Fuck the Model Minority Myth. I Just Failed My Biology Final. And the NY Times Agrees.

The New York Times reported today that New York University, the College Board (aka the SAT devils), and a commission of Asian American educators/community leaders released a report that attacks the "Model Minority" stereotype associated with Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in colleges and universities. The report is 44 pages long, but can conveniently be boiled down to four easy-to-remember non-racist points!

1) The term of "Asian American" covers an extraordinary broad number of demographics, with quite a few who DO face serious barriers and challenges in applying to college. (The report shows that the majority of Hmong and Cambodian adults do not attend college, while the most Pakistanis and Indians have at least a B.A. or B.S....which is not a diss to anyone! Just saying we're all individual...uh...API demographics...)

2) We're not all Science, Tech, Engineering, or Math majors! Actually...a lot of us aren't. Actually...almost none of us are. Most of the bachelor degrees earned in 2003 by APIs were actually in business, management, social sciences or humanities. Which is...kind of sad...because I thought I was so special...but I guess...not? This is actually very crushing.

3) Renaming of universities with high API populations like UCLA = United Caucasians Lost Among Asians, MIT = Made In Taiwan, and UCI = University of Chinese Immigrants...is really mean. =( And kind of ignorant. And actually a little racist. That, and more than half of APIs actually earn community college degrees, not public and private four-year degrees.

4) Jesse Cheng had just failed his Biology 65 final. Very pretty literally. Single handedly disproving the model minority stereotype!

And for all you fellow Asian American Studies majors and minors in UC Irvine, you can find the .pdf file with the complete report in UC Irvine's electronic library here! It's a fascinating read!

Propz and Thanks to the New York Times, Angry Asian Man, and Daniel C. Tsang for providing the full report and the news article!

TO ALL HETEROSEXUALS: BE SURE TO MARRY BEFORE JUNE 16TH

TO ALL HETEROSEXUALS: Be sure to marry before June 16th!

Why?

Because, as CNN reports, June 17th will be the first day that California will legally allow same-sex marriages in California! Remember that on May 15th, the CA Supreme Court struck down the state's ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional. The Court then takes around 30 days to wait for any requests for a re-hearing, and then the ruling goes into action.

So, on June 17th, you best believe that we be takin' that shit by storm. The courts will be packed. It's like adding another 10% of marrying couples to the list to get a marriage license. Oh, the lines will make me so proud.

But to all of those who believe the end of the world is now officially coming, it's not.
And for all of those who believe the fight for same-sex marriage is now over, we're miles away from the finish line.

So everybody just chill for a second. AND THEN LET'S ALL GET REALLY MAD, cuz the fight really is just starting all over again.

Anti-same-sex marriage advocates are fighting for a constitutional amendment to the state of CA to be put on our Nov. ballot, that would re-establish the ban on what I am now calling "happy marriage" (the dash on my keyboard just broke, which means I can no longer hyphen the same-sex, in same-sex marriage (it just broke again)). It's very possible that it will pass, and that voters in CA will be able to vote to ban or affirm "happy marriage" in November.

Anti-same-sex marriage advocates are also fighting for a national constitutional amendment to be made to ban any "happy marriage" in the U.S.

And remember, the only other state to allow happy marriage is Massachusetts. And only residents of Mass., Rhode Island, and New Mexico (and now CA) can marry in Mass.

New Hampshire, Vermont, New Jersey, and Connecticut permit civil unions (which is more like "content connectedness" rather than "happy marriage"), and CA also has a domestic-partner registration law (which is more like...a domestic-partner registration law rather than "happy marriage").

A dozen other states DO give same=sex couples (i found a replacement for the hyphen) some legal rights (which is kind of like saying that some states give people of color partial voting rights).

So I guess that means all of us (for and against happy marriage) still have a lot to work to day. SO NOBODY FREAK OUT YET! Unless, of course, you plan on getting married on June 17th. Then Congratulations, and plan on bringing an Nintendo DS to play while waiting in line for your marriage license.

