I Wish Henry Louis Gates Was My Friend

Faces of America DVD collection. Buy it!

Lately, I’ve been inspired by a documentary called Faces of America on PBS. In the series, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (pictured below) meets with 12 famous Americans (including two prominent Asian Americans —  yay!) and tells them how they ended up in America, which country their ancestors originated from, and the experiences their immigrant ancestors had upon first arriving in the United States.

The program examines the question, “What does an ‘American’ look like?”

As an American of Asian descent, the question is near and dear to my heart. Nobody ever views me as an American when I travel around the world. Heck, sometimes even in America, they don’t view me as American. (Has anyone ever been to Sewanee, Tennessee? I have! You haven’t experienced the South until you’ve had a bunch of grizzly white men staring at you at a truck stop while you’re trying to eat your chicken-fried steak in peace.)

Sitting in a busy piazza in Florence, I once had an Italian guy try to charm me with the opener, “Are you Chinese? Japanese?” (Except he pronounced it, “Chin-eh-zeh?” “Japon-eh-zeh?”)

I wanted to say, “I’m American.” But I knew what he was getting at. Americans were white. Or black, like Michael Jordan. (It was the ’90s.) Not Asian…right?

If you watch Faces of America, you’ll realize that everybody who is American originally came from somewhere else. (Of course, we know this, but it’s always nice to be reminded — especially those angry anti-immigrant mobs.) Stephen Colbert’s great-great grandfather came from Ireland. Famed film director Mike Nichols — The Graduate, Working Girl, Closer — was born in Germany and came to America when he was seven. Dr. Mehmet Oz’s father immigrated from Turkey.

These individuals — all who happen to be white — are rarely questioned about their American-ness, as Asian-Americans are. We’re often asked, “Where are you from?” — even though our family may have been in America for generations.

Usually, the question isn’t mean-spirited, but it is inadvertently offensive. The question implies Asians look “different” and are somehow not really “American,” and in any event, are the “other.”

It’s heart-breaking to watch the moment in Faces of America, when Professor Gates tells Japanese American, Kristi Yamaguchi — whose paternal grandfather immigrated to the U.S. in 1899 — that her entire family was incarcerated in Japanese internment camps in the Arizona desert during World War II. And that her maternal grandfather fought for America alongside white soldiers, even though his wife and children were imprisoned in the concentration camps in the Arizona desert.

Throughout the series, Professor Gates approaches the sensitive issues of race and nationality with compassion, light humor and a deep understanding of America as a hyper-racialized society. The message he puts across in Faces of America seems to be: we’re all from somewhere else. So what does an “American” look like? Black, white, yellow, brown and everything in between.

Go to the Faces of America website and watch Professor Gates talk with: Mario Batali, Meryl Streep, Eva Longoria, Queen Noor, Dr. Oz, Mike Nichols, Malcolm Gladwell, Louise Erdrich, Elizabeth Alexander, Yo-Yo Ma, Stephen Colbert and Kristi Yamaguchi.

Korean Skater Kim Yu-na Dazzles at Winter Olympics

Figure skater Kim Yu-na is the biggest celebrity in South Korea. She is so hounded by reporters, photographers and the public that she trains in Toronto, Canada.

Favored to win gold at this year’s Winter Olympics, Yu-na is in first place with a record-breaking score of 78.50 after tonight’s short program. As she skated a flawless and saucy routine to a selection of James Bond tunes, the commentator noted that the rivalry with Japanese figure skater, Mao Asada, currently in second place, reflected historical hostilities between the two countries — kinda like when Mexico plays USA in a soccer match.

Yes, indeed, if Yu-na wins gold at this year’s Winter Olympics, there will be bedlam in the streets of Seoul.

Who is Padma Lakshmi’s baby daddy?

Following Indian tradition, Padma Lakshmi gave her newborn baby girl an Indian name: Krishna. But who is Krishna’s daddy?

Padma has never identified the father, telling the New York Post via her publicist that, “She has no interest in sharing with the public the identity of the father. She asks that people respect her privacy.”

Fat chance of that happening! We understand Padma’s need for privacy, but we can’t help it. We want to know! Who fathered your child, Padma?

Adam Dell

Was it Adam Dell, the 40-year-old younger brother of Dell Computer whiz, Michael Dell, whom you dated in and around May 2008? (The pair were spotted at La Esquina restaurant in NYC; he was rubbing her back.)

