By Ho ChieDate: May 8, 2012Posted in: Featured, SpotlightTags:
Meet Priscilla Liang, aka Priska, a Taiwanese American singer-songwriter based in LA. She has been singing since the age of 4, and in 2010, competed in a Taiwanese music competition where she placed 2nd among US competitors. Priska is one of newest additions to the Akufuncture family.
We had the opportunity to meet with her during one of the Akufuncture OSMOSIS showcase series hosted at the Factory Tea Bar in Alhambra, CA. She sat down to talk with us about her life and career in music. She’s a 2nd generation Taiwanese American who grew up in and around the LA area who is very proud of her heritage.
Check out our interview and showcase footage:
Priscilla Liang was born the oldest of three children into a tight knit Taiwanese family in southern California. When she was young, her parents cultivated a creative environment at home for her and her sisters. During her adolescent years, she was bullied in school, but was able to find solace and comfort in music. Over time, she found strength in her ability to express herself through song.
Known as “Priska” by her friends and fans, she began writing music after being inspired by artists like Tristan Prettyman and Sara Bareilles. She says, “They taught me how complex a simple song can be. So the first few songs I wrote were incredibly simple but very expressive and honest and are still some of my favorite to perform to date.” Over the past few years, her style has continued to evolve but one thing has stayed constant – her need to express herself through beautiful music.
We hope you enjoy this talented and spirited new young artist. We think she’s great!
By KristinaDate: March 28, 2012Posted in: Featured, SpotlightTags:
TaiwaneseAmerican.org’s Ho Chie Tsai and his bubble tea tasting team visit with The Boba Guys, Andrew Chau and Bin Chen. In late 2011, they launched their “pop-up” bubble tea shop in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission District to rave reviews. Guest correspondent Kristina Lin from Taipei, Taiwan joins the team and shares her thoughts about the experience. Watch the video, and read on!
Having lived six years in Taiwan, the motherland of Pearl Milk Tea / Bubble Tea / Boba, I tried my best to avoid consuming any here in the States, lest it diminish my love for this national beverage. But when I heard that TaiwaneseAmerican.org was interviewing the Boba Guys down on 18th Street, San Francisco, CA, I thought it would be really interesting to tag along as a part of their film production crew. What better way to bond with my fellow Taiwanese Americans than over fresh-made bubble tea?
Located at the entrance of the restaurant Ken Ken Ramen, the Boba Guys’ drink shop was where we conducted our interview. I was rather intimidated when I first met up with the team and the Boba Guys, as they were all much older than me, so I resorted to taking photos and recording candid videos. We spent the first half of our time together just getting to know Andrew Chau, Bin Chen, and their enterprise, from the meaning behind their lab coats to the identity of their mascot.
For me, the highlight of the afternoon was when Andrew and Bin demonstrated how to make their version of bubble tea. They performed all their scientific measurements and procedural blend of loose Indian tea leaves, high-quality Straus milk, fresh-made soft but chewy boba, and their special syrup right in front of us. When all was said and done, seven customized mason jars of bubble tea were placed on the bar counter, awaiting our eager and mesmerized team to try. I was pleasantly surprised to find how authentic it tasted! If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought that I was drinking something imported straight from Taiwan. Likewise, the rest of my team commented that this was quite possibly the finest Taiwanese bubble tea in San Francisco!
In a mere two hours, I not only learned the steps and recipe for making delicious bubble tea, but I also learned a few neat tricks in film production, including the use of multiple cameras and external recorders, verbal and physical cues for the interviewer, and positioning, angles, and lighting. It was fascinating taking part in the behind-the-scenes action that I would normally not have experienced!
Friendly, easy-going, and open-minded, the Boba Guys are a real inspiration to the Taiwanese American community. Their obsession with milk tea drove them to find and create the best tasting boba possible, pursuing their passion despite the competitiveness of the food industry and their parents’ initial disapproval. We (and our stomachs) are extremely lucky to be able to benefit from their endeavors as they share this pride of Taiwan with the world!
Leaving 18th Street with a cup of fresh-made bubble tea in my hand, I am thrilled to say that I’ve found a taste of Taiwan, a taste of home, in the midst of busy San Francisco.
Kristina Lin is a first year student at UC Berkeley and one of the staff members for the 2012 Taiwanese American Leadership Conference. She spent her high school years in Taipei, Taiwan, and is extremely hard to please when it comes to quality bubble tea.
