The Conversation
- “But he hit me back first!” (13)
- Siegfried: If it was a Russian or any other white man who told blacks”to go back to Africa”, it would...
- Raguel: I saw that Spike Lee film “Do the Right Thing” years ago but still can’t understand it.
- bigWOWO: Stele: “Care to qualify that statement? Even if that were true, you have to look at this case on its...
- Two podcasts that address racism in the military, and Danny Chen the person (9)
- Raguel: The origins of racism in the American military as described by loudestfuckingazns is accurate. Very recently,...
- bigWOWO: Sorry, Larry, just noticed that the spam robot junked your comment. Approved!
- bigWOWO: Agreed. It just has more weight if you include your name. Not that the ideas are any less valid, but it just...
- Facebook IPO (5)
- King: Actually WOWO, I bump into plenty of Asians up at the Art Center College of Design http://www.artcenter.edu/a...
- bigWOWO: Agree with King. This might not be a bad thing for Asian Americans to hear about. We can jump off the STEM...
- Raguel: People are too accustomed to thinking about value only in terms of money. Even artists are guilty of it. Some...
- Stop SOPA and PIPA (7)
- Raguel: Found a great website, take a look at this: https://www.cdt.org/ Why should privacy be important, in an age...
- Raguel: Following the temporary shelving of SOPA and PIPA in the long line of net neutrality battles, the feds and...
- Chr..: “Asian American men have to get more involved, not less. It’s a civic responsibility, and you have to...
- Activism is as activism does (10)
- trolldetector: Brooks also goes onto say ‘You should attach yourself to a counter-tradition and school of...
- bigWOWO: By the way, speaking of activism, there was a great David Brooks column recently. He talks about how people...
- Raguel: I have no experience whatsoever with activism. I simply do not feel safe participating in it. There is always...
- How to Win a Streetfight (18)
- bigWOWO: No worries. I feel the same way. Nothing against her, but just doubtful.
- Raguel: Hi Byron! I’ve been occupied doing a lot of reading and thinking recently. I suppose its just another...
- bigWOWO: Hey Raguel, What about your comments on ASSK?
I agree with everything you said. About #1…I think...
- What Cultures Value (19)
- UFC 117 Sonnen vs. Silva Recap (1)
- bigWOWO: I think Michael Bisping solved the Chael Sonnen puzzle today, even though he lost a controversial decision....
- 6 on 1 Beatdown of Asian Man (36)
- King: “I mean I look around me and 99% of the time there are no women that look like or dress like Adriana Lima...
- SWR: Apparently the girl in the second video was not the girl who filmed the fight. It was probably unwise of her to...
- Raguel: I mean I look around me and 99% of the time there are no women that look like or dress like Adriana Lima in...
- Selfish Reasons To Have More Kids by Bryan Caplan (Review) (6)
- bigWOWO: Jeff, You called it! They were (if I recall correctly) 7 (twins) and 2. He’s still in the honeymoon...
- jeffat8asians: “Overpaying?” With the possible exception of college tuition (and even that is arguable),...
- Hitler: Kids suck lol.
- The Asian Rock Thread (16)
- ben: I’ve been getting into Asian rock music recently so thank you all very much for uploading all these videos.
- Simple Pickup on ABC News (132)
- Tommy: I think I’m coming here more for Moro’s comments than BigWoWO’s posts.
- Moroboshi: I didn’t say that. All I said was guys who believe in HBD are the same guys who probably also follow...
- Chr..: Moro, I don’t want to argue with you anymore! You seem to think that AMs are just as popular as other...
- “Lazy” Americans and the Decline of the American Middle Class (6)
- bigWOWO: But kobu, how can we have literature and art without money to support artists and writers? About...
- kobukson: I don’t know why everyone seems to think the notion of the decline of the middle class is such a bad...
- bigWOWO: There are a lot of veterans (supposedly) on that site. I can kind of understand it–military guys are...
- Aung Sung Suu Kyi Movie with Michelle Yeoh (45)
- bigWOWO: Eurasian, Lee Kuan Yew has always been upfront about Singapore’s hybrid system. To the best of my...
