racialicious dialogue on race in comedy

hey click on this link to see a pretty good dialogue on the use of the word chink in comedy and some people criticizing me for my politicomedy while others celebrate. DIG IT!
RACIALIOUS AND KATE RIGG

Birth of a nASIAN at the Smithsonian in 2008

This was Slanty Eyed Mama's second year at the Smithsonian Institute's Meyer auditorium performing funky urban Amerasian pop to a sold out crowd who then lined up outside on the sidewalk where we May or May not have been selling t-shirts and cd's outside of the back of a red chevy rented from JFK airport for the trip. I'm just saying. We did the play Birth of a nASIAN written by me, the extremely talented playwright and my colleague from Juilliard (who that I work with isn't really) and with music by me and Lyris Hung.

So we performed a very bare bones but full length version of the play which you can see a clip from here which is the China Latina character talking about the bullshit of ticking the "other" box on her unemployment forms...this was actually taped at the comedy central theater where we did a redux version of the show last fall for about 35 minutes.

Out crowd at Smithsonian was really enthused we got the standing o and at the end of the show before we performed Rice Rice baby I shouted out some of my favorite Asian American heroes (see last blog for relevance)

Soon I will blog some of the most common questions asked in q and a, but this was a very prestigious and super fun gig and I hope we keep going back...

A/PI Heritage month means awards

At the last minute, I was asked to present a new poem at the Los Angeles KCET Local Heros Awards which the Union Bank of California has created for Asian Americans. NOW WE'RE TALKING.

On tour one of the questions I always ask young asian americans is: Who are your asian American Heros? Do you have a/pi role models. And after an uncomfortable silence someone blurts out "Bruce Lee" and then maybe a "Jackie Chan" and then there is some relief. And someone might say My mom. Which is nice. But is avoiding the question a little bit. The lack of role models for A/PI Americans is more than an academic debate. It is more than a college class on race and representation or minorities in the media or some essay on how multiculturalism is affected by the 2nd 3rd and 4th waves of Asian immigration. It is more than an article for a culture paper, it is more than a grant proposal. It is one of the main reasons that we lost AZN TV before it even started. It is why I am confronted over and over with suicide stories from interviewees who consistently cite cultural alienation as their source of despair: Traditional asian values from home which they cannot relate to (dont date outside the race, dont assimilate, dont do as the white kids do, racism etc) clashing with their image at school (nerd geek, oriental, foreginer) which is perpetuated by the lack of Asians in American pop culture and the stereotypes that persist in our popular media.

Of COURSE we are making progress. But we are far from there my friends. Here is the poem I read at the KCET ceremony. I encourage you to all look up the award winners and nominate some in your own communities so we can get this shit started and take our place as American Asians who not only pay with our taxes and our consumer dollars for the media we consume, but who learn to participate by encouraging our leaders in sciences and arts and business to inspire future generations of Americasians. George Takei didn't make it to the awards, but he is a beacon of activism and hope and served as the anchor for this poem.

(Where we are going, and where we have been.
Our heroes voices resonate within:
The heart of every A/PI Desi Hapa
East Meets West meets
Accidental Occidental Oriental Americasian.
The heroes Speak the text
For Generasian-Next.)



Atmospheric Sound Waves from Takei 7307
As interpreted by the honorees
At KCET’s 5th Annual Local Hero of the Year Awards.
In a new translation by kate rigg
2008

Beau Sia
See Beau, beautiful poet
Deftly def with words with rhymes
Sign of the times
Like a beacon of hope,
Speaking loud speaking strong
In a sea of black and white
All his mighty Amerasian might
The light
Sounds of a young man speaking
A young man teaching
A voice so clear it woke up the DEF
Beau Sia said
DECLARE YOURSELF
And we might.
Coz he did.

Tony Yip
Fast and Fearless
Steering us to takea ride inside
The mechanics of
Of possibility
See
How to make wheels turn
How to push the form
And from within
Tony Yip said what If I flipped
This door this frame this idea
This passion that ties us all to our
Ride. Our Pride.
Tony Yip Said
DARE TO EVOLVE
And we could.
Because he did.


Curtis chin
Knew Vincent chin
Knew that from within
The writers and the artists and the
Filmmakers and the poets
And the voters and the singers
And the thinkers and the painters
And the Keepers of History
And the speakers of our story,
Would lead us out of the parking lot
And into the future.
At the workshop at the committee
In the lens of a documentary.
He gave us places he gave us names
He gives us pictures, He built the frames
AAWW, APIMNY, DNC, APAP
Curtis Chin
Said
PROGRESS
And we can
Because he named it.


Bill Seki
Holding the law inside
The pride of a fight
That tore us apart
Tore the American heart
Out of so many who tried
To believe in a country
That had lost its faith in them.
And with 100 battalions by his side
And his diplomas and his degrees
The sansei reaches one hand to the Nisei
One hand to the Issei and holds fast
Says we will not forget the past
We will speak it all
Till it has all been spoke
Bill Seki
Said
GO FOR BROKE
And we will
Because he showed us.


Hemlata Momaya
Or you might call her Aunty
If you are one of tomorrows children
Who needed someone’s love today
She refuses to say
“Less desirable too hard to place
Abandoned, unwanted, the wrong color
The wrong face”
And the strength of the world
Found in the heart of a child
Found its channel its potential
Its butterfly
In Aunty Hemlata
Who did not forget
That we are all caterpillars
And we have angels wings
Through her teaching through her
Agency, through her so many things
Hemlata Momaya said
WE ARE FOREVER FAMILY
And we are
Because we can be.

George Takei
Has an asteroid named after him
7307 Takei.
It is between mars
Planet of Passion
And Jupiter
Planet of Luck.
It is 5 miles in diameter
And it is approved and recognized by the
International Astronomical Union.
If you can see it in your mind’s eye
7307
(named after actor activist
writer historian role model speaker
leader survivor politician partner)
7307
may lead you all the way home.
And if you listen for the cosmic universal sound
The echoes of 7307 Takei
Crossing the universe
You might hear it seem to say
From your Asian American Heros
To tomorrow’s heroes, today :
DECLARE YOURSELF
DARE TO EVOLVE
PROGRESS
GO FOR BROKE
WE ARE FOREVER FAMILY.


And we might
And we can
And we will
And we are.

The real AZN excellence awards in Austin: Don't Mess with Texas Asians!

I had the enormous pleasure of hosting the TAACC Star of Asia Awards and New Year Gala this year and presenting the Star of Asia Awards for Entertainment and Science. The Star ones went to to Broadway Producer PUN BANDHU who is a gorgeous as he is smart (look out all ye emasculating stereotypes of A/A males, Pun is gonna slick back his hair, keep making Tony Award winning plays and knock you OUT). The other recipient was CHLOE DAO, creator of Lot 8 boutique in Houston, and winner of Project runway season 2 and member of a giant family of girls 7 sisters were in attendance, all wearing Dao dresses and looking like a beautiful cluster of silky birds on stage as she received her glass trophy and made her speech. She said the most memorable thing of the night which was that she thought "Asian parents should support their children's dreams. Especially parents who emigrated here because they were seeking a better life. My parents , my mother always supported my desire to be an artist and a clothing designer. She believed in me and encouraged me to draw and think big. Dream big. She helped me sew dresses on the kitchen table, and she encouraged all of her daughters to find happiness in America with no one rigid idea of what that meant, or one career foisted upon me. And look what happens when you support you Asian American kids' dreams. They become Stars of Asia." There were also awards for science ( apparently Asians are good at Science, who knew?) and some high school kids got awards too.

This people, is the real Asian Excellence Awards. No token istic Awards given to Tia Carrere because she is famous, no Awards given to Quentin Tarantino for liking Asian stuff (ironically presented by an idol of his Jonny To who was part of a comedic back and forth stare off with Quentin witht he subtext--Am I Asian?-- No I am though--But why aren't I giving YOU the award--I dunno maybe because the Uncle Wonging producers think you are more famous and so will get more sponsor money--) no bizarre speeches by white celebs like Rhea Perlman about Lucy Liu (instead of a perhaps more appropriate offering by an up and coming A/PI celebutot about how inspiring Miss Liu has been for instance DUH).

Texas had it going on. Honoring achievements in Asian American Culture, giving scolarships to promising high school students, lauding our thinkers in the sciences instead of asking them to do our math homework for us. TAACC RULZ. Also there was a rice cooker and a set of violin lessons on the silent auction. SO much to be proud of.

White People Hate Asians at University of Colorado

Have you guys seen THIS CRAZY RACIST SHIT? Click on that link to see an article From the paper at the University of Colorado Boulder a one of a kind racist diatribe that was published then defended by the school's lawyers.

