POP! - Producing Our Power

On Monday night, every section of ETHS 210 came together at Brava Theater for POP! and put on a show to showcase what we learned and gained from class about Asian American culture. Each performance/video was entertaining, and I truly enjoyed every single one. With the little amount of time we all had to prepare, I felt that each class was able to put out quality work. POP! was a great way to end the semester and effectively demonstrate our understanding of Asian American culture in a way an exam would not be able to do.

All four teachers and their TAs on stage.

Here are some pictures I took of the performances by Valerie Soe's class:

Ming Ming Potter and Cho Chang


Ming Ming receives a visit from the evil Voldemort.


Ming Ming is now white!


Dumbledore gives Ming Ming a pep talk & persuades him to become Asian again.


Soe U Think U Can Dance (Tinikling)


Four at once!


"Who Am I" skit - Rejected by the Asian group


Rejected also by the American group.


Bonding over their mutual love for Pokémon.


"This Is I" - spoken word performances

And from Isabelle Thuy Pelaud's class, the hula group dances to Adeaze's "How Deep is Your Love":


My camera ran out of battery just before the succeeding skit, so no pictures of the rest of the performances, sorry!

POP! Producing Our Power Final

P.O.P!, which stands for Producing Our Power, was the final for all of the ETHS 210 classes. The four classes taught by Irene Duller, Valerie Soe, Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, and Isabelle Thuy Pelaud all came together and put on a four piece show that showcased what was learned throughout the semester. It was a night of performances by way of video, dance, spoken word, skit, and music. The show was held at the Brava Theater at 2781 24th Street and York in the Mission district of San Francisco.

Our class split into six groups and all came up with different ways to commemorate the events that we did in class this semester. We had a News Video that was about our midterm and how we commemorated the 1968 Strike at SFSU. Then we had a skit group that dealt with Asian American stereotypes and a dance group that did three different dances. Next was another skit group that did a reading and improv performance through blogging. That was followed by a poetry skit that was about the Korean resistance of Japanese soldiers. The last part was a music representation where two of our peers rapped and talked about Asians making it in the music industry. We concluded our show with a commemoration video of our class, which had pictures of our class groups, our wonderful professor Irene, and our TA Lawrence.

Although we only had about a week to put together our showcase, I think our final performance went very well. I was a little bummed that we didn’t get to watch what our class had put together, but I am sure it rocked. Since the group I was in went second to last, we got to watch the end of our show and it was a wonderful wrap up to the class; props and thanks to the video group for making the commemoration video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esNNubKu4cg

I thought that POP was a really great way to end the semester and sum up our class. Usually teachers give a test to see what their students have learned, but this performance was by far a better way to test our knowledge and abilities. Also, tests are not always the best choice for certain subjects, especially culture. Just as you can’t fully learn about culture through books but rather through experience, you cannot test about culture by way of an essay or exam. It is best to actually get up and show what you know about culture and to let your voice and opinion be heard. This was my absolute favorite class that I have taken at SFSU, and I think this final shows why – it is fun, different, and definitely impacting.

Where the sushi at?

My favorite food is by far Japanese food and I am always going out to eat sushi and what not with friends and family, so I have tried quite a lot of restaurants in the area. Here are what I think of the main ones that I go to:

For sushi:
Sakana Bune
5701 Geary Blvd(between 21st Ave & 22nd Ave)San Francisco, CA 94121
(415) 387-8561

If you want to go to a sushi boat restaurant totally hit up this place in the outer Richmond district of San Francisco. The price range is alright and I think the sushi is pretty good. They also have good udon and Unagi (barbecue eel) bowl. My favorite roll to get is the Sakana house tempura roll, which has crab meat and unagi rolled in rice and seaweed a, deep fried and drizzled with teriyaki sauce. DELICIOUS!

For noodles:
Hotei Restaurant
1290 9th Avenue(between Irving St & Lincoln Way)San Francisco, CA 94122
(415) 753-6045
http://www.yelp.com/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hoteisf.com&src_bizid=ahbIrrZSm2gC1DP6nQ2Dew

This Japanese restaurant specializes in Japanese noodle dishes. I must say that their udon and soba are quite excellent and delicious. The atmosphere inside is very pretty and the presentation of the dishes are nice as well. I would definitely recommend the Tsukimi Udon and the Tempura Soba.

For bento box or entrée dishes:
Traval Okazu Ya
1735 Taraval Street(between 27th Ave & 28th Ave)San Francisco, CA 94116
(415) 759-6850

There are a few Okazu Ya restaurants in the sunset, but I like this one best because they have a large variety of items to choose from and the service is great. Though the place looks small, there is actually a lot of seating because there is a whole room in the back. I like getting one of the pre set dinner combo bento boxes, like one that comes with tuna sashimi, chicken teriyaki, and tempura with rice, miso soup, and tsunemono.

For sushi and bento box:
Sushi Boat
389 Geary St(between Mason St & Powell St)San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 781-5111

I always eat lunch here with my mom whenever we’re downtown because it is convenient and the food is pretty good. This is also another sushi boat establishment (hence the name) and you can just pick what you want right off the boats as they float by. We usually always get a two item combo bento box to share and just grab a few plates of sushi for lunch and we’re full.

** I think sushi boat restaurants are my favorite because if you don’t know what you want, you can just wait for something to catch your eye and grab it and enjoy. So if you have never been to a sushi boat type of Japanese restaurants then definitely try one out and I’m sure you’ll love it. Like I took my cousins from Seattle and Los Angeles to one on Clement Street and they loved it because they didn’t have these back home.

There is also a yummy sushi buffet place in Davis, CA:
Fuji Sushi Boat and Buffet
213 G St Davis, CA 95616
(530) 753-3888

Every year I go drive up with friends to have a delicious sushi buffet lunch with friends and then go visit people in Davis. This restaurant is great for the amount of food that you eat for the price you pay. You only pay like $15 per person after tax and tip for as much sushi, sashimi, tempura, soft shell crab, and a few other items that you can eat.

So i hope these restaurant recommendations are helpful if you are ever at a loss for finding a Japanese restaurant to eat at. You can also feel free to look up these places on http://www.yelp.com/ to see what other people think.

The Real World: Poem Response

"The Real World" is a poem by Justin Chin from his latest book, Harmless Medicine.

There is a real world.
It exists somewhere, outside

The focal pint of my eyes,
Outside the timbre of my voice,
Way outside my pissing distance.

