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Enlightened

High expectations!  What else can you expect from a novel that won the Man Asia Literary Prize of 2008^[1] even before the book was published?  This ambitious project casts such a wide net of multiple plot lines and character perspectives that span several generations.  Michael Dirda^[2] of The Washington Post describes Miguel Syjuco’s novel, Ilustrado, as an example of “literary bricolage”.

…Bringing together Filipino jokes, transcripts from "The Burley Raconteur" blog, real history and people, made-up footnotes and the narrator's increasingly nightmarish dreams and experiences, some heightened by snorts of cocaine.^[3]

It is in fact such an assemblage of parts, which makes the novel unique and successful in its reach.  Mr. Dirda points out that the prize for such literary awards typically go to “earnest, high-minded, politically correct and rather dull books”.  Without a doubt, Ilustrado is atypical.

Its craftiness may sometimes prove distractive--style over substance?  That may be true for outsiders including Filipino Americans not quite enlightened enough by the complex weave of style and substance that has long pervaded the multi-layered Philippine society—a product of “three centuries in a Catholic convent and fifty years in Hollywood”.^[4] If you’re not privileged with that distinct advantage of a split personality, you won’t likely get this joke.

“Three male students loiter around Shoe Mart Megamall”, one note said.  “One is from the exclusive Ateneo de Manila University.  One from the rival De La Salle University.  The third, name Erning Isip, is from the populist AMA Computer College.  The three students spot a very pretty light-skinned girl.  Each of the boys takes a turn at trying to woo her.  The Atenista says: “Why, hello there.  Perhaps I should text my driver to bring my BMW around to chauffeur us to the Polo Club so we can get some gindara?”  The Lasallista says: “Wow, you’re so talagang pretty, as in totally ganda gorgeous.  Are you hungry at all?  Let’s ride my CRV and I’ll make libre fried chicken skin and Cuba libers at Dencio’s bar and grill.”  Erning Isip, the AMA Computer College student, timidly approaches the girl.  Scratching the back of his head, he says:  “Miss, please miss, give me autograph?”^[3]

Through such intricacies, Mr. Syjuco successfully brings out the substance of his work that is equally, if not more, complex.

That’s the problem, we’ve written one book, and it’s been re-bound again and again.  So many re-presentations of the war, the struggle of the haves and have-nots, People Power Revolutions on Edsa, whatever.  All those Pinoy writers industriously criticizing.  All those critics tirelessly writing.  About unsuccessful 1970 rebellions, 1990s domestic dramas.  Or the Filipino-Americans, eagerly roosting in pigeonholes, writing about the cultural losses that come with being raised in a foreign country, or being not only brown, but a woman, and a lesbian, or half-blind, or lower-middle-class, or whatever.  Oh my, what a crime against humanity that the world doesn’t read Filipino writing!^[3]

I’ll just have to read Ilustrado again.  Or, whatever! 

^[1] Man Asia Literary Prize
^[2] Michael Dirda, “Book review: 'Ilustrado' by Miguel Syjuco”, The Washington Post, May 6, 2010
^[3] Miguel Syjuco, “Ilustrado”, Farrar, Straus and Giroux: 2010
^[4] Stanley Karnow, “In Our Image”, Ballantine Books: 1989

I Am [Blank]

Peter Nathaniel Malae takes us on a rough airboat ride across the thick multi-cultural marsh of a novel, “What We Are”. ^[1]  Malae eventually emerges using his effectively rhythmic rants to waddle readers through a maze of cultural convergences and conflicts.  His palate of characters include his Jamaican muse-cum-sex-partner, Latino immigration activists, his Polynesian real estate con-artist uncle, Filipino cock-fighting aficionados, his more heavily assimilated half sister, among others.  Discomforts grace each encounter but perhaps the greatest discomfort is that which bellows from within.

Being a half-breed must be part my problem.  When I applied to college out of high school, I didn’t know what to fill in under the category of race.  Long distance from American Samoa, my father said over the phone, “Mark Polynesian,” but I couldn’t.  Neither could I mark white.  I just left the damned thing blank.  And that’s exactly how I felt about it: blank.  Still do, actually, don’t care either way.  By now I know that every culture in the world is equally beautiful, equally ugly.

Malae could have aptly titled his work, “Who I Am”.  That would have been apt.  His sights overshoot:  “What We Are”.  Imagine walking down the grocery’s cereal aisle—boxes upon boxes, flavors upon flavors, brands upon brands.  There’s something for everyone.  Yet, one can leave empty-handed.   