By Stinky TofuDate: February 22, 2012Posted in: Featured, SpotlightTags:
by Hanna Huang
A graduate of Columbia University’s Film program, Marilyn Fu won the Tribeca Film Fest’s Creative Promise Award for a script entitled The Sisterhood of Night. She is also the inaugural recipient of the William Goldman Screenwriting Fellowship. The Sisterhood of Night is a modern re-telling of the Salem witch trials, based on a short story by Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Steven Millhauser. It encourages teen girls and their parents to embrace what makes each of us unique. Catherine Huang, one of the main characters in the movie, was inspired by Marilyn’s experience growing up as the only Taiwanese American in her high school.
The film currently has until Saturday, March 10th at 9:00pm EST to fundraise $100,000 on Kickstarter, a site for people who like to “fund and follow creativity.” The way it works is that if the project doesn’t reach its goal, they won’t get any of what’s pledged. Visit their Kickstarter page here to support the film and find out how to get a limited edition Jeremy Lin T-shirt that Marilyn designed herself! (Available through Friday 2/24/12)
Guest correspondent Hanna Huang takes a moment to interview Marilyn Fu:
H: Hi Marilyn. It’s great to finally meet you after hearing so much about your project! After watching your Kickstarter videos and visiting the project page, we just had to learn more about it. I found it really interesting that the film, which is based on the Salem witch trials, is centered on a group of teenage girls. How did you decide to focus the main characters on that age group?
M: I took my cue from Steven Millhauser’s short story, that’s what I adapted the screenplay from. It’s really kind of perfect to do the witch trials with teenage girls—gossip, “BFFs”, insecurities, obsessive crushes on boys! Then add Facebook to that.
H: I also grew up in a community with very few fellow Taiwanese Americans. Can you tell me a little more about your experience as the only Taiwanese American in your high school?
M: That’s right, you’re from Texas! Well, I was teased. In not very creative ways. I had a badass bus driver and one day this kid was mercilessly taunting me and she stopped the bus on the side of the road and threatened to make him walk home if he didn’t stop. And he did! But mostly my experience was more subtle, just a feeling of being “different” in a broader way. I hadn’t explored my background or gotten to know my parents enough as people to be interested in what that meant on a deeper level. I definitely felt full of contradictions. I liked to party, I wanted to fit in, and I played the violin. I was a cheerleader (a bad one—couldn’t even do a cartwheel!), took all AP classes, but just did okay in those classes.
H: Taiwanese American is still considered a relatively new term. Did you always consider yourself Taiwanese American?
M: Yes! Both my parents grew up in Tofun, but they didn’t meet until they went to grad school at Kansas State. They met a lot of their closest friends there who also identified strongly as being Taiwanese—and this was all the way in Kansas! “Taiwanese-American” has complex meanings. Politically. To me, it’s a source of pride for having an awesome family, and for everything they stand for.
H: Since you and Catherine, the Taiwanese American character in the movie, grew up in different time periods, how did you translate your experiences growing up to Catherine’s experiences in the movie?
M: Catherine’s plot line has always been really classic, so not too much changed in the translation from me to her. She has super strong ties to her family. Her identity is deeply tied to her family. There’s the love, the guilt, the way your hopes and dreams are all wrapped up in each other. And Catherine’s into fashion like I was when I was a teenager. It was a way of being different, a quiet way, that I was comfortable with. I’d stay up all night trying to copy outfits I saw in Seventeen! I was voted “Best-Dressed” in high school (haha). I love all the Sisterhood girls in the script, but Catherine is really special because there is no Taiwanese-American character in Millhauser’s original story, she’s a character I created.
H: The movie also highlights the cyber bullying of one of The Sisterhood characters. Since cyber bullying is increasingly becoming an issue in schools, what advice do you have for those who are victims or bystanders?
M: That is a really tough question and I’m definitely no expert. When I was bullied it was face to face. I can only imagine the false courage it gives a bully, being able to hide behind a computer screen. My motto was always to turn the other cheek. To walk away. I remember this girl wanted to beat me up once over a boy and I just walked away. Maybe the equivalent of that is deleting a mean comment, unfriending someone who’s not really a friend, or just taking a moment to shut down your phone or your laptop and take a breather, get some perspective. I don’t know if that’s the answer, but that approach has gotten me by to the next day—and the next day is always better. As for bystanders my advice is, Don’t be a bystander!
