Category Archives: I’m Holdin’ Out for a SHEro
Hell Yeah! Paul Qui and Beverly Kim are Top Chef Finalists
Cheftestant Paul Qui of Uchiko restaurant in Austin, TX
I just watched the latest episode of Top Chef and I’m excited that Paul Qui and Beverly Kim made it into the final round. I, like so many of my fellow Austinites, have been rooting for Paul Qui since day one. Paul has such a heart of gold, a positive attitude and enormous talent that I almost forgive him for trying to serve me some crazy nuoc mam sorbet at Uchiko on my first visit to the restaurant.
Beverly is a different story. I, like so many of her haters, did not want to like her. She’s a perfectionist, precise, driven, laser-focused, could be seen as selfish. Moreover, she’s mousy, quiet, apologetic, tended to get emotional, could be seen as weak. Quickly I realized that the reason for my dislike was a personal one–I did not like her because she reflected a stereotype I was all too familiar with. And I didn’t want that stereotype on TV.
Cheftestant Beverly Kim engrossed in slicing some veg
Now I realize that I was fool. It’s not only important for someone like Beverly Kim to be on TV; it’s necessary. It’s all too easy for her competitors and the rest of the world to hate her and to be infuriatingly condescending and superior to someone–to a personality shaped by upbringing, values, belief systems, life experiences and lack of privilege–they just do not understand.
When fellow competitor and challenge partner Heather Terhune threw Beverly under the bus for no good reason and proceeded to direct all kinds of unwarranted aggression at her, my blood boiled with an empathetic rage. After the Restaurant Wars episode, wherein the other two finalists Lindsey Autry and Sarah Grueneberg berated Beverly like they would a child or puppy, I shrieked for vengeance. I felt a kind of Schadenfreude-like glee when Bev won Last Chef Standing, moseyed back into the competition, won a spot in the finale, and made the supposed finalists faces melt into a look of disdain and fear.
Perhaps Beverly Kim will get the last laugh, if she hasn’t already. She could win the damn thing, which would be very cool indeed because women and people of color competing in the Top Chef finale (much less winning the season) is a rare thing. Even though I adore Paul Qui and think he will probably win, I’m rooting for Beverly with all my heart. She’s not just a woman of color on TV; she’s a class act. Considering all the shit she’s been through, you’d never even expect her to be.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Your Asian Sure as Hell Wasn’t Quiet
poster created by www.resistracism.wordpress.com
The image above is an oldie but a goodie, and I’m really feelin’ it today, at the close of the first week of the new year. I’ve got a couple of dozen resolutions for 2012 written down, but the biggest one on my list is to embody at every opportunity the sentiment expressed in this poster. It’s to empower myself and others to make noise, speak our truths without fear or care of repercussions, to make statements that make people listen.
I think there’s a little girl with a chili bowl haircut in all of us, yellow or not. And she’s saying, “Stop looking at my helmet-head! Listen to my damn message!!!” I’m going to relinquish some control to my inner-angry-Asian-girl-child this year. What about you?
Popularity: 1% [?]
Shit Asian Girls Say: Double the Stereotypes, Double the Fun!
Even Tila Tequlia says shit that makes sense sometimes.
Get ready, cuz I’m about to say some shit. Not just any old kind of shit, “Asian girl shit.” And you will shit your pants, laughing so hard at me, demonstrating just how materialistic, ditzy, Asian and girly I am for your viewing pleasure. What’s that? You don’t think that would be funny? Me neither. Wait, what? You DO think it would be funny? Well, fair enough.
There are tons of people who think that the original viral video Shit Girls Say is funny. Just ask half the people on my Facebook feed or the numerous YouTube users who left surprisingly (and unsurprisingly) positive comments. And I’m trying my hardest to understand why. I’ve concluded that the people who find the video side-splittingly hilare are those who easily identify with the sentiments expressed, either because they’ve said those exact words themselves or because they know women who fit whatever stereotype is being parodied at any given moment. I can tell you, though, that I have both said some of the shit in the video and know women who’ve said said shit, and I still do not find it funny.
Mainly, I’m puzzled at the intent of the video. On the most basic level, it’s simply a stream of disconnected thoughts, themes and conversation snippets that are meant to evoke recognition and bemusement. Also, it’s a dude in drag attempting some sort of observation. On the whole, it seems to paint a rather depressing picture of womanhood. There are moments where we women are depicted as stupid, lazy, nagging, grating, bored, annoyed, forgetful, interested, disinterested, friendly (or possibly falsely friendly), Valley-Girlish, and even passive-aggressive. But there are no moments of strength, power, intelligence or enlightenment–which I realize wouldn’t be funny.
I suppose what we’re laughing at is a stereotype that, like all stereotypes, rings true in some instances. Consider Chris Rock on Black people, Margaret Cho on Koreans and Asians or George Lopez on Latinos. There is one noticeable difference, however, between Shit Girls Say and the acts of the aforementioned comedians. When comedians mock their own race or nationality or gender or sexual orientation, they do so with a self-awareness and self-deprecation that makes for more nuanced social commentary. They’re able to create a space wherein by laughing at themselves we are able to laugh along with them, to recognize our own prejudices, confront them and transcend them.