***

Never judge a book by its cover, they say.  This reader first perceived the image in the cover as a heavily tattooed Samoan man’s face.  Upon closer inspection, these astigmatic lenses reveal that the tattooed images were in fact flags of different nations.

^[1] Peter Nathaniel Malae, “What We Are”, Grove Press, NY: 2010, page 4

The Language of Self-Discovery

It publishers have dubbed Wang Gang’s “English” as a “transcendent novel about the power of language to launch a journey of self-discovery”.  This journey is set during the Cultural Revolution, a sad period in China’s history.  One might expect the author’s work to be laden with grief and bereft of humor.  Not the case!

Mr. Gang exploits the childish innocence and curiosity of his main character, a young schoolboy studying the English language, to describe the mode of the times.  In this exchange between the main character (narrating), his schoolmate (Garbage Li) and the school principal, Mr. Gang injects humor when the boys are called into the principal’s office to be punished for their misdeed.  This humor just naturally flows over and envelopes the mood of the discussion that follows.  It broaches on what perhaps may be the author’s main point--a sad one, albeit—in this smart, endearing and--at times--lighthearted novel.

Garbage Li fixed his eyes on the ground. I was looking up at the ceiling.  I heard the principal say, “It’s you.  Were you two fighting?”

“Mr. Principal, he hit me first,” Garbage Li declared.

“Shut up!  I am not asking you!” the principal barked.  Garbage Li lowered his head.  The principal then turned to me.  “What did he say to you?”

“He said, ‘You’re an asshole.’”

The principal was infuriated, as if he were the object of the remark. “Li Jian-ming, did you say that?”

“Mr. Principal, I didn’t say you’re an asshole.  I said he’s an asshole.”

The principal pounded on the desk and boomed, “You are not allowed to say that to anyone, period!”

Garbage Li and I were silent. The principal paused for a moment.  “You!  Go back to your classroom now and write a self-criticism statement.  It has be thorough and soul-searching!”

Garbage Li walked to the door.  Hen then stopped and turned around.  “Mr. Principal, what is a soul?” he asked.

The principal was about to say something.  “Soul…,” he began, then changed his tack.  “Don’t worry about what it is, just go and write your self-criticism.

Garbage Li finally left, feeling wronged.

What is a soul?  What is soul-searching?  I wondered, too.

Discovering one’s self, you’ll need the words to describe it.

[1] Wang Gang, “English”, Viking, 2009

China's Soul Searching (In English)

It is the sixth in a series of school stabbings in China.  A Time reporter aptly explores the underlying reasons for such attacks, including the Chinese citizen’s lack of access to mental health care and the legal system’s deficiency in providing ample recourse to injustice. ^[1] One could not help but argue that much soul searching is needed even if only to cushion the emotional blow such violence has impacted on its victims and their relatives.

#

In Wang Gang’s powerful novel, “English”, set in the dark days of the Cultural Revolution, the story revolves around preteens in their process of self-discovery while learning a new language in school.  In one of such revelations, one of the children called into the school principal’s office questions the punishment just wrought upon. ^[2]

“Go back to your classroom now and write a self-criticism statement.  It has to be thorough and soul-searching!”

“Mr. Principal, what is a soul?”

“Don’t worry about what it is, just go and write your self-criticism.”

#

A close relative, obviously religious, forwarded me one of those chain letters which argues that, “even from a purely secular viewpoint”, in countries where there is “genuine humbling & seeking of God through prayer”, general prosperity follows.  I argued that China is now one of the strongest economies in the world.  What is their religious base, I asked? <sup>[3]

[1]</sup> Austin Ramzy, “China's Soul Searching as School Knifings Continue”, Time, May 12, 2010
^[2] Wang Gang, “English”, Viking, 2009
^[3] See related article, “God Vs. Gov”

What’s your Global IQ? Sarah Palin’s?

Take the test: http://pewglobal.org/quiz/iq/ ^[1]

Op-Ed columnist Richard Cohen suggests Sarah Palin may not fare well in this. ^[2]

Could those who fault Barack Obama for being callow and inexperienced imagine Palin meeting with the Chinese or, for that matter, conducting a protracted policy review about Afghanistan? As for Pakistan, South Korea, North Korea, the Middle East and, of course, the perplexing Georgian-Abkhazian conflict -- I don't think she is quite up to it all, some of those nations not being close to Alaska.

Chris Matthews asks author Matthew Continetti, a Sarah Palin supporter, whether she is smarter than him. ^[3]

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

So, looking at your Global IQ scores, do you think you're as smart as Ms. Palin?

