- Speaking of the model minority myth, here's an opinion piece by Alex Kuo, an English professor at Washington State University about the myth and how racism is alive and well in academia.
- The San Jose Mercury News has a story on the founder of Song That, the country's first Vietnamese gay and
lesbian radio program, which started 10 years ago: For a decade, Song That Radio has waged war against homophobia. - That's a lot of heavy stuff I just threw at you. So here's a more uplifting item. Here's a nice profile in the L.A. Times about Tad Nakamura, a filmmaker who just finished a triology of documentaries about Asian Americans. I screened his first film, Yellow Brotherhood, about Asian American activists fighting drugs in their community, at my shorts festival, Slant: Bold Asian American Images, a few years ago. His second film, Pilgrimage, is about a 1969 trek to Manzanar to draw attention to Japanese American internment. And the newest film, A Song for Ourselves, is about musician and political activist Chris Iijima. It just premiered this weekend in L.A. to a sold-out crowd.
- Lastly, I know this is a few weeks old, but I just want to say that Anoop Desai aka Anoop Dog was robbed -- robbed! -- on American Idol when he was voted off. Dude shocked the hell out of Simon and company with his soulful voice at the auditions. They didn't expect such a voice out of a shabbily-dressed grad student. (He's studying folklore at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.) Granted, one probably shouldn't go to auditions in flip-flops and shorts, but Simon just had to make a remark that Anoop looked like he just came from a meeting with
Bill Gates. (Newsflash to Simon: Not all South Asians work in Silicon Valley.) Anoop was funny and charming and hey, any man whose college honors thesis is on barbecue as religion has got my vote. There are rumors he might re-appear in the wildcard round. Let's hope he does.
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