Social Media Racism, Revisited

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Once again, my university makes a splash in the Asian blogosphere and is highlighted in the metropolitan newspaper for having overtly racist students. Angry Asian Man, Colorlines, and the Columbus Dispatch all covered a new tumblr called OSU Haters, which highlights outrageous tweets by students of my beloved place of higher education, The Ohio State University, some of them by the afore mentioned OSU Asian twitter account. It seems that my first post about racial encounters in social media was only…

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On Two Decades of Blacklava and Celebrating the “Other”: A Taiwanese American Perspective

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I recently attended the 20th anniversary celebration of Blacklava, an online store for “all things Asian American,” which was founded by Japanese American Ryan Suda. I had heard about this event at least a month prior, and even though it was taking place in Los Angeles, I was compelled to fly down from the San Francisco Bay area, where I live, in order to celebrate this occasion. “But it’s just a T-shirt company,” you may say. “And it’s not even a Taiwanese American thing…” I’m…

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In Memory of my Son, Keimay Yang – A Devoted Supporter of ITASA

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I am Agnes Wu, and I would like to share a story about my son, Keimay Yang, which happened nearly five years ago… one month before he passed away. As Ho Chie Tsai, the founder of TaiwaneseAmerican.org and a friend of my son, shared with me, “Keimay spent more time thinking about others, not just friends and family, but even strangers. His true character really shined.” It is this story about Keimay’s values that I hope will resonate with the ITASA community: One late afternoon in September…

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The Spoken Word: Say You Heard My Echo

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[caption id="attachment_7562" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai, Adeeba Afshan Rana, YaliniDream"] [/caption] I was fortunate enough to be back in NYC to catch the opening night of Say You Heard My Echo, an evening-length spoken-word poetry theater project written by Chinese Taiwanese spoken word artist Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai. In lovely contrast to the vignettes and tantalizing glimpses found in traditional spoken word pieces, SYHME is a rich and immersive feature-length…

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To Date or Not to Date

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“Oh, definitely a white guy.” There’s this game that we play amongst my group of Asian American friends. We try and predict whether our friends are going to end up with Asian/Asian American partners or…not. When it came to be my turn, there a resounding consensus that no, I would not end up with an Asian guy. I believe “white, for sure,” was the phrase that was used. Accompanying this assertion is the explanation that Asian guys “can’t handle” me…whatever that means. I don’t…

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The Fat and the Furious, Part I

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TaiwaneseAmerican.org is proud to present the first in a series of blog posts exploring the topic of body image and self-esteem in the Asian American community, an often over-looked subject. We asked our guest contributor to share her most personal thoughts on the topic. We thank her for her openness. The Fat and the Furious, Part I By SH Chang I’ll be honest- I hate my body. And I have for awhile. From the tippy top of my head (too dry and itchy), down to my ears (asymmetrical), eyes…

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Asians are Bad Drivers, Asians are Bad Drivers, Asians are Bad Drivers?

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Guest blogger Charles McDonald is a hapa Taiwanese American who has spent several years living and working in Taiwan. He mentioned to us a year ago that he intended to start a Taiwanese-inspired clothing line. Back then, it was just an idea, but a year later, his company has become reality and showcases some interesting Taiwan-themed designs all printed on Made in Taiwan T-shirts. The IDCY brand is available online and occasionally at select Night Market locations. We at TaiwaneseAmerican.org were…

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Twitter Wars

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We all know when someone says something about race that just isn’t quite right. When you feel a twinge of repulsion, a flick of alarm, a feeling of disgruntlement. When you are not quite sure whether to be offended or not, or can’t decide if you should call that someone out, or what exactly you should say in response. This is what we call a “microaggression.” It is commonly defined as “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional,…

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Event Recap: TAP-NY’s First Annual Nightmarket

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by Clarissa Wei **We asked freelance journalist, Clarissa Wei, to do a feature of TAP-NY's recent nightmarket event. Here is her recap article published in the Village Voice (original article here), along with some scrumptious photos she took at the event. Thank you to Clarissa and Bob Wu of TAP-NY! We wish we could have been there too!** By 7 p.m. on Friday, the atmosphere outside of the old firehouse on Lafayette was already beginning to look impatient. Bouncers checked for ticket confirmations…

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Filmmaker Timothy Tau Pays Tribute to Pioneer Actor Keye Luke

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By Eric Kao Have you ever heard of Keye Luke? If you haven’t, check out Taiwanese American filmmaker Timothy Tau’s new short film, KEYE LUKE, about one of the pioneer Asian Americans actors in Hollywood. As an American actor of Chinese descent, Keye Luke was best known for playing Lee Chan, the "Number One Son" in the Charlie Chan films and Master Po in the television series, Kung Fu. Many will also remember him as the masked-sidekick Kato in the 1939-1941 Green Hornet series. Timothy…

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