Korean-inspired “Asian beauty secrets” are taking the spotlight at SoHo’s OpenHouse gallery space on Saturday, June 9.
Wed May 23
Tue May 22
2NE1 and will.i.am - “Take The World On” Ultrabook™ Project for Intel
Circle Nightclub Claimed to be Racist
One nightlife hotspot for many Asians in NYC is The Circle Nightclub. Every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday each week, Circle draws out crowds of Asians to party, drink, and dance.
However, Circle has been recently exposed by Fox NY to be racist in choosing who to admit into the club. A non-Asian man who tried to get into Circle in this exposé was denied admission and it was claimed that he was not on a guestlist nor did he have reservations. However, his Asian girlfriend was admitted into the club - no questions asked.
The video has been circulated widely amongst New York City Asians via social media and while Circle has not commented on the issue, here are a few comments I have found browsing the web:
- What if we just wanna go to a club with Asians only? Does that make us racist?
- Good luck getting in if you’re not Korean or look Korean. Yes, they’re selective on what kind of Asian you are.
- Circle is being accused or racism? All clubs have followed this practice especially in the Meatpacking District. Whether it’s color, money, or clothes, it happens all the time everywhere. This is no surprise.
These comments and many more attack a few key issues of internal and external racism which exist in this situation. For Asian club-goers seeking the Asian crowd, Circle is perfect for them and it certainly does not make these club-goers racist for having a preference for which environment they’d like to be in. Circle, with the “FUBU” or “For Us By Us” mentality, however has been criticized for taking that idea too far when being selective on what kind of Asian someone is. While Koreans may see it as a unification of people sharing their identity, non-Koreans who are Asian perceive Circle to be too exclusive.
Ultimately, while there is so much attention on Circle, the last comment I came across is quite valid in stating that discrimination of various sorts occur in nightclubs all over. Perhaps the best takeaway from this exposé for the clubs is that while they cater towards a certain crowd, it is certainly not okay to be discriminatory to an exclusive extent.
Mon May 21
Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng arrives at NYU
NYU has offered Chen a fellowship in New York, where he arrived on Saturday evening.
Thu May 17
Korean singer Tasha will make her US debut with Far East Movement
Tasha (Yoon Mirae), considered the queen of Korean hip-hop, will be the first non-idol Korean singer to try to break into the US music market.
Listen to her most recent single “Get It In”!
Mon May 14
Sat May 12
Ashima Shiraishi
Ashima Shiraishi has scaled some of the most challenging boulders in the world - at only 11 years old. She has accomplished more than a majority of the professional climbers today. At 10, she climbed Crown of Aragorn, deemed a V13 on the V0-V16 difficulty scale for bouldering. She joins the ranks of only a few women who have been able to do this.
Ashima’s parents immigrated from Japan about 30 years ago. Her father, known as Poppo, takes her climbing numerous times each week. He dedicates his time to try and teach Ashima how to control the body, something he was trained to do as a former dancer. On top of her ability to make her body scale these difficult boulders, her focus and perseverance add to her immense success.
Her interest started from frequent trips her parents would take to the nearby Central Park. Ashima was immediately attracted to “Rat Rock”, a boulder in the park that is known to attract climbers - tourists and locals. This deep interest was the door to her future obsession with bouldering.
Watch the video in this New York Times article about Ashima Shiraishi and meet her loving coach, Obe Carrion.
Mon May 7
Panda Cab
I saw this peculiar picture this morning and had to click on the article it was from. Apparently, these are researchers from the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan, China. They are moving mother-son pair Cao Cao and Tao Tao into a larger living environment that is also higher up into the mountains. This is done in an attempt to help the pandas ease into living in the wild.
Unfortunately, in the past thirty years, researchers have been trying to do this ten separate times. Only two of those pandas have been able to survive the change.
Fri May 4
Hear new chamber music on traditional Japanese instruments for free!
This Saturday at 7:30pm the World Financial Center in downtown Manhattan will be hosting the chamber group Kammerraku and the Voxare string quartet.
Find out more about this free event here.
Wed May 2
This past Monday marked the end of Asian Heritage Month at NYU. At the closing ceremony, talented rapper Jason Chu put on a spectacular performance that certainly got the audience going. Following him came the YouTube star KevJumba who showed the crowd a movie he has been working on called “Hang Loose”. Check out some behind the scenes footage to get a sneak peek of what KevJumba has been up to!
Tue May 1
Generasian Spring Launch Party this Thursday!
It’s that time of the year again! Our issue is ready for print and we’re very excited to invite you all to our Spring 2012 Launch Party!
You will not only receive our brand new Spring 2012 issue but you’ll also get to meet apanelof talented and distinguished members of the Asian American community! Admission is free.Sushi and beverages will be provided. This event will be taking place on Thursday, May 3, from 7-9 PM in room 269 in the Global Center for Academic and Spiritual Life (accessible through Kimmel).