- Eurasian Sensation: @ BigWowo: New governments following independence or a major power struggle often have the sort...
- N: @bww And ironically, one of the rare democratic successes in the region that is Singapore behaves much closer to a...
- Paper Pushers by the Stunt People (4)
- Andre M. Smith: I divide my year annually between New York and Shanghai. One of my common visitations in the latter...
- Raguel: Smiley tests 8 )
8( - Raguel: ROFL! Thank you for thoroughly destroying Amy Chua, Andre. WELL SAID ^_^ You know the destruction is so...
- Amy Chua: Chinese Conceit, Chinese Ignorance, and the $24,000 question (245)
- Andre M. Smith: I believe some useful purpose will be served by offering here, what the lawyers might like to call,...
- N: What’s your opinion on Yundi Li and Yoyo Ma.
- Andre M. Smith: Amy Chua has never lived in China. Her understanding of its culture, that is, the culture as it’s...
- How to Finish Life With No Regrets (9)
- trolldetector: ^ i’d agree with that. but i wouldnt call them ‘idiots’, just misguided. crazy media...
- N: Agree with Jeff that not one regret is unlikely, the key is learn from it. Another way to look at it is that...
- American Jobs and India (14)
- lingyai: I am not sure what happen there with my name, that is not my email, so just ignore.
- lingyai@hotmail.com: @bigwowo Just because the average income in India is $2 a day doesn’t make a person...
- AM/AF couple: Nottyboy, Yes, just like every place of employment, upper management needs to do a better job in terms...
- Literary Fiction vs. Realistic Fiction and the Literary Hierarchy (6)
- Sana Rose: Well, now I am confused. I still can’t classify the novel I am writing.
I wouldn’t say...
- Sana Rose: Well, now I am confused. I still can’t classify the novel I am writing.
- National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2012 (32)
- Raguel: http://www.occupydream.org/ ^ I heard about this from Russell Simmons. I hope that things develop well to...
- Raguel: So is that the reasoning for why you don’t need the right to due process? Are you some kind of fucking...
- N: @King The constitution gave power to the states to benefit white america or the constitution gave benefitial power...
- When Your Fan Base is Full of Crazy People (24)
- N: @American girl Too be honest, I don’t really see why this video that ‘disgusting’ –...
- Mitt Romney and the Problem of Wealth (6)
- Raguel: Where do people get their information and knowledge from, though? Media, and education, word of mouth only...
- “But he hit me back first!” (13)
Monthly Archives: March 2009
Sylvia Plath's son kills self
Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath
Very sad–the son of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath has killed himself. He hanged himself.
Their family history is quite tragic, and they have a long history with depression. Plath gassed herself while her children slept in another room. Feminist groups blamed her husband Ted because he had left her for another woman, a woman who ended up gassing herself and her own daughter.
Really sad.
Who's to blame?
The Pham family
Man, talk about the mortgage crisis affecting families. In the NY Times today, they profiled several families and individuals who have lost massive deposits on real estate purchases in the New York area: Up in Smoke. The Pham family above, for example, put down a deposit of $93,199 for a $956,990 2 bedroom apartment in Hoboken, NJ. They signed the agreement in 2005, but when their closing date came around this past September, they no longer qualified for a mortgage without putting more money down. Since they don’t have the additional funds, they are going to lose their entire $93,199. Even for rich folk, that’s a lot of money. Toll Brothers, the builder, is refusing to give them any of their deposit back.
Picky Eaters
From my upcoming post on Rice Daddies:
I saw this Omamas post on the topic of picky eaters. It’s a podcast that provides advice on how to get your kid to eat a balanced diet. According to Connie Warner, the dietician, one should not force one’s children to eat, one should not bribe kids with other foods, and one should not allow children to snack too much throughout the day. I’m guilty of the first two.
This is a popular topic, as I saw Kimchi Mamas had a different take on the issue just last month.
