cleaning out the box

Exhausted. I've been busy doing some traveling over the last day or two, so I haven't had much access to my computer. My mailbox blew up. Aside from a lot of emails from folks attempting to defend or justify John McCain's remarks with one reason or another, here are the two stories that I've received approximately 673 times in the last twenty-four hours:

In South Africa, Chinese is the New Black: On Wednesday, a high court in South Africa ruled that Chinese-South Africans will be reclassified as "black," a term that includes black Africans, Indians and others who were subject to discrimination under apartheid. As a result of this ruling, ethnically Chinese citizens will be able to benefit from government affirmative action policies aimed at undoing the effects of apartheid. More here: S Africa Chinese 'become black'.

Opening the box: Jeff Yang's latest "Asian Pop" column for SFGate is all about Asian America's favorite taboo topic, interracial romance and the "gender divide." You all know what he's talking about, and it ain't nothing new. I'm assuming the "box" refers to Pandora's, because that's usually what gets opened when this topic comes up. Just visit any Asian American issue-centric message board/ discussion forum, and you'll find a heated debate in some form or another. I think Jeff's column really only grazes the surface... but damn, just look at the number of comments it's generated.