Rep. Ed Case (D-Hawaii) was speaking to a room full of Asians.
Uh, no. I don't care where you live, what you eat, who your friends are, or who you're married to. It does not give you honorary Asian status, and it definitely does not make you an "Asian trapped in a white body."
That's a quote. That's what Rep. Ed Case (D-Hawaii) told attendees at an event for Asian American and Pacific Islander voters in Washington on Tuesday night. During remarks at the 2019 Celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Members of the 116th Congress, the congressman -- who is white -- told the crowd -- which was largely Asian -- "I'm an Asian trapped in a white body."
The comment was shared in a tweet by National Journal fellow Nicholas Wu, who was in attendance.
'Baby Cobra' comedian's living room floor routine is significantly less gravity-defying.
You may have seen the video of UCLA gymnast Katelyn Ohashi's spectacular floor routine, which basically broke the internet. The gravity-defying performance earned her a perfect 10 and a legion of new fans.
Among Katelyn's new supporters: Ali Wong. The Baby Cobra comedian (and fellow UCLA Bruin) posted a video of herself performing a "tribute" to Ohashi's routine in what looks like her own living room, complete with a bored-looking spouse on the couch and baby gates in the background.
Let's just say that Ali's routine is significantly less gravity-defying.
Help this mad genius make her first album in nine years.
All right, everybody. Our good friend singer/songwriter Jane Lui is raising funds for her new album Surrija -- her first in nine years -- and she needs your help. She's got new songs, a new sound, a great team of collaborators, and some good old fashioned Spanish inspiration to make what she believes is her best record to date.
"I took a much needed break after my last record and honestly didn't know if I had another album in me," Jane shares. "When I felt the songs again, I hopped on a plane to Barcelona, locked myself in a room for three weeks, and material came rushing through. During these Barcelona sessions, I deliberately wrote away from my normal tendencies to hatch an evolution."
The new series, from Star Trek: Discovery co-executive producers Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lippoldt, would see Yeoh reprise the role of Philippa Georgiou, expanding on the character's current position as a member of Section 31, a shadowy intelligence agency operating within the Federation.
There have been serious rumors about a Yeoh-led spinoff since the end of Star Trek: Discovery's first season, when a deleted scene revealed the Mirror Universe version of Georgiou -- it's kind of complicated -- being approached and recruited by Section 31.
Over the weekend, UCLA gymnast Katelyn Ohashi basically broke the internet with her spectacular, joyous gravity-defying floor routine at the Collegiate Challenge, where she helped her squad win first place.
"A 10 isn't enough for this floor routine by @katelyn_ohashi," the UCLA Gymnastics Twitter account tweeted on Sunday, sharing the video, which has been viewed over 22 million times and counting.
Why We Struggle to Say 'I Love You'
An op-ed by Viet Thanh Nguyen: For many Asian Americans, the phrase "I love you" belongs to the wonderful world of white people we see in the movies and on television.
Plastic thank-you bags have a special history in Chinatown. It's changing.
Plastic bags have a certain nostalgia in some Asian American communities, both for their designs and as symbols of the thriftiness of reuse. As the bags are now being phased out due to environmental concerns, designers are reimagining them as reusable bags that still carry cultural significance.
2086
A short story from T.K. Le about a Vietnamese American family dealing with grief and loss after their grandmother disappears in a teleportation device.
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On Being a Woman in America While Trying to Avoid Being Assaulted
"Sometimes, I'll read a novel written by a man in which a woman walks home alone, late at night, in America, without having a single thought about her physical safety, and it's so implausible that I'll put the book down." Writer R.O. Kwon outlines the daily mental gymnastics many women perform in order to avoid being assaulted.
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Q & A with Senator Kamala Harris
California Senator Kamala Harris was the first female Attorney General of California, the first female Indian American Senator, and the first female Black Senator of California. Now, wiIll she run for president?
Bing Liu Sees Skateboarding as a Tool for Life
Bing Liu's acclaimed documentary Minding the Gap follows three young men escaping from volatile families, and who bond over skateboarding.
Asian-Australian Actors, Overlooked at Home, Flourish in Hollywood
Asian-Australian actors say there are few roles available to them in Australia, and those parts are often ancillary or based on outdated stereotypes. So rather than try to first make it in Australia, many Asian-Australian actors are heading straight to Los Angeles, and succeeding.
An all-expenses-paid journalism program for high school students.
