents owned a laundromat in the original Los Angeles…
This morning, I woke up to 3 news alerts from the AP, Guardian, and Reuters saying that China had ended its one child policy. I read it, and got quiet. I didn’t really know what to think, but I knew that it had a tremendous affect on me. And that feeling stuck with me for the rest of the day.
It’s not like I was perpetually sad the rest of the day, but I kept seeing the story shared around on Facebook — I even shared it myself — but every time I saw it I just got quiet. I…