What is this real world?
It can be invaded

By aliens. It can close its borders.
I will find myself on the side
Of a barbed wire, thick as fingers,

Fence higher than God,
In the middle of a field

The size of a continent.
I will not know

Which side I am on,
No bearings, no markers,

Just endless field. A few trees.
Two small mammals. One marsupial.

My body spinning drunk. Pegged
In the sanctity of my deep dark blood.

Go there. Venture

To this real world.
Tell me how real it is.
Be my explorer.

Drink its murky uncharted water.
Tell me what it tastes like.

Tell me if parasites and amoebas
In its deceptively cool gulp

Will kill me, in this,
Our achingly craved real world.

Explorer is out in the real world...reporting back soon.

mMm Dessert!!!

I would have to say that my top five favorite Chinese desserts are Don Taat (egg custard tart), Nye Wong Boa (bun filled with egg custard paste), Jin Dui (deep fried sesame ball), Hung Dau Tong (red bean soup), and Hun Yun Dau Fu (almond jello).

1. Don Taat is my all time favorite, especially with a flaky crust and if they just came fresh out of the oven and are a little warm. Whenever I go out with family or friends to “yum cha” (which directly translates to drink tea, but means get dim sum), we always get these.

2. Nye Wong Boas are really yummy buns, but only taste good when they are warm or else the filling gets kind of hard. It’s funny because I used to hate them when I was little, but that all changed after my trip to Hong Kong. After one dinner, they served us some of these buns and the filling oozed out because they literally just came out of the oven. They were so delicious that I couldn't believe that I ever disliked them.

3. I love jin duis. The crunchy outside and the chewy gooey inside are just so good. When I eat them I like to lick the red bean paste out and save (what I think is) the best part for last – the crunchy chewy mochi shell.

4. Hoong Dau Tong is served as the dessert at most of the Chinese restaurants that I eat at. It is an acquired taste because there are while read beans in it and chunks of taro root. There also isn’t that much liquid in it and the tapioca with all the other ingredients makes it very thick. When I eat it I like to sift out the red beans and just get the liquid and tapioca pearls.

5. I always enjoy a nice bowl of jello, but Hun Yun Dau Fu had to be one of my top picks. It is a little more fragile, like flan, then regular Jell-O brand jello, and has a distinct taste. It tastes excellent alone, but can also be enhanced by adding a little bit of fruit cocktail to it. I also love the smell of the almond jello, and it is strange but in some bathrooms the pink soap smells the same as this. If you have never had this before I definitely recommend picking up a box of the mix and making a dish of it.

You can most likely try these items at any dim sum restaurant along with many other delicious dishes. I would recommend “S&T Hong Kong Seafood Restaurant” in SF on the corner of 33rd and Noriega in the sunset district. Though it is a little pricier than other places, the food is really really good. (But a little tip for finding the place is that the sign outside only says “Hong Kong Seafood Restaurant”.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/s-and-t-hong-kong-seafood-restaurant-san-francisco

Eths 210: Asian American Culture

Ethnic Studies 210 has got to be by far the best class I have taken in my one and a half years at state. I would definitely recommend this class to other students. In the beginning, I was questioning whether or not I would like this class. I’m not the type of student that likes to put myself out there. I rather be the student hiding in the corner. When I heard that this class was not going to be like any or our typical lecture all day classes I was kind of nervous. I remember thinking to myself, “oh man, this is going to be a long semester.” I also wasn’t to please when we were told we were going to have to form groups for group presentations. I’m not too fond of group work especially if it’s with unfamiliar faces, but because we stayed in the same groups the whole semester we got comfortable with each other and go to know one another and were able to work together as a team. As weeks went by I discovered that this wasn’t going to be so bad after all. In fact it was actually a fun class. This class was actually a great class to start off the morning. Even though class started at 8 in the morning, all the interacting and ice breakers and moving around on our feet and other activities we had to do was a great way to wake us up. I am a student who learns by see and doing and that is exactly what this class did. We learned what Asian American Culture was by going out and experiencing it ourselves. Asian American Culture is all around us we experience every day by the food we eat, the places we go, and even at home. This class also taught me that we should not be afraid to be heard. We should stand up and voice our opinion, like we experienced in our midterm the ’68 strike; we should stand up for what we believe in. Though this class is not our typical math science history classes with seem pointless at times, this class is probably the only class I actually learned something in and what I learned I will remember years from now. I learned important life lessons for this class. I’m really glad I signed up for it. So thank you Irene and class for a wonderful semester. I’m sad that it had to go by so fast. It truly was a fun class. A classroom full of energy and excitement and at times an eagerness to learn; it’s been fun. I will always remember the students united will never be defeated. We started and ended big!.. or was it we started and ended with a bang! (haha I don’t remember)

POP: Producing Our Power

POP other wise known as Producing Our Power was the final for all Eths 210 classes. On the night of Monday December 8, all four Ethnic studies 210 classes came together and put on a performance at the Brava Theater on 24th and York defining what Asian American Culture meant to them. Each class had their own way of expressing Asian American Culture many forms included expressions through music, dance, skits, poetry, and video. Each class did a fantastic job. It’s not easy performing in front of an audience I know I for one am scared to perform period. But the night turned out great.

My class divided into five different categories groups: video, skit, poetry, dance, and music. Within our groups we were asked to come up with ways to put what we learned throughout the class into a way of performance. We had about a week to put this all together and yes, we can complain and say we should have don’t this, we could have done that if we had more time to prepare, but I think with the little time we had we still put on an excellent show.

Many parts of our performance did not go the way we would have wished. We can complain all we want about how the lighting was not how we wanted it, the microphones were not loud enough, or all the technology stuff was not working for us, but if you think about it. People aren’t going to remember the things that went wrong in our performances, they’re going to remember the message we gave through our performances.

POP was an excellent way to wrap up the semester. The traditional way to see if students learned anything throughout the semester is by putting pen to paper and giving them an exam. But honestly, I feel that exams don’t prove anything at all. I am the absolute worst at taking test. I understand the material and everything but when it comes to test I just can not do it. I am just a bad test taker. That is why I really enjoyed POP. Yes, I said I don’t like performing, but I felt that this was truly a way to show what we learned and comprehended throughout the semester. This was a way to show, express, and voice our opinion and to be heard by others and that is exactly what this class thought us. This final was definitely an impacting one. I say it really left a mark for Eths 210 classes and teachers. If I wasn’t in Eths 210, I know I would be jealous of the students who were and have wished I was in it one of the classes after watching POP.