If you were to substitute the word Negro or Black or Hispanic and accord the appropriate stereotypes in there (replace rice cooker with Watermelon seeder/hairnet replace math homework references with Balling/Stealing Hubcaps) I think you would find that the lawyers who say OH NO it's NOT HATE SPEECH would be fired on the spot and the student who wrote this suspended and the editor FIRED. Why is there no justice for us? Why do we have to take this shit sitting down and be like oh, well it's NOT THE SAME as when IMUS calls people Nappy headed hoes. Uh, wake up it's worse. It calls for actual violence, organized violence against "the Asians" and by the way who are these "Asians" I am assuming this is the writers way of saying "chinks" in a more polite way--eg. lumping all the people with slanty eyed into one assumed "Asian" identity the way "chink" chineseifies all asian people in a more old school racist way. I hope those few activists in Colorado go apeshit. I am going apeshit in LA because we can now add this to the list of unpunished ills like the Adam Carolla racist rant of 06, the Rosie Ching Chong incident on the View and the age old Shaquille O nEal Yao Ming hazing on National TV.

AZN shuts its sad lame doors

I can't believe we never even had a chance. The article from December 2005 in the SF Gate called "Asian Pop/AZN R.I.P" sent a shudder through the hearts of Asian American Artists who only a few months before had thrilled to the announcement that comcast was launching a special network JUST FOR Asian Americans with original programming as well as feeds from around the world. I like, many other A.D.D. multimedia multicultural AZN artists came up with 300 good ideas for programming, cheap cool ones at that. And I interviewed hundreds of college and high school students while on tour with Slanty Eyed Mama about what kinds of things they would like to see on an AZN network. Here is an excerpt from the SF Gate article in case you don't want to read the whole thing. Bottom line my friends. Money talks and bullshit walks. I am so mad mad mad because the shut down of AZN sends the wrong message to the media. It says that there is no audience for cool A/PI programming which is BULLSHIT!! There is no audience for whack old school K-dramas sandwiched between endless repeats of the same Yao Ming documentary and one off stand up comedy shows half assed shot in a basement with no decent graphics package and no publicity. We got sold out for a half billion dollars in the pockets of the real power players who put this deal together and whose name you will not find in this article or anywhere on line. We had our asses handed to us by shit brains who wanted us to fail and who laid off the entire staff, cancelled production and pulled budgets out, waiting for 2008 so they could say "Well, gee whiz we tried! I guess there is no audiences for this kind of station." Lemme in that board room! Next time round we're gonna do it right.


FROM THE SF GATE 2005 portender of doom:
Variety shows and news from Hong Kong. Japanese animation. Soap operas from Korea. Bollywood movies. Valuable content, but nothing groundbreaking -- and nothing targeted specifically at Asian Americans. With senior managers dedicated to development and acquisitions gone, some staff members wonder what will happen once the channel runs out its string. As one employee put it, "They don't want to be seen as killing it, so they're going to let it die on the vine."

Business is business, of course, even for companies that proudly tout their commitment to diversity and community service. And hidden behind the hype and glory of AZN's launch were some financial intricacies that suggest the channel is ultimately as valuable to Comcast dead as alive, if not more so. This is because the deal that landed the channel in Comcast's lap was actually part of an intricate fiscal tango in which Comcast received $545 million in tax-free cash, called a "cash-rich split-off."

Because of certain arcane IRS regulations, at least 5 percent of the assets transferred in a cash-rich split-off have to be in the form of a business "engaged in the active conduct of a trade or commerce" -- in this case, International Channel. This business also has to continue operating for a certain period of time after transfer, the rule of thumb being one year.

After that, the parent company is free to liquidate it if it so wishes, thereby absorbing the subsidiary's assets -- which, in this case, include a half-billion dollars in tax-free cash. By that standard, one should note that on July 28, 2005, the anniversary of the transaction, the statutory incentive for AZN's existence essentially went away.

When Wiggers go Wrong

I aint hatin on eminem or danny hoch or anyone else who has made part of their career by "talkin' black" or "talkin hip hop". I know Paul Mooney would have something to say to me about this and I realize that it pretty much is a matter of case by case scenarios. I don't necessarily think that eminem makes the world dismissive of black artists although his meteoric rise to popularity in a medium created out of social unrest and racial pride-slash-rebellion did certainly highlight and chafe the wound of racism in the entertainment industry and the audience. However. As a mixed race artist I am certainly never going to support nationalistic or ethno centric proprietal rights to language and arts in our society. I dont think that once art, especially popular art is put out there, that you can segregate the audience or the artist by claiming THIS IS OURS ONLY. Otherwise I would be banished to the margins as an actor of playing an Indonesian Australian ONLY and I would be banished in language to say eh? after anything and pronounce house like hoose as homage to my canadian nationality and what the hell is that. Art transforms society. Hip Hop transformed society and we are all a part of hip hop either as fans, detractors, indifferent bystanders, artists etc. I think that applies to all pop culture. We are given democratic access to it and as artists, we are influenced or not by what is happening in art around us. Having said that, now to the matter at hand. I saw this play. It was called Clay. It was produced by a big ass theater out here with all hoopla and publicity that theaters can muster. It was lauded in the program by the artistic director as important and vital theater. It was a one person show with many monologues set to tracks with a hip hoppy type of beat, and written in ryhmes. And the lil white dude that was in the play had created a very very loose story about a jewish kid in brooklyn whose parents get divorced and he ends up banging his dad's new wife when he is 13 and resenting his business boring white guy dad and writing lots and lots of angry ryhmes about it along with his mentor, a disfigured black rapper called Brother john who decides his life mission is to take this emotionally fragile lil white boy and teach him the glory of beatboxing and freestyle to express his teen angst. Lame story, unfortunately lame ryhmes, so so beats, good enough beat boxing, so so characters. An artist definitely needs room to find his or her voice no doubt. An artist is allowed to emotionally relate to a language of protest and social unrest in an attempt to express big feelings. I dont even care if the kid cuts an album. But. When the big honcho white guys in charge start lauding a lame ass dramaturgy, ryhmes that are monotonous and lyrically challenged ("on and on till the break of dawn"..."when I say hip hip you say MUSIC!") I and tells me it is vital and important theater...in other words when the construction of a play sucks and the only "interesting" thing about it is that a white guy is talking black-- so in essence i am being told that blackface=an important theatrical moment, I WIG OUT. There are so many vital writers unheard, so many artists of color trying to express feelings of being left out and unseen, so many white kids writing emotionally challenging and complext plays that ARENT being heard that this kind of fearful programming by untrained ears (well it SOUNDS kinda like hip hop so I guess it's good) is insulting and hurtful and another nail in the coffin of the emerging artist driven in by the hammer of a liberal white kid who thinks cross cultural understanding means puttin on a hoodie and saying hey my struggles are just like yours! As a human being, his searing post divorce confusion and feelings of abandonment are valid and cannot be quantified. But as theater, the history of hip hop, good dramatic writing, language and form as cultural rebellion, and social context must not and cannot be ignored in a kind of backward affirmative action that actually upholds white privilege.

Get individual Slanty Tracks

Get our songs one by one here. In 2007 we recorded CRAZY and NAUGHTY SCHOOL GIRL which have some pretty rad lyrics.-- preview on myspae but you can download em here

ways that asian america impacts, consumes and creates culture

For my latest projects "Urban Tao" and "Americasiana" I have been interviewing kids in every single city Slanty Eyed Mama visits on tour and so far that is 11 major cities and growing. This in addition to the hours of feedback sessions on both my concerts comedy shows etc went into the following which was designed to tell the people who make decisions about how we are portrayed in the media, as well as those who make decisions about how to market to different demographics, a thing or two. Do I speak for all asian americans? NO. Are we underrepresented and NEED people to be asking these questions to asian americans of all walks of life. YES. Am I afraid of you bloggers who know better than me? NO. Not because I think I am right, but because I think the blatant disregrard for asian americans in making decisions about American culture especially popular culture is an insult and WE NEED TO get the issues on the table. Another issue this is making me think about is that because we are so tragically underrepresented, stuff like this sometimes can start a shitstorm that has nothing to do with either the validity of the statements or the services snapdragon can offer. Because AAA (angry asian americans) are absolutely starved for anyone listening to us as a group and will take any opening as an opportunity to soapbox and rant which unfortunately simultaneously is the spirit we are wanting to tap AND a HUGE turnoff to the people who NEED to start considering Asian Americans in their marketing and media decisions. Nothing scares a white person afraid of being called racist than a person screaming racist. So guess what. No asians on TV in commercials in fashion etc. The screaming emotional political activist who cant see the forest for the trees gets everyone all riled up and we all get ignored. So,
I dont give two shits if everyone agrees with me or not. I dont care if you want to shitbomb my house for doing a show about stereotypes called "chink-o-rama" or one about the development of identity called "Birth of a NASIAN". I care that you speak, I speak and that the people who are so invested in ignoring Asian Americans, let me repeat that Asian AMERICANS start to listen. So go ahead and respond but know that I embrace you, your opinions and also stand behind my research and my 10 years on the road talking to everyone about how they feel and what they want to see....I have already had some arguments. Bring it on. let's get real and start listening to each other and respecting the ever growing sense of what it is to be Asian American. Shout out to Maxine Hong Kingston who called me her sister and makes me proud to continue the dialogues.