Calling all student journalists! The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) is now accepting applications for JCamp 2019, a six-day intensive, expenses-paid, multicultural journalism training program for talented freshman, sophomore- and junior-level high school students of diverse backgrounds.
"They call it K-rage for a reason and it's not pretty."
Hey, everybody! What's going on? It is time, once again, to meet the Angry Reader of the Week, spotlighting you, the very special readers of this website. Over the years, I've been able to connect with a lot of cool folks, and this is a way of showing some appreciation and attention to the people who help make this blog what it is. This week's Angry Reader is So Yun Um.
'Terrace House' star will make her acting debut as a mutant named Switch.
Lauren Tsai, perhaps best known as one of the housemates on the Japanese reality series Terrace House: Aloha State, has joined the third season of FX's Legion.
Based on the Marvel Comics series, Legion follows David Haller, a man who believed himself to be schizophrenic only to discover that he may actually be the most powerful mutant the world has ever seen.
In her acting debut, Tsai joins the series in the role of Switch, described as a young mutant whose secret ability serves as the key to executing Haller's plan. The third season of Legion is slated to air in 2019.
Di Zhang, an adult services librarian at Seattle's Central Library, helped developed a new curriculum, "Fake News Survival Guide: Resources and Tips for Staying Informed." The free class, offered twice every three months in a library computer lab, promotes media literacy and helps participants -- mostly adult seniors -- navigate the ridiculous amount of misinformation on the internet.
Sounds like the perfect class for your uncle who is still forwarding you those insane Obama-is-a-Muslim emails.
Harry Shum Jr.'s career in Hollywood has been closely associated with director Jon M. Chu for years, having performed in several of his projects, including most recently in Crazy Rich Asians as Charlie Wu (if only for a few precious seconds). They've developed an enduring personal and professional friendship.
To show his gratitude and celebrate the success of their landmark film, Harry got Jon a very unique not-so-small token of appreciation: a ridiculously huge original portrait, custom-painted by Depicteur, featuring the entire cast of Crazy Rich Asians. It was so big, he apparently had to rent a cargo van to haul it over to Jon's place.
Sandra Oh calls out racist casting during Golden Globes monologue.
Sandra Oh went there. On Sunday night, during the award show's opening monologue, the Golden Globes co-host made a joke Sunday night about how Crazy Rich Asians was "the first studio film with an Asian American lead since Ghost in the Shell and Aloha. Heyoooooooo. Whitewashing joke!
Hey, everybody's watching. We had a huge year in Hollywood representation, and one of the people overseeing tonight's festivities is Asian. Whitewashing jokes are more than fair game. Aloha and Ghost in the Shell are easy targets. What we didn't expect: hearing Emma Stone yelling from the audience, "I'm sorry!"
"Son of a firecracker Filipino woman from Cebu" is the first Filipino American to win a Golden Globe.
In another historic moment at the 76th Golden Globe Awards, Darren Criss took home the trophy for Best Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie for his chilling portrayal of spree killer Andrew Cunanan in the FX anthology series American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace.
Criss, whose mother is from the Philippines, is the first Filipino American actor to win a Golden Globe. In a heartfelt acceptance speech, he acknowledged his heritage and dedicated the honor to his mother.
"As we’ve seen, this has been a marvelous year for representation in Hollywood, and I am so enormously proud to be a teeny, tiny part of that as the son of a firecracker Filipino woman from Cebu that dreamed of coming to this country and getting to be invited to cool parties like this," Criss said. "Mom, I know you're watching this. You are hugely responsible for most of the good things in my life. I love you dearly. I dedicate this to you."
May you all win awards and take the opportunity to thank your parents in their mother tongue.
"Sandra Oh made history at last night's Golden Globes ceremony. Well, she made a lot of history. First, as a host: She is the first person of color to ever host the Golden Globes in its 76 year history, and the first Asian to host any major award show. And secondly, as a winner: By earning Best Actress in a Television Series Drama for Killing Eve, Sandra Oh became the first Asian performer to win multiple Golden Globes."
But perhaps most importantly, for so many of us, Sandra Oh's historic night made us feel seen. Like everybody else, I blinked away tears when her name was announced, as she walked out from backstage to accept the award, then took her moment to say "I love you" -- in Korean -- to her parents sitting in the back of the ballroom. And then bowed. May you all win awards and take the opportunity to thank your parents in their mother tongue.