Asian American Culture Groups

This assignment was actually one of the very fist assignments but I will write about it now. (Haha) One of our first group presentations was our Asian American culture group project. Each group was assigned an Asian American culture group; Filipino American, Chinese American, Japanese American, Vietnamese American, Korean American, or Cambodian American. My group was assigned Vietnamese American. Our assignment as a group was to research the hot spots in town finding out where they are located in the city, or what kind of food they eat, their big holidays, and other interesting facts. Our group decided to divide this task into parts because our schedules did not allow us to meet up with one another. My part was to research where the Vietnamese Americans were located in the city. This is what I found out…

The Vietnamese American society is called Little Saigon, the name refer to the
capital of former south Vietnam, it is located in the Tenderloin district on
Larkin Street between Eddy and O’Farrell, about 250 Vietnamese American
owned businesses such as tailors, doctors, dentist, travel agents, jeweler,
restaurants, acupuncturists and more work there. And there are two other
little Saigon in California, one in San Jose and one in the orange county.

I have never been to Little Saigon, but I do plan on visiting one day. I love Vietnamese food, especially pho, and what better place to get a nice delicious bowl of pho than Vietnamese town? Last summer, my family actually tried looking for the little Saigon down in Orange County but we had no luck. Our family friend told us there was great Vietnamese food over there but we were unable to find it. Maybe next time!

This assignment helped me learn a lot of interesting fact about the different Asian American culture groups. Honestly, I knew very little about the different AA culture groups but after this presentation I was able to gather a few key details about each group. After presentations were over, Irene had us play a game/do any activity where each group had a minute or two to name as many facts and details they could about the different Asian American culture groups and the winner received a prize. This was to see what we learned and also a test to see who was paying attention or not. I don't know about you, but I do not work well under pressure, so everything that was in my head to begin with suddenly slips out. But nevertheless it was a fun and exciting game/activity and it helps us learn from one another and refreshes our memory about the different cultures.

A Taste of Home

What home taste like to me…I can name a lot of things I love to eat but I guess three things I can not live without...grandma’s and or mother’s homemade soup, white rice, and instant noodles. Of course, like I said there is a lot more I can eat and love to eat, but I can live off of these dishes anyday! As I grew up there was nothing more filling than having a bowl of soup with rice for dinner, it always hit the spot. And though we drink soup every day (because it’s supposed to be good for our health or something about cleaning out our system or some soups are supposed to help with acne problems and the list goes on for how healthy soup is…) I can never get tired of soup. I love soup! Its one of the only dishes I like and enjoy during Chinese dinner gatherings. White rice is another favorite of mine; sometimes I eat white rice by itself. I remember when I was younger I had a contest with my aunt to see who could eat the most bowls of white rice, and I won because it got too plain for her (haha) but yes, I love white rice. And lastly instant noodle, I cannot live without it. Instant noodle was always a delicious snack and for me and it was always a welcome home meal. Nothing yells home like a bowl of instant noodles. Everytime, when I went away on a trip for more than a day or two; I would always crave an instant noodle and mother knew I always did too. So, once I got home from my trip she didn’t even need to ask me what I wanted to eat. She could already predict it and she would prepare a nice comforting bowl of noodles for me to eat. That was plenty more than I could ask for. Instant noodle is actually a comfort food for my whole family. During thanksgiving break, my family headed down to Los Angeles for the weekend. We spent two days eating amusement park food we couldn’t eat another bite. For dinner that night, we actually stopped by 7-11 to pick up some cup noodles which is the next best thing to instant noodles. It was so satisfying I couldn’t ask for anything better. Healthy or not it hit home for all of us.

Fillmore Karaoke

If you're ever with a group of friends with nothing to do, you should cure your boredom by heading over to a karaoke box to make your friends' ears bleed showcase your singing chops. Although the k-box establishments here in the U.S. pale in comparison to the ones in Asia, you can still have a good time and sing a variety of songs.
For my 20th birthday, I went to Fillmore Karaoke (1410 Fillmore St). Since a few of my friends don't ever sing in front of people (booooo!), this place was perfect because the large room included a Wii. Unfortunately, this place doesn't take reservations, so it can be difficult to get a room at a time you want (especially the large room because there's only one). Hoping I would be lucky, I told my friends to get there at 4:00 p.m. (happy hour = 50% off!). I called in at 3:30 and was told that the large room was taken and that I should leave my phone number with them so that they could call me when it's available (by the way, I had to speak in Chinese because the girl who answered didn't seem to understand English very well). Fortunately I did not have to wait too long; my phone rang at 4:15 and they told me that my party can go in.

The room was pretty big and fit my group of 13 people comfortably. I was surprised to see the variety of songs and that, for some songs, had the original music video. If you happen to like the cheesy videos that usually accompany karaoke songs, don't worry. There will be plenty of random images (video clips of a quaint little town during "We Will Rock You"....what?) and other strange videos, such as a female Santa Claus attempting to look seductive.

When the lady at the counter asked me how long I think we would stay there for, I told her two hours. But as our song list got longer and longer, we ended up staying for about four hours. The total was $96 (a bit more than $7 per person for four hours...pretty good deal).

Tak Toyoshima's Secret Asian Man

I know what you want right now: a comic strip with Asian American flare. This comic series, titled Secret Asian Man by Tak Toyoshima, depicts (with humor!) his encounter with eHarmony ads showing couples that were heterosexually and racially matched. Eric McKinley filed a suit against eHarmony in 2005 for failing to provide a same-sex match option. It made sense that there wasn't this option, seeing as the site was created by evangelical Christian Dr. Neil Clark Warren and tied in with Focus on the Family, a religious conservative group. He launched a separate site called Compatible Partners: "The site for long-term committed relationships" to avoid a lawsuit. He probably wanted the everybody else's off on a separate site so he could keep his original idea with only the people he wants in it.

Tak Toyoshima blogs about events, issues, technology, and everything else in between. He draws comics when the mood strikes him, and is pretty well known for the series. He also has drawn a cover for AsianWeek, which has long promoted Asian American artists, as shown below.

Michelle Wie: Pro Golfer

Michelle Sung Wie is an American professional golfer of Korean descent. She was born in Honolulu, HI, and began golfing at age four. When she was ten, she became the youngest golfer ever to qualify for the Women's U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship. At eleven, she won two awards; the Hawaii State Women’s Stroke Play Championship and the Jennie K. Wilson Women’s Invitational, which is Hawaii's most prestigious women's amateur championship.

