I'm won over

[alectoperdita]

“One of the biggest things I deplore about our culture, Asian culture, is this need to be perfect. It comes from a place of arrogance to think we’re perfect because that means we believe we’re better than everybody else. We will always be looked at through a filter of one dimensional positivity and never as multi-dimensional humans. It’s because of this insidious need to be perceived as perfect that, as a culture, we rarely ever directly address topics of taboo and dysfunction. We deal in avoidance, suppress emotions, turn away from confrontation, only to let it fester like a cancer so it eventually expresses itself in ugly ways...The reason why I’m producing this K-TOWN show is because I want to celebrate being Asian and all the wonderful baggage that comes with it! Yes, we Asians are smart, play the piano, work hard, but at the same time we’re sexy, stylish, have swagger, and we can party and fuck up just like everybody else."
- Mike Le

The article is deeply personal and surprisingly honest. I feel it comes from a place that a lot of Asian Americans share about their heritage and background- our ambiguity and reluctance about how and where we fit.

Comments

[cheeky_duckie]

I have no idea who the dude is, but he sounds intelligent and well-reasoned.

I'm (obviously) not Asian, but it always struck me as interesting the way one of my best friends in college struggled to both hold her identity as an Asian woman, and reject the things about it that drove her to depression and anxiety. She had very traditional parents, and was constantly under pressure to be better, be smarter, etc.

Also: her mother was everything the Asian stereotypical mothers are. That woman could yell from one end of the country to another, I swear. I was so, so scared of her. (Fuck, I never see her, and I'm still scared of her!)