I was glad to hear that Sam Yoon became the first Asian American elected to Boston's City Council. And remember Jun Choi? You might recall that he was ridiculed on air by radio show hosts who said racist things like a name like Choi was not “American enough” to be mayor. Well, guess who was just elected mayor of Edison?

In Texas, some not-so-great, but not-surprising election news. Voters overwhelmingly passed the addition of a same-sex marriage ban into its constitution, becoming the 18th state to do so. Never mind that it’s already illegal. But just to make extra sure, they got to go add it to the constitution.

Here in California, Schwarzenegger got the smack-down when his measures didn’t pass, then left for a trip to Asia. This story about his trip to Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing, “Selling California to Asia, seeking re-election at home,” ran in the SF Chronicle yesterday, emphasizing that it’s not just a trade mission to China, but a way to court the Asian American vote. While it’s nice to see a big mainstream paper covering the Asian American voter, the story makes generalizations about us (pro-business, fiscally conservative). It also fails to mention other groups besides Chinese Americans (Yes, I know this is about his trip to China, but really, if we’re going to talk about the Asian American voter, let’s not talk about the “Asian community” like it’s only made up of Chinese people.)

Anyway, today is my first day back at my day job, and also back to Hyphen. We’re busting our butts right now to put Issue 8 out and just had an awesome photo shoot yesterday. As Claire wrote earlier, we need to hear from you to help shape Hyphen. What did you like or not like about the Body Issue? Email letters to us at editorial (at) hyphenmagazine (dot) com. We might even print your comments in the next issue.