In 2004, Michelle Wie was 14 and became the youngest ever to play in a PGA Tour, and the youngest woman ever to play on the U.S. Curtis Cup team, giving her the best known trophy for women amateur golfers. Many of those who have played in the Curtis Cup went on to become professional golfers, which was the path Michelle got whisked away in. Now, it was time for the big leagues.

Michelle Wie had reached 6'1" by her midteens, with an average drive of 280 yards. Fred Couples, American pro golfer and former World Number 1 Male Golfer, said, "When you see her hit a golf ball…there's nothing that prepares you for it. It's just the scariest thing you've ever seen."

She entered and dominated a field that was not set up for an Asian American women, and gives great inspiration to a lot of young girls. Michelle Wie became the first female to qualify for a USGA championship in 2005, which is played generally by males. She proceeded to win many firsts for women, and youngest ever, in golfing.

Juban: A Restaurant Review

Scenario: Group of eleven. 9 o'clock on a Saturday night. Hungry at Japantown.
After much indecisiveness, someone finally suggested Juban after discovering that his friend was working there at that time (which means free drinks and whatnot). After entering the restaurant, we were separated into two tables, which, to be honest, made me feel like we were eating as two separate groups. The tables had grills on them, which are meant for cooking your own food. As much as I love eating, I do not enjoy cooking at all, so I ordered a bowl of onmen (hot noodles, spinach, egg and shiitake mushroom in beef broth) while some of the others ordered various raw meats for grilling. Right before the food was served, a waitress came by to light up the grill. My noodles were delicious—the noodles had a great texture and the broth was savory. Two people at my table ordered calamari, which they had fun grilling.

The servers at this establishment were very friendly and polite. No hint of animosity towards their jobs that you can sometimes sense with waiters. I just looked up the restaurant hours and apparently they close at 9:30 p.m., but we stayed past 10:00 without ever feeling rushed.

POP- Producing our Power-Review (Final Journal Entry)

POP, or Producing our Power, was the big, final event that all the ETHS 210 Asian American Culture classes participated in. It was held at Brava Theater in the Mission District from 7 PM-10 PM this past Monday. The students of Irene Duller, Valerie Soe, Isabella Pelaud, and Allyson Tintinangco-Cubales each played a part in the show to represent Asian American culture at its best. Many types of performances were given, including video, skit, spoken word, and dance. Each class had their own unique line of performances to show the audience what message they wanted them to hear.

After the event, I was excited and happy to see all the various types of performances that were executed by the classes. Even though I only got to see performances by Valerie Soe’s class and our class because my group and I had to man the food tables, I got a major impression of what Asian American culture was about and what it was like. Asian American culture is composed of such a wide range of aspects that I do not even know most about. There’s food, dance, music, and many, many more. Just watching the performances makes me appreciate my Asian American heritage even more because I found out that Asian American culture is a part of me. I was built from Asian American culture. I am the way I am because of Asian American culture. Basically, Asian American culture has affected my whole life and the person that I am. Without Asian American culture, I would not even be able to imagine what and where I would be right now. I guess that I would live life without ever caring or putting into consideration what and where my roots come from.

POP was amazing and one of the most memorable experiences that I will remember. I have both attended and participated in numerous performances before, such as concerts and plays but this performance for Asian American culture was special and unique in its own way. It stands out from the rest of the other performances I know. This performance blends culture and its other aspects, including identity, diversity, resistance, recognition, and many more. By incorporating all those aspects of culture into a performance, POP sends out a very strong message to the audience and community about Asian American culture. The audience gets a glimpse and a taste of what Asian American culture is about and they will come away from the performance to inform others about Asian American culture.

I was inspired by the performances in POP. I got sort of a reverberating feeling that everyone who contributes to POP was helping to aspire others and make Asian American culture even stronger in the community. Everyone might have done something different and do something little or big, but every little bit counts because it amounts to something so huge and wonderful for Asian American culture. For example, the skits that people performed each have a different plot and message to them, but they all unite under the common goal and theme that Asian American culture is an important representation for our society. As Asian Americans, we already see that, but it is important for non Asian Americans to realize that too.

Valerie Soe’s class did a really nice job of putting on their show. I loved their skits because they were really creative and funny at the same time. For the Harry Potter skit, I was laughing so hard but also thought, “Aww, poor Harry Potter.” I felt sorry for him but then this skit stressed an important point about Asian identity. Asian Ming Ming Potter turning into a white person really did not help him find out his identity. Thank goodness his friends Ron and Hermione helped him find out who he is and appreciate the person he is, even though others mistreated him. The first video of Yuki, an exchange student from Japan, attending SFSU and bewildered by the American lifestyle of hamburgers, silverware, and drugs, was a very realistic depiction of what immigrants and visitors from foreign Asian countries go through when they come to a new country like America. They are confused and do not know what is going on and are uneasy about the way Americans do things. The second video about John Smith and his encounters with people who make fun of him because he is a “twinkie”- white on the inside but yellow on the outside- reminded me of Lindsey Owyang and the conversation that she had with her older brother about the same subject in The Dim Sum of All Things.

For our class, I thought that we were as awesome as well. We just did our performance in a different way. From what I got to witness from our class, we expanded on the Asian American spectrum of performance and style. There’s Skit #1 with different television shows with Asian Americans incorporating Asian American food and how Asian a person is. The Fear Factor thing with eating the bird egg was cool (I actually saw that episode of Fear Factor on television) but then the part of the skit where a non-Asian person makes the transition and progresses to becoming more and more Asian is even funnier. It really shows the many common characteristics of Asian Americans such as being bad drivers and being good at math. Next was the dance group with hip hop, a traditional Filipino dance, and a slow dance. I liked how the dance group connected modern times and past times with dance because it shows how dance has progressed and significantly changed over the years. The Filipino traditional dance reminded us about sticking to our roots and remembering past traditions. Also, we have to keep traditions and culture alive so that future generations will remember and have knowledge about what Asian American culture is all about. Skit #2 gave an insight of what our class did over the semester by the way of blogging, our common source of spreading our word out to the entire world. My poetry group did a poetry skit where we talked about a scene of Koreans being abused by Japanese soldiers and how they resisted the pain and brutality they endured during those rough times. We showed the audience that poetry was another medium that Asian Americans used to get their words out in a creative way. Lastly, there was Ben and John doing an amazing rap and our class commemoration video to wrap our class performance. It was a great way to dedicate our entire class for all the hard work and fun we’ve had together.

