Monthly Archives: March 2010

NH State Rep. hates on anime, says it’s a “prime example of why two nukes just wasn’t enough”

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Nick Levasseur, enemy of anime.

Holy cow, what was this guy thinking? New Hampshire State Rep. Nick Levasseur posted on his Facebook wall earlier this week that “Anime is a prime example of why two nukes just wasn’t enough…..”

Huh? That rates a WTF?! from any perspective.

Otaku Review, an anime fan blog first picked up the quote, then Levasseur confirmed he posted it on his personal Facebook account, and apologized for it. At least it was a real apology, not one of those “I’m sorry you were offended” non-apologies. Levasseur admits it was a stupid comment, in a response to a question from Otaku review’s L.B. Bryant:

I would like to deeply apologize for the insensitivity of this post. It was a poorly thought out comment, posted jest on my private facebook page. It was never intended to be viewed by anyone other than friends. This, of course, does not excuse the comment. This type of statement has no place in public or private discourse. It does not represent any true opinion, political or personal. My record in the New Hampshire House shows a commitment to equality and social justice. It is a record of which I am most proud. This comment is a disappointment not only to the people of New Hampshire, whom it has been my privilege to serve, but also to my own beliefs and moral code.

Huffington Post picked up on the gaff via a TV station, and other blogs and news media are spreading the comment and subsequent apology around. Good. But the apology begs some creepy questions that remain unanswered: Continue reading →

A last-minute Census reminder for Asian Americans

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I’ve been meaning to post a reminder for everyone (non-Asians too!) to fill out your U.S. Census forms, or if you don’t get it done and postmarked by the end of March, to be sure respond to census workers when they come to your door in the months to come.

It’s especially important for ethnic minority communities to be counted because an accurate accounting means every community will receive the federal services and funding it deserves. And remember, this has nothing to do with citizenship, or whether you’re a student, visitor, legal, illegal, whatever. It’s just counting people across the U-S of A.

Here’s an article from the JACL about the Census and why it’s important:

JACL Says “Get Everyone Counted in the 2010 Census”

By Phillip Ozaki and Carla Pineda

Another decade has gone by, so that means its Census time! The JACL is making extraordinary efforts to make sure everybody in our community gets counted. Over $400 billion in federal funding is at stake. One person left out is equal to a loss of $1,300 over the next 10 years to his neighborhood. Everyone deserves a piece of the pie so make sure to get your forms in at the beginning of April. Historically, racial minorities have been undercounted including Asian Pacific Americans, and the JACL hopes to prevent that in 2010. Continue reading →

Next on visualizAsian.com: Meet Corky Lee!

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I caught Corky Lee preparing to shoot photos of singer-songwriter Cynthia Lin at a 2006 Asian festival in New York City (picture #22)

We’re thrilled to announce the next interview of visualizAsian.com’s Asian American Empowerment Series, a free one-hour conversation with award-winning photojournalist Corky Lee, who has captured Asian America through his lenses for over three decades! Register now for the call, which will be Tuesday April 20 at 6 pm PT — this one’s going to be extra-special!

In addition to the conversation that you can listen to as usual, via phone or webcast, we’ll be showing Corky’s work in a slideshow, and you can vote on your 10 favorite images from the 30 shown here, and Corky will share the stories behind the Top 10 during our talk!


Continue reading →

A quick note to readers…

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Yes, I know I’ve been slacking off my Nikkei View scribblings for more than a month now. Sorry about that. I’ve been busy with the day job (which I enjoy a lot, working on Internet and new media stuff for MediaNews Group Interactive, the parent company of The Denver Post, San Jose Mercury News and 70-some other newspapers across the country. And Erin’s now executive director of the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival (expect a blog post about that soon) and I’ve been helping out with CDBF’s website and social media efforts.

Those are all excuses, of course — I have time if I make time. I made time for the next visualizAsian.com call today, so I figured I should check in with you all, and let you know I have stack of topics to write about. If you’ve sent me a CD, a DVD or book recently, I owe you extra apologies. They’ll all get their due in the days to come, I promise!

Blogging’s a great outlet for me and I won’t stop, but I do end up taking breaks from time to time when I get busy elsewhere. Life gets in the way….

If you want to keep up with my babbling even when I’m absent from the Nikkei View, check in with me on Twitter or Facebook, or even FourSquare. At the very least, you’ll know where I’m eating all the time! I find these other outlets a faster and more convenient way to post links and make quick comments. I often intend to follow-up on stuff I Tweet about as blog posts, but then I get swamped and don’t get to them and it seems like old news by the time I turn to the blog.

So, there you have it. I’ll try to post something and clear out the backlog this week.

Thanks for hanging in there, and being patient!