Round one might go to the Yankees, 10-7 but let me just point out: 8-0 to 8-7 in two innings. By the way, my man needs a medium-sized version of this t-shirt. Holler back.
It's been a long time since I've seen anything written about the issue of Asian American college admissions. Washington Post columnist Jay Matthews tackles this controversy this week. Matthews avoids writing a strong polemic, instead, mostly using the column to help air out the views of one of his readers, a Dr. Ed Chin, who argues vigorously that there's an informal quota system designed to keep Asian American students out of elite schools like Harvard and Berkeley.
This is nothing new. In fact, UCSC professor Dana Takagi tackled this very same debate over 10 years ago in her book, "Retreat From Race". Especially in the Bay Area, this has been a sore topic for many, given the divisive politics around S.F.'s diversity consent decree and admissions at the elite high school Lowell. Jeff Chang, in one of his previous lives as editor of Colorlines, has an excellent summary and analysis of the Lowell case.
By the way, Chin cites a book, "Beyond the Classroom" by L. Steinberg which says - and even I was surprised to see this claim - that "In terms of school achievement, it is more advantageous to be Asian than to be wealthy, to have non-divorced parents, or to have a mother who is able to stay at home full time." Perhaps this will start a wave of "How To Be Asian" tutoring schools - Kaplan, watch your back.
(credit: Angry Asian Man)
Also over at Mr. Angry's: there's been a lot of grumbling about the recent Law and Order: SVU episode "Debt," which is about Chinese immigrant smuggling with some nods thrown to prostitution rings and sweat shops. S and I watched this the other night and maybe we've been beat down into submitting to stereotypes but frankly, this didn't seem that bad. For about the representation of Chinese, what we winced at was 1) how poorly Ming Na F.O.B.-ed it up...if I were her, I'd leave this performance off her resume and 2) how surprisingly bad both B.D. Wong and Ming Na's Mandarin was. Provided, I assume that both of them probably come from Cantonese-speaking families but still, that was some of the worst Chinese I've heard since Chow Yun Fat stilted his way through Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Tribute to Ignorance keeps killing it. This time, it's an updated essay that tracks the careers of three of the mid '90s most promising talents: Nas, O.C. and Jeru. What a time warp: remember when O.C. and Jeru mattered?
Also leaving suckas dead: We Eat So Many Shrimp. Recent post: Lloyd Banks made gay porn tapes? I have no problem with any part of that rumor but it does give "G-Unit" a whole new meaning, no? (Yeah, I know, I wasn't the first nor last to make that joke)>
Lastly, I'm giving a free talk tonight about the history of the Filipino American DJ scene in San Francisco. This is part of the Norcal DJ Academy's monthly open house sessions. 6-7pm.
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