25 ways Asian America Will Impact, Consume and Create Culture for the Year 2007


-More hybrids of american culture and martial arts in design and media: Jackie Chan shopping an entertainment show now, movies like kung fu hustle
-The rise of HAPA culture -- a term coined in Hawaii to designate mixed race asians (release of feature Americanese in 2007, rise of hapa groups, and tour of the hapa project around at museums nationally)
-Proliferation of Asian American spoken word poets on the underground scene
-Asian American graduates of film schools accelarating
-Asian American rap and hip hop gaining steadily with features currently being written for VIBE and URB
-Notorious for being label whores, the brand appeal expanding from luxury clothes to luxury branded household items, car accessories etc
-Branded Gym fashion
-Branded gourmet foods as status symbols
-Rebel Youth reacting and rejecting older generations' pressure to pursue careers in medicine, law, finance.
-Blasian families
-More shitcanning of celebrities who make fun of Asian Americans in the media (in the last two years Rosie O Donnell, Shaquille O Neal, Adam Carolla)
-Black/Asian collaborations in film/music/media
-American Idol 7
-Baby Phat
-Graffiti art and skate board art
-Hawaii is coming back as the hippest state in America and best place to be
-Asian American comedians (margaret Cho, Kate Rigg, Dat Phan, Amy Anderson, Chinaman, Henry Lee, Steve Byrne, Jokoy etc etc etc)
-Korean culture infiltrating steadily from on line community building to restaurants to fashion, Korea is the new Japan-Harajuku
-Ebb and flow of relationship between "Asian" and "South Asian" continually redefining itself.
-UK Asians (mostly from India/Pakistan) in hip hop/trip hop
-Bollywood stars as sex symbols
-Pan asian extending now from restaurant menus to design palettes
-Cambodian activism
-Adoptee culture just now beginning as the first wave graduates college
-Asian kids in crisis centers dealing with more and more and more street culture/drug issues and being overloaded in major urban areas
-resurgence of the asian gang, this time outside of chinatown
-Asian American short story and poetry
-Immigrant stories
-Air Guitar Nation
-Iron Chef

15 things you shouldnt say to your asian friend

1. Are you chinese?
1.a) Are you chinese or japanese? (presented as a choice)
2. Do you do martial arts?
3. What medical school do you go to?
4.Do you speak chinese?
5. "What are they saying?" (at an Asian movie, at a nail salon at a restaurant)
6. How do you see through those eyes?
7. Are you friends with (insert name of famous asian person)
8. Oriental. Just dont ever say it about a person ever.
9. Ching chong ching chong ching chong see note on celebrities in media above
10. Where are you from? (the answer is usually something like Westchester, or Boston. With middle finger alit)
11. What are you? (especially to HAPAS see note on hapas above)
12. Anything with the phrase you people or your people in it.
13. Can you help me with my math homework?
14. Coz, asians are like, smart right?
15. Slit slant slope chink jap nip gook horrie yellow face chinaman.

15 Things Asian American Youth want from you

1. Hybrid hip hop, asian style and design
2. Street cred
3. Tricked out cars (West coast especially)
4. personalized electronics
5. Faster blingier gadgets to show off with
6. Heroes. Role Models. Props given to asian american sports and art stars (The Black Widow poker champ, The golf star, The American idol contestants, the finalists in America's Got Talent, the Asian Americans in major rock bands like Linkin Park and Black Eyed Peas) who get overlooked in publicity campaigns and editorial.
7. Less nerd images on TV and more punked out skater graffiti Dj images which reflect their energy.
8. Hot asian guys front and center.
9. Badass asian chicks front and center.
10. Pocket sized luxury items (Dior purse is a generation ahead, Versace homefurnishings ditto.)
11. MORE: Dolce, Missoni, Lacoste, Hugo Boss, Moschino, Betsy Johnson, Comme Des Garcons, Monique Lhuillier, Westwood, Jimmy Choo, Cole Hahn.
LESS: Donna Karan, Michael Kors, Christian Dior (except sunglasses).
ALWAYS ENDURING: Hilfiger, Armani, Versace Polo.
12. Roles like () on Heroes
13. Bubble Tea and cool japanese soft drinks
14. Hot sauce
15. Anime with american story lines.

10 things you don't know about asian americans

1. We call white people "white people" the same way african americans do
2. We love love love hip hop
3. We also love easy listening adult contemporary and are a little closeted about that
4. There is a very very high rate of attempted suicide in asian american youth especially girls often attributed to bi-cultural issues
5. Martin Luther King is one of our heroes
6. We would go without food for the right designer item
7. The men are as status hungry as the women and this translates into fashion, grooming, automotive and electronic luxury lust
8. DJ culture on the west coast is dominated by Asian Americans
9. Skate culture is also very asian american
10. Poker culture and all forms of gambling extremely asian american
11. Most Asian Americans HATE William Hung not personally but because of what it did to them in the workplace/classroom etc

Maxine Hong Kingston calls me "sister"

So between me and about 40 other people in a room in NYU's Kimmel Center, a day passed of discussions and panels on "The Woman Warrior at 30" which was the A/PI institute's tribute to Maxine Hong Kingston's groundbreaking book of 1976. And I was asked to come and speak as a writer and asian american thinker on how far (or not) we have come since the book posited a contemporary heroine shadowing the ancestral glory of Fa-Mulan. A friend gave me the book way back whennnn, and like all the other orientally things my friends sometimes seem compelled to present to me (fans, hello kitty trinkets, expensive and useless reproductions of shadow puppets, books on China etc) I relegated it to the "white people who are trying to connect with my ethnicity" pile of things to re-gift. I always smirk a little when some non asian friend decides it is a good idea to get me some kind of Yellow like me, I'm Ok you're ok, gift that: a) I have no use for (knick knacks mostly infuriate me--if it is made of porcelain or has no other function but to look pretty on a shelf fuckin dont buy it for me) or b) No one would think to buy me in a million years EXCEPT for the fact that i am asian american (witness my collection of buddhas using cellphone fridge magnets, hello kitty miniature beer can holders and panties that say stuff like everyone likes an asian girl. although i kinda liked that last thing.)
Anyhow, Woman Warrior was similarly presented to me by a pseudo friend who had no knowledge of me nor had bothered to ask beyond recognizing the dark skin and slanty eyes, so his "I thought you might like this" was greeted with the same look I give to people when we are at a movie in japanese with subtitles and I am asked to translate. From the japanese. My mistake.
Upon receiving the summons to speak at NYU I pulled that buried paperback out of my bookcase and began the literary journey back to through time with Ms. Kingston, back through her life on my way to better understanding my own, that is. It is a dense book. I have been reading screenplays and tabloids and business rags for the last 12 months and had to slow down bessy, to get into the book. I had to reread entire passages to unfurl tangled webs of poetry and emotion and personal history and confession. It literally took me 3 weeks to finish this book, me, someone who can scan a page in 30 seconds and quote from it. I read slowly, arduously and ultimately felt rich, and nourished at the end of said book.
Then I pretty much had one day to to formulate an intelligible presentation alongside major academics and writers who were also on these panels. People who have written books and don't spend their days yelling "eat the taco!" to bikini clad girls on rooftops in hollywood. (Which I enjoy immensely but is hardly relevant here.) I decided to go back into the archival material from the urban tao/americasiana projects I have been doing-- interviews on tape with 81 or so asian americans I conducted last year and ongoing. I wanted to pull out themes that resonated with Woman Warrior-- generational conflict, the problems of biculturalism, the lack of viable role models in Asian American culture, stereotypes and exoticisation of americans who happen to be asian, and the intersection of ancestral history with the desire to be successful in new ways in this new world.
My speech, apparently was pretty great. I read from my interview with the aptly named Hope who spent her entire high school career pretending to be puerto rican in an all white town. the next generation of assimilation had her choosing a 'cool" ethnicity as opposed to whitewashing herself. I read from Sonyk's call to arms through her air guitar victory in 2004 when she swept the international air guitar championships in finland in a naughty school girl skirt and hello kitty bloomers. I talked about the shocking number of girls I interviewed who had suicide stories centered around the experience of being pressured by asian parents to be GOOD, study like maniacs, stay out of 'white' life, stay away from other races, stay away from dating, fun, art, etc vs. the pressure at school to just fit in and be cool. I remember during these interviews thinking holy frickin geez why do all my sisters hve suicide stories?? what the hell? do i have one? ( My story friends is not one of ubercrisis and a suicide attempt but more of a constant dulling of the senses through distraction and snacking and despair but that is for another day.)
I realized that Maxine had written all this conflict and all this experience 30 years ago and it was reflected in the lives of girls searching for their voice, searching for their matrilineage, searching for a culture that included their fruit of their whole existence not just the sections consumed by various takers in their lives. I spent a good part of the day thanking Maxine HK out loud, and silently as I listened to all the other speakers talking about the doors she opened and continues to open in her work, now with veterans of war veterans of peace and her writing projects.
I bought two copies of Woman Warrior for her to sign-- one for me and one for someone I havent met yet but who I will know when I meet her.
And in mine she wrote just one word. Sister. To this only child it meant everything.