^[1] Pew Research Center
^[2] Richard Cohen, “Time for Some Palintology”, The Washington Post, Nov. 17, 2009
^[3] Hardball with Chris Matthews

I Dream Of India: Then and Now

In his recent New York Times column ^[1], Akash Kapur describes how India’s image has changed over the years with positive shifts in stereotypes following newfound material prosperity. Replacing the “three C’s: caste, cows and curry” are “technology, outsourcing, billionaires, Bollywood”.

He cites examples culled from sources of but limited casual contact with Indians.  A taxi driver, working as a shuttle-bus driver in last summer’s U.S. Open, is astonished that his Indian passengers are taking expensive box seats.  A newspaper vendor notices the young Indian sisters next door do not wear the “red dot” on their foreheads and that they walk with an “American swagger”.

That is, perhaps, why such perceptions brush only the surface.  As the third largest Asian American ethnic group and with close to 2 million Indian Americans living across this country ^[2], the odds are that more personal interactions with Indians would merit a strong influence in shaping stereotypes other than what is skin-deep.

A writer for various other publications such The Atlantic, The Economist, Granta, The New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker, among others, Mr. Kapur himself acknowledges that the clichés belie the more complex layers of what is India today.  “I know there’s a lot more to the country than smart and rich technology workers who are stealing American jobs and buying box seats in the U.S. Open”, he writes.

I trust also that Akash Kapur whose father is Indian and whose mother is American has himself received more substantive feedback from more personal sources other than the occasional taxi driver and newspaper vendor.  Living in America for twelve years before his decision to move back to India six years ago puts him in an auspicious position to capture such complexities from various perspectives of those he touched and who touched him.  I am anxious to read such revelations in his future works, perhaps in his upcoming non-fiction slated for publication next year.

In an earlier column for Granta Magazine ^[3], he alludes to the “genuine openness and friendliness” of Americans that he first misconstrued as superficial.  He also reveals that it was “a feeling of estrangement, and of cultural and ideological isolation” that has also driven him to move back to the home that he missed.  He seems severely impacted by “the ‘war on terror’ and the war in Iraq – and more broadly, the war on civil liberties “.  He writes, “It had taken me many years to feel American; by the time I left, I was once again an outsider.”

Indeed, it would also be interesting to understand his own perceptions of India--and, yes, American--from both the eyes of the American and the outsider.  I’m guessing his view have shifted just as well from when he first received “crude reactions” as a child to when he now wields the fearless maturity to share his reflections in his well-polished craft.  I’m hoping his optic cuts more deeply through the stereotypes and clichés.

^[1]Akash Kapur, “Letter from India: Exchanging One Cliché for Another”, The New York Times, Nov. 5, 2009
^[2]U.S. Census 2000
^[3]Akash Kapur, “Learning to Love America, Again”, Granta Magazine, Nov. 3, 2008

Muslim Punk: Through Kim Badawi's Lens

Photographer and journalist Kim Badawi's photographs from his book “The Taqwacores: Muslim Punk in the U.S.A." are currently on display at powerHouse Books¹ in Brooklyn, NY. The author will be on hand this Saturday to talk about the Muslim punk scene that has emerged since he first imagined it in an earlier novel he wrote.²

The film clip below features the very band members whom Mr. Badawi have inspired to start a Muslim punk movement. One motivation was to channel inner conflicts related to growing up Muslim in America. Basim Usmani, a Pakistan American and member of the punk band "The Kominas" spells that out succinctly.

Both my parents are Pakistani but both have very firm ideas of what they like wanted me to be like when i was growing up. They want their kids to do well in school, be part of the Math team, go to MIT, and become doctors. And, I wasn't having any of it because it just wasn't who I was.

The same motivation may have been what led Mr. Badawi to punk rock, to write about it and now to share his photographs of the very movement that he inspired.

I think it's just the sense that being American somehow makes you less Muslim, and being Muslim somehow makes you less American. So it’s just on the margins of the margins of the margins. Punk gave me the courage to be a Muslim, and I think in America today. Being Muslim itself is very punk rock, y’know.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

1powerhousebooks.com
2Nida Najar, “Taqwacore Documented: Images of Muslim American Punk”, The New York Times, Oct. 2, 2009

Japanese American Resettlement: Blending back into the mainstream

The Natural Museum of American History¹ in Washington D.C. hosts the presentation of Lane Ryo Hirabayashi’s latest book, “Japanese American Resettlement through the Lens”, this Saturday, September 19, 2009 at 2 p.m.

The book features the unique collection of the only surviving full-time War Relocation Authority photographer Hikaru Carl Iwasaki, who was one of many Japanese Americans imprisoned at camps during World War II.  What is particularly interesting is that the collection delves on the efforts of Japanese Americans to blend back into mainstream American society.

