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1.13.2019

Read These Blogs


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.

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I'm a Dreamer and a Rhodes Scholar. Where Do I Belong?
A person shouldn't have to be a "genius" or "economically productive" to have access to equal opportunity.

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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.

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Tteokguk for a New Year and a New Start
When Noah Cho was younger, he didn't understand the restorative effect of tteokguk. Now, he welcomes it.

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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?

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A presidential candidate is testing a basic income proposal by giving $1,000 per month to a family
Presidential candidate Andrew Yang, an entrepreneur-turned-politician, is focusing his campaign on helping Americans who are losing jobs to automation. He wants all Americans to receive a universal basic income.

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Alex Wagner's epic mixed-race memoir Futureface makes the case for interrogating our family histories
Political journalist Alex Wagner's book, Futureface: a Family Mystery, an Epic Quest, and the Secret to Belonging, is an exploration of her family's own complicated history.

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'Kim's Convenience' Is A Sitcom About Asian Immigrants — With Depth
Playwright Ins Choi felt the stage was missing stories like his, so he created Kim's Convenience, the acclaimed play that was eventually adapted into the hit Canadian sitcom.

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Karen Chee on Writing for the Golden Globes and Crying at Sandra Oh's 'Unabashedly Korean' Moment
Comedian Karen Chee on the impact of Sandra Oh on her while she was growing up, and on the significance of now writing jokes for Oh for the most recent Golden Globes.

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"You Can Only Tell So Many Dick Jokes." Ken Jeong on Getting Serious in New Stand-Up Special
The Crazy Rich Asians actor on his past life as a doctor, his upcoming Netflix special, and getting serious in stand-up comedy.

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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.

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Lana Condor Talks 'To All the Boys I've Loved Before' Sequel, Noting a "Genuine" Shift in Hollywood
Lana Condor, star of the Netflix rom-com To All The Boys I've Loved Before, shared her hopes for her and Noah Centineo's characters for the second film while looking back on a breakout summer for Asian representation: "Our story is not just one story, we have so many stories to tell."

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Letting the emotions of the moment guide the script for 'The Rider'
Writer-director ChloƩ Zhao and actor and former bronco rider Brady Jandreau used his story of trying to recover from a life-threatening head injury to make the film The Rider.

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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.