The N word vs. the C word

OK so this has long been a debate in my worlds including academia, comedy and writing: Nigger. Chink. Spic. Kike. etc etc. Do these words have equal value in terms of a) offensiveness b) racism c) ability to be parodied and subverted.
I was onstage at carolines comedy club a few years ago watching a pretty popular headliner tell the audience that she would say any racist word, any and all of them because she was an equal opportunity offender, a lenny bruce, a politically incorrect rebel defending our right to say these words and parody them, she said she would tell all kindsa jokes and make fun of everybody equally EXCEPT that she would never say nigger. (the N-word as she called it) Now picture smoke coming out of my ears. All you fearless users of language to politicize your experience, all you comics defending your right to poke fun at stereotypes and curse and be shocking onstage, I applaud you in your use of scary language, your ability to make people laugh, gasp etc. But to quantify hatred, to suggest that one racist epithet is MORE damaging, MORE hateful than any other, to me is the most offensive, RACIST brand of hypocritical nonsense and deserves the most scathing censure there is. I know that these words: chink, nigger, spic, jew, chinaman, paki, towl head, fag etc etc all have different histories in terms of how they entered our culture and our consciousness. But they all come from the same stupid fearful hateful place which seeks to oppress, to dominate and to disenfranchise whomever is on the receiving end and to suggest that it is ok to say chink spic etc hahaha so funny, but not nigger ohhhhh no you cant do that, is essentially to deny the experience of alienation loss and shame that actual human beings have felt because of racism in the world. If you say chink on stage you HAVE to at least be pro saying nigger otherwise you are actually a total biggot. You cannot quantify hate. If you are one of those, who like me chooses to address issues of race in this country by exposing the ridiculous language of bigotry, by reclaiming it through satire or humor or even through its usage such as when groups reclaim a word like nigga and fag, you cant become precious and !!politically correct! because you are afraid of being seen as racist-- coz guess what, in cherry picking which races you take on, you are being a fuckin racist.

I did shows at carolines 2 weeks ago and sang my mixed race call to harmony "My boyfriend's black and there's gonna be trouble" (see tracks posted on myspace) where the lyrics are about how hypocritical asian parents and people of color in general are about racism. And this fuckwad comic gets up on stage after me, this guy who laid out misogynist language, kill whitey jokes (just like everybody else and so fuckin what it was a comedy show not my point) so he says : well she had me till she said nigger, and then proceeded to tell everyone that I sudednly became ofensive in that moment. After an entire set where i also must have said chink (in context my friends, of course) and a bunch of other stuff designed to expose and subvert our own complacency towards things like misogyny and racism. This will happen from time to time. Someone will hear me say chink, and act like i created the word and am not actually exposing the users of the word and deconstructing it in the context of a discussion of stereotypes. Cant be helped. And it is part of my job to start a discussion. So I could care less that someone found fault in my original premise that to use a word, really USE it is a way of reprogramming it into culture in a new context that will eventually make it redundant. Like I said before, at least now people are talking about their own relationship to these words even if I am vilified in the process. Whatever. But to say it is ok to parody every race except african americans/caribbean americans/black americans is actually like a rally for racism to continue. For hate to be permissible. For everyone to be equal, but some are more equal as our friend george orwell warned us.

So fuck white guilt, fuck inter racial racism, fuck race activists who are homophobic, fuck christians who hate gays and arabs, fuck people who claim to be pro life then go kill peoples rights to have the life they choose/ bomb people, fuck everyone who says americans are the devil, fuck people who hate george bush but drive a hummer, fuck all yall and everyone i have forgotten, equally, in the spirit of total anarchic refusal to find anyone more correct than anyone else as we try to get on living and laughing at ourselves and figuring out how peace can play out in our own little lives.

Maine is very white

Here is some recent fan mail. The concerts done in very whiteywhite communities whether it be portland maine or broome australia, always bring the most passionate responses after the show. In Broome 2001 we had all these mixed race kids and asian kids coming up and saying NO ONE got it and what a relief it was to hear us speaking. In Maine everyone was very anxious to say hello--what this means dear friends and slantyfiles is that as we form our identites in the world the signposts, gender, race, age, etc help us situate ourselves as people and find a way to feel hope, esteem, motivated. When a group is ignored or pushed out of sight by cultural streams be they T, film, news, lit, mags, etc etc isolation sets in, a sense of "not being welcome" or not belonging. We all know from high school how shitty that is. Imagine high school being your whole life, and because of your race, you are condemned to be one of the loser kids. You NEED someone like you to be a cool kid. We are trying.


Dear Kate,
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
I saw your show last Thursday night at the Center for
Cultural Exchange in Portland, ME and I was freaking
happy and overjoyed. You and Lyris were amazing and
unbelievable. As a Filipino American, I have been
growing up feeling invisible, oppressed by my country
and my family, and thrown in a model minority box. The
worst part was that I felt totally alone, like no one
could understand.

But after seeing your show, I felt completely
validated and that I am not alone. I felt FINALLY
someone speaks the truth about Asian culture and
growing up Asian in America, and pulls no punches.

Growing up, I was bombarded with so much oppression
and hurts. It started with my parents “encouraging”
me to go to medical school. I think it started
in-utero. Will my Mom’s voice ever leave me head?!?
It will be a good day when I finally decide that I am
NEVER going to med school. And you were right; the
only other ‘feasible’ profession in their mind was
president of the US. Yes, it would be to the demise
of all Asian youth in the US.

Then my parents moved the family from Detroit to the
suburbs. “It was suppose to be better for me, “ they
said. But I was thrown into a middle class life and I
was the only brown face. I was listening to Run DMC
and the others were listening to Bon Jovi. I knew I
didn’t belong but I couldn’t verbalize it. What could
I do?

Your show was a complete contradiction to the Asian
American stereotype; you were loud, not silent; you
were visible, not invisible; you set yourself apart,
you did not assimilate. During your show, I laughed,
almost cried, I shook, and I was just in awe. I
applaud you and your chutzpah (Ha!).

I am forever your fan. Thank you for coming to Maine.
Please add me to your mailing list.

Keep fighting the good fight.
John

Alas alack political activists do get occasional hate mail

Oh yes friends of the fight to eradicate racism-- I do occasionally get hate mail from my people (which includes all people who feel marginalized because of race religion sexuality taste in music)-- who decide that I am part of the problem, not the solution.

Many of you have asked me on the road "how do people react to your work?" and you look nervously around at the white people-- thinking are white people LAUGHING at us? Are you making us look more ridiculous.? And I always answer that question with "How do YOU react to my work? Were you privy to the in jokes, the referencing of racist language in order to subvert it, the deeper issues of self hatred and division amongst racial minorities in this country? Were you personally affected in a negative or positive way. Most of the time, you will answer with "Well, I get it, but I am afraid that other people won't. And that white people will..." this is where it trails off usually. And I say, "My work criticizes people who make fun of asians. My work does not make fun of asians (except for the funny ones like my mom. And sometimes Bai Ling and her taste for crazy vintage flamingo dresses.) But seriously, I make fun of racists. Not asians in my work." And I think that the FEAR that is expressed when this question is asked is the fear of what people will think. Which silences us. Which makes us unable to be loud and proud and to have a sense of humor about the stereotypes that exist out there. But our silence does something else too...it allows words like CHINK to continue to fester in the minds of bigots because we NEVER call them on their shit. Out of fear. That if we say CHINK we are keeping that word alive and allowing it into our culture. Guess what boys and girls it exists out there. In the fuckface racists at ABC who allowed the guy on 'American inventor' to say on national tv last week "We better find the next american inventor or in 5 years we will all be working for the chinese and the indians" (DID YOU MISS THAT COZ I DIDNT!!!) and in the minds of people who at Cal State last year threw eggs as Asian students as they walked by. Oh yeah the word exists and our job is to look it in its so called chinky eyes and say oh yeah! Well I see your racism, and I raise you my intelligence, my understanding of cultural mores, and my ability to deconstruct and subvert your ignorant ass. So CHINK this! Unfortunately, there are casualties in the fight to disempower the racist language, and sometimes that casualty is me. Here is a recent piece of mail from an asian and my response for your consideration:

