Connect. Disconnect. Asian. American. Me.

Talk About Race

evelinag — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 01:09:30 +0000

Great blog entry from CulturePress about race that pertains to what I’m about to write about for my final.

What is my identity if I am not American?

What does the music you listen to say about you?

evelinag — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 08:37:18 +0000

Could the type of music you listen to say something about your intelligence? Cal Tech Ph.D student Virgil Griffith thinks so. He did a sort of study that looked at the 133 most popular “favorite music” entries and the average SAT/ACT score of each of the students’ college and discovered a correlation between the type of music a student listens to and their average SAT score.

Those who listen to Lil’ Wayne, Beyonce, and T.I. had the lowest scores, and those who listen to Beethoven had the highest. Coldplay, U2, and Radiohead fans have average to higher scores.

Ah, what happens if you’re like me and like all sorts of music? From Justin Timberlake to Ben Folds???

Though, listening to music with actual lyrics does say a lot of person.

Source Source

evelinag — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 06:35:30 +0000

I’m way excited for my scheduled trip to the Kogi truck tomorrow. Hopefully it’s as good as everybody’s been saying!

Blogosphere: The New Frontier?

evelinag — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:32:01 +0000

Hi everyone! So the fervor of nineth week is over, and I’m finally getting some time to breath after (very recently) finishing my papers. Yes, I am up at 8 in the morning blogging, which is a contrast to my 4am posts, but what you’d expected from a procrastinating college student?? Anywho, I wanted to share with everyone a story I wrote about one of my favorite loves, BLOGGING. Check out Blogosphere: The New Frontier? at http://pacificties.wordpress.com/features/

The story covers some great AAPI blogs that I read more than my books for school (=X). There’s Jen and Diana from Disgrasian.com, Phil Yu at AngryAsianMan.com, “Slanty” from SlantEyefortheRoundEye.com, 8Asians.com, and my great friend Lena Chen at theChicktionary.com. Hope you enjoy the article!

Forget Miley Cyrus–Love Taylor Swift

evelinag — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 07:53:20 +0000

After “Love Story,” the little teeny bopper came out inside it (it wasn’t too lost). Here’s Taylor Swift’s latest: “White House.” Makes me want to hate Laguna Beach-famed, One Tree Hill star Stephen Colletti, but he’s too adorable, too.

And please forgive Miley for her horrid performance with Taylor Swift. She wishes she had half the voice of Taylor Swift.

Female immigrants, prostitution, and appreciation

evelinag — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 12:16:17 +0000

Chinese women forced into Paris prostitution: aid group

15 hours ago

PARIS (AFP) — Hundreds of Chinese women have left their children behind in the hope of finding work in Paris, only to end up turning to street prostitution, a humanitarian group said Thursday.

A report by Medecins du Monde (Doctors of the World) said the women, mostly in their forties and sharing small rooms, are often victims of rape and violence, and are highly exposed to sexually-transmitted disease.

The group runs a mobile clinic in immigrant districts in the French capital to reach out to

the 500 women, many of whom are from China’s northeastern Dongbei region which has been hard-hit by unemployment.

Read more at the Source

It’s so tragic. These women flee China in hopes of making their lives better. They leave their children and families, who have put the pressure on the women to send money back to China, so that they don’t have to live in poverty.

Sadly, for those poor, uneducated, and unskilled these dreams of wealth and a better life are still what they are: dreams. Sure, there are job opportunities and a better economy in places like America and Paris, but in these developed countries, these women face structural discrimination because they don’t know the country’s language, and they don’t have the education needed to obtain a well-paid job.

So all these women can do is take what they get and if a job in a prostitution ring is offered to them, they’ll take it. It’s the money that they bring back to the family that counts, not the way they’ve earned it. These women are less concerned with their well-being and with the fact that they are being exploited. They’re more concerned about their family’s survival.

After reading this story and thinking about the things I’ve been learning in my Chinese immigration class, it makes me more appreciative of the fact that I was born in America, raised in a middle-class household, and have had the opportunity to go through the public school system. There’s no guarantee, of course, that I’ll be financially set after college, but I know that I’ll always be better off than the women in the story because of the settling I’ve been placed in (America).

Sidenote: Concerning Prostitution

There is always going to be a market for prostitutes and there are always going to be women (and men) desperate enough to chose prostitution as their means of financial survival. This why they should legalize prostitution. Yes, legalizing prostitution is morally questionabled, but isn’t allowing for these women to be exploited and potentially be exposed to STDs demoralizing, too? By legalizing prostitution, the government can control prices (set some sort of wage), and make sure these women are tested and having safe sex. The government can try to stop prostitution, but seeing that situations like these are still happening, that approach has been ineffective.

Happy Lunar New Year!

evelinag — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 00:57:13 +0000

Saw this on Chinese television yesterday. I had to post it. Mickey’s celebrating Chinese New Year!

Waiting for Lunar New Year Eve dinner to start. Have a great one everyone!

Boys boys boys

evelinag — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 10:30:13 +0000

My bf was out with his friends tonight. Here is our text message conversation:

Me 12:38 am: “Some mexican chick gave me a condom and told me to be safe.”

Me 1:57 am: “Omg. Andrew (his friend) so fuckin cock blocked me.”

Me “Good “

BF 1:59 am: “Some girl came up to me and started talking to me and im there just spitting some game”

Me 1:59 am: “Mhm”

BF 2:00 am: And drunk andrew yells hes got a girlfriend! He’s got a girlfriend!

ME 2:00 am: LOL omg LOL

Why I Will Not Continue Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Classes

evelinag — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 01:25:38 +0000

Ever since I was like 6 years old, I wanted to learn martial arts. I wanted to be like the Yellow Ranger and Sailor Jupitar, take my sabertooth tiger and lightening powers, and karate chop evil villians. I never had the opportunity to learn, though, because karate is a boys’ sports and I was already tomboy enough for the family.

I grew up hanging out with the guys, but as I entered middle show, to compensate for my tomboyness, I did everything to make me as girly as possible. From liking the color pink (my favorite color use to be blue) to never cutting my hair short short (I had the shortest haircut in grade school). When I saw the UCLA Recreation catalog, I turned to the martial arts section and concluded that if I told anybody that I’m a tomboy now, they would laugh their faces off. So, after 14 years, I decided to defy my grandma and take a martial arts class: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Yea, I had no idea what jiu jitsu was. I heard people were addicted and that it was a great stress reliever, but all these accounts, I have now realized, came from guys and we all know how much weight that hold. So, when I went to the intro class last week and saw that I was one of probably five girls and that everybody looked like they were having man-sex, I was, to say the least, surprised and horrified.

Jiu Jitsu is basically wrestling, but with more skills and, I think, violence. Guys straddle guys, get on top of them, and basically win fights by choking or unbearably stretching certain muscles. The first move I learned was how to choke a person, which I didn’t mind doing, but when I realized that I could potentially get punched in the face, the girly side of me came out. Fuck no am I putting myself in the position to get punched in the face.

After the first class, I was still up for learning the art of jiu jitsu. But, if you hung out with me last week, you’ll realized that I basically liked anything and anybody I saw. This week, I wasn’t as nice, and by the end of class, I was drenched in other people’s sweat and grossed out of my mind. Nope, I won’t be back next week.

So my dreams of becoming a martial arts master has died. Don’t underestimate me though. I can still beat you up!

Chandni Chowk to China

evelinag — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 23:30:12 +0000

I love Bollywood!