It promises to be a very interesting presentation.  What’s more, other distinguished personalities will be there.  Dr. Franklin Odo, Director of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program², will be moderating the Q&A session that follows. Rep. Mike Honda³ (D-CA) will also grace the affair.

¹http://www.amnh.org/
²http://apa.si.edu/
³http://honda.house.gov/

Francie Lin Defines: The Chinese American Dream?

Francie Lin's novel entitled "The Foreigner" (Picador) has its thrilling moments especially in chapters leading to the end.  This is somewhat expected given the story is set deep in Taiwan's criminal underworld.  Yet, one will remain captive to it, drawn more by the main character’s inner struggles rather than by the suspenseful build-up that awaits the reader.  Following his just departed mother’s wish, Emerson brings her ashes back to Taipei and tries to reconnect with his long-lost brother.  As much as he could not completely let go of her mom’s remains, Emerson could not just as easily give up on a brother who keeps pushing him away.

The publishers aptly describe the novel as “a noirish tale of family, fraternity, conscience, and a curious gulf between a man's culture and his deepest self" and, also "a darkly comic tale of crime and contrition, and a riveting story about what it means to be a foreigner—even in one's own family."

In one of the more serious exchanges at the early part of the novel, Emerson’s little brother hurls these spiteful words at him.

Sacrimony is the best defense for people like you.  It stings, doesn't it?  Mama's boy does his thing, day in and day out, and all the immortality he gets is a good night's sleep.  You always did buy that crap from Mother.  The Chinko-American dream.  Family, respect, diligence, prestige. S**t.

Reading this, what really strikes me is the author’s characterization of what the Chinese American dream may be.  Is it family, respect, diligence, and prestige?  The younger sibling believes Emerson fits the mold that their mother has set for him.  But that is not the case.  In fact, Emerson is deeply broken by his mother’s nagging pronouncements that he marries a Chinese woman instead of the one that he truly loved.

The old argument between us had never been laid to rest; it ran like groundwater under every word and gesture.  You can have American friends, my mother would say, and American neighbors, and American boss, but when it counts, for the family, you marry a Chinese.  What does the foreigner know about love? she would ask.  What means love to them?  What means marriage?  No amount of reason would shake her faith in the unbridgeable distance between the ways of loving.  If I argued that, at least, the Americans were happy, her response was always one of great scorn:  "Happiness!  If all you want is happiness!  If you want to settle for happiness!"  But what else was there?

Can someone truly live a meaningful and fulfilling life without the pursuit of happiness?  What else is there?  Perhaps, for Emerson’s mother it is simply finding a Chinese woman to marry his son.  For his brother, it could be running away to Taiwan.  For Emerson…for Emerson…maybe it’s trying to find that delicate balance between his American soul and his Chinese blood—the latter of which he could not shake off, even with his mother’s death and his brother’s rejection.

Of course, this newfound fan of Francie Lin may be over-reading all this!  But, I am as I am.

*Note:  The book cover image shown is courtesy of and used with permission from The Greenburgh Public Library of New York.

Top Ten Companies for Asian Americans

Abbott tops the list of ten companies recognized for their commitment to hiring, retaining, compensating, and promoting Asian Americans, according to DiversityInc.¹  “Abbott gets a perfect score for its mentoring best practices, including training and formal follow-up to assess results. Fourteen percent of its U.S. work force and 17 percent of its new hires are Asian American.”

The specialty list is part of the larger 2009 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity.  To determine which companies make it to the list, DiversityInc looks into the increased presence and role of Asian American employees in each company, the strength and purpose of resource groups for its Asian Americans employees, its mentoring program, its philanthropic and scholarship activities within the Asian American community, and its relationships with suppliers that are minority business enterprises. The complete list of ten is shown below.  To learn more how each company has earned such recognition, visit DiversityIncBestPractices.com.

1. Abbott
2. Wells Fargo & Co.
3. American Express Co.
4. IBM Corp
5. Johnson & Johnson
6. Sempra Energy
7. Colgate-Palmolive
8. Bayer
9. Deloitte
10. HP

Concerned that the company you’re looking to get into falls short of the criteria to be even considered in the list?  Executive coach and author Jane Hyun² suggests in her book that you tap people you know who may already be working in that company.  “Nothing can replace the honesty and insight of a personal testimonial”, Miss Hyun writes.   The author also offers suggestions on what to ask in order to gain further insights on whether that company is diversity-friendly or not, for example:

• How would you articulate your company’s commitment to diversity?
• Are your company’s products or service lines domestic or global in nature?  How about in the next 5 to 10 years?
• What about the face of the company’s client base?
• What is the mechanism for diversity recruiting?
• What colleges does the company recruit at?