-JCheng

Life of a Campus Organizer Pt.2

Part 2 of Life of a Campus Organizer! We work hard for the students!

Jackie Chan Is My Hero

Fig 1.1 Jackie Chan as the "Drunken Immortal" in "Forbidden Kingdom"...coming April 18th!
Jackie Chan's best haircut to date: Dreadlocks.

Diet of a Campus Organizer

Man, I just got way too lazy to type shit out anymore. And videos are fun! I hope this converts to my facebook.

I Wonder If Andre 3000 (OutKast) Is Voting?

So I was listening to the classic track "Git Up, Git Out" by OutKast just now when the question occurred to me:


Who is Andre 3000 from OutKast voting for in 2008?


And this question occurs to me because of Andre 3000's fabulous rhyme in the song:

"Y'all tellin me that I need to get out and vote, huh. Why?

Ain't nobody black runnin but (racial epithet directed towards whites that rhymes with slacker), so, why I got to register?

I thinkin of better shit to do with my time

Never smelled aroma of diploma, but I write the deep ass rhymes"

And of course, now I'm asking the question if he's voting because indeed, a (semi?)black candidate is indeed running. Of course, the song kind of ignores the fact that in 1984 and 1988 Jesse Jackson did indeed run for Presidential Candidate, and for a time, seemed to be the front-runner. But I guess Jesse Jackson's campaign has become somewhat of a joke nowadays, a campaign history that even Obama's campaign seeks to distance itself from (especially when one of Clinton's campaign strategists said something to the extent of "It's O.K. Obama won S. Carolina. So did Jesse Jackson, back in the day."

So, in context, the song asks something deeper than "Why do only white people run for President?" The song actually asks "Why do I have to vote when my interests will never truly be represented by a viable candidate running for president? Why can't I just make head-banging music that sneaks in political consciousness into millions of youth and makes me millions (from youth)?" And i think that's the real challenge for Obama, something that he'll really have to prove before I ever wholeheartedly endorse him (altho I seem to heartily endorse him, it's not wholeheartedly). The real challenge that just occurred to me


It's fine that you're a person of color. So what? If I vote for you, and you don't do shit for us, I'll still have better things to do with my time, writing deep ass rhymes.

Fig 1.1 Andre 3000 from OutKast. So, sir, is that a vote for Obama, then?

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The Shortest, Sweetest Story

The shortest, sweetest story:

"For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

Ernest Hemingway, my friends.

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Asian Drinking Games That Will Last Days (Even Months)

So one of my friends from the Bay and I were doing long-distance TV watching one day (long-distance TV watching is when you and your friend watch the same TV channel from two totally different locations in the world and make snide little comments about the show over AIM. It's extremely gratifying and you get to feel the full force of 21st century technology.) when we both feel like getting long-distance drunk (long-distance drunk is when you and your friend drink the same brand of liquor in two totally different locations in the world and make snide little comments about each other on your cell's speakerphone. It's much less gratifying and has been heavily associated with alcoholism. Not suggested.).

So anyways, we break out one of her grandfather's ancient Asian Drinking Games. The ones that involve a lot of singing and drunkenness. It goes like this: Turn your TV onto a really popular TV channel, like NBC. Then, break out your bottle of sake. Everytime an Asian person comes on screen, scream "ASIAN" into the speakerphone and take a shot of sake.

When we started, I had a full handle of sake.

Hours later, I had a full handle of sake.

Days later, a rerun of Grey's Anatomy came on, and I decided to stop playing. To save my almost-full bottle of sake. (Best Buy has this commercial with an Asian salesman selling TV screens. It came on 5 hours into the Drinking game. I didn't actually see it. I was asleep when my friend yelled "ASIAN" and I took a shot of sake out of reflex.)