On Mar 24, 2006, at 5:37 PM, Kate C wrote:

"kate you shouldn'T be asian, because all you've done taken a horrible word and turned it into a disgusting show. You may say "people are people" and I agree with you, but theres no need to turn chink into a comedy. Now white people willl think its funny to call asians chink. All cause of you. If anything, you've shown that it's okay to call any asian a chink. You are supporting racism, which is why I say, you shoudn't be asian. If you were a pure white, you'd be called a racist. SO YOU KNOW WHAT? EVEN THOUGH YOUR ASIAN YOUR STILL RACIST CAUSE YOUR SAYING IT"S ALL RIGHT FOR ASIANS TO BE CALLED CHINK!!!! :@ :@ :@ :@ :@ YOU NEED TO GROW UP AND IT"S REALLY NOT FUNNY! AND DON"T THINK I DIDN"T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOUR SHOWS ALL ABOUT AND THINK " WHAT AN IGNORANT CHINK" CAUSE I"M NOT! SO YOU KNOW WHAT? YOU"RE ARE SO RACIST! RACIST RACIST RACIST RACIST RACIST! YOu're a cruel, not funny woman who really ought to get a racism check."

Those of you who know me personally know that I too am challenged by punctuation and grammar in my emails so Ms. C's rant in no way offends my ability to form syntactically correct sentences. But it did make me feel well, attacked as only an artist can who's heart is open to criticism. Here was my response:

"Dear Kate
a) have you seen my show?-- it is anything but disgusting it is empowering it explodes stereotypes by exposing them
b) i NEVER said it is all right for asians to be called chink
c) I am not racist and I am sorry you cannot see past words. I ask you to see past the "use" of the word chink in my plays which is by the way ALWAYS used in a context, to the ideas, namely, the exposition of racist language and the addressing head on of the issues in there that i espouse. Please read my blog: www.slantyeyedmama.blogspot.com
for more discussion of these issues as I take them very seriously.
d) you name calling me is understandable given your rage at the issue of racism, and i applaud you for taking on the issues, thinking critically about them and express ing yourself even if it means you call me cruel and racist. you are entitled to an opinion but perhaps you should read a few more of my writings on the subject, research my work and THEN make your judgement without, as so many racists do, stopping at your first impression of someone based on your own prejudices. Where do you think the word chink came from in the first place? People making gross generalizations about an entire diaspora of people (not just chinese--all asians) and refusing to look deeper at those human beings. I ask you to move beyond a harsh initial judgement based on your emotional reaction to one word, and have the same respect for me as I do for you though we may disagree on how political action is taken.
with respect,
kate"

Asian Excellence Awards DOH!

Ok is it just me or should we try to give awards of excellence to actual asian people. Talented ones, not just famous ones. If an awards ceremony is to create icons, raise self esteem of a community and encourage your artists to strive for excellence, how ya gonna be giving awards to white people and having as many white folks up there on your stage as Asians. Now as you all know I am as pro celebrity fukking and ass kissing as any bi coastal fag hag with a subscription to the Star. However, although I LOVE me some quentin tarantino movies do you think that NAACP image awards would go to eminem for adapting and making rap his own? Why wasn't Quentin instead presenting an award to his hero, or for that matter the great Johnny To who flew in from Hong Kong to give him an award. Why is the all white except for the lovely Julie Danao cast of Lennon up on stage singing a medley at the Asian image awards?? Why werent they singing Yoko Ono songs fer god's sake? Why are Rhea and Danny giving Lucy Liu an award. i'll tell you why oh fellow nuyorasians. Coz there aint enough famous ones for the prod's to ass kiss amongst us. And why?? I'll tell you why fellow Asian American Juilliard grads who cant get a job...Because Fuckfaces like the AX awards give awards in past years to people like Tia Carrere for "acting" (if tara reid were asian they'd give her one too for the photo opp) and do not seek out the talented up and comers the people who are kickin ass and struggling for some cred. I mean does Lucy Liu need an asian excellence award? Perhaps coz she is dope, but maybe you wanna get some actual asians who are standing in the wings behind her waiting for their chance to present it. And there are many, just maybe not enough to draw super sponsors although that never stopped BET or Latino awards from rewarding actual black people and latinos and letting them get up on stage. Last I checked Lennon was white, the creators of cirque du soleil are white and again I loved me some KA. Would see it every night. But to give out awards and nominations to white people for borrowing asian style--how the hell is that gonna raise the esteem of our community? How come being a chigger is better than being a chink at the AX awards. Ooh girl I am mad. I am super duper mad and I aint playa hating the famous ones of us, we need them. I am questioning the idea of a) giving kudos to people for being sorta kinda influenced by asianness and asserting that chiggers help our self image when we cant fricking get work b) being asian associated--Linkin Park is hardly a bastion of Asian Live performance c) eschewing the responsibilty of producers to educate and actually serve our community by showing us achievers famous or not who are asian d) getting all these friends of asian people to present instead of actual asians because we aren't famous or good or recognized enough apparently to do it for ourselves. Maybe they should give Mickey Rooney an award for putting in buck teeth and acting asian in breakfast at tiffany's thereby increasing asian visibility in movies. Maybe they should give Jonathan Price and award for playing the lead in Miss Saigon when so many asian actors could have (oh wait he got a tony) maybe they should give Panda express an award for making asian food so accessible to white people who don't like it TOO asian. Or to the ying yang guys for wearing silk kimonos and saying ch'i repetitively like that makes them more credible as they reorganise telemarketing companies on TLC. Someone give me a fuckin award for watching the whole show without shooting my TV.

Air Guitar Asian American Rulz

I have the great privilege of knowing the Air guitar champions of the world 2003 and 2004 which incidentally were the first years ever that the USA officially joined the race for Air Supremacy. Each year freaks from all over the world compete in their home countries in national competitions then fly to Finland to compete against all these other air guitaristes for the title of International Air Guitar champion. check www.airguitarusa.com for footage. I am thrilled nay ecstatic to inform you that MC Chink Daddy under the alias C Diddy won in 2003 as the first US entrant. And the following year, chink-o-rama dancer Seoul Sonyk under the nom de air guitar Sonyk Rok won the whole shit for the USA again. Did they get endorsed? No. National ad campaign, no. I wonder if they were white people if that would be different. Diddy and ROK did get some national TV exposure on Stern and Conan respectively and some good print press too. But somehow their air supremacy didn't cause the kind of stir I believe it might have had they looked more like Wayne and Garth and less like their math tutors. Perhaps I am cynical. and who the hell cares. Point is, all ye people of color looking for your place in American Pop culture, be proud of our two super star Korean American Air Guitar Champions who totally rocked NY, L.A. and then Finland. They busted an old nerd-non rockin stereotype beating out all the long hairs and other desperate basement guitarists to show that asians act real stupid too and can head bang with the rest of yall.

My aunt thinks I am white

I am visiting with my white aunt who is married to my mom's brother, and she goes "How come all this stuff you are doing is so ASIAN, actually I think she said so ORIENTAL? I mean you aren't asian you are white!" And I hadn't heard that in a while you know, not since someone in high school said, oh kate you are just as white as us, or since in college some guy was talking about the 'horries' and I was like 'what's a horrie?" and he goes "You know, horizontal eyes like indonesians and malaysians" and I was like ummmmm "I am Indonesian" and he goes no you're American, and I go actually I'm Canadian. And then the whole thing was such a waste of time I just swigged another VB beer and shut the hell up. But yeah, my aunt goes "You are not oriental I dont think of you like that and you shouldn't either" which made me blink and think 'Is that a compliment?' She went on about it and said you dont want everyone to think of you as just asian, especially since you are white!" and i thought of all the roles I dont get seen for and I became that bitter asian actor that I try not to be because where does that get us really....But for a moment I was back in those rooms selfconscious about my headshot, aware that I wasnt the norm and wasnt at all on my producer's radar as anything other than a splash of color, so to hear this relative of mine now deny what I have been forced to become, racialised, politicised, and sort of mindlessly tell me that I should embrace my whiteness, the same whiteness that I cannot access to get that cool job on a tv drama that I CRAVE, this left me where so many Hapa kids are. In between. Unwelcome as either an asian person ("but I dont think of you as Oriental!!! Why are you talking all the time about asian stuff?") or as a white person ("We're not going ethnic on this one"). Note to self. Tell everyone to shut the fuck up and keep being a vital involved american artist. Colorraceidentitypoliticsgender unimportant. We all just got to keep busy and reflect the world. I hereby donate all the names and labels and angst about "Who I am???" to the cultural studies departments of Universities far far away from where I practice art and allow myself to be informed by whatever whimsy I choose. My opinion I own. My racial i.d. I choose and choose to talk about if I feel like it, and question if I feel like it, and ignore if I feel like it. What am I? Well today I am tired. Tomorrow I may be an A/PI activist. And on the weekend I may be a bargain shopper.