H: I heard you are a speaker for the North America Taiwanese Women’s Association II (NATWA II) panel during the upcoming NATWA convention (April 20-22, 2012). What are your thoughts on the Love and Compassion theme in relation to the Taiwanese American/Canadian community?
M: I think it’s a great theme! I like the distinction of love and compassion as two different things. It takes a lot of compassion to love someone sometimes, and vice versa and I think in our community we do expect a lot from each other. The panel I’m on focuses on Exploring Parent-Child Relationships and how this ties in to my artistic work. A few years ago I produced a radio show with Jean Fang about Peggy Hsiao, Hsiao Mei-Chin’s mom, who has such an interesting life story. And it’s definitely very present in Sisterhood.
H: What makes you proud to be Taiwanese American?
M: My parents and my sister. And being surrounded by a community that is so loving, hard-working, and proud of where they came from. There is an irrepressible energy that seems to come from being Taiwanese. Taiwanese American feels like the best of both worlds!
H: Lastly, we just have to know—what is your favorite Taiwanese dish/snack/food?
M: Anything my mom makes! But especially loudan (魯蛋).
H: Thanks for taking the time to share your story and this project with us!
We encourage you to help support Marilyn’s project by:
Hanna Huang is a book nerd with a passion for finding the works of Asian American and Taiwanese American writers. Hailing from a small border town, her Texan twang occasionally makes an appearance when she says “y’all.” After joining the Taiwanese American Students Association at UT Austin, she also joined the National Board of the Intercollegiate Taiwanese American Students Association (ITASA) and directed the first ever ITASA in Texas in 2010. She is currently involved with the Taiwanese American Professionals in Austin, Texas. As a future social worker, she has a passion for non-profit organizations and at-risk populations.
By Ho ChieDate: February 15, 2012Posted in: Featured, SpotlightTags:
To be honest, this post is long overdue.
After all, our website is now the go-to place for all things Taiwanese American, and since young point-guard Jeremy Lin, an undrafted Harvard graduate, came off the New York Knick’s bench to lead a victory against the New Jersey Nets on February 4, 2012, he has continued to amaze audiences worldwide by achieving career highs with subsequent games and taking a struggling team through a series of wins. His has been a Cinderella story, indeed — a “Linspirational Linderella” story as the media might put it.
Every time I have planned to put up a post about Jeremy, who is of Taiwanese and Chinese heritage but more American than anything else, it seems we’re already out-of-date. As of today, he has led the Knicks to a 7 game winning streak and has already made it on to the cover of Sports Illustrated. He keeps breaking records and making game-winning shots. He continues to captivate us with his versatile basketball skills, and as sports experts might say, he demonstrates skillful court vision and leadership.
What can’t this young man do?
Sure, it’s only the start of his NBA career, and only time will tell if he can live up to all the hype and attention. But, I’ll say this: We’ve followed him since his Harvard days (admittedly because he was of Taiwanese descent), and we definitely saw some magic even back then. And in 2010, when he was finally picked up by his hometown team, the Golden State Warriors, we were there to cheer for him during his first game, joined by throngs of admiring (predominantly Asian American) fans. We have definitely been believers of Jeremy’s talent once we saw him play.
Watch our brief 2011 video interview with Jeremy, when he served as a judge for talent competition, KollaborationSF: http://youtu.be/tbup-Gba3dU
But, when it comes down to it, sports fan or not, to us as Taiwanese and Asian Americans, he has already become our sports/ generational/ cultural icon. We all see a little something of ourselves in him. Whether it’s simply our race/ethnicity, our own personal struggles as Americans of Asian descent, our faith in something greater than ourselves, or a hard-working attitude that we can relate to, Jeremy shows us that we really can pursue our passions and live our lives to the fullest. And that says something about how we long for heroes who we as Taiwanese and Asian Americans can relate to.
No doubt, he has made a mark already, being only the 2nd Asian American in the NBA, but really the first for contemporary Asian America. All eyes are on Jeremy right now, and we continue to root for more future successes. Like many other communities, we’ll embrace him as one of our own.
So, chances are, this post WILL be out-of-date once you read this, the backlash and doubts will emerge, the losses will happen, and greater challenges will certainly come. However, we’ll let this post serve as a record of his “Lincredible” and “Linspirational” start in the NBA, knowing that Jeremy will continue to surprise us with achievements beyond our expectations for years to come.