Or was it Ted Forstmann, the Wall Street tycoon who dated Elizabeth Hurley when she broke up with Hugh Grant in 2000?

The white-haired Forstmann and Padma were spotted attending a Knicks game in Madison Square Garden in NYC in January 2009.

Ted Forstmann

Or was it someone else? A sperm donor perhaps? The mind starts to run wild with the possibilities.

Who is Apolo Ohno’s Mother?

Competing in the Olympics can shine a spotlight not only on your talents, but your family life, too. Who is in the stands cheering you on? Is it both your mother or father, or are they divorced? Are you estranged from one parent or the other?

Just like the summer Olympics in Beijing when we watched Michael Phelps being cheered on by his mother — the public learning that his parents are divorced and Phelps estranged from his father — viewers watched American speed skater Apolo Ohno and his father, Yuki Ohno (pictured below) with curiosity.

While Japanese-born Yuki was seen everywhere with his son and is famously his strongest supporter, Apolo’s mother was nowhere to be seen, with no mention of her.

Information on Apolo’s mother is scant. She is described as a Caucasian-American woman named Jerrie Lee. She was married to Yuki, but they divorced in 1983 when Apolo was barely a year old. Yuki had his own hair salon in Seattle, Washington at the time and was working long hours.

The divorcing couple agreed that “little Apolo would be better off with a father who worked 12-hour days and had no relatives to help him,” reports Sports Illustrated in a 2002 article.

Apolo told Sports Illustrated that he has no interest in learning about his mother, or the half-brother who is 10 years older than him. “There’s no story about her,” Yuki told Sports Illustrated. “No story. It’s insignificant to what he is now. We’ve got to keep it that way.”

Padma Lakshmi Gives Birth to Baby Girl ‘Krishna’

It’s a girl for Padma Lakshmi! According to US Magazine, Padma gave birth on Saturday, February 20 in New York City to a baby girl. Padma, who has refused to identify the father of her baby, has named her little girl, Krishna. The birth is considered a “medical miracle” because 39-year-old Padma suffered from endometriosis, reports US.

Congratulations to Padma! We’re sure her daughter will be as beautiful as she is. Now, if only we could satisfy our curiosity and find out who the father is…

Tiger Woods Press Conference – I’m a bad Buddhist and that’s why I had rampant, adulterous sex

Tiger Woods on February 19, 2010. (AP)

Well, for once it’s refreshing and new to hear a disgraced celebrity cite — not God or Christianity  — as the path to redemption, but Buddhism! That’s what happens when your mother is originally from Thailand and raises you Buddhist.

Tiger Woods, looking bloated, puffy and chipmunk-cheeked, gave a press conference today to address the numerous, scandalous affairs that brought him tumbling down from his pedestal last November and threatened to destroy his career and marriage. Standing before a carefully assembled group of friends, business associates, his mother and hand-picked reporters, Woods admitted, “I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated.”

Why he had affairs with all those women: “I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled.”

He was selfish and thought only of himself, admits Woods. His mother, Kultida Punsawad Woods, who is originally from Thailand, was at the conference and hugged her son afterwards. The person glaringly absent from the press conference was Woods’ wife, Elin Nordegren. (I could have you told you she wasn’t going to be there.)

The press conference was carefully controlled. Woods’ team only invited a hand-picked small group of reporters from the Associated Press, Reuters and Bloomberg News. No questions were allowed. Tiger simply read from a statement that was 14 minutes long. (Watch the video and read his entire statement here.)

Woods said that he has had intense therapy (though he wouldn’t specify whether it was for sexual addiction) and is trying to rebuild his marriage and his career. Will he and his wife stay married? That is between them as husband and wife, Woods said.

I have a lot of work to do, and I intend to dedicate myself to doing it. Part of following this path for me is Buddhism, which my mother taught me at a young age. People probably don’t realize it, but I was raised a Buddhist, and I actively practiced my faith from childhood until I drifted away from it in recent years. Buddhism teaches that a craving for things outside ourselves causes an unhappy and pointless search for security. It teaches me to stop following every impulse and to learn restraint. Obviously, I lost track of what I was taught.

One wonders. Who helped Tiger write that speech?

Chinese woman to get massive plastic surgery to look like Jessica Alba to win back boyfriend

Reuters/Nir Elias

A 21-year-old Chinese woman in Shanghai (pictured, left) will soon be getting massive plastic surgery in order to look like Jessica Alba (pictured, below).

