S.A.D.

I'd just like to wish all of you a very happy Single's Awareness Day, or for those of you who are less relationship challenged, Valentine's Day. May we rejoice in the gift of life, wherever we may be in our journeys.

Yes, it's a hat for the occasion...did you expect any less?

So I've definitely become a shopaholic. It's fairly horrible. I picked this one up on sale from the Urban website. I was over there yesterday in Northampton, but there wasn't really anything that caught my eye. Pity...


I plan on wearing it with sunglasses and being particularly douchey, or at least that's the plan.

I also bought a hat from a company called (get this): Hella Tight...and I have to say, some of the hats are pretty "hella tight".

Problem is, all their merchandise is pretty expensive...so I normally wouldn't even think about touching any of the stuff but:

1. The hat I bought, I saw at a local street wear store by my house and I really wanted to buy it, but they didn't have my size then.
2. I hadn't eaten very much that day.
3. It was 5 am (I was therefore in a state of delirium.)

So, I went ahead and purchased the thing, and woke up the next morning not knowing if it had been a dream or not, until I received the confirmation e-mail:

Anyways, here it is, as modeled by our attractive friend here:


It's called "Republic" as in "California Republic". Pretty chill if you ask me.

They have a lot of interesting hats in general. This one's called the "Hella Belt" and was worn by Lil' Wayne in his music video for "Got Money"



I also thought this one was pretty cool. Its called "Our Lady" and features Our Lady of Guadalupe, who is an important symbol for Mexican Catholics and consequently for Californian Catholics in general.

I was thinking about buying it, but I've always been wary of wearing religious symbols as fashion statements.

And now we come to the serious portion of the entry. Today's topic? The Chink Eye

So recently, America's teen-pop-idol-Disney-princess (of Hannah Montana fame) was caught at a party with her friends making a bit of a "funny face".


Now you may ask: "Andrew why you trippin'? It's just some stupid 16 year old who don't know better doing somethin' stupid. Just let it go."

Honestly? In any other situation I'd let it go (This is a problem I'll discuss later on). The supreme problem with the situation here though is that Ms. Cyrus is an idol, literally worshiped by thousands of young girls all over these United States.

Problem #1: She normalizes the chink eye
As a celebrity she makes it so that the chink eye, isn't that big of an issue. It becomes something that everyone can do, and it's not really offensive at all even when it's a highly racist and orientalist symbol. It creates a single image of what an "Asian" is, essentially construing us as other to what it means to be white, and in this country, essentially American. "But Andrew, most Asians do lack the double eye lid." Incorrect. Take the example of Japan, whose citizens are often accused of getting double eyelid surgery in an attempt to imitate a Euro-American beauty aesthetic. In actuality the majority of the population in Japan are born with double eyelids.

So the squinty eyed evil Jap that you see in the WW2 propaganda posters is actually a (GET THIS) a characterization of a people and not actually representative of the majority of the population. Point being, "slanty eyed" or not: Who the hell cares what we look like? To summarize: It essentializes and construes me and my community as foreign others. If that's not enough to make it wrong, I don't even know.

But there's more:

Problem #2: She makes it embarrassing and wrong to be Asian.
Let's be honest, the chink eye isn't a friendly gesture. She's making fun of Asians. "But people make fun of each other all the time man, it's all in good fun. Man, she's even got an Asian in the picture with her!" Check this out though, Asian Americans live in and are a part of this country. There are thousands of young Asian American pre-teens and young adults that look up to Miley Cyrus and want to grow up to be just like her. My family is full of little ones who sing and dance to her songs and carry around Hannah Montana merchandise. How does this affect them? What happens when someone you adore and look up to makes fun of and belittles something that up to now you've just accepted as a normal and shameless part of your life? You become ashamed of it. You want to hide it. You want to deny it. You begin to hate a part of yourself.

It suddenly becomes embarrassing to be Asian or be part Asian. This is what I'm the most afraid of. The sheer psychological effect that this single stupid act at a party can have on the youth of our country. The highest rate of suicide in this country is amongst Asian American women and they certainly don't need another reason to be unhappy with themselves, when really they're fine as they already are. It seems stupid, and I agree. This shouldn't be a reason for shame, but in a country that privileges "white" beauty, it can be a long and hard road for minorities to come to terms with themselves and who they are.

I used to just let this kind of stuff go, saying that people were just being ignorant and stupid, but I'm gonna make a pledge right now. I'm not letting this go anymore. If you do this, I'm calling you out for it, because this isn't about me anymore. It's for the kids back home who're singing along to Miley Cyrus and maybe dying a little on the inside while doing it.

Serious Over

Anyways, I wish all of you much happiness and love!

Current Wishlist:

Ok so the Baseball World Classic is coming back this year, so I really need to pick up one of these Korea caps:


I also still need to pick up a pair of decent dunks...

What I'm listening to:

"Can't Believe It" - T-Pain

I've actually just been listening to a lot of T-Pain lately...so yea, that's it.

Peace