That Yin Yang thingy dingy

That Yin Yang thing thang


Ummm. So I am at the hamburger Mary charity bingo thing the week after Anna Nicole makes out with the chick bartender (see blog below for pic) hoping Ms Smith with show up again and regale us with more unabashed bingo debauchery--and sure nuff she does show up, and bravely I might add when she shows up with the alleged handcuffs from the alleged incident that bartender blabbed all over the bar and to the NY post's page 6. Anna Nicole comes in and waves the handcuffs and says to everyone's delight "I hear there are some naughty rumors going around here since last week...they might ALL be true..." then sits down and plays bingo! And they say she's dumb... Anyway, the celeb bingo ball caller this week is The white guy (oh wait they are both white) the BIG white guy who doesnt wear kimonos from TLC's That Yin Yang Thing, a weird reality show where two dudes help people like business owners and families who have some issue to resolve. They combine "Eastern" and "Western" "philosophies" to manage dysfunction, inefficiency and interpersonal relations. And one guy wears yukatas and little orientally asianny exoticky clothes and talks about yoga and feng shui and herbal medicines etc while the other one talk about tough assed western styles of management. By the way notice my "inscrutable yet subservient big asian smile as I stand next to Mr. white guy or should I say "Yin." So my friend and super comic Amy Anderson who like me is Asian with non specific ethnic last name--she is an adoptee doncha know but looks like a hot asian model-- anyways Amy informs me she auditioned for the "Eastern" part on the show and we kinda half joke that apparently she wasn't oriental enough for what TLC was thinking in their ingenious east meets west self help show. Now do I give a crap when white guys get dread locks and start prescribing Ginseng root at their alternative medicine house of oriental arts salons? Nope. Does it irk me when white ladies in christmas sweaters start feng shui businesses and talk about ch'i. Not so much. Because who the hellllllll am I o preach about that when I am 50 percent white and had to learn feng shui from books and talks just like them -- what makes me more qualified to hang a crystal in your window and tell you which way to point your furniture? Not my slanty eyes, no ma'am. (talent but that is irrelevant to this discussion.) But something makes me crazyyyyy about the white guy in the dragon shirt on TV talking about the flow of ch'i and pressure points. It smacks of David Carradine in a role written for Bruce Lee. It smacks of Asian people not mattering enough to the powers that make these decisions in terms of representation, to the point that if ya dress in some asian lookin thing you get to be an expert and represent the "Eastern Arts" --what is that anyways. And perhaps if there were a proliferation of Asians on TV outside the usual namicuristmartialartistmathnerdhookeropiumdealerdragonladyforeignerdeliowners, then perhaps it would be cool to have culture be learned and the job be appopriated by the most learned/apprenticed candidate. How would it be if I put on an Aunt Jemima hat and did a cooking show on soul food? What if I put on a sombrero and did a reality show on how to make a nice garden? I dont think people would like it too much. Because I dont represent. And because there are qualified mexican gardeners and black soul chefs who can represent their own culture on TV thank you very fuckin much. But for some reason, we asian people are owned. Just like the orientalist craze in europe at the turn of the century when everyone had to have some cute ass asian looking furniture or hat or thingy to show their friends at tea, it was ok to kinda push aside the human beings behind the trinkets, and forget their wants, issues, abuses that produced the stuff in the first place-- just like that it dont seem to matter that there are Asian PEOPLE behind those concepts, people who might think "Why is the Eastern Expert so clearly some white guy?" Did the net reallllllyyyyy tryyyyyyy harddddd to find a host who perhaps could represent more than the disembodied idea of Asian culture? Is it really that different from the the David Carradine Kung Fu thing or the Mickey Rooney as lisping Japanese landlord? Is it different from black face? minstrel show? We don't have enough representation out there in American culture so you bet your ass it hurts when we see the subliminal message sent that "Your type doesnt really get this the way we (dominant culture) does. Yeah Yeah you invented feng shui but WE really understand it." Why don's the feelings of asian people seeing that matter. Why is it OK to borrow philosophy so freely and claim it, own it and kinda trash the human origins. Why was it "funny" to so many people to listen to William Hung's accent? Were they charmed by his naive belief in himself? Really? Or just thrilled that the Asian minstrel show was seemingly endorsed by our own community--as in 'well it's ok to laugh cause hes ASIAN. It's ok he knows he is funny.' I aint hating on William Hung. I am hating on the people who think the asian accent is funny. And that it's cool to give advice on TV as an "oriental" expert when you're a fuckin white guy in a kimono. Might was well tape back your eyes and get some buck teeth. Nobody's gonna say anything. Coz orientals are QUIET, aint they....

14 questions about penn state a/pi population

1. How many Asian American students are there on campus and how many
A/PI student groups?
about 4% of 40000 studnet (not including international students!

2. Do you guys typically hang out with all the other ethnicitites and
groups or do you find that your constituents mostly hang out with each
other and why?

3. Re: #2 what I am asking really is is it a really integrated campus
or do kids from each interest/ethnic group hang mostly with each other?
We hang out with our ethnicity. But there are occasionaly few asian kids with a
lot of white kids.

4. How many activities do you plan per year for your group? Does the
school support you?
We plan more than 10 a year. When we need money or advertisement, classrooms,
the school def. supports us.

5. Are you well funded compared to other student groups?
we make all the money we have with fundraisers

6. What is the best thing about your school?
football games, cremery ice cream

7. What is the worst thing about your school?
middle of no where

8. Have there been any campus scandals (people streaking/sexual
scandal/ race incidents/teacher getting fired/people freaking oer
unfair behovior etc) that you can remember since you've been there?
ALOT!! recently one of our lady lion coached was fired due to her discrimination
against lesbians.--- last year, we had a huge incident where a studnet yelled
out rascial slurs out their window in a resident buildiing to the president of
Black Caucus

9. who are more outspoken at your school the asian boys or the asian
girls or both?
girls are very active and out spoken

10. who are penn state's famous alumni?
not really sure

11. how are gay kids treated on your campus? do they have a group
and/or any big events?
Gay kids have big events on campus. We psrticiapte in the national out day and
there are a lot of new articles about gay student rights.

12. Is there a fabulously popular professor that everyone likes?
hmm.. the school is so big that a lot of the students don't know the same
professors. However, spanier is our school president.

13. Where does everyone hang out typically and what is the name of
your cafeteria building?
We hang out at the HUB - our recreation center. That is where the show is going
to be held at.

14. Do the white kids think you are nerds who do math?
hahah I think the white kids don't think too much of us in that way.