¹Barbara Frankel, “The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Asian Americans”, DiversityIncBestPractices.com
²Jane Hyun, “Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling:  Career Strategies for Asians”, HyunAssociates.com

Chin-Kee Ruvs Clispy Flied Cat Gizzards Wiff Noodle

I didn’t know it was graphic novel until my library called to say the book I had put on hold was ready for pick-up. Recommended by a friend oversees, the book published three years ago bore a title that was itself compelling. With lowered expectations, I took my library card and checked the book out. Later that evening, I thought I could get a quick chuckle here and there just browsing through the pages, only to realize it wasn’t for that type of reading. Luckily, my harried browsing missed the pages that would have been a spoiler to what turned out to be an astonishing climax to a very satisfying read.  The author cleverly interwove three disjointed stories, including a Chinese fable, to address issues of race and personal identity.

In National Public Radio’s slideshow featuring “American Born Chinese”, the award-winning graphic novelist Gene Yang also talks about the universality of his book’s theme and hopes it would appeal to the a broader audience: “I definitely don’t think that issues of shame and questioning the person’s identity are exclusive to Asian Americans in any way. So I would hope that people can connect to the book on that level, and then, well, broadly as a cartoonist I would hope that it opens them up to the world of graphic novels.” Yup, I’m set to look up his other works in my next trip to the library.

Before Goku

The Asian American Writers’ Workshop hosted yesterday The First Annual Asian American ComiCon at the Museum of Chinese in America in New York City.  The event celebrated “the unique contemporary role and historical legacy of Asian American comic artists, featuring the writers and editors of ‘Secret Identities’, the first-ever graphic novel anthology of Asian American superhero stories.”

In her Wall Street Journal blog, Christina Jeng interviewed Incredible Hulk writer Greg Pak.  He talked about “why Asian-American teens don’t identify with Asian heroes in comic books.”  I would think Goku is popular enough among the younger generation.  Regardless, long before comic characters of Asian—or, for that matter, other ethnic—background was in the vogue, Asian Americans already played a significant role in the anime world.

One such front-runner in the field was Iwao Takamoto.  At the end of World War II, Mr. Takamoto first worked for Disney as an assistant; it was there that he would contribute as animator to now classic hits—Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, etc.  He eventually assumed a VP role for Creative Design at Hanna-Barbera overseeing similarly enduring comic masterpieces such as X-Men.  At the height of his career, the Animation Guild would vest in him the Golden Award for fifty years of outstanding contributions to the field.

 Apart from the mark he left in the industry, Iwao also led a rich and interesting life as chronicled in his biography “Iwao Takamoto:  My Life with a Thousand Characters”.  Surely, Iwao would be proud of how Asian Americans have reached new grounds following his footsteps and find hope and comfort with Asian American superheroes emerging from wartime internment.

I Looked Chinese

In Jen Lin-Lui’s book entitled “Serve the People:  A Stir-Fried Journey Through China”, the author immersed herself in a honest-to-goodness travel narrative searching for the authentic flavor of Chinese cooking.  Her culinary adventures were effectively translated from the perspective of someone not familiar with the land and culture of her Chinese ancestors.  Born and raised in the USA, Miss Lin-Lui sought to get hands-on kitchen experience as material for her book interlaced with interesting settings and characters that brought life to a collection of recipes.  In the end, such quest also transformed her into a deeper understanding of herself and the mores of societal acceptance.

Jen Lin-Lui described a critical obstacle in seeking to gain trust from those she sought to obtain her material and from those with whom she wanted to be more closely tied.  Miss Lin-Lui’s own description of her identity was not calculated or insincere, nor was it borne of a desire to set herself apart.  It was an urge that brought her to call herself a Chinese-American, ironically for the first time while she was in China.

Calling herself Chinese-American befuddled the locals who find it inconceivable that she could be more American than she was Chinese.  She offered them an explanation but it was taken that she was pretending to be something she was not.  Unfazed, she “straddled the expatriate bubble and the world outside it, not quite belonging to either.”  “It was the first time I had to seriously grapple with issues of race, identity, and where I fit in”, Miss Lin-Lui ventilated.

Her romantic relationship with a Caucasian in China, which she only touched on in latter chapters, hopefully offered Miss Lin-Lui more than fodder to help her deal with her issues—perhaps adding to a more complete meal in her next book.