It appears that May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. But May is also
a bunch of other things, so who cares about the APA?
So here are some (fun?) links in honor of APA Heritage Month:
AA honor student convicted as an adult for murdering her mother with a butcher knife- God, she looks almost exactly like someone I know on campus. This highlights the seemingly impossible standard that some Asian/AA parents hold their children to that is often complained and bemoaned among the AA I know. Some of us feel particularly more resentment toward our parents than others. I've had someone in middle school confess to taking up a knife with the intent of hurting her father (no, she didn't actually do it). This is the extreme end of the spectrum. I have heard arguments that this parental standard of behavior is nothing less than abuse. I'm not so sure myself. Although I am pretty sure that throwing a booklet of receipts and verbally belittling someone as worthless in front of an outsider/customer is an act of aggression.
Model Minority: A Guide to Asian American Empowerment- I find the members of this site are contradictory to the site's purpose. I think there are some very interesting articles/essays posted on the site, but what is most intriguing are the reaction of some of its members. The one topic that always seems to bring particular people up-in-arms is interracial dating. Well, before coming to college, I would have never fathomed the idea that some males (usually white) could find Asian women to be preferential for whatever reasons (see my cultural inferiority complex reeling its head?). The so-called "Asian Fetish" or "yellow fever." Some Asian males feel particularly threatened by this trend, and some do get particularly defensive in the comments (*coughriccough*). See this post for example. If an AF (Asian female) dares to admit to dating a WM (white male) in the comments, there is always a comment about "white worshipping" or being "white washed." Also, the occasional racist trolls in the comments are both amusing and sad... I really can't comment further on this subject as dating has and never will be a concern of mine, but this site does seem like an oxymoron sometimes.
Alive Project- Okay, so this technically isn't AA, but don't you think we need something more lighthearted after the last two? Alive is a Chinese boy-band, actually man-band may be the more appropriate term considering the age of its members. So what's so special about it? Alive is a combination of a hoax and a promotional stunt. It was created for the sole purpose of filming a mockumentary on HK's music industry called "The Four Heavenly Kings." For two years, the members of Alive learned to sing, released songs and MV online, performed, and acted out the drama of HK's music industry. I look forward to getting my hands on this film in the near future.
Angry Asian Man- the news/link spam of all things Asian American (or just plain Asian sometimes), especially the latest in the "Spot the Asian" in American media game (I love playing this game myself)
3rd Annual 72 HR Shootout- Presented by Asian CineVision and Asian American FilmLab. Starting June 9th, teams of filmmakers, producers, technicians, writers, and editors will have 72 hours to write, shoot, and edit a short digital film up to 6 minutes in length. Yes, 3 days to produce a 6 minute short is nothing short of a constant non-stop sprint toward the finish line. Before you have done it, you have NO idea what a bitch editing is. I think this is an awesome project idea. It's the intense 3-day-long NaNo of filmmaking- except you have to pay to participate.
Hypen- A non-profit AA interest magazine limitedly released nationwide 3 times a year, based in San Francisco. Their site is almost always sadly lacking in update. ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