christians dont like us at Penn State

So we drive to Penn State where they are holding a sweatshop awareness raising evening with some powerpoint presentations (very educational) and some skits (later my friend kristen who was raised born again tells me that christians love skits--who knew!). And we (slanty eyed mama) are gonna re-present with some hip hop and material on the colonialization of the third world and the paradoxes inherent in sweatshops in general. in the email trail that leads to this gig my contact there, the lovely and proactive Dayi Lee has been asking me to be specific about my material which kind of weirds me out as in (me) "why do you want to know what material we will do?" Oh by the way the kids inthe picture are some of the students who brought us to Penn Stae and they rock. Anyways, as I was saying, I am thinking it's weird to be asked about content when I have a whole 2 websites devoted to our p.o.v. and to our work so I am like what do you want a script??? Apparently this would have been a good idea, for when we show up, Lyris all in her big boots and leather jacket and tattoos, me in a silver blazer and hot new leather arm cuffs (thanks steve leather!) apparently, we get "looks." I of course notice none of it and blithely say hello to all and sundry thinking what? Asian American students are often a little scared/starstruck when we walk in so I set about talking to everyone about the night and who will be there etc. Seems like the event is actually co sponsored by 2 christian groups, and I am like ok whatever it's all good, and I make a note to self to censor some language. But yall know what I think -- profanity is sometimes political esp when it comes from the mouth of a person (eg. me) who is traditionally discouraged/gender forced/culturally unaccepted as a purveyor of hard words hard ideas. This lotus petal can spew poison and will and should when talking about the disenfranchisement of an entire population (asian women, as in no voice allowed, thanks hello kitty). So up we go on stage and how bizarre to have half an audience, stage left, rockin with us, cheering and hearing protest songs. And have the other half , stage right, recoiling in horror, not at what we are saying, but at the attitude of it. Loud. Bold. Outspoken. Political. Do I have to be a blushing flower in order to believe in God? Do I have to be gentle and meek and defy no authority to be filled with the spirit? I don't think so. I wanted to scream Come oonnnnnnnnn you guys come onnnnnnnnn. Rise up. Take your place. Feel your power. Like my new white college boyfriend Chris who is unafraid to sport a t shirt that says Slanty Eyed mama. I insist on giving these and the other shirts we sell that say "Chink" in a box of words that alos objectify the Asian American (such as "gook, nip, slant etc") to white fans--everyone can subvert the racist paradigm and everyone can have a discussion on the pain of racist language not just the people who represent by the way they look. I love anyone who is brave enough to come to a concert and open discussion on the issues of language and wear a shirt that provokes that discussion. Anyways back to the christians. Now of course profanity and subversive language is not the only route to self awareness. Just as doing a breakdance to gospel music (which we were treated to by the lively korean christian assoc) is not the only way to bridge past and present. We dont talk about sex in our act -- but we are sexy. I do not curse anyone out, but i do say the f-word in exactly 2 places because it has been used as an oppressor of asian women as in, fucky fucky sucky sucky all night long.
After the show a shaken Dayi waited for us to finish signing autographs and bonding with fans to inform us that the christians wanted a formal apology. For what I asked. For sexual content and offensive material. I said, why didnt they ask me themselves-- indeed why dont these type of christians ever feel empowered enough to actually sit and discuss, to examine the material they react to with such emotional vitriol...? She said they were too "overcome". I said have them send me an email expressing what they disliked and let us open a dialogue, further pointing out that I being a college graduate and political thinker and frequent speaker at colleges am about the empowerment of asian americans and the debunking of negative stereotypes. The removal of fear and the honest cheerleading of young A/PI thinkers who are looking for a voice in american culture, and my intent is never to hurt or scar anyone. Further I pointed to the actual lyrics which we sang this night which were all about positive reinforcement and also about third world poverty and why it sucks and is enmeshed with the politics of corporate colonialism. no cocks in pussies, no sexual deviation (although I should remind you all that Penn State is the college where recently the female coach for the Lady Lions basketball team was quoted as saying she didn't want lesbians playing basketball on her team. Ummmmmmm. Anyone been to a women's basketball game recently? I dont know how many more mullets and flannel shirts you need to see lady before you take a hint. That's like saying I will not allow any fags in the ice skating team. Fer goodness sakes take a pill and concentrate on the game.) Anyways, all ye asian christians feelin righteous. Ask yourselves if it is you, or your parents, or your fear of your parents that have at the tender age of late teen/early 20s instilled this ultra conservative submission to and dogmatic assertion of concepts which actually serve to exclude other people (you know who i mean, fags, black people, non christians, people who use the f word) and keep you ghettoised in your stepford wives like world. And if after that you say, yes Kate I am indeed a jesus freak, I say let your freak flag fly high, remembering that there is room for all kinds of voices in the great A/PI choir and when we are working to a common goal of community and self empowerment, we can all sing different parts, respectfully, joyfully. I would continue on this point but I think you get it. And the jesus freak asian american community is certainly a sizeable population. Lyris pointed out that people who "convert" esp with colonial history are frequently the most vehement of zealots. This is a topic for another anthropologist. I just want to let all A/PIs know that we are about to gel now as a cultural movement and to get ready to speak up loud and proud, whatever kind of flag you fly.

rice cracker fan mail and a little more on "chink"

From our show in San Francisco--I got this email and was thrilled that my rice cracker joke made sense to a real person---

Dear Kate,
I just wanted to thank-you for doing what you do. I saw your show at Brava tonight and immediately went home and e-mailed everyone I knew to tell them to go see your show, all while listening to your CD. I have a feeling I will take in a few more shows before you leave.

For the first time in my life I have a word to describe myself. Not half-breed, banana, twinkie, etc. I am a ricecracker and I am proud. I could never say Asian-American, because my dad is English and Eurasian, well, just never seemed right. Now, ricecracker, that is something I can live with. I had never heard that expression before and I am so glad that I finally have.

When I was growing up the word "chink" was so hurtful. It wasn't so much the word, it was the way it was said. That and the "Chinese, Japanese, ouh wee, look at these, dirty knees." I didn't figure out what that one was about until I was an adult. I never thought I would ever be able to use that word, but after your show and reading your chink theory, I will use it with pride.

Your show and the anthology Half and Half have done so much to finally make me feel not only comfortable in my own skin, but proud as well. From the bottom of my heart I thank you.

Sincerely,
Tavia

P.S. Nip-chink is so beautiful, I think I may be in love:)

Am happy to oblige with a photo from the show of "nip chink" aka Satomi Shikata the excellent dancer who also does double time as our resident cyber butoh in Slanty Eyed Mama performances. When we were touring Chink-O-Rama more actively we each had a chink name: Nip Chink, Afro Chink, Euro Chink etc. In any discussions of the word itself, one of the first things we talk about is that at some point in our lives we have all been called chink--adn we all know others: Thai people, Japanese people, Hapas, Laotians, Vietnamese people all called "chink". Which sort of renders the word meaningless and a composite racist name which removes a person's actual cultural identity and replaces it with the stereotypes and phobias the speaker is applying to asian americans. One of the tenets of racism against asian americans is that we are "all the same" all "look the same" etc. so chink, implies that we are all chinese-- that is the bigot's idea of what a "chinaman" is. In chinkorama we put an epithet about our own actual heritage next to the word chink to qualify occupy and disenfranchise the word.

Mixed Race Hotties a Mt Holyoke. HAPA thoughts.

So there are in addition to A/PI groups on campus, a new breed of Hapa groups (Hapa: part asian part something else--usually applied to half asian half white but actually means mixed, derived from hawaian slang--google it), and groups for people of mixed race. When we played Mt Holyoke, some girls from "Mixin It Up"-- the mixed race club on campus. I think one of the biggest affirmations of what Slanty Eyed Mama is about, is when younger AAs and particularly Hapas just want a picture or an autograph or a t-shirt. I grew up reading George Wolfe and Alice Walker because I was looking for people writing about being different and yearning to be part of the bigger cultural whole. Whoopi goldberg was a revelation because in so many of her monologues she was talking about feeling one way inside, while being perceived in a different way from the outside. That is the kaleidescopic experience of the Hapa.

When I saw my first real drag queens in Australia I had that experience again. The paradox of having two spirits, many aspects to our physical, historical, ancestral and psychological selves that was injected into our DNA resonated for me in drag performances-- which were playing out those issues in the gender arena. Which is why forever I will be a drag hag.

I have always said (in the most narcissistic way) that people in America of mixed race carry an important role in educating people about race and in breaking the hard walls of assumptions that close in the racist mind. In our biology lies the chemistry of possibility. In our mixed blood lies the fundamental truth that human beings can and will transcend ideas of race to find common ground. We are also vessels for alienation and loneliness-- in our in-between status. If it is a fundamental truth that people want community, that people want to feel like they belong, then the mixed race person is immediately given the challenge of being different from every single person in their ancestral families with the exception of their siblings and /or some cousins. It's no big revelation that when a Hapa kid goes to visit white family s/he is the asian kid and when s/he goes to visit the asian family s/he is the white kid in the family. So where do you fit in if in your own immediate family you are different from everyone? And what is the big deal anyway? You're still the son/daughter...So what is the big deal?

Firstly, everyone always points to high school as a place where we all try to "fit in" with clothes cool clubs, music, being popular etc etc. Kids have breakdowns over owning the right runnign shows or getting excluded from a peer group. So if your biology sets you up to never ever fully be "like" other people, especially early on, the potential for anxiety and self bashing increases i think. The other big deal is the need for us to classify. To label and organize our reactions to people based on names and i.d.s we assign them-- race religion sexuality -- all in the pursuit of knowing which group you fit into. If your family is mixed, you now are outside many of those labels. You can be a freak. You get asked the dreaded "WHAT are you?" a constant reminder that you are other; marginal; non-mainstream; not 'normal'; different; unrecognizable as a peer to other people.

This outsider status is our burden and our genius.

Our burden is to try to feel good while always having to explain (and feel like we have to justify) who we are based on an outward reaction to our look.

The genius is that piece by piece we can build a new vision of multiculturalism that needs must include everyone if the world's children are to be honored as they morph and change the hues of our collective skin. And our spiritual brothers and sisters will be made in the shared experience of all different kinds of mixed race people. The dialogue will have to transcend the particulars of race and move into how we can make the world work for all the people.