Overall, the experience at Brava and my class made me think about Asian American culture more deeply and see its great importance to me. Asian American culture is something that I can’t ignore or run away from; I will always have it forever and I truly give thanks to my class for helping me embrace my culture a bit further. <3 :)

Asians on Video ...

So just a little while back a friend of mine, Anna, told me to watch these videos on YouTube by Kev Jumba and Happy Slip. It just so happens that they are both Asian American and have videos on relevant topics like interracial marriage, family, and Asian ways of doing things. You should totally check them out on their YouTube channels.

KEV JUMBA:
Youtube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/kevjumba?ob=1

VIDEOS:
“Girls Are Like M&Ms"This video is my favorite and it talks about interracial marriage. Kevin is so right in how Asian parents only want their kids to marry another Asian person and not have mixed babies. Also, at one of the first ASU meetings I went to at SFSU, we had a discussion on interracial marriage and some people had super strict parents which took it a step further and only want them to marry a specific type of Asian, like only Chinese or Korean. So let's take a page from Kevin's book and treat everyone like M&Ms!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlhVwaY7EdQ

“Put It In Purse”
Both Kev Jumba and Happy Slip are in this re-enactment of how Kevin learned how to drive stick shift. It involves family and how Asians are kinda cheap (save a couple hundred by not getting an automatic). It also has a little taste of Asian accents and how it can be hard to understand certain words – “purse” = first.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywWmGbpUKXM&feature=channel_page

Website:
http://www.kevjumba.com/

Happy Slip:
YouTube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/HappySlip?ob=1

VIDEOS:
“Boypren”
This video is about how Christine’s cousin Minnie got a boyfriend. Now Christine’s aunt is gloating to her parents, which shows how Asian families are competitive with their children. It also has a little taste of Asian accents and how it can be hard to understand certain words – “boypren” = boyfriend.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6GmWPS9EWw&feature=channel_page

“Fragile”
This video is about Christine’s cousin Minnie going off to college and her mother getting someone to watch over her at the new school – enter cousin Christian. This is all about how Asian parents and families are so overprotective and like to be involved in every aspect of their child’s life, like picking what college they go to.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3dFBubg7Xc&feature=channel_page

Happy Slip Family: Christine, Dad, Minnie, Grandma, Mom, Auntie

Website:
http://www.happyslip.com/

Asians rockin out on TV

I watch wayyy too much television, but that is what inspired this blog.

I recall reading an article in the Road Trip issue of Hyphen Magazine that talked about Asians and Asian Americans being more prevalent in television and media. Which is true, but there are still not very many Asian actors and actresses out there and they are not really represented anywhere.

From the shows I watch i do see a few Asians here and there, but they are still predominantly non Asians.

SHOWS:
Grey’s Anatomy:
Sandra Oh plays Dr. Chritina Yang (Korean)

One Tree Hill:
Kelsey Chow plays Gigi Silveri (Chinese)
Michael Copon played Felix Taggaro (half Filipino)
Daniella Alonso played Anna Taggaro (part Japanese)

Gossip Girl:
Yin Chang plays Nelly Yuki (Taiwanese, Chinese, and Malaysian)
Nan Zhang played Kati Farkas (Chinese)
Purva Bedi played Clare (Indian American)

Gilmore Girls:
Emily Kuroda played Mrs. Kim (Japanese American)
Keiko Agena played Lane Kim (Japanese American)
Susane Lee played Kyon (Chinese American)
Eddie Shin played Henry Cho (Korean American)
Denice Kumagai played Aunt Jun (Japanese American)
Samson Yi played Young Chui
Also Kim Kim, Jae Woo Lee, and Alexis Rhee played Korean relatives on the show.

Lipstick Jungle:
Lindsey Price plays Victory Ford (half Korean)
Cashmere Mafia:
Lucy Liu played Mia Mason (Chinese American)
Jack Yang played Jason Chung
Purva Bedi played Juliet’s Assistant (Indian American)

Knight Rider:
Smith Cho plays Zoe Chae (Korean American)
Jack Yang played Cross
Suite Life of Zack and Cody:
Brenda Song plays London Tipton (Korean American)

REALITY TV SHOWS:
Dancing With The Stars:
Carrie Ann Inaba – Judge (part Japanese and Chinese)

Top Chef:
Padma Lakshmi – Judge and host (Indian)
Hung Hyunh - chef – Season 3 winner (Vietnamese American)

Project Runway:
Chloe Dao - fashion designer– Season 2 winner (Vietnamese American)

Survivor:
Yau-Man Chan – contestant on Survivor: Fiji and Survivor: Micronesia (Chinese)

Big Brother:
Jun Song – Season 4 winner (Korean)

(Mostly thanks to imdb.com for actor/actress biographies, where i was able to find the Asian ethnicities of these actors/ actresses. Also i got my photos from various websites from a yahoo images search.)

Poem Response

The Mah-Jong Players

under the halo
of a hanging lamp

Yellow ivories
clacking in the night

Tobacco fingers
build walls of China

Circles birds flowers
swirling through the game

The poem I chose to write about is titled “The Mah-Jong Players” from the book Crazy Melon and Chinese Apple – The Poems of Frances Chung. In this poem she is writing about people playing a game of Mah-Jong, which is like the Chinese version of the card game “Jin Rummy”. The poem paints a picture of a group of smoking men playing MJ at a table under a dim light one Friday night. They are probably playing to de-stress from all the work from the day and sit down to a good time. All the jade colored tiles clacking around while they build their walls and then, while the game plays out the different tiles come out – the circles, birds, and flowers. As they are playing I can just hear them talking in Chinese about their lives and also yelling about the cards that are out and what tiles they should’ve kept or not.

I chose it because the game Mah-Jong touches close to home with me. My family and I play weekly after our Friday night dinners. We also play on holidays and any other time we are either at my grandparents’ house or all get together on a Sunday. Although, it is usually just the women in the family who play, every now and then my grandpa, dad, cousins, or uncles will join in. I always look forward to good old family bonding time at the MJ table, but nowadays work and school has not allowed me to go to many of the Friday dinners so I don’t get to play as much – which makes me a little sad.

