Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category
Friend of friend, foot in mouth.
About a year ago I went out for dinner with a friend of mine and met one of her friends and his cousin. We had Korean BBQ and in the course of paying I accidentally took $10 from her friend and underpaid. So I wrote him through MySpace and said,
“stalked you through K to [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: asian, email, friends, irksome, math
Let me be clear.
On this blog I am chronicling a particular kind of experience. I hope to connect with people who have shared this experience, or who are interested in examining the ways that race comes up in conversations between strangers, distinguishing between what is “acceptable” and what is “objectionable”, and lastly, how a person can deal with [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: chinese, conversations, hong kong, japanese, strangers, travel
Herald Square, 2007.
From fall 2006-fall 2007 i had an incredibly stressful job based in Herald Square. It was stressful because the office politics had gotten out of hand. My co-workers and I had a very unhealthy relationship; there were upsetting gender roles, passive-aggressive emails, power struggles, issues of respect for each others’ strengths, and on top of [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | 6 Comments
Tags: chinese, conversations, flushing, herald square, japanese, strangers
August 22, Peking Road.
I had a bit of a deja vu moment while walking around Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon last weekend. There are a lot of South Asian guys who hang out around there and ask if you want to buy watches and handbags. One said to me, “Where is Kowloon Hotel?” I told him I didn’t [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: conversations, hong kong, japanese, korean, south asian, strangers
Signage win.
in the subway cars there are signs that read, “please give your seat to anyone in need”. according to the accompanying symbols, people in need include:
those who are pregnant
and those being mounted by midgets.
Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment
Tags: hong kong, travel
Follow-up.
I realize that last post sounded pretty aggro, and I did feel a little worked up while typing it out, but really it’s more that now that I’m out of New York I feel relieved in certain ways, and able to properly vent about some of these things because they are (maybe) behind me.
I’m [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: hong kong
Left that country.
I live in Hong Kong now. I left my apartment and life in New York and took two suitcases and a duffle bag with me. (I got a grant to work here for a year.)
About two weeks before I left, when I was home taking stock of all the things in my apartment I don’t [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | 4 Comments
Tags: china, clinton hill, conversations, hong kong, irksome, strangers, wtf
It was a bizarre June. Sorry I’ve been silent. But here’s a quick plug for some stuff worth checking out.
I’d heard about the Museum of Chinese in America but had never visited. I plan to check it out in the next few weeks and am even more excited that it has gotten a state-of-the-art makeover [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: art, chinese, comics, firsts, media
From the mailbag.
I’ve been meaning to write about interesting interactions I’ve had with other Asians who assume I’m something other than Chinese. Whether at a Korean deli or a Chinese nail salon, I usually enjoy these exchanges. But sometimes they definitely get awkward (more on that later).
Here’s a relevant story from a contributor:
New York City, NY
Greeting me [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: chinese, conversations, japanese, strangers
Moo goo FAIL.
I’ve been so busy the past two weeks so I’ve been unable to post the awesome stories contributed by my awesome friends. This tidbit from about ten days ago is golden. I think Gohmert himself looks a bit embarrassed just before he speaks, knowing he is about to say something astoundingly stupid. [Note: WordPress is [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: china, chinese, food, politics, wtf
Sex theme park is a no-go.
I was tempted to title this post “Holy guacamole! Aiya!” because that’s how I felt upon seeing the image and accompanying text for this article in the NYTimes. It seems that plans for a sex-themed park got under way in Chongqing, but then got nixed by local authorities. Some snippets from the article:
Photographs on the [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: censorship, china, media, sex, wtf
More for me.
Today I decided to go get a hearty lunch for cheap so I headed to Jimi’s on Jay Street to get over a pound of rice and Chinese/Spanish food for $5.50.
At the hot foods counter the guy serving me said, “Chinese?” I said yes. He then proceeded to heap extra beef stew and soft [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: chinese, DUMBO, food, strangers
Jackie Chan opens can of worms.
There’s a lively discussion going on at the “Room for Debate” blog at the New York Times. I’d heard about Jackie Chan’s remarks, but the issues brought up in the comments to this blog post provided so many different perspectives that I thought I should post them here. From questioning whether Jackie Chan was mistranslated [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: china, controversy, film, hong kong, media, politics, taiwanese
Send me your stories.
I’ve created an email address for people to send me their stories. What I want to know is: what do strangers say to you with regard to your race? Whether it made you laugh or upset you or just puzzled you, send it to me and I may post it here. I won’t include your [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: conversations, strangers