I love that in addition to A/PI social and cultural groups on campus, that themixed kids are starting to find each other and talk about stuff. I hope they become the problemsolvers, the mediators and the free thinkers I know they can be. That they move beyond feeling the "what are you stigma" to actually finding interesting, dynamic and healing answers to that question that may lead the whole world the assumption that we are all related and all belong.

High School age asian adoptee responds to "Phoenix Rides a Skateboard"

It's a fan letter, ok, which is trashy, but she is part of us, and I had to share....


Dear Kate Rigg,

Hi! My name is Denise and I'm currently sixteen years old. I currently attend Pierre Elliott Trudeau High School which is located in Markham, Ontario.

Near the end of grade eleven, my drama teacher suggested that I read a play -- this play, known as "The Phoenix Rides a Skateboard." She told me that this piece was quote on quote "so you, Denise." So I decided to read it and it kinda freaked me out at first that my drama teacher knew me that well.

Case in point: I love the play. I love it to bits. Sometimes I feel as if I am Kim and that should maybe use Kim as my middle name or something. It's also kinda' eerie too at the same time to relate to something i've actually been through. I'm in love with it and for the past two weeks, it's all I have been thinking of.

I grew up in Ajax, Ontario and lived there for around thirteen years. Oh yeah, I'm Chinese but I gotta admit that I like it when people say I look mixed or something. It's just weird because I grew up in a different neighbourhood around people that were of a different race. It was hard to fit in but I survived.

When I moved to Markham ... I was overwhelmed at the number of Chinese people at my school. it was... scary, for lack of a better word. And yes, I was born in Canada and sometimes I refer to myself as Canadian and even say "I am CANADIAN but my parents are Chinese"... hehe. It's strange b/c I refused to hang out with people of my race... I just wanted to be Canadian. Not just that though -- back in the day, when I was delusional -- i wanted to be someone else... simply that. i guess sometimes i still am but the point is, i try my best to overcome that "everyone bully denise" phase.

Oh yes! I went through a phase where I listened only to Rock Music... I still love it by the way -- LINKIN PARK!! All my closest friends aren't even Chinese... I felt really embarrassed to be one. It's hard to explain but when I read your play, it's almost as if I felt good to know that a fictional character seemed so real, she could almost be related to me.

Anyway, I'm getting to a point here. My drama teacher suggested that I perform "The Phoenix Rides a Skateboard" for the Ontario Sears Drama Festival. I was soooooo hyped up for it over the weekend and couldn't stop thinking about it. I read the play over and over again and fell even more in love with Kim.

But just today I found out that the festival doesn't accept one woman shows and was completely traumatized. i'll admit it, i was so upset and disappointed, i cried. this would have been the greatest challenge for me.

so i decided to email you and ask you if you're familiar with any festivals that actually do accept one woman shows... because this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and i don't think i'd ever get this chance ever again. i want to make my last year in high school worth remembering and acting has become my biggest passion.

it would be amazing to act in your play. it's brilliant and astounding. i can fully connect to it. it just so happens that there are such restrictions. if you do know any festivals, please let me know. i'd really appreciate it.

thanks SOOOOOOOOOO much ... if you got this far. sorry for typing so much!!

UCSB comedy invasian. Racist language? Political Art?

Me and Davis Cho (aka. MC PhD) visited the multicultural center at UCSB to do a redux version of Chink-O-Rama plus some stand up comedy and a version of Mulan to open. We found out that the year before some kids had eggs thrown at them from a balcony because they were asian -- comments about them being chinks etc. Sad that, real sad. The kids were slapped on the wrist and everyone was pretty much just kind of bewildered about the incident.

Our audience was nice and mixed for this show and in the talk back the same question got asked: Do I get criticized for saying the word chink? Are people offended. I asked the student, were you offended? He said no. But he was wondering if anyone else was. Here is my pretty stock repsonse to this stock answer

When people see my shows, the response is overwhelmingly on the positive side. I know this for the following reasons: 1. Young asian americans shyly approach and say a version of thank you and invite me to speak at their functions. 2. we get asked back to most venues. 3. people sa things like we have never seen anything like this from an asian american point of view and we all collectively sigh about that. 4. I haven't been pelted with sago pearls.

There are two main schools of thought in the discussion of reoccupying racist language and stereotyping: The first is that by taking the word back into the community it targets (fags calling themselves fags, balck people calling themselves nigger) it removes the sting of the word because you now "own it." Secondly it changes the word and instills it with new meanings assigned by the new users. If you look at the word fag, originally a piece of wood to be burned, viciously then applied to gay men as if they were fit to be burned, and now in queer culture a noun with adjectival qualities apllied to not-so-butch gay guys who haven't quite graduated to queen (although if you place aural emphasis on fagGOT it can kinda mean that too)-- anyway if you look at that the gay community re transforms a word that was trasnformed from its original mundane defninition. They un-hated it if you will.
Now all isms are not created equally-- I am equally against them in terms of their hate and fear content but they do not share the same history and do not share the same tenets. Racism against black people is different from racism against Asian people because our history in this country is different. There are times when they intersect. But Vincent Chin is NOT the same as a balck slave hanging from a tree. Our outrage is similar. And the violence is an overlap. But the hatred and racism have different qualities. Which we may discuss at a later time.

My point is that in Chink-O-Rama I am addressing stereotypes and pictures of Asians in Western pop culture, and from an insider point of view. And I am choosing this first school of thought: the subversion of racist language by exploiting it, re-directing it and expsing it for its weaknesses.

The second school of thought says that any use of words which historically were used to punish and destroy groups of people based on their racial heritage, keeps us tied to those words and doesnt let us move along. Secondly, the use of these words in a "urban updated" way is irresponsible to the history of those words and the people who suffered because of the racist ideas they embodied. And thirdly that using these words is a false sense of power and keeps us out of the mainstream because we are still defining ourselves by the oppressor's language-- just in a contrary kind of way. I give credence to all of these positions and agree in part with some.

My final position then is this: as a creative artist, I choose subversion, parody and satire to discuss the subject of racial suspicion and disharmony. I choose to re-interpret words to spin and examine them, to sing and scream them so we can all look at them through my particular comedy filter. And when people disagree with my use of these words, and therefore my politics I am still gratified that discussion is open. I dont mind being called an asshole in the context of my shows because someone is now thinking about asian americans as members of our pop culture--even if they are hating on me as one of those asian americans.

One of the biggest weapoons leveled against us is invisibility. We are not on TV as regular people (grab a shirkin! do someone's nails! speak in pidgin english and teach ralph macchio martial arts!) We are not considered a separate demographic as the guys from Better Luck tomorrow pointed out, our dollars are lumped in with white dollars. If ever there was a call to arms/ spending dough on asian american product that was it people! We are dehumanized with the word chink which implies that all asians are chinese. And therefore the same. And therefore devoid of distinct histories and identities. And therefore less human, less individual, less equal participants in culture and life. We are identified by jobs: the martial artist, the delivery boy etc.

I want us all to have our names back. And for me the first step is to take the names we have been given, such as CHINK, and expose them as lies. And I am working in 2 directions: satirizing this old way of thought, as in Chink-O-Rama, while creating new art and new inroads to pop, through Slanty Eyed mama and other projects.

LA Grand Performances 05: Who is more american?

We played the fab outdoor stage at California Plaza and premiered the song "Naughty Schoolgirl". Some die hards got to the free stadium style outdoor seats a half hour before the show. Some asian women, some kids, it was cool to see them out there, excited to see us.

We started with Rice Rice Baby (an easy in because of the parody and humor of the song.) Me and Lyris are still nervous about starting with a musically serious or more edgy piece. We think the audience will be afraid. We feel like we have to ease an audience into this concept of Asian American girls rising up and speaking strong. We do a funny piece first because it says--it's ok to laugh. We have a sense of humor. Now watch us rant and rave about cultural politics!! Sometimes I feel like a sell out doing the funny first, to make sure the audience feels alright about it. It is a fine line between taking care of the audience so that they are open to hear these new ideas, and doing something I know is safe in order to be liked by an audience whose ears have been tuned by exclusion and fear.

Always the un-safe one, Sato went naked under the cellophane in 'Mulan'.

The best moment of the night came after the actual concert. A woman puts up her hand in the talk back and says this: "I just want to thank you, I just, I came here today and I breathed out a sigh of relief I said "FINALLY." I have served my country for 31 years. I have lived here since I was 4, from the Phillippines, and have been in the army for 31 years and am a sargeant now. But even though I am in the army, if I am not in uniform, no one treats me with respect there. They all assume I am someone's wife or mother. And they hesitate to let me on army planes or speak to me. Your songs, it is the first time I feel like someone is talking to me. And some of it is painful, the things you talk about the things you are saying and the stereotypes. But I am glad I came and I hope you keep going."

That is the SHIT everyone. And for now, we keep going.