I guess we all have our theories and practices, and I suppose there is no single correct answer. As for me, I’m probably in between the Omamas dietician and the Kimchi Mama, but I probably lean somewhat towards the Kimchi Mama. I will sometimes heat up something different if I know my son will absolutely refuse to eat what we’re eating, but I will ask my son to try different things, and I will pressure him to a certain degree. My reason is this: it’s not just about diet. It’s about respecting the different foods that nourish us, and it’s about learning to like different tastes. I actually find it hard to go out with people who are very picky eaters, and I’d prefer that my children have a wide range of foods that they are able to eat. Enjoying a wide range of foods, I believe, opens up a wide range of social and cultural opportunities in life.
The R-Word
Special Olympics Ad Campaign
President Obama was on the Tonight Show last night, where he was joking about his bowling ability.
He told Leno that he bowled 129 in the White House bowling alley and said his bowling skills are “like Special Olympics or something.”
I’m actually surprised that he said this. To me, it would seem obvious that the president of a country that has mentally impaired citizens would not joke about them in this manner. I used to volunteer with the Special Olympics, and those kids have nothing to be ashamed of–they work hard, and they compete to the best of their ability. In many ways the spirit of the Special Olympics is better that of the Olympics–these athletes pull together and support one another without the cutthroat mentality that exists among the non-disabled crowd.
Information and Segregation
Kristof has a good editorial here: The Daily Me. It’s about how the demise of newspapers will push people towards the web, and how when we search online, we tend to become our own gatekeepers and move towards articles in which we agree with the author. We then fail to challenge ourselves because we surround ourselves with people of similar views.
Typewriter Envy
Olivetti-Royal Typewriter
(Picture from here.)
It’s part of the writer’s toolbox: the typewriter. I wrote longhand for the first twelve years of my life. When I moved to a new school, they required papers to be typed, so I learned how to type on a typewriter. This was back in the day before there were computers in every house. Typing on a typewriter tends to be a more pensive activity than writing on a computer; because it takes more time to correct mistakes, one has to think a bit ahead of one’s actual typing. From my experience, it’s much faster than writing in longhand, but it’s slower than computer typing since one has to wait for the mechanical parts to stop moving (electric typewriters tend to be a bit faster than manual typewriters).
Recalibrating
bigWOWO has been in operation since September 23 of 2008–six months this Monday. Originally I was hoping to post almost all commentary on Asian American issues. I was thinking that it would be similar to my work at the 44s, with perhaps a more experiential and less theoretical foundation. I think to a certain extent I’ve succeeded in that, but I’ve also branched out into different areas, and the end result has been quite different from what I was originally anticipating. This change has come about mostly for three reasons:
Bicoastal Bitchin'
I blog and say what I have to say about Asian American culture; however, I post on a whole bunch of other stuff as well, including politics, literature, and other stuff. There are just too many interesting stories out there.
Anyway, it makes me happy when I find other Asian American blogs and bloggers that also heavily emphasize the Asian American part of the web conversation. My most recent discovery, thanks to Minority Militant and Larry, is Bicoastal Bitchin’. This stuff is FUNNY. There are three bloggers who post on a whole bunch of various stuff, including comics, the remnants of colonialism, and…ding ding…IR! It’s definitely a new take on things. I like the fact that they’re snarky and sometimes crude, and I really like the fact that they also organize events. Community, as I’ve said many times, is in.
Flannery O'Connor biography
Flannery O'Connor
Some of you writers may be interested in Brad Gooch’s biography of Flannery O’Connor. I saw this in the Economist. Writers these days often do research before writing, and many feel that they can’t write without research. Ms. O’Connor had the opposite philosophy:
One of the strengths of Brad Gooch’s biography is its elegant pooh-poohing of her claim that “experience is the greatest deterrent to fiction” and that “any story in which I reveal myself in completely will be a bad story.”
Golden Swan, RIP
I drove all the way out to the other side of Beaverton to eat at my favorite restaurant, the Golden Swan. Few people in Portland know of the Golden Swan. It’s a hole in the wall–the place has no central heating, there’s a quarter inch of grease on all the tables, and the floor gets cleaned once a month. Plus the name of the restaurant changes every couple years, probably because the authorities shut it down for health violations.
