Conforming our faces to Western glasses

There's this movie called Iron and Silk, where a white man goes to China to teach English... It talks about the culture differences and he gets to experience discrimination. He builds a nice rapport with his students, and one day they're talking about the differences between the Western world and theirs. One of his students says, "Your face... it's so 3-dimensional..."

I recently went to see the movie "Bolt" in 3-D at our local theater... I'm wearing 3-D glasses for this movie, and coming out of the theater I get these marks above my cheeks from where the glasses were sitting. This reminded me of how uncomfortable my safety glasses at work were... they wouldn't sit at the bridge of my nose and instead cut into my cheeks. This is because these glasses were designed for non-Asian faces. Maybe it's time we design safety glasses for Asians and stop trying to conform our faces to the Western world!

Frozen Pork Mini Buns - Any good?

So I was at Jungle Jim's, which is what I would describe as a grocery store crossed with Disney World. Fun place to go shopping, they have more international stuff that many of the mom and pop Chinese stores... all in the outskirts of Cincinnati Ohio.

I picked up a package of "Wei-Chuan" brand frozen pork mini-buns (there's got to be a "that's what she said" double meaning in here somewhere), figuring it could tide me over if I had any dim sum cravings.


After steaming in the rice cooker, I pulled one out, took a bite... and it was actually really good! Even complete with the juices that flow out of the bun, which gives it even more authenticity (Chinese people will know what I'm talking about). The meat had the right flavors, almost (dare I say) Chinatown like taste?

Is voting for your own race right?

So in one of my friend's blogs, she mentions how it irritates her that people vote along racial or gender lines... i.e. African Americans voting for Obama because he's African American. I used to think that way too, but with experiences over the last couple years, I've completely changed my tune.

At work, they wanted to improve the numbers of Asian Americans to reflect the population of the P&G consumer. So they created "affinity groups" where people of similar backgrounds got together and tried to help each other and the company. Like most people, at first I was very skeptical. I was born and raised in the US, I fit in with Americans, but now you're taking me out and now pointing out how I'm different. Now, I realize just how great it is to be a part of an affinity group... some of us may have been born here, some of us may have been born in Asia and only lived in the US for a few years, but one thing I learned that we had in common: We all had Asian parents, and we learned that they did all the same quirky things as my parents did. I started to understand why I was who I was.

Now I realized I wasn't the only kid who felt guilty about watching Saturday morning cartoons because I should've been studying math. And why I play the violin. And why until recently why my dad was so stressed out about my sister not being a science major. And why at the age of 6 I wanted to be an engineer. And why I feel so conflicted when my parents want to buy me a car after I got my MBA. And why my mom was really surprised to find out that Xavier University was a real college after I toured them. I'm sure any of my Asian friends out there can add more.

So the answer to why voting for an African American president when you're African American is right? It's not that a black person is voting for Obama because he's black... it's because he's grown up with similar experiences as they have. There's no one better to understand race relations than someone who's gone through it. If an African American person votes for an African American president because he's African American, I would venture to guess that they agree on maybe 60-70% of their values. Now if you vote for a Republican because he's Republican, I would venture to guess that percentage is much lower. And for some reason it's OK to vote Republican if you're Republican.

I just read an article that immediately illustrates why having Obama as president changes things... suddenly racial diversity is no longer a taboo subject; instead it should be embraced. Although I wouldn't have been so quick in dropping the "a mutt like me" remark, I actually would call someone like him a "mix." I think of it as best of all worlds... Tiger Woods is a mix. My sister's kids will be a mix. When hitting on non-Asian women I try to use that as a pick up line. Hasn't quite worked yet, maybe a mixed-race person as president will help my cause?

Chinese Characters- not just pretty pictures

From Independent.co.uk: Chinese 'classical poem' was brothel ad

A respected research institute wanted Chinese classical texts to adorn its journal, something beautiful and elegant, to illustrate a special report on China. Instead, it got a racy flyer extolling the lusty details of stripping housewives in a brothel.

There's a lesson here. Chinese Characters-not just pretty pictures.