Asian American

Today is the last day of “Asian-American Pacific Islander” or “AAPI” month in 2023. Celebrating AAPI as a race category makes no sense for numerous reasons. As a result, many in the West have argued the category should be disaggregated or broken up into subcategories more AAPI members can get…

A Side-Splitting Journey into the Beats of K-Pop with my Inquisitive Grandfather — Who would’ve guessed my traditional Asian grandfather would develop such a profound interest in my K-pop obsession? To him, the culture of glossy music videos, slick dance routines, and heartthrob boy bands was as foreign as a Martian landscape. But curiosity got the better of him, and he ventured into…

I was a bit paranoid when I was a kid. It didn’t help that my dad was always telling me to watch my back everywhere that I went, putting up fake surveillance cameras in the window of my playroom so that nobody would steal the inflatable Santa on the front…

A lesson from Mahabharata for our collective voice to be heard How many people does it take for a voice to be heard and a message to be delivered? In a country of 350 million people, there are many voices clamoring to be heard. Many important messages being delivered including…

Ever since 2018 with the success of Crazy Rich Asians, which was the catalyst for the #GoldOpen Movement, the AAPI community has gradually enjoyed diverse and non-stereotypical representation in film & TV. — Who would have thought that the latter half of the 2010s began a boon of Asian representation in Western media, especially in Hollywood? These past five years have been a rollercoaster ride for AAPIs in the industry. In 2018, Crazy Rich Asians hit theaters across North America and it was…

An Intimate Dialogue between a Grandfather and Grandson on the Raw Realities of Being a First-Generation Asian American Immigrant in the United States. — There is something innately admirable about the generation that brought us here — the first generation Asian Americans, who left the familiarity of their home countries to brave the unknown and start anew. My grandfather, a humble man with a heart of a lion and wisdom that could fill volumes…

The success of Crazy Rich Asians catalyzed a growing movement on giving true justice to Asian representation in the North American film & TV industry, which revitalized the career of Ke Huy Quan. The achievements are things to be proud of but on the flip side, it’s a reflection of the unfair and unjust systems in place that hurt BIPOC members, let alone Asians, in the industry. — Ke Quan Huy is back, everybody, and I feel the warmth as a fellow VietAm who is trying to get into the entertainment industry.