I can recall many funny memories from games that were played throughout the years. Like this one that involves my Pau Pau (grandma), who really only knows Cantonese, but she has picked up a little English with time. So, one night, we were playing and when she dropped out the bird tile, she said “birdie-ah, cheep cheep.” That made us all laugh and now she always says birdie. Also, it’s funny how my grandpa can play without organizing any of his cards and still win. One time, he was playing and I was standing behind him mid game and noticed all his cards were jumbled, but then all of a sudden he just peeked over at my aunt’s cards and said “oh, nice.” Everyone was saying “hey! No cheating Gong Gong,” but then he plops his cards down with the win. Now I like to peek over at the person next to me’s cards when I pick my own tile and win. Oh how I love the hilarious things my grandparents do!


This is a pic of three "Fat Choy" tiles (and two 4 of circles), where this character is for good luck. You can also see the tile walls in the background and a couple playing hands.

Overall Class Reflection

I can't believe it, the semester together went by so fast. I was re-reading my past posts and I am shocked at how much i've learned in the past four months. I remember (and read) how i was so lost at what asian american culture was, and now i can be sure of myself when i answer, WHAT DOES ASIAN AMERICAN MEAN TO YOU? in the very beginning of class, we introduced some basic facts on some of the types of asians out there. i can now inform people about the genocide of the cambodian race, the traditional holidays of the vietnamese, and that the chinese food we eat, isn't even really chinese at all! and of course there is more i can say, everyones presentation was awesome! Asian american culture is intricate. next, hyphen magazines opened the many different mediums asian americans are trying to get recognized into. asians in the music scene, the movie scene, and the comedy scene. the many different stories opened me up to their life stories, further helping me understand what asian american culture is. asian american culture is hard work. The fall of the I-Hotel, impacted me on such a level i can't even describe. Introducing me into the racial inequality that was experienced by filipinos. Asian American culture is about community. APATURE actually got me going out there into the world in search of asian american culture and ANALYZING IT. what?! i was exposed to art that reflected the asian achievements in the united states, and of course, the cultural struggle. asian american culture is being recognized. the book Dim sum of all things, was another fun way of experiencing asian american culture through another person's eyes. Share their experiences and thoughts, and yet seem like their your own. asian american culture is comedic. the food portion had to have been my favorite. fusing the two worlds together is all about what asians had to do once they migrated. asian american culture is inevitably creative. cultural invasion gave us a chance to share what we learned so far in the semester with everyone else. reliving the strike was just ineffable. recognizing and thanking our forefathers for handling their business and standing up for what they believed in - THEIR RIGHTS. asian american culture is inspirational. the next project of learning asian american culture through poetry helped me even more absorb the meaning of what it was to be asian - american. it exposed me to those who are MIXED, and what it feels like to have even a little asian in them and how it impacted their life. asian american culture is versatile. our last project, POP was just a final bang! our video incorporated our class from start to finish. from listing the different stereotypes we experienced to the TWLF strike. it gave us a chance to gather all our knowledge and share it with who ever wanted it. finally, ASIAN AMERICAN CULTURE IS MY CULTURE!

Miyazaki's Spirited Away

i love this movie, and if you haven't seen it yet, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT! well, spirited away is about a young girl named Chihiro. On their way to a new home, Chihiro and her parents take a wrong turn and end up at a tunnel which seemed untouched for decades. Curiously, chihiro's parents wander off into the tunnel, leaving chihiro no choice but to follow. A mysterious town filled with delicious food on display awaited the other side, and without hesitation chihiro's parents eat the food while she wanders around. Darkness falls and strange things start to happen. The town begins to fill with the ghosts of japan's mythology and chihiro tries to leave the town only to find that her parents have turned into pigs and that the tunnel has vanished into a vast ocean. A young boy named haku finds Chihiro and offers to help her find her way back home.

the movie touches upon the major themes we covered in class; identity and the struggle of adapting to a new environment and culture. The movie shows how important identity is to a person by establishing that chihiros name is the key to getting Chihiro home. When chihiro starts to work for ubaba to try and earn her ticket home, ubaba strips chihiros name from her, and now has to answer to sen. by the middle of the movie she almosts forgets her original name completely. this can allude to our discussion in class about how hard it was for asian-americans to remember and keep their original roots once they arrived in this forgein place called united states. this asian identity, because everyone just wanted to fit in and not be so noticeable like chihiro. we see this struggle root from the struggle of adapting to a new environment and culture. chihiro's work isn't easy in the new spiritual world, she works as a servant and has a hard time with getting comfortable with all the different spirits that are around her. She deals with money issues around her, love, establishing friendship and avoiding possible dangers. She quickly grows from this young, very impatient, and cowardly girl into a mature soul.. for she has no other choice but to. The changes in chihiro and her experiences i see reflect those who we learned about in class. the many changes asians had to go through as a whole. stereotypes - chihiro was pictured as weak and useless because she was human. threats from "superior powers" - chihiro was threatened many times by ubaba to leave the bath house. money issues - chihiro dealt with greed in the movie. ETC. overall, this is an excellent film that not only teaches people about the many themes i mentioned up there, but Miyazaki being an asian, decided to allude the movie to the asian struggle in being american.

Poem Response

Here is an excerpt i chose from the poem, Talking to his Reflection in a Shallow Pond by Ai.

Last night, I dreamed of America.
It was prom night.
She lay down under the spinning globes
at the makeshift bandstand
in her worn-out dress
and too-high heels,
the gardenia
pinned at her waist was brown and crumbling into itself.
what's it worth, she cried,
this land of pilgrims' pride?
As much as love, i answered. More.

Ai pictured a young asian-american girl on her prom night. she feels sad and alone, for when she looks around at everyone around her, she feels different and ugly. everyone around her has nice, elegant dresses while she is left with her mother's old dress because their family cannot afford ones like her classmates. Her high heels much too big and outdated for her generation because they are her mother's also. Like the brown little gardenia, she is crumbling. readers can see and feel her struggle with trying to fit into her new culture and environment. but when it all comes down to it, she has to realize that it is for her best, and her family's best to be living where they are, the united states; the land of opportunities.

