Asian Americans as a Movement – Dale Minami
Can you think of other ways the Internet can be or has been used to “understand the commonalities” of being in a specific group as Minami describes on page 15?
From Toi Shan to the Olympic Peninsula Gateway – Ark Chin
I think it’s interesting that, despite all the negative experiences, Chin is still able to view his heritage as a benefit to living in America. Might be connected to the sort of “mental toughness” he says was expected of him by his father on page 20.
The Promise of America – Hoan Dang
On page 29, Dang describes the racism he experienced at Vanderbilt as not being “blatant.” This struck me as unusual, given that I would consider the open use of racial slurs as pretty blatant. What do you think of his assessment?
It’s About More Than Hitting the Books – Susim Chen
What do you make of Chen’s experience with “dressing up” for the first time in college on page 33(“I believe if you don’t have any makeup on, and you cut your hair short, people think you are not interested”)? Do you think she came away from that experience with the right ideas?
No Dating, Just Get Married – Qing Shan Liang
How do you feel about the marital system described of women agreeing to marry just to get to the United States? How do you feel about the change and development in this area Liang describes on page 43?
Making a New Life – Frank Bai
It was very enlightening to read about how tough it actually is to deal with the language barrier. It’s not something I often think about for being an English-speaking person in America, but the difficulty of getting by in a country where your language isn’t widely understood seems immense, and so many like Bai are willing to do it anyways.
Changing the Tide of History – Dale Minami
The question of whether or not interment could happen again in America is a poignant one given the actions and intentions of the current administration. Minami’s point on page 57 that it would be a matter of “political and economic circumstances,” not morality, that decides the viability of internment rings especially true.
Into the Governor’s Mansion – Gary Locke
The point about having role models in this section (page 68) is interesting, even if Locke doesn’t think of himself as a role model. How does this idea of having real role models for people factor into the way that we create diverse characters in fiction for the sake of representation?
Restaurant, Public Office, Even Bruce Lee – Ruby Chow
What’s with the stigma against Chinese opera people specifically, on page 72?
Grassroots Victories – Cheryl Chow
The intersection of racial and gendered stereotypes on page 79 shows what the experience of a Chinese American woman was like. What other dimensions of a person’s identity might further complicate their navigation of social situations as Chow describes?
Marriage and the Green Card – Shamita Das Dasgupta
This section highlights the issue of domestic violence as it affects the South Asian community. Thinking about issues like these in different frameworks is very helpful, as the specific power dynamics of a marriage to establish citizenship were not something that had occurred to me.
Building an Orphanage in China – Ark Chin
Do you agree with Chin’s assessment of the value of cultural identity on page 91? (“I feel very strongly that if you don’t really have a sense of identity, you don’t have this central focus, and the core values to a degree come from that.”) Where else might one derive their “core values,” and would these be better served if derived from a sense of cultural identity instead?
Cowboy from Japan – Hank Sasaki
On page 97, Sasaki talks about music in a way that really strikes true to me: “Country music is really white people music, but music is a global language, so if you’re writing good songs, they can touch everybody in the world.” The idea of music that transcends language is a powerful one, and it’s true that music can be effective even if it’s not in a language you understand.
Jimi Hendrix of the Ukulele – Jake Shimabukuro
The perception of the ukulele as a novelty or a toy as discussed on page 102 is especially interesting, because it’s a sort of association I recognized in myself as soon as I read it on the page. There’s not a lot of exposure to “sincere” ukulele playing in American pop culture.
The Fortune Cookies – Joann Lee
It’s notable that Lee mentions that the songs the group was singing “sounded pretty much white” on page 110. Despite featuring Chinese American singers and marketing themselves with that heritage in the group’s name (also worth mentioning the false notion that fortune cookies are in any way Chinese), the style they were really after was the predominant American style.
From Laos to Iowa – Steve Thao
How do you define the American Dream, as brought up on page 113? Have you ever considered how your vision of such a thing was influenced by your background and upbringing?
Harlan, Kentucky – Albert Lee
What is the significance of religion as a subject raised throughout the piece? Lee takes the time to specify his own beliefs, as well as both of his parents, and talks about the surprising number of Korean Americans he’s met that are Christians for the fact that it is a minority religion in Korea.
Growing Up in Los Angeles – Daniel Jung
The thing I notice in Jung’s responses is his tendency to say that he “never really thought about it.” What do you take away from this regarding Jung’s experiences?
Portland, Oregon – Jeff Andrada
The concept of there being different “degrees” of Asian American on page 130 is something I hadn’t considered. The idea that something like being able to speak a different language fluently would make one “more” Asian American is an interesting perspective from Andrada.
Growing Up in Hawaii – Jake Shimabukuro
On page 135, Shimabukuro describes writing music not just from a specifically Japanese or American perspective. What are the advantages and disadvantages of writing from a universal perspective, rather than writing from a specific background?
Between Continents – David Tang
Similarly, on page 141, Tang talks about how he doesn’t view himself as Asian or Asian American: “I think of myself as David.” His perspective, that his heritage is just one detail that forms the whole of his identity, is interesting, and I’d be curious to know what other people think of it.
Cultural Anchors – Laura Jung
Jung talks about feeling like there was “even segregation among the Asians” on page 146. I think this idea does a great job of breaking down the monolithic term “Asian American,” which almost suggests that all of these different people from different places and cultures are able to be grouped together by virtue of originating from the same continent, and the largest not incidentally.
Of Work and Family – Agnes Braga
The stereotype of Asian women as needing to be quiet and subservient, as mentioned on page 151, is one that consistently keeps coming up in the interviews with women in this book, illustrating the pervasiveness of this stereotype and ones like it.