Below, we give you highlights and links to some of the interesting articles and blogs that have been published during his first week as a breakout NBA star:
2/15/12 – Reuters: Lin happy to smash stereotypes by living the NBA dream “California-born Lin said he was looking forward to returning to the homeland of his parents after the NBA season to host a basketball camp. ‘I did that last summer as well,’ the soft-spoken 23-year-old said. ‘I have a strong passion for the game and I have a strong passion for Taiwan. I would love to do that.’”
2/15/12 – Wall Street Journal: China, Taiwan Both Lay Claim to Jeremy Lin “It would be an understatement to say Taiwan has a bad case of “Linsanity.” Mr. Lin has been on the front page of every major Taiwan newspaper and local malls have taken to broadcasting Knicks games in public spaces. Even Taiwan’s normally staid financial analysts have gotten into the spirit: In an email, one analyst attributed the Taiwan stock-market rally early Wednesday to Mr. Lin’s game-winning shot.”
2/15/12 – Washington Post: Jeremy Lin’s ethnicity is only part of the story “Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. missed the point about surprising New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin. Granted, Lin’s Asian-American heritage is part of his intriguing story — but the player’s unexpected success is what’s most compelling about him.”
2/15/12 – Bloomberg: Knicks’ ‘Linsanity’ Has Stats Geeks Saying Told You So as Streak Hits Six “Before his rise from obscurity, a few argued that Lin might be something special. They weren’t the NBA scouts or general managers who make player decisions, though. They were statistics geeks, sports junkies with day jobs. Now they are enjoying a good, long told-you-so moment.”
2/15/12 – The New York Times: Jeremy Lin’s Grandmother Watches, Along With Taiwan “Long before Jeremy Lin began winning games in spectacular style for the Knicks, his Taiwanese grandmother, Lin Chu A Muen, came to the United States to look after him as a young child while his parents worked. She diapered and fed him and, as he grew up, cooked big batches of fried eggs and turnips, a Taiwanese favorite.”
2/15/12 – Reuters: A new NBA star, Jeremy Lin becomes a bankable name “Jeremy Lin’s surprising basketball heroics have made the 23-year-old point guard a sports sensation and media darling nearly overnight, and there are no shortage of entrepreneurs trying to cash in.”
2/13/12 – Mercury News: Lin’s Appeal: Faith, Pride and Points “Sucker punched by the cold business of the NBA — playing for his third team in a year — Lin suffered in silence. Before he was the talk of the sports world, before he was crowned star of the Knicks, Lin was ridden with doubt and anxiety. So he doubled down on his commitment to God. And without that, he believes, there would be no Lin-sanity.”
2/10/12 – SI.com: Can Lin add to his legend? There’s reason to believe the answer is yes “Even though Lin went on to star at Harvard, even though he impressed me every time I watched him in high school and college, even though he had a memorable summer league duel against Wall, more than holding his own as an undrafted rookie against the No. 1 pick of the draft, I wasn’t at all surprised when no one thought he had much of a chance to succeed in the NBA. I knew on some level that part of the reason Lin was so quickly dismissed was that NBA people had a hard time believing that an Asian-American could play point guard in the NBA, which is why I’m kicking myself — I didn’t question the conventional wisdom even though it didn’t go along with what I saw with my own eyes.”
2/10/12 – Slam Online: Pride and Prejudice – Jeremy Lin and the persistence of racial stereotypes “Lin breaks down, or at least penetrates, the walls that have excluded Asian Americans from popular culture. The pride, adoration and celebration reflect this history of exclusion, a history of erasure, and invisibility. The efforts to link Lin to Nike’s “Witness” campaign is illustrative in that we are all witness—maybe for the first time in history—of an Asian American sports hero, someone who challenges and defies expectations and stereotypes.”
2/9/12 – USA Today: Even Kobe impressed by ‘Lin-sational’ Knicks “Players don’t usually come out of nowhere. If you can go back and take a look, his skill level was probably there from the beginning, but no one ever noticed. … It is a great story. It is a testament to perseverance and hard work. It is a good example to kids everywhere.”
Special thanks to our sports enthusiast friends Eric Chen, Alex Yang, Eric Chang, and John Lin for helping to compile this list of articles. Additional thanks to Karen Lin, Annie Tung, and Amy Lee for photo and video contributions.
