All Blog Posts (6)

6th Annual Austin Asian American Film Festival Nov 12-15 Buy your Full Access Badge Now! RSVP is recommended. All-Access Badge Features: On Sale now $50! Provides admission to ALL screenings and events with actors and directors, no waiting in line, VI… Continue

Bowing is part of our culture- it's a sign language for politeness, deference, and respect. A week ago, I had witnessed a store owner wrongfully accusing a mother's toddlers of vandalizing property before the mall security officer. I was ready to offer myself to testify as a witness in case someone moved forward with charges, but my parents chided me for being "nosy"- since it wasn't my business to be involved. Every time I think about this, I'm reminded why the American public shies away from… Continue

I had never been self-conscious of height until I stopped growing in 5th grade (I blame it on the coffee machine left out at the parent-teacher conference because after that first sip, my growth was forever stunted.). Standing at 5 feet at the age of 10, I hated being shoved at the back of each class picture. At this point, I should mention that I attended an all-Asian school. Context shifted, right? It's no surprise that we've been conditioned to "down-size" anything with the word "Asian", jus… Continue

We're tea fanatics. Since the beginning of Chinese culture, the presence of tea has been in our lives- you see it served in restaurants before every meal, regardless of the time of day you're eating. Heck, I bet when the Chinese heard about the dumping of tea into the Boston Harbor, they were more than traumatized (come on, those Americans shouldn't have wasted anything in the first place..). Unlike the Brits, to us tea possesses more of a stigma- not to just class behavior, but to age as well.… Continue

Up here in the North of the North, also known as Canada (Happy belated birthday to us!), the size of the Asian population is continuously expanding. At twenty-something, I may not be far from contributing to that phenomenon, if you know what I mean. Also at twenty-something, I have developed a desire to take part in the global conversation; and to do so as the proud Asian-Canadian that I am. The blogosphere is vast. The Asian-Canadian blogosphere? Not so much. I would like for The Tofu Press… Continue

A couple of years ago back in high school, I attended a diversity conference NAIS/SDLC (National Association of Independent Schools/Student Diversity Leadership Conference) in Miami. The purpose of the 3-4 day conference was to reinforce our racial identities through participating in “privilege” activities and brainstorming ways on how to improve diversity at our schools. 4 of us represented our upper-class white school- but by some strange stroke of chance, we came to evenly distribute each rac… Continue