An Editor of Entertainment News – Albert Lee
The way Lee talks about race in the entertainment industry at the bottom of page 156 raises some good points (“Race always plays a factor in how readers of a magazine or viewers of television see celebrity and how that informs their interest”).
Chinatown, New York – Corky Lee
Lee provides his thoughts on the sort of gentrification happening in Chinatown, starting on page 159, where the fact that tour buses stopped going to Chinatown leads to less money from tourism, which leads to people no longer being able to pay their rent, and thus a lot more apartments up for rent, and more non-Chinese people moving in.
Of Japanese Towns and Cultural Communities – Dale Minami
Minami references the growing popularity of Japanese aesthetics and ideas with non-Japanese people on page 164, referencing Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Girls, The Last Samurai, and Memoirs of a Geisha as results of this trend. He says, “Whether that has an impact on Japanese Americans or not I’m not sure.” What sort of impact might/do these things have on Japanese Americans?
Hmong Community – Steve Thao
This interview seems to emphasize the tensions between tradition and new ways of doing things in the Hmong American experience. Younger generations pushing back against the expected behavior of the older generations is a fairly universal thing, but it makes me think about how these things might be different for an APIA individual.
Vietnamese in Maryland – Hoan Dang
This interview was effective at highlighting the sorts of struggles that people are often faced with that aren’t seen or acknowledged by others. On page 178, the statement, “Oh, they’re Asians, they must be doing well, they don’t need assistance,” covers the assumption people have towards Asian Americans, as well as implies the stereotypes that are held regarding other minority groups.
Living Outside of Koreatown – Laura and Daniel Jung
This interview addresses peoples’ tendencies to stick within groups where they feel comfortable, most often groups of the same culture as their own. In this case the point is being made with newly arrived Koreans observed by Daniel, who would then go on to only speak Korean around other Korean people.
Claiming Space – Shamita Das Dasgupta
Dasgupta provides a great answer to how she identifies herself, saying on page 188, “We have to recognize that we have multiple identities, multiple nationalities, multiple ways of doing things.” This speaks to the complicated realities of human identity, and the fact that truthfully one label like “Asian American” can’t really speak to the whole of a person’s being.
Very Tough Times – Veronica Leung
The impact of an event like 9/11 on Chinatown truthfully isn’t something that had ever crossed my mind before reading this. If anything, it goes to show that there are always people on the margins of any moment or happening whose view of events is paid less attention to, if they get any at all.
New York’s Chinatown: Getting Back on Its Feet – Corky Lee
Reading these interviews, its striking that as much as the direct trauma of the event must have affected people, the failure of the systems in place to provide for people in the wake of 9/11 did plenty of harm to Chinatown. The lack of phone service for six months, the refusal by police to allow people into the area, and the lack of support from FEMA all contributed to the hardships Chinatown faced in the aftermath.
Within the South Asian Community – Shamita Das Dasgupta
The recurring question in this book of whether or not internment camps could happen again in America is really put into perspective on reading the treatment faced by South Asian people after 9/11. Given enough fear and racial resentment, I would certainly believe that internment camps could be a reality again in the future.
Reconnecting – Naomi McWatt
When McWatt describes shutting down to protect herself on page 211, she says she doesn’t know if it has anything to do with her being mixed or not. Does this seem like the sort of thing that would be picked up from the treatment she faced as a person of mixed race, or just an inherent trait without such a direct explanation?
Marriage – Gita Deane
On page 214, the statement “Our silence will also make them pay a price” is an especially powerful one. In cases like these, people tend to think that the active options are to take one side or another, but the choice to do nothing is a choice of its own. In scenarios where people with power and people with less are struggling against one another, doing nothing is to side with the powerful by default. This idea about political inaction deserves attention, so I was glad to see it here.
Being Asian, Being Gay – Albert Lee
Lee makes an interesting point about how his identity as a gay man somewhat eclipsed his identity as an Asian. In a case like this, it’s notable that Lee came away feeling that his being Asian wasn’t ever a problem. In the same way I can’t help but wonder if the persecution he faced for being gay eclipsed some persecution he may have faced for being Asian.
Adopted, from Seoul to New Jersey – Karl Ludwig
On page 233, Ludwig ascribes his choice of career to genetics, stating that his father was in the army, and thus that it must have influenced his own path as a police officer. Do you think this is actually the kind of thing that can be driven by genetic disposition?
Found – Kristen Houghton
Houghton’s struggle to reconnect with her biological family is a far cry from the sort of thing one expects from this kind of story. The Hollywood version of it that one might see would be a happy reunion with tears of joy, if there are tears at all. The reality is that Houghton has long since moved on and to some degree wanted things to stay that way and is now reluctant to reestablish a connection with her family.
Of Personal Challenges and Triumphs – Ark Chin
“The relationship between a man and his Chinese father” on page 248 was something to take in. Hearing Chin describe the somewhat cold nature of the usual relationship and the way that it changed between him and his own father was an effective window into this one aspect of the culture.
Journeys of Self Discovery – Candace Chin
The “internal personal space” metaphor that Chin uses on page 256 quite clearly illustrates the differences she sees between American people and Chinese people. Is this the sort of difference that one is more likely to pick up on for sharing aspects of both cultures?
Hapa with Strong Chinese Roots – Susha Pratt
Pratt’s story of trying to define herself as not fully Chinese and not fully American, but rather fully defining herself by being mixed, is a good choice to end this book on. It gets to the central idea of “Asian American” as an identity, that its not one or the other, but a unique thing of its own.