Why, you ask? To win back her boyfriend (presumably Chinese), who she dated for a year and a half, but broke up with because of his obsession with Alba.

The woman’s “28-year-old boyfriend had been obsessed with Alba, adorning their apartment with her photographs and talking about her constantly,” reports Reuters. “He always hinted that he wanted [his girlfriend] to resemble his favorite star and even bought her a blonde wig to wear.” Creeepy!

The young woman, who would only identify herself as Xiaoqing, told Reuters that she broke up with her boyfriend a month ago because his Alba obsession became “too much” for her. But she’s been unable to get over the break-up and wants the guy back in her life. What’s even worse is the advice she’s been getting from her apparently dim-witted friends.

“My friends… kept consoling me but it did not work, so they suggested I do plastic surgery to look like her (Jessica Alba),” the woman told Reuters. “I have never been able to let [my boyfriend] go. If in the end he still does not accept me after I undergo the plastic surgeries, I will give up. I will then choose to let go, start afresh and live life by myself,” the 21-year-old said.

Astoundingly, the Shanghai Time Plastic Surgery center has offered to do the operations for free to “showcase their surgery skills,” reports Reuters, noting that the young woman will need multiple surgeries to her eyes and nose to get her to look like Alba — if that is even possible, which doesn’t seem likely. The Chinese woman and Alba are, after all, entirely different ethnicities.

There is one last hope that someone will knock some sense into the psychologically fragile young woman. Xiaoqing will be visiting her mother in the countryside for Chinese New Year (on February 14 this year) and says she will talk with her mother before making a final decision about the plastic surgery.

And we thought Heidi Montag’s plastic surgery was tragic!

Michelle Obama stuns in gold gown by designer Naeem Khan

First Lady Michelle Obama, wearing a gown designed by Naeem Khan, and President Obama on November 24, 2009 at the White House state dinner. (Susan Walsh/AP)

For the first official state dinner at the White House, the first lady Michelle Obama looked stunning in a strapless, floor-length gown of warm, pale gold paired with a diaphanous shawl in a matching hue. She wore long, dangling earrings and piles of gold bangles on her left arm. (Nobody noticed what President Obama wore, other than to note it was a black tuxedo and perfect foil for showing off the first lady’s gown.)

Mrs. Obama’s golden gown was designed by Indian-American designer Naeem Khan — a nod, perhaps, to the honored guests at the state dinner: India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur.

Mr. Khan launched his eponymous clothing line in 2003, according to his website. He has dressed stars such as Beyonce, Carrie Underwood and Jennifer Lopez, as well as Queen Noor, but dressing the first lady of the United States — and one as stylish and statuesque as Michelle Obama, no less — is certainly a new level of distinction for the Indian-born Khan. No doubt, he will garner many more fans on his Facebook page.

Designer Naeem Khan.

Kate Beckinsale is part Asian?

You’d never guess, but British actress Kate Beckinsale — star of Underworld, Pearl Harbor, and all around gorgeous girl — is the tiniest bit Burmese. Her father, Richard Beckinsale was 1/4 Burmese. (His paternal grandfather was full Burmese.) Therefore, Kate Beckinsale is 1/8 Burmese.

Learning of this, one idiot reporter described Kate as “faintly sloe-eyed.”

Having never heard the term “sloe-eyed” before, I looked it up and discovered that it is defined as :

1 : having soft dark bluish- or purplish-black eyes
2 : having slanted eyes

Since Kate’s eyes are greenish-hazel, the reporter must have meant the latter definition, which is simply ridiculous, not to mention offensive.

Kate revealed that as a child, she was “very oriental looking”— “Not that there’s anything wrong with it!” she might have added — but as an adult, how can anyone say her eyes look faintly slanted? Phhhft!

Victor and Tammy Jih Win Amazing Race 14

 

Tammy and Victor Jih win Amazing Race 14!

Thanks to Victor’s giant brain, the siblings/lawyers team have won $1 million!

Victor blew through the final challenge requiring one member of each team to piece together a dozen past challenges in chronological order. Luke and his mother Margie were in the lead going into the challenge, but Victor finished first and he and his sister Tammy got to the finish line first.

“I’m not wearing any pants!” said Tammy, while Victor struggled to hold back tears.

“I found out that the nerdy little Asian girl who could barely hold up her backpack can do quite a lot,” Tammy smiled. Victor found out that life could be interesting when you do you the unexpected.