By Ho ChieDate: January 30, 2012Posted in: Featured, SpotlightTags:
TaiwaneseAmerican.org’s Ho Chie Tsai takes a look at the work of Julia Kuo, an illustrator who works out of Cleveland for most of the year and Taipei during the winter. She recently gained greater attention for her project “100 Days in Cleveland,” which showcases 100 of her favorite things about the city. Many of the sketches are now part of a travel guidebook to Cleveland.
As a freelance illustrator, her notable clients include the New York Times, Universal Music Group, Capitol Records, Little Brown and Co., American Greetings, the Home Shopping Network, Tiny Prints, and the Journey Group. She is also part of a small new paper goods company, The Nimbus Factory, and spends time supporting Asian American musicians and authors by designing their artwork.
By Ho ChieDate: January 24, 2012Posted in: Featured, SpotlightTags:
Meet Anna Wu. She is an amazing photographer, and she has been my friend for over 15 years.
She also serves as TaiwaneseAmerican.org’s Creative Director and Website Manager, and too often, she works behind-the-scenes while I, as the Founder, get more credit and attention than I deserve for the projects that our team takes on. However, in reality, I know that my big ideas don’t happen unless key staffers like Anna take part and bring them to fruition.
See this website? In February of 2010, she guided the redesign and relaunch. Some of you may remember the way our older original “blog” version looked. I prefer you not.
Remember our 2010 “Write in Taiwanese” US Census campaign? She created the website, which gave context to our viral video produced by Slideshow Pictures.
Anna also designed the website and framework of our ongoing “100 Passionate People” project, a seed for our future oral history projects capturing the stories of Taiwanese America.
The list goes on.
There’s so much more I could share about how essential of a role she plays on our team, but I’ll leave it at that and simply say that in the time I’ve known her, she has always demonstrated sparks of creative genius combined with practical creativity. Moreover, she has an amazing eye for visual perspective and composition. In recent years, she has created a career path that encapsulates her artistic passions, her support for the Taiwanese and Asian American communities, and a desire to live life to its fullest.
So in this special feature, I proudly highlight Anna Wu’s inspiring creative work outside of TaiwaneseAmerican.org.
Since she was a mere child, Anna has always had a fascination with cameras. In pictures of her as a young girl, one would often find her holding a professional SLR camera bigger than her hands could handle. But that’s never stopped her from doing what she loved most –standing on the periphery capturing the visual stories and emotions of the people around her.
During college, as a student who self-designed her own major in Documentary Film and Asian American Studies at Duke University, she launched her own personal photography and blog site, AnnaWu.com. I have always been impressed with her desire to fill niches and find intersections with her various interests. Over the years, as her website found more focus and direction, it has become her professional photography business site featuring her work and advice to aspiring photographers around the country.
Between her often packed weekend schedules traveling around California and other parts of the country for wedding shoots, she manages to dole out useful advice and commentary for those looking to improve their photography skills. Not sure what to do with a camera? Want to take better photos? Well, her site is where you should start.
More recently, just over a year ago, she partnered with one of TaiwaneseAmerican.org’s close collaborators, TAF Labs director Kevin Yau, and together they have created a mission-oriented wedding cinematography company, Seaglass Cinema. By shooting “with an editorial eye and creating a tightly woven visual story,” they create “real life movies.” If you haven’t watched one of their videos, you should. They are touching glimpses into the journeys of couples in love.
Start with this one, an earlier video, but still one of my favorites. It also happens to be the wedding of one of TaiwaneseAmerican.org’s board members, Nicholas Huang.
While they capture wedding stories way more creatively than your typical wedding slideshow, another impressive thing that Seaglass Cinema does is help promote the work of Taiwanese and Asian American musical artists. The video above features the song “Valentine” by YouTube celebrity Kina Grannis. In recent videos, they’ve also featured some other Asian American rising stars such as David Choi, Clara C, and one of our favorite Taiwanese American singer-songwriters, Cynthia Lin.
Want to watch more videos by Seaglass Cinema? Prepare to spend an hour watching some beautifully edited footage and shedding tears to romantic music. Visit their Vimeo channel at: http://vimeo.com/seaglasscinema
Anna Wu continues to create beautiful work, and I’m looking forward to what 2012 will bring for her. She’ll probably be surprised that I chose to feature her, as she’s really not one to seek the spotlight. But, I think it’s important for all of you to know some of the great people who I know and work with –the superstars in my life who know how to get stuff done. I have total respect for her and a great admiration of her work. I hope you enjoy it, too.