Shit Girls Say is a far cry from social commentary or satire. In failing to establish a point to the mockery, it fails to illuminate and to initiate change. In failing to be completely offensive, it offends us women who expect more than the ridicule, the pointing and laughing, and the constantly lurking feeling that whenever we express any emotion that isn’t Rainbows and Happiness we are being unfairly judged.
I’ll go ahead and say it: Shit Girls Say is the weakest of weak-ass weak sauce. You can do better.
To my amazement, a few other videos* have come out that pile on the stereotyping. For instance this:
Hai, Shit Asian Girls Say. I dare say this remake is worse than the original. Or maybe I’m simply reacting to it the way that any Asian woman who doesn’t wear Prada!Gucci!Chanel! on a daily basis would. To be honest, there are a lot more references to materialism and body image in this video than in the original. (“Can I have your credit card, please?” “Let’s go shopping!” “Prada Prada Prada!” “Gucci Gucci Gucci!” “Does this make me look fat?”)
I’ll admit that I cracked a smile at “I wish this could go to my boobs instead of my butt!” And there was a faint glimmer of satisfaction at the end when she beat her boyfriend’s ass for choosing Chun Li instead of her at 3 a.m. BUT, I just about punched my computer screen when they brought out the Bad Driver Asian Lady (1:32). For your information, I’m a DAMN good parallel parker. And several times I wanted to scream “You are not fat!” and “You can go shopping on your own!” Because I tell myself that, and I go shopping on my own, with my own money.
But, see. This is what happens when we watch these videos. Sometimes we find ourselves chuckling; other times we want to rebuke, scorn and lecture our fellow women. We focus so hard on what the Asian girl is doing that we forget there’s a guy there. We forget there’s a patriarchy there, which might explain and inform the stereotype.
We focus so much on what we shouldn’t be and do and say that we forget to write our own stories and carve our own identities. We forget that we Asian girls can make videos too. We can. And when we do, they’ll be a helluva lot funnier than this.
*If you’re feeling particularly masochistic, also see Shit Black Girls Say and Shit Gays Say.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Margaret Cho on the Difficulties of Playing Kim Jong Il
As everyone has heard by now, North Korea’s “dear leader” met his, pardon the pun, Il-fated demise over the weekend. Today the Wall Street Journal posted a piece by Margaret Cho on her 30 Rock parody of Kim Jong Il, in which she muses on the challenges of playing the Nationalistic Man of Mystery.
She explains that after scouring YouTube, ABC, BBC and TMZ and finding no recorded media of her object of ridicule, she simply “decided to base my portrayal of him on my mother.” The irony of basing her portrayal of a man who is ultimately responsible for tearing her family (and so many others’ families) apart on her mother is not lost on Cho. Here’s an excerpt (emphasis added):
North Korea is an unsolved mystery. I once had family there, and now the family ties, cut for so long because of the separation of the Koreas into north and south, have healed over into non-existence. Perhaps there is a scar there, an infinitesimal tear in some great grandmother’s conscience, but I don’t even know her. No one in my family remembers her name, so it’s like she never existed. We from the south and we from the north now are separate and at best, indifferent. At worst, hateful in the terrible way of civil war and the brutal animosity of a country divided is capable of. Do we despise ourselves more when we are ourselves?
If you haven’t seen the 30 Rock episode in which Cho portrays Kim (“Everything Sunny All the Time Always”), then Hulu/Netflix/YouTube that shit, already! Check out the clip below for a preview.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Life and Death in the Philippines
This past Monday, we celebrated the birth of one of the symbolic “7 billionth” babies , Danica May Camacho, who was born in Manila. On that same day, singer Charice Pempengco‘s father was killed by a violent drunk in the small town of San Pedro, some 30 miles south of the capital city.
Because I’m slow to catch up on the news, I heard about both of these events yesterday and was immediately overcome with existential angst. There are 7 billion people in the world, and it’s terrifying! Sure, her entrance into this world may have been celebrated with a UN cake, but what are the chances that little Dani is going to become the next Charice, ushered by Oprah into the American Dream? Her mom better set up her YouTube channcel, pronto. One can’t help being cynical…
As one momentarily famous baby was born, a momentarily infamous father died. Charice’s dad was known for leaving his young, talented daughter when she was 3 years old. Charice had these obligatorily nostalgic words to say about her estranged father: “I loved him and I will still love him. He’s still my Dad after all”–words I can imagine myself saying about my own father when the time comes.
Birth. Death. More births. The circle of life and all that mind-boggling jazz. Is Danica May Camacho going to live the Whichever-country-is-First-World-in-20-years Dream? Or is she going to have an inglorious death, alone in a small town?
I’m not going to say it’s up to Fate because I don’t believe in that. Instead, I’ll leave it to Humanity. I do believe we’ll figure it out–Danica, Mr. Pempenco, and everyone else. After we’re done neglecting them, we’ll figure out how to save them.
Popularity: 1% [?]
