Irvin Lai, 1927-2010

As an active promoter of Chinese culture, history and civil rights, Lai took on numerous leadership positions, including national president of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance, head of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles, commissioner of the Asian American Education Commission and director of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Assn.

One of his most prominent battles was seeking justice in the 1982 beating death of Vincent Chin in Detroit, a cause that became a watershed moment for the national Asian American community. Chin was a Chinese American killed by two white men who had mistaken him as being Japanese. The first trial resulted in a light sentence for the assailants that outraged the community. Lai and other Asian American leaders went to Washington, D.C., to demand a retrial.

During his decades with the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, where he wore many hats including chairman of the board, Lai helped preserve and restore the oldest structure built by the Chinese in Los Angeles, an 1888 burial shrine at Evergreen Cemetery.

Story here.

Wardrobe issues

I recently went shopping for new clothes suitable for the office as I have started a new job. Specifically I felt I needed things that showed less cleavage. On my first day on the job, I noticed that I was not the only one with such considerations.

I mentioned this to a (female) colleague who informed me that the other amply-chested colleague had been warned about her décolleté. This bothered me because, over the last couple of weeks, I have not seen any immodesty or attention-seeking in this person.

So for any male colleagues, particularly management, who may be reading this blog, the following should be noted:

• nature endowed me with big tits
• I endeavour to restrain them
• you should think about doing the same with your eyes and not blame it on me if you can’t

What it is

‘I did not do this,’ state worker says about list:  State worker implicated in creating illegal immigrant list identified:

A computer specialist in the Utah Department of Workforce Services is under investigation in the compiling and distributing of a list of 1,300 Utahns purported to be in the country illegally.Teresa Bassett, 58, is one of two state employees whom authorities have focused on, a government source confirmed.

A spike in bias crimes in Staten Island:

Since April, Latinos have been the victims of seven robberies or attacks in Port Richmond that police have classified as bias crimes. That compares with one hate crime during the same time period last year.

Arrests have been made in three of the cases. In one, a grand jury indicted four teenagers on multiple felony charges for a brutal April 5 beating but declined to include the hate-crime charges despite a police report alleging they said, “You are a [expletive] Mexican, we are going to beat you up.”

The numbers reflect a spike in bias-crime figures across Staten Island—21 so far this year, compared with nine during the same period last year—but authorities say that only in Port Richmond are all the victims Latino and the attacks close in vicinity to one another.

Arizona immigration law tints neighborhood dispute:

Had Arizona’s governor not just signed the toughest law against illegal immigrants in the nation, the killing of Juan Varela probably would have been written off as just a tragic neighborhood dispute.

The 44-year-old U.S. citizen was watering chile plants in his front yard when a neighbor confronted him and shot him to death, according to police documents.

Varela’s brother, Antonio, told police that the neighbor, Gary Kelley, who is white, called Juan Varela by an ethnic slur and said he had to “go back to Mexico” now that Gov. Jan Brewer had signed SB 1070. The family campaigned to publicize the death, culminating with the county prosecutor’s decision last month to add a hate-crime allegation to the second-degree murder charges filed against Kelley.

Yes he does.

Source:  Counter-protest at the Comic-Con.  (I saw it at Shakesville.)

What really cracked me up was when I couldn’t figure out which were the counter-protesters and which were the protesters.  All glory to the hypnotoad.

Dear WAP

We exchanged a few emails at the beginning of the year when I helped you get information on citizenship for your child. We even met at that cultural event. And then you wrote to me frustrated that you couldn’t find any cultural activity for your very small child. My response that cultural communities had no real need and little inclination for such activities, and that the adoption community could hardly care less obviously didn’t please you.

I applaud your efforts to set something up, and I told you that in no uncertain terms. So why does it piss you off so much that I protested your use of a racial stereotype in your logo?

Please allow me to deconstruct your message:

Wow, I never even thought about it!!!! (I am so privileged I don’t HAVE to think about it.) I agree that it isn’t very original but when you have ZERO budget, originality cannot be bought! (I don’t actually know what the word “stereotype” means and I am not motivated enough to find out because, frankly, it doesn’t concern me.) Anyway, I wonder how it’s possible to not use a “racial stereotype” when trying to represent a Chinese child!!!! (But I’m still not motivated enough to find out.) Should I have given him a pseudo americanised look so he appeared less Chinese? (‘Cos he IS Chinese, right, and you know you are being ridiculous, right?)

You know, sometimes I wonder if that’s what really shocks you the most? (I think you have a chip on your shoulder.) Whatever, I don’t hold it against you. (‘Cos it’s all your fault anyway. You should be less sensitive.)

Please refer to my free apology.

Vernon J. Baker, 1919-2010

(Jesse Tinsley/AP)

“We had made an ass out of everyone who said we couldn’t do it.”

Story here.

Happy birthday

지인

For the times I laughed

More times I have cried.

Put on a coat.
You’ll catch a cold.
You can’t go around saying things like that.
I wish you wouldn’t go.

Use a napkin. And chopsticks.

Eating behavior and obesity at Chinese buffets.
Wansink B, Payne CR.

Department of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.
Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the eating behaviors of people at all-you-can-eat Chinese buffets differs depending upon their body mass. The resulting findings could confirm or disconfirm previous laboratory research that has been criticized for being artificial. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Trained observers recorded the height, weight, sex, age, and behavior of 213 patrons at Chinese all-you-can-eat restaurants. Various seating, serving, and eating behaviors were then compared across BMI levels. RESULTS: Patrons with higher levels of BMI were more likely to be associated with using larger plates vs. smaller plates (OR 1.16, P < 0.01) and facing the buffet vs. side or back (OR 1.10, P < 0.001). Patrons with higher levels of BMI were less likely to be associated with using chopsticks vs. forks (OR 0.90,P < 0.05), browsing the buffet before eating vs. serving themselves immediately (OR 0.92, P < 0.001), and having a napkin on their lap vs. not having a napkin on their lap (OR 0.92, P < 0.01). Patrons with lower BMIs left more food on their plates (10.6% vs. 6.0%, P < 0.05) and chewed more per bite of food (14.8 vs. 11.9, P < 0.001). DISCUSSION: These observational findings of real-world behavior provide support for laboratory studies that have otherwise been dismissed as artificial.

Source. Although my parents would yell at you to only take as much as you can eat so as to leave nothing on the plate.  Wasteful, yanno.

‘Adopted children connect branches of family tree’

Her husband was the first to pick up their daughter, Madeline Fumi, who is now 18 and has kept in touch with her birth mother through the years following that improbable meeting. Madeline has been visiting Valdez and four biological half-siblings outside Lima in the last week, her second journey to her ancestral homeland since she was adopted.

The confluence of Madeline’s biological and adoptive worlds — which would be much more difficult today, as birth mothers’ identities are unknown in most international adoptions — has helped her become more secure with being adopted and provided a connection to her heritage.

And with the help of one little clue from Valdez, the Fumis tracked down Madeline’s two biological brothers in the Midwest, each with his own intriguing adoption story. The three siblings created an extended family, sharing summer vacations and milestones — as well as devastating events.

Story here.