The kicker is that he drives a TOYOTA, who recently has become a powerhouse in the sport since joining Nascar 2 years ago, and Busch is obviously pissing off a lot of rednecks and people in red states.  Kyle Busch is often booed when he gets out of his car, and there is definitely resentment that he is driving, and winning, with a Toyota instead of with a Ford or a Chevy, which is what he used to drive.

Here is a recent Wall Street Journal article that hints about the borderline racism/xenophobia over Nascar fans hating on Toyota.  In the article, one person even says he’d rather drive a crappy Chevy than a good Toyota.  Um, OK buddy.
Here is another link if you can’t read the WS Journal article.

Western societies and literature love to paint Asian nations as somehow more backwards, sexist, oppressive, and misogynistic towards women.  But let’s look at the stats.  There are like two female CEO’s in the entire Fortune 500, a very small number of female senators and congresswomen, and a very small percentage of female entrepreneurs in this country. Before Westerners point fingers and act all smug, perhaps they should look at their own backwards statistics as they pertain to female equality.
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http://www.chinaview.cn

URUMQI, July 22 (Xinhua)—Woman account for nearly half of Communist Party members and government officials in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, according to the latest report from the Xinjiang branch of the All-China Women’s Federation.

The number of female officials has been rising over the past five years and reached 330,700 at the end of last year, accounting for 49.16 percent of the total, the branch said. That was an 11.22 percent rise from 2003.

“Many women who have both ability and political integrity were put into leading positions, which enhanced women’s participation in various sectors,” said Wang Jianling, vice chairwoman of the Xinjiang branch of the federation.

The Chinese government has taken economic, legal and administrative measures to ensure that women enjoy equal rights with men in such areas as politics, the economy, culture, social affairs and family life.

About 350 million urban and rural women are employed, accounting for 45 percent of the employed population. In urban areas, more than 40 million women are employed, comprising 38 percent of total urban employment, according to official statistics. In rural areas, women make up more than 60 percent of the labor force.

Women also comprise more than 20 percent of the entrepreneurs in China. Among the professionals in the state-owned enterprises and organizations, women account for more than 40 percent.

Editor: Jiang Yuxia

The entire situation can be found here in a NY Times article with Jerry Yang.

Michael Chang was pretty much the only Asian American athlete in American media while I was growing up, and based on the other images of Asians across all realms of Western society, was a really positive and rare image for AA youth.  For those young’ins, Chang is still the youngest ever champion of the French Open.  Who knows maybe he was a reason why I ended up getting into tennis for my HS team.  Michael Chang was an all around great and classy person, a fierce competitor, and I loved how his coach was his older brother, forming a cool family tandem.

Anthony Kim is a rising superstar in the golf world, who was 11 years old when Tiger Woods first started making an impact in golf.  What is striking is Kim’s quote about how Woods inspired him, and how as a kid he pictured himself in Woods’ shoes. 

I think a lot can be said for having Asian or Asian American images and role models in mass media.  What is damaging is when Asians or AA’s have a dearth of positive AA images to look up to, and end up idolizing White or Black icons to the point where these AA youth start internalizing certain things or behaviors that can be damaging or self hating. We already have too many Whitewashed Asians or those who try to “act Black” (whatever that means).  Having a few more Michael Chang’s, Anthony Kim’s, John Cho’s, Justin Lin’s, even more Yao Ming’s, Ichiro’s, and Yi Jian Lian’s, etc is a nice change from what it was like when I was growing up where it was basically Michael Chang and Yo-Yo Ma, amidst a bunch of Long Duck Dongs and evil or negative stereotypes.

I met up with Hyphen’s publisher Lisa Lee for some of the events going on at the AA International Film Festival in Manhattan. For those who haven’t been to the Asia Society building, it is this huge, futuristic, stylish building in Manhattan’s Upper East Side (70th at Park) that hosts all sorts of events throughout the year. Lisa has been at the festival since the start and been to many screenings. We went to the opening night afterparty at Forbidden City bar, then I joined her for films one day, and also a round table discussion the next day, as well as other random activities.

The films we saw were ‘Heart Squared’ and ‘Option 3’. ‘Heart Squared’ was a nice short that was surreal, eccentric, and very stylish, and since there’s no easy way to explain the film, I won’t even try. ‘Option 3’ was a full length movie directed by Richard Wong, who was there for the screening and gave a brief talk at the beginning. Unfortunately, I couldn’t sit through the entire thing, and though I kept waiting for it to get better, I ended up leaving midway. It wasn’t bad per se; I just didn’t personally enjoy it very much.

The next day was a very interesting panel discussion on Asian and Asian American aesthetics, with David Henry Hwang (playwright, M. Butterfly), Mary Ping (fashion designer), Billie Tsien (architect), Wayne Wang (filmmaker, The Joy Luck Club), and Dennis Lim (writer, editor) on stage.  Click here for the rest of the post.

The show was largely hosted by Miss Info of Hot 97, who was clearly passionate about this charity and used her Rolodex to pull in some amazing and talented names from around the entertainment industry.  The show included appearances or performances by Beau Sia (you might know him from this eloquent video), J-Lim, JYP, Ryan Leslie, Rik Cordero, DJ Cipha, DJ Delinger, Nas (!!), and also a meet and greet with the JabbaWockeez.

I interviewed a very cool 72 Hour Shootout Team recently, check it out!!

Article

[A lot of the times when I see another Asian girl that is a stranger on the street, for some reason I automatically act hostile towards them. We exchange unapproachable glances, and in my mind I am judging them by the way they look, the way the dress, who they are with, and sizing them up to see if they are any threat to me. Why do I do this? Every Asian girl I have talked to admits to doing this.. Actually, scratch that, every minority girl I know acts this way towards someone of their own race. Why?

It seems Asian and minority men don’t face this same hostility with each other. When I asked my brother if he felt the way that I do towards Asian girls he asked quite shocked, “You actually feel threatened?” I got similar astounded responses from my Asian guy friends as well. Why do they not judge each other as much as Asian women do?

Perplexed by this issue, I turned to my friend Soumya (pronounced like Sonya with an “m”–Somya), a beautiful girl from California who happens to be Indian as well. I asked if she felt threatened at times, and she said yes. We were both surprised by our own responses. It seems that while many girls feel threatened or hostile, rarely do we acknowledge it. Even when we acknowledge it, we don’t even know exactly why we feel and act this way. For me, the actual reason may be a little frightening. It reveals an intense insecurity about our identity as minority and Asian women.]

“AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN)—Police officers have halted a nationwide Asian prostitution ring based in Austin. Neighbors living in the Balcones Woods Apartments in Northwest Austin said they were stunned to hear women were suspected of being sold for sex in one of the apartments.

...What Prine did not know is that Carl Clark, 56, and his wife, Yuzhi Jia, 44, were suspected of running a prostitution ring that exploited Asian women from an apartment. “They were getting Asian females from different parts of the United States every month and recruiting girls to perform services,” said police Detective James Mason. Police were first tipped off a year ago by suspicious neighbors at the Balcones Ranch Apartments, where police said they believe Clark and his wife operated before moving to Balcones Woods.

Officers said they are not sure how many women Clark and Jia sold for sex. “Once these girls get here, they receive some money, but not a lot,” Mason said. “They feel trapped within their apartment and can’t get out.”