A friend of mine just emailed me about this strange phenomenon we face, that we are intensely scrutinized while remaining completely invisible. People talk about us, hate us, and we aren't expected to ever talk back, fight back. We belong nowhere. We have no rights to anything. Our bodies are not ours, and we have no voices. Well, dear reader, if it's one small thing I can do with this blog, it's fight back the way I do best: with writing. We've got to write about Fong Lee. We've got to write about racist representations of Asians in local theater and we've got to write about yellow peril in science fiction. We've got to give props to our Asian American community leaders because most people don't even believe they exist.I love it already. I'm adding this one to the RSS reader right now. Definitely looking forward to seeing where he goes with this. Keep it coming, Bao. To learn more about Bao Phi's work, visit his website here.
Being an Asian American writer, writing about Asian American issues, is to risk going unread. But maybe that's not the point. Maybe the point is, we need to exist.
Oh, also. Bao's sold-out double CD Refugeography is now available for digital download. As someone who owns a copy of the original CD, I can attest that Bao's spoken word will kick your ass. For the digital version, you also get four bonus tracks and high-res scans of the CD book and tray -- all for a low discount price. Get it here.