Anna recently celebrated a birthday. Knowing her, I think one of the greatest gifts to her will be if you follow her company’s websites and Facebook pages. Drop by, Like, and say hello:
By Ho ChieDate: December 8, 2011Posted in: Featured, SpotlightTags:
TaiwaneseAmerican.org’s Ho Chie Tsai takes a dinner break with Lisa Lee, co-founder along with actress Lynn Chen of the website ThickDumplingSkin.com, to talk about Asian American community activism and her personal story of Taiwanese American identity.
Lisa previously served as the publisher of Hyphen Magazine and was also recognized by AngryAsianMan.com as one of 30 influential Asian Americans under the age of 30. In May 2011, she received San Francisco’s Asian Pacific American Heritage Award in the Emerging Leadership category.
Lisa, in addition to holding a full-time position at Facebook, spends much time supporting the Asian American community in the San Francisco Bay area. Her latest project, Thick Dumpling Skin, brings together the Asian American community and provides an online forum for people to share and discuss pressures revolving around our quest for the “perfect” body.
Check out Lisa’s personal story about her early struggles with body image, posted during the early launch of ThickDumplingSkin.com:
By MargaretDate: November 17, 2011Posted in: Featured, SpotlightTags:
TaiwaneseAmerican.org’s Margaret Chen speaks with Karin Wang, a life-long civil rights advocate who currently serves as Vice-President of Programs & Communications at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC), the nation’s largest legal and civil rights organization serving Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. We’ve followed her work for the past decade and remain impressed with all that she has been able to accomplish.
With an excellent track record of leadership, Karin has been honored by many organizations, including Lambda Legal, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, KCET TV in Los Angeles, and the California Assembly.
TaiwaneseAmerican.org was proud to include her in our 100 Passionate People Project back in 2010. The following interview is reprinted from that web project.
Who are you?
I was born and raised in the Midwest, during a time when the “model minority” myth was pervasive and Vincent Chin’s murder was defining a generation of Asian Americans. Between my Taiwanese heritage and my childhood in a place where people thought I was Mexican (because Taiwanese or Asian did not compute), I found myself increasingly drawn to civil rights work. Like many other Taiwanese Americans my age, I started college as pre-med, but I promptly flunked an advanced chemistry quiz and realized I needed a new career path. I thought being a lawyer would let me work on issues I cared about. Ultimately, although I went to law school, I see myself as an advocate in a broader sense, using not just the law but the legislative process and the media to advance issues of social justice.
I [was a former] president of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Los Angeles County (APABA). In addition to APABA, I have had leadership roles in both state and national bar associations, including former chair of the California State Bar’s Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services, member of the State Bar’s Justice Gap Task Force, and former co-chair of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s (NAPABA) Pro Bono & Community Service Committee. I am a civil rights advocate.
What do you do?
Currently, I’m Vice-President of Programs at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC), the nation’s largest Asian American civil rights organization. My passion is working for greater social justice and ensuring that Asian Americans advance progressive ideas of justice. I started at APALC directing the immigrant rights project, focused on issues affecting immigrants who were poor and spoke little English (e.g., ensuring access to health and welfare programs; advocating for language rights). More recently, I have been very involved in advocating for marriage equality. After a series of anti-gay protests by Chinese churches in SF and LA, I helped to found API Equality-LA, a coalition seeking to increase support for marriage equality and LGBTs among Asian Americans. I believe that all social justice struggles require broad-based coalitions to succeed (e.g., allies supporting LGBTs, non-immigrants supporting immigrants). None of our communities can win our battles alone.
Why are you proud to be of Taiwanese heritage?
I am a 2nd generation Taiwanese American. My parents taught me to be proud to be Taiwanese, and as a child growing up in the 1970s and 1980s Midwest, learning to understand and appreciate my Taiwanese roots gave me my first real sense of belonging and identity in an otherwise alienating place and time. As Taiwanese immigrants who support Taiwan’s independence, my parents also instilled in me from an early age a strong sense of justice and fairness. As a young adult, those early lessons helped influenced my choice to work in American civil rights and social justice. So while I do not work specifically on Taiwanese issues, I credit my Taiwanese heritage with leading me to a career that I love and which is emotionally and intellectually fulfilling.
What does the future of Taiwanese America look like to you?