On that extremely positive note:

On Feb. 7th, Nickelodeon is going to premiere a new animated series on Nick Jr. called "Ni Hao, Kai-lan" (hat-tip, Hyphen Blog). It's a show aimed at preschoolers, and stars a little Chinese American girl named Kai-lan, and her grandpa YeYe. It's a show, in a kind of similar fashion to Dora the Explorer, I suppose, is bi-lingual, with Kai-lan teaching children Chinese, and her grandpa YeYe showcasing a bunch of Chinese customs and traditions (dumplings, lanterns, Lunar New Year, etc.etc.) According to the show's website, the show's goal is to go farther than what "Dora the Explorer" did and not only expose children to the idea of bilingualism, but also biculturalism.

You know what? I mean, I know it's like Mr. Corporate Nickelodeon, and there's probably a chance of this show just promoting stereotypes, and etc.etc. but I think I'm really looking forward to this show. Like really. Something about it makes me smile (maybe it's this picture of dragon boat racing: SO CUTE!)

Fig 1.1 Kai-Lan, YeYe, Her Tiger, Her Koala, and her DragonBoats! SO CUTE!

And I mean, I call my grandpa YeYe. Sure I don't call my little sister Kai-lan, but I mean, the world doesn't always have to reflect my life. And YeYe passed down Chinese customs and traditions to me. I've learned lot from him, and his hornrimmed glasses. It's about time he got some airtime.

And I mean, it sure speeds up the Asian TV Drinking game.

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Emails From Pingping

I got an email from my little sister today, it read:

HI JESSE!!!!
daddy wants you to write more blogs like about the 2008 Hillary/Obama/Republican New Hampshire thing......
....
I mmiss you Jesse...
Well, that's about it....

For all of you who don't know, my father actually founded and runs a "Blogger/Facebook" like website for Chinese people. You can find it here, at www.mentor100.com. (Note: I know there are sometimes a lot of feelings attached to reading/understanding a Chinese website, especially if you're Chinese. If you are Chinese, and still can't read the website, don't feel too bad. Neither can I.) My father usually takes my posts from this blog and posts it on his website, where I get (not) a lot of traffic and am quite (not) famous. So I want you to know, Dad, that this post, this is one meant for you to read.

Hillary won New Hampshire. I was angry. Like, I was really really angry. Irrationally angry, you know? Because Obama didn't lose by that much, and Clinton isn't a horrible person who never deserves to win. But I was really angry. I want Obama to win. I want Obama to sweep the primaries. I want Obama to kill the general election. I want Obama to win so bad that people, all people, will be crying in the streets in amazement by how much he won by.

Because if Obama wins, I can see my future. If Obama wins, I can say, I can do it too. And you know, maybe they'll burn effigies of him in the South. Maybe he'll just barely win. Maybe his election will be as controversial and fake as Bush's 2000 election. But if Obama wins, I could win. You know? And that's big. That's really big. To say that one of us made it.

I remember a long time ago, and my mom and I were in the car, and my mom was listening to talk radio trying to learn English, and I remember I said something, something like "I want to be the President when I grow up", and I remember there was a red light and my mother turned around to me and barely whispered, "I'm sorry."

If Obama wins, my mother won't have to apologize for the color of my skin.

And so I was really angry when Hillary won. And I forgot. I forgot that Hillary grew up in a time when women going to college was still kind of a novelty. I forgot that Hillary went to law school when the percentage of women going to law school was not 50%. I forgot that Hillary became senator when women senators are not popular, and I forgot that Hillary Clinton is running a campaign to become President and while she was running that campaign, two men went up to her and screamed "Iron My Shirt!!" I forgot that ABC News still thinks "Can A Woman Really Be President" is a legitimate question.

I know if Obama wins, I can say, I can too. But I forgot that if Obama wins, my little sister probably can't. And if Hillary wins, maybe she'll have a better chance. So I'm not angry anymore.

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