I chose this poem because i can relate to how this young girl feels and the poem is somehow comforting. In the rest of the poem Ai writes about how much the country has to offer such as "waves of grain" and "purple mountains", and yet she still feels empty inside. Like this awful heaviness is integrated deep within her soul and she wants it to go away. I can see how this can relate to how Asians who migrated here to the United States first felt. Especially for teenagers it must be hard adapting. From the very beginning we see the struggle it is trying to be "American." trying to fit the part with appearance. and after all this work to try and look the part, she still doesnt feel right and the empty feeling leaves her questioning is it all worth it. don't you think this is how they possibly could've felt. Later into the poem, Ai writes about the day dreamers who are reaching out to her as she floats by, and how she just wants to get away from them. this can allude to the many asians who are trying to establish and get the "american dream" but the young girl wants to run away from this because it is a darkening reality trying to achieve the "dream." in this race, it leaves you with an empty feeling as you deal with racism, hardships, money issues, and identity crisis.

You Speak Chinese?

“My attention turns to the young white man with blue eyes and short-cropped hair
in the ubiquitous blue jeans and sweatshirt. I say, "You speak Cantonese
beautifully. Where did you learn it?" –Nellie Wong, Wintry Interlude

The other day, on my way home from school, I overheard a conversation. This conversation was like any other conversation except it was spoken all in Cantonese. I look around the bus quickly glancing over to see who was talking and to my surprise the conversation was between a Chinese woman and a Caucasian man. Being born and growing up in an Asian neighborhood when it comes to languages I forget that the world is not black and white. There is no rule saying if you’re this race you should speak this language and if you’re that race you should speak that language. We’re in America now and in this culture we are a mix of different ethnic cultures. We like to learn and experience different cultures and there is nothing wrong with that. We should be opening minded and we are. We are open to learning about different ethnic groups. I guess what surprised me was not the fact that he was a Caucasian man speaking Cantonese, but the fact that his Cantonese was a lot better than mine! I’m not saying that it shouldn’t be better than mine, but I guess I was kind of jealous (haha). It turned out that this man was actually a Chinese teacher and the woman he was talking to was one of his students. This incident reminded me of a quote from the poem Wintry Interlude by Nellie Wong because she also encountered a white man speaking Cantonese. It makes me wonder where he learned his Chinese from and how he speaks so perfectly because I know my Cantonese is not good at all and going to Chinese school did not help.

Thinking back on this situation this shouldn’t be foreign to me because a number of people speak different languages. I myself took German and Spanish for a foreign language class and I’m neither of them. For a couple summers now I go down to Mexico and try to speak Spanish. The Mexicans there probably have the same reactions I had when they hear and see a Chinese girl speak Spanish. So this shouldn’t be a surprised to me at all. I think it just caught me off guard as it would to anyone when they see or hear someone of another race speak their native tongue.

Emergence of Asian Americans in the Fashion Scene

As I flip through fashion magazines from the past few years, I notice that the names of Asian American designers are popping up more and more often. Although not as well known as fashion giants like Chanel, Dior, Prada, etc., they are very successful and will still be relevant in years to come, so familiarize yourself with the following designers (I left out Vera Wang because Stephanie already covered her):

One of the most established Asian American designers is Anna Sui. She was born to French-educated Chinese emigrants in 1964 in a suburb of Michigan, where hers was the only Asian family in town. After high school, she moved to New York to attend Parsons School of Design, but dropped out after two years and dove headfirst into the industry. Her first collection was created in 1980, and she ran her label out of her New York apartment for much of the 80s until she premiered her fist runway show in 1991. The following year she opened her first flagship store on Greene Street in Soho and then launched a successful beauty line. Today she has 32 boutiques in five countries and her collection is sold in 300 stores in over 30 countries. Her clothes are always full of energy and are influenced by her current cultural obsession.



Phillip Lim, the creative director of 3.1 Phillip Lim, is much newer to the scene than Anna Sui. His parents were Chinese immigrants and he grew up in Orange County, California. His interests in design stemmed from discovering Katayone Adeli's collection, and afterwards interned and landed a spot on her design team. In 2004, he moved to New York to start his own line with his business partner, Wen Zhou. He describes his work as "classic with a sense of madness."



Another designer who entered the industry at around the same time is Thakoon Panichgul. He was born in Thailand, moved to the U.S. when he was eleven, and grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. With a business degree from Boston University, he worked as a merchandiser for J. Crew and a writer covering fashion trends for Harper’s Baazar, and he studied tailoring at Parsons before starting his own line.



Doo-Ri Chung, a Korean-American designer, started her label, Doo.Ri, in 2001. After graduating Parsons with a bachelor in fine arts in fashion, she worked at Geoffrey Beene for six years as head designer. As for her own line, she had been working out of the basement of her parents’ dry-cleaning store in New Jersey before receiving a financial boost from an Ecco Domani award and the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund.



One of the newest and youngest (only 24!) designers is Alexander Wang, a Chinese American born and raised here in San Francisco. At the age of 18, he moved to New York and attended Parsons, but dropped out by his sophomore year to design his own line. His full collection was launched in 2007 and is now selling in over 150 boutiques and retail stores internationally.


There are actually more Asian American designers than the ones mentioned above, such as Richard Chai, Benjamin Cho, Derek Lam, and Peter Som.

POP! Final

For our ETHS 210 final, we had to perform in POP! (Producing Our Power). I was a part of Skit Group number 2. For our performance, we intended to have Angelie sit with a laptop onstage and pretend she was typing out blogs, and have Abby read the blogs backstage as a voice-over, and the rest of us would be in the background, illustrating what she was saying. We did three blogs; Hyphen's letter to the editor, the food unit, and the midterm.

Originally, we planned to have the stage lights dimmed as transitions between the blogs, but the person controlling the lights didn't dim the lights at all and we had to make do. I think the performance might have been better if we'd have more time to practice, actually have seen the stage beforehand, and coordinated with the lights person so they'd know when we wanted the lights dimmed.

It was pretty hard to get together with so many people having conflicting schedules and living so far from school. I remember when working in a group in high school was much easier, since no one had part time jobs and everyone went to school at the same time. Back then, we could say 'Oh let's meet up during lunch!' and everyone would be free, but we don't even have a lunch time now.

Overall, POP! turned out way better than I excepted it to be. Everyone performing did a great job. I just wish I got to see our class' performance. I was nervous before being on stage, but once I got out there, it was pretty fun.

This is Fashion!

Vera Wang is a Chinese American fashion designer, currently living in New York with her husband Arther Becker and her two daughters. She is most well known for her wedding collection, but she also designs other clothing, as well as jewelry, fragrance, eyewear, shoe, and household collections. She attended the Sorbonne in Paris and graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with a degree in art history. Vera Wang aspired to become a figure skater in the U.S Olympic team, but when she did not make the team, she decided on entering the fashion industry.

