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5 Community/ The political season is here – and APIAs won’t be counted out this time
6 Movers and Shakers/ There’s The Terminator; then there’s State Controller John Chiang. As powerful as California’s Republican governor is, he still has to deal with the state’s second most powerful official, who happens to be a Democrat.
8 Health Talk/ Face lifts can go a long way to lifting one’s spirit. Shatto Light has the (pardon us) skinny.
13 Opinion/ Judges rule the bench and one dog rules one judge’s life. Retired Judge Lillian Lim tells us why Billy Ray, her mini-dschshund, is king of the hill...er, house.
14 Pizazz!/ It’s wedding time. Learn what bridal parties are adding to their facial repertoire in a new column, “Your Best” with Dr. Tess Mauricio.
23 Arts and Entertainment/ Amy Tan’s “Bonesetter’s Daughter” comes to the musical stage – as an opera.
22 Jobs/ There’s an entire page of them – for free!
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| Olympics gives rise to dissident voices |
Amid the pageantry and nationalistic fervor of the Summer Olympics in Beijing, voices of political dissent and protest resonated in a faraway land.
The outraged voices of freedom emanated from New York, where members of PEN gathered on the eve of the Games to read banned and censored work by writers in China.
The PEN protesters called their New York event “Bringing Down the Great Firewall of China: Silenced Writers Speak on the Eve of the Olympics.”
"On the eve of the Beijing Olympics, the promise that China made seven years ago to improve human rights is unfulfilled," said Dr. Liu Xiaobo, board member of the Independent Chinese PEN Center. "There are still controls on speech, still frequent imprisonments of writers for their writings, and still the fear that every bush and tree is an enemy.”
There was also this message from blogger George Koo to U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback:
“Thank you for your vigilance and act of public service warning for eign visitors to China’s Olympics that they face the danger of ‘invasive intelligence gathering’ if they were to use the Internet during their stay.
“Actually... American visitors are already accustomed to the kind of surveillances you object to, thanks to their own experiences at home by the hands of Homeland Security...
“So far as you are concerned, invasion of one’s privacy at home in the name of anti-terrorism is just data mining, but when China is trying to monitor any illicit activities during arguably the most vulnerable times, it would be spying. That the U.S. government has been infringing on our rights...is an established fact. That visitors to China might be subject is... merely based on...speculation.”
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| Why are Vietnamese so good at gambling? |
As a Vietnamese American writer who often addresses East-west relations, I have been asked over and over again: Why are Vietnamese so good at poker? Why indeed when many didn’t really play poker in Vietnam? I can’t claim to have the definitive answer but here’s something to think about: Vietnamese love gambling, and culturally it is not frowned upon. In fact, gambling is part of recreation for many who labored in the fields.
Tet, the new year celebration, is the time when everyone gambles. My fondest memories of my Vietnamese childhood is of my mother’s clan gathering in the back of our grandparent’s villa in Saigon and playing Sauter La Banque, and i was six and won lots of cash from this hat (if you lose, you have to match all the money in the hat)... To Jump the bank= to bet all.. quite exciting for a 6 years old.
Gambling, when played within the context of family and clan, is healthy and fun. And children develop a keen sense of opponent’s weakness, how to maneuver their positions, and of course how to cheat.
– Andrew Lam
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| Hey, call the U.S. for free ride to India |
In a nutshell you turn yourself in and you deport yourself. In a tottering economy, you save the tax payers thousands of dollars. And you have the privilege of deporting yourself.
Ask not what ICE can do for you. Ask what you can do for ICE. Like its job, I guess. There’s even a handy 1-866 toll free number you can call if “you are an immigration fugitive and have questions about whether you qualify for the Scheduled Departure Program.”
Indians, being notoriously cheap and ever willing to exploit the government for a nickel and dime, my friend wondered if the self-deport scheme extended beyond Mexico.
“Could I somehow get a free ticket to India?” he wondered. “Airfares are getting really expensive.”
I had to disillusion him. The government isn’t going to pay your way home. In fact ICE suggests you show up for self-deportation with ‘Any flight preparations that may have been prepared or requested.’
If you really want someone to pay for your deportation, according to the New York Times your best bet these days would be a hospital. ”
– Sandap Roy
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ASIA
The Journal of
Culture & Commerce
Southern California’s
newspaper for and about the Asian and Pacific Islander
community.
Editor and Publisher
Leonard Novarro
Co-publisher, Exec. Editor
Rosalynn Carmen
Chairman, Asia Media L.A.
Tuan Pham
Advertising and Sales
Len Novarro
Annasha Consulting
Associate Editors
Jennifer An
Tiffany Hsu
Administrative
Renoo Hmatpongtua
Contributing Editors
Jane Dann, associate
Ana Taylor, fashion
Gloria Tierney, business
Orlando Uribe, graphics
Jack Williams, copy editing
Senior Contributing Writers
Kay Ledger
Gloria Tierney
Contributing Writers
Melissa Remulla-Briones,
Wayne Chan, Pauline Cheng,
Gwen Coronado (real estate),
Jon Foreman,
Pitchapuk Jirawongsapan,
Le Ly Hayslip, Olivia Hsu,
Kay Ledger (films, books),
Patricia Lamkin (arts)
Lillian Lim, Debra Lin,
Shatto Light (health),
Roseanney Liu,
Virginia Loh (lifestyle),
Ramses Rashidi,
Suja Sukumaran,
Huesan Tran (financial),
Linda Tu, Ray Wong,
State Sen. Leland Yee,
Su-Mei Yu (food)
Contributing Photographers
Tom Kurtz
Jennifer Zee
Intern
Cecilia Lei
Support
Mr. Chips (RIP)
Printing
Friday, August 15, 2008
Volume 7, Number 15
Published twice monthly by
Asia Media Los Angles Inc. &
Asia Media Inc.
30,000 copies in
targeted zip codes
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