Category Archives: asian american

Asian Americans abound in second season of ‘America’s Best Dance Crew’

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We happened upon a two-hour special tonight for the final auditions before the second season debut of “America’s Best Dance Crew,” and got entranced by the amazing moves by the groups from all over the country that tried out for the series. These crews compete with incredible, acrobatic break-dancing and hip-hop popping, spins, leaps and tumbles. (The video above is from MTV.com, on its page of bonus videos from the auditions.)

This is the show that ended its first season by crowning JabbaWockeeZ, a mostly APA group from San Francisco, as the champions. One of the other first-season finalists, Kaba Modern was also APA. Continue reading →

UNITY Conference: Journalists of color are going primetime

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As members of the Asian American Journalists Association, Erin and I will be attending the quadrennial UNITY conference in Chicago in July. I attended the last UNITY conference, which was held in 2004, and it was inspirational. It’s a combined convention of four national organizations that represent journalists of color: AAJA, the National Association of Black Journalists, National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Native American Journalists Association.

Because it’s held every four years, and it happens to be an election year, UNITY attendees will be treated to a forum with Barack Obama and John McCain. It’s a powerful, electrifying sight: The candidates for the most powerful position on Earth coming to speak to a roomful of 10,000+ journalists who look like me, as well as other minorities — who are definitely the majority during UNITY.

The conference planners just announced that the Presidential Forum will be held during primetime and broadcast live on CNN. Continue reading →

“Twittering” the APIA Vote Town Hall

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Internet technology is such a great, rapidly evolving field, that we’re constantly being presented with new ways to tell stories — to do journalism. Who woulda thunk even just 10 years ago that the Internet would be many people’s main source of news and information? Who woulda predicted services such as Facebook, or Twitter, not to mention blogs? How about live streaming video?

All these elements were part of a cool historic moment tonight, when all three Presidential candidates took some time to connect with Asian American voters for a first-ever Town Hall sponsored by an organization called APIA Vote.

The event was held in an auditorium at the University of California at Irvine, an LA suburb, and included the expected speeches and some cool entertainment. JA actor Tamlyn Tomita kicked butt as an engaging, entertaining emcee. Hillary Clinton spoke first to the group via satellite, followed by Barack Obama over the phone, and then a surrogate stand-in for John McCain in person. The whole event was broadcast live over the Internet. A small — too small — group of us in Denver met in a meeting room at the Daniels Fund to watch the live feed. Continue reading →

Who should an APA Heritage Month celebration be aimed at?

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We just snuck out after a couple of hours of Denver’s annual Asian Pacific American Heritage Month celebration, an event sponsored by Colorado’s APA umbrella organization, Asian Roundtable. This free event has been going on for over a decade, and it’s held every May in a community auditorium at the Well Fargo Bank building in downtown Denver.

The Asian Roundtable represents two dozen APA organizations and for-profit companies as well as some individuals. Its member organizations sponsor the event, which runs from 11 am-4pm on a Saturday, kicking off with a buffet and then featuring several hours of performances.

I was involved with this event when I was the president of the Mile-Hi chapter of the JACL, almost 10 years ago. Back then, I appreciated the event because it brought Asian communities together to learn from each other. I was surprised at the time that Asians knew so little about each other’s cultures. One year the JACL brought some basic sushi for people to taste, and people kept asking me, “What is that?” (Sushi, or wasabi.) “What’s the soy sauce for?” (The sushi.) “What does this taste like?” (Try it and see, lady.)

Then it struck me — Asians are so tribal and insulated from each other, that they don’t know anything about the other Asian cultures. I admit, I didn’t exactly grow up eating Filipino or Thai or Vietnamese food. But I’ve embraced all those cuisines, and more, every chance I get. Many Asians (especially older Asians) don’t do this. Continue reading →

Adam Schrager: Honorary Japanese American

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Erin and I attended a talk and book signing with 9News Political reporter Adam Schrager last night, and introduced him to her folks. It was the second time we’ve seen Adam speak since the publication of “The Principled Politician.” This talk was held at Simpson United Methodist Church, which serves the Japanese American community, and it was sponsored by various area Japanese and Japanese American organizations, including the Denver Buddhist Temple, Japanese Association and the JACL’s Mile-Hi chapter.

This was the first time Schrager spoke to a hometown crowd of JAs. Back on Feb. 19 — the Day of Remembrance, a date Schrager purposefully sought out for his first book signing at the Tattered Cover bookstore — the crowd was mostly non-Japanese, with a definite emphasis on Denver media and politicos (Mayor Hickenlooper made it). Since then, Schrager has spoken at the Japanese American National Museum in LA, but here in Denver, his appearances have been on the bookstore circuit. So he admitted during the Q&A when Erin asked him, that talking about his book to an almost all-JA crowd was “intimidating.”

He didn’t act it. Looking his usual boyish self, and speaking with an impassioned conviction, the tall, lanky Schrager reminded me of the young Jimmy Stewart in the 1939 Frank Capra film, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” By the time he finished and everyone convened downstairs for surprisingly good food from Japon and a long line of people buying his book and getting personalized autographs, Schrager had been accepted as an honorary Japanese American. Continue reading →