Vera started off as a fashion editor for Vogue, and then became the design director for Ralph Lauren. In 1990, she opened her own design studio in New York featuring her bridal gowns; the ones famous today. She has made wedding gowns for many celebrities, including Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Simpson, Victoria Beckham, Uma Thurman, and the list goes on. She has appeared on shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Project Runway and The Apprentice. She creates traditional gowns, as well as modern, short ones and gowns of colors other than white. Her style is elegant, flowy, and very beautiful. She wrote the book Vera Wang on Weddings, published on October, 2001. In June 2005, she won the CFDA (Council of the Fashion Designers of America) Womenswear Designer of the Year award. Currently, Vera Wang has boutiques located in New York, Boston, Beverly Hills, and Waikiki.

The success of Vera Wang shows that being Asian American is not a burden, and that the world is ready for AA celebrities.

Hello Kitty and her many accomplishments

Ever wonder how Hello Kitty came to be, and why is she so loved? Hello Kitty is one of Sanrio's many characters. Sanrio was started by Shintaro Tsuji as the Yamanashi Silk Company in 1960. The company produced a line of character merchandise and it wasn't until 1973 that the company was officially established under the name "Sanrio." The word Sanrio comes from "san" (meaning three in Japanese) and "río" (meaning river in Spanish"). He named the company Sanrio to unify the three rivers of the world. Why? I haven't come across this answer yet. Besides selling their famed character goods, Sanrio also takes part in movie production and publishing. Airing on TV Tokyo in Japan, and CBS in the United States in 1991, "The Adventure of Hello Kitty & Friends" is the first ever made Hello Kitty TV series animation in 3D. They also participate in the fast food industry, running a franchise of KFC in Saitama. They own the rights to the Peanuts characters in Japan and in 2002, they began a joint business with the Walt Disney Company for their greeting cards. Recently, Sanrio went Digital launching Sanrio Digital to expand its brand through the Internet, Online Games and Mobile Services such as Big City Dreams on Nintendo DS.

Hello Kitty was created in 1974, a white cat known for her button eyes, a red ribbon on her left ear, and no mouth. In the very beginning, Hello Kitty, did not have a name and was always pictured sitting down. Her creator decided to forgo a particular expression for Hello Kitty because she wanted Hello Kitty to reflect whatever emotion people were feeling as they looked at her. That's the reason why Hello Kitty does not have a mouth! By 1975, Hello Kitty was named and the Sanrio Company released its first Hello Kitty merchandise, a coin purse picturing Hello Kitty's family. Hello Kitty began to evolve over the years, seen in different poses, atmospheres, and clothing. In 1979, the Hello Kitty world uprooted and in the next year, this kitty sold more than a million watches attracting the young population. Further down the road, Hello Kitty didn't just evolve animatedly, but "Americanly". UNICEF awarded Hello Kitty the exclusive title of UNICEF Special Friend of Children and by receiving that award, Sanrio made hello kitty with a more US design. Trying to expand their audience even further, the black and white series attracted the rest of the grown-up populationby 1987. That same year, a more traditional Kitty design appeared on traditional Japan clothing, in school uniform, beach uniform, and wedding gowns.

None the less, as the years gone by, Sanrio never ceased to surprise the world with many different types of Hello Kitty merchandise and characters. Not only was Hello Kitty seen on accessories, but politically. Since 2004 Hello Kitty has been featured on a MasterCard debit card from Legend Credit Inc. The card was released to teach young girls how to shop and use a debit card. And the most interesting yet, May of 2008 named Hello Kitty the ambassador of Japanese tourism in China and Hong Kong. Hello Kitty has been around my entire life, and yet I can't seem to pinpoint the very reason why i love her so much.

Asian American: Best of Both

I drew a comic on being Asian and American, click to full view.

Chinatown After Sunset

On a whim, I went on a walk around Chinatown last evening (with my camera being my only companion).


I started on California Street and walked along Grant Avenue.
Note: This photo was taken at the intersection on Clay, but this one has a better backdrop than the one I took on California, so I'm posting this one instead.


If you look carefully, you can see a man playing an 二胡 (erhu, aka Chinese violin) on the right. According to Stephanie, he's always there.


What.


A senior citizen chats with the man at the newsstand (who didn't seem to be interested in the conversation, if you ask me).


Unaffected by the darkness, a group of men watch on as two compete in a game of chess in Portsmouth Square.


As I walk along Grant, I notice that most of the shops—bazaars filled with a variety of Chinese gifts and stores selling items splattered with San Francisco motifs—cater mainly to tourists.


Waverly Place, an alley nicknamed “Street of the Painted Balconies,” hosts a number of temples. I would've tried to get a picture of one, but wandering around in a dark alley alone didn't seem like a good idea.


Up the hill, on Stockton, the streets are still busy with locals buying groceries for dinner.



I wonder if they have this many boxes to dispose of every night...or maybe I was just lucky.

CalliGRAFFitti

CalliGRAFFitti takes East Asian caliigraphy and twists it with urban American graffiti art to form a whole new type of art. It's a unique clash between being Asian and American, the old and the new, in a sort of a cultural hybrid art form.

In history, traditional Chinese and Japanese calligraphy was reserved only for the educated and is highly respected as an art form. Graffiti originated in Italy as inscriptions and drawings on walls, and writing on sidewalks and walls is still common in Rome today. The Romans consider graffiti to be an art form, but many westerners consider it as vandalism.

CalliGRAFFiti was an exhibition at ProArts gallery Oakland's Jack London Square. It is a collaboration between Minette Lee Mangahas and nine graffiti writers (Apex, Coby Kennedy, Zen One, Toons One, Amend, Desi W.O.M.E, Denz One, and Lucha) from different cities all over America. On Asian elements, like the parasols, they used an urban element, which was spray paint, and painted on calligraphy and graffiti words. The taggers had to learn calligraphy and the calligraphers had to learn how to tag, despite cultural barriers, so it was both an art form and a learning experience for the people involved. The cinder blocks were the opposite; on an urban element, they painted Asian symbols and words. There was also a basketball game, video, and of course other art in this exhibit.

Minette Mangahas was a student of calligraphy for eight years, and she spent the first four years practicing the character for "one". After graduating from one, she proceeded to the CalliGRAFFitti project. She assigned each of her artists a calligraphy character, like "eternity", "earth", or "healing", and together, they perfected writing the characters and created their own interpretations of them.