The panelists we are so lucky to have on board for our Spring 2012 Launch Party include:
- Kai Ma (former editor for KoreAm Journal, managing editor of Asian American Writer’s Workshop)
- Hillary Latos (journalist for asiancemagazine.com, which was founded at Stern)
- Donnie Kwak (writer for ESPN)
- Lakshmi Gandhi (journalist and blogger for SepiaMutiny)
- Ji Hyun Lee (writer for Marie Claire)
- Nina Fallenbaum (food editor for Hyphen Magazine)
Their full biographies are listed below. They will discuss a variety of topics on being Asian American. You will be able to raise questions to our panelists as well.
Just some of the topics we’ve covered inGenerasian’s upcoming issue include: NYU street fashion, the concept of international adoption, yoga, Chinese dating shows, a photo diary of China and of course, Linsanity. Our staff has worked tirelessly for this upcoming issue to provide a perse insight into the Asian community at NYU and beyond. Recently, we’ve been awarded with the NYU President’s Service Award for our efforts.
We sincerely hope to see all of you there to celebrate our Generasian’s Spring 2012 issue with us. Like us here and check out our blog at generasian.tumblr.comto read our blog articles and to peruse through our old issues online! Please RSVP at our Facebook event page here.
We hope to see you all on this very exciting night!
NYUGENERASIAN
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Spring 2012 Panelists
Kai Mais the managing editor at the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, and editor of Open City: Mapping Urban Asian America and OurChinatown.org. She is the former editor-in-chief of KoreAm, one of the longest-running indie magazines serving the Asian American community. Her work has appeared in various publications, including Nerve, The Daily Beast, Angeleno magazine, SanFrancisco Chronicle, and Newsday. In 2009, she was awarded the national New America Media Award for “Best In-Depth and Investigative Reporting” for her feature story on California’s gay marriage ban (Prop 8) and the Korean American vote. She is also the author of Love Lost on the 405, a short film that premiered in “RETHINK LA: Perspectives on a Future City,” a 2011 exhibit at the Architecture and Design Museum in Los Angeles.
Hillary Latos has been a journalist for AsianceMagazine.com since its conception at NYU Stern in 2005. Hillary covers fashion, travel, pop culture, celebrities, art, design, New York nightlife, latest trends and must visit destinations for Asiance. Hillary has seen the transition of Asian Americans in media and roles of journalists since the emergence of the internet, yet Asian Americans are still vastly underrepresented in the United States media. Although American media has made huge progressions within the last few decades there is still much work to be done. Hillary hopes to inspire and change that. She holds an MBA from the University of Southern California in Marketing and a BS in Marketing from the Stern School of Business at New York University. Born and raised in San Francisco, she currently resides in New York City.
Since graduating from New York University with a journalism degree in1998, Donnie Kwak has risen the editorial ranks at magazines like Entertainment Weekly, Vibe and Complex. He is currently a senior editor at ESPN The Magazine in Bristol, Connecticut, where hecovers thesports of hockey and soccer.
Lakshmi Gandhiis a freelance journalist and writer based in New York City. She began blogging in 2007 while taking an Intro to Interactive Reporting class at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and has been posting regularly ever since. In 2010, Lakshmi became a contributing blogger at Sepia Mutiny, the largest South Asian American blog in the country. Notable posts include interviews with the actor Kal Penn and former American Idol contestant Sanjaya Malakar.Her work has also appeared on the Huffington Post, CNN.com, SAJAforum.org, Time.com, Newsweek.com, Gawker.tv and MTV Desi. She received her BA in history from Bryn Mawr College and is a longtime member of the South Asian Journalists Association.
Ji Hyun Lee is a lifestyle reporter with a beat on women’s issues and Asian American issues. She’s written for Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan and served time as a news and advice editor at Forbes.com where her claim to fame happened with the mega list article called Most Famous Bondmobiles which won VNU’s Branded Entertainment Award. She is also a playwright with more than 15 years of writing what else, Asian-American themed plays! Her play, The Superfriends of Flushing, Queens has been presented in such respectable venues as The Joseph Papp Public Theater, Asian American Theater Co and Second Generations Prods. You can follow her on Twitter @JiHyun42.
Nina Fallenbaum is the Food and Agriculture Editor at Hyphen magazine, as well as a Food and Community Fellow at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. Her policy interests include local food systems as economic development, urban agriculture, nutritional access for low-income communities, Asian American environmentalism, and school breakfast and lunch programs. She has lived abroad for four years, during which she worked for various social venture entrepreneur firms and environmental groups. She also volunteers with two groups in California: Japanese American Women Alumnae of UC Berkeley (a scholarship and fraternal organization) and Tule Lake Committee (an historic preservation and education group).
Sat Apr 28
Natsumi Hayashi
Following Natsumi Hayashi’s blog, one will find daily posts of her “levitating.” In her “about” section, she details the various steps she takes in order to capture these captivating images. Through these photographs, you follow her through her day-to-day life in Tokyo.
Also check out the article by Lens, New York Times’ photography blog, to learn more about her unique work and why she does it.