Taiwanese Americans are an amazingly talented group. We have politicians, actors, musicians, writers, lawyers, judges, activists… not just the engineers and doctors that many of us grew up thinking we had to be. We are also highly privileged — we’re mostly from middle or upper middle class families, went to good schools and colleges, have graduate degrees, have succeeded in our careers. My hope is that we (particularly the 2nd and 3rd generation) leverage our collective talents for a greater good — not just supporting Taiwanese independence (which is important) but also domestic issues here in the U.S. If we as Taiwanese really believe in the right to self-determination as well as fairness and justice, we should be supporting similar struggles in what is now the “homeland” for many of us, the U.S. Native Americans and Hawaiians are struggling for sovereignty, undocumented immigrants are struggling against racial profiling and demonization, gays and lesbians are struggling for equal treatment. I hope more Taiwanese Americans will step up and step out in the larger American society and be leaders in politics and social issues.
By Ho ChieDate: November 8, 2011Posted in: Featured, SpotlightTags:
TaiwaneseAmerican.org’s Ho Chie Tsai chats with YouTube artist Kevin Lien and sponsor Samuel Wang, one of the co-founders of Akuncture Clothing. Both are Taiwanese Americans who hope to make an impact on the greater community by sharing their creative talents.
We recently brought together our TaiwaneseAmerican.org team along with some of our co-collaborators in LA to attend one of Akufuncture’s OSMOSIS performance series showcasing talented Asian American artists. On this unusually cool and wet Friday night in San Gabriel Valley, we made ourselves at home in the cozy and warm Factory Tea Bar to listen to featured performer, Taiwanese American Kevin Lien.
Kevin has found a solid following on YouTube, with over sixty thousand subscribers. Some of his videos and covers songs have garnered about a quarter million hits. Check out his YouTube channel, listen to his voice, and you’ll see why he has such a loyal following. We’ve known about him for some time now, but it was only recently that we discovered that he was of Taiwanese heritage. Speaking to him, one quickly realizes that he is quite proud of his Taiwanese American background.
Akufuncture’s co-founder Samuel Wang is a talented and visionary individual with a flair for fashion. He speaks proudly of his Chinese and Taiwanese backgrounds, and it is from this broader experience that he finds inspiration to bring a fashion-forward consciousness to the world of urban Asian-inspired clothing.
Established in 2009, Akufuncture “aims to create a clothing line that brings to life a culture with much influence” by creating designs that tell the broader Chinese-inspired “historical and cultural stories.” The company has done quite well for themselves, with orders coming in from the U.S., Canada, and overseas. But more importantly, Samuel has made it a point to help support both well-established and up-and-coming YouTube artists through sponsorships. When he speaks about building up the Asian American community, one senses that he is driven to make a difference. Look closely at other popular Asian American YouTube artists’ videos, and you might find them sporting the Akufuncture brand.
TaiwaneseAmerican.org is pleased to support both of these passionate creators in what they do. Look forward to some future collaborative projects with the Akufuncture family!
TaiwaneseAmerican.org, Turtlist Media, Seaglass Cinema, and tafLabs bring together our soon-to-be-launched young talent, Alison Yeh, with Akufuncture’s Sam Wang and singer Kevin Lien.
By Ho ChieDate: October 24, 2011Posted in: Featured, SpotlightTags:
TaiwaneseAmerican.org’s Ho Chie Tsai recently traveled to Seattle to meet with up-and-coming comedian Yola Lu, a 2nd generation Taiwanese American. We recently heard about her when she was interviewed for Northwest Asian Weekly and were impressed with how far she’s gone in such a short time. With so few Asian Americans in stand-up comedy, we certainly took notice of Yola.
Only on the scene for less than a year, Yola found her way on to the Seattle stand-up comedy scene when she started putting together a bucket list of things she wanted to do before graduating from the University of Washington. After taking a beginner class in comedy, she found confidence in doing an open mic performance. From that point forward, and with all the encouragement and positive reviews she received, she jumped in full force.
At times, Yola would find herself performing at showcases and filling the rest of the week with nightly open-mics to hone and refine her material. One only needs to speak to her for a few minutes to realize how passionate she feels about her new career in comedy. We take a moment from her busy schedule to chat with her about topics ranging from parental expectations to discovering personal passion.
Be sure to watch for her as she gains more national exposure over the years!
To contact Yola for bookings:
Email yolajlucomedy@gmail.com
