In return, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has responded by agreeing to exchange ambassadors as a sign of seeking greater cooperation with Burma. Although this act shows that all the parties involved are interested in improved relations, no further action has been committed as of yet to actually remove the economic sanctions which prevent general business with Burma. The lack of actually removing the sanctions just yet is possibly because of the western nations’ attitude to wait and see how the situation develops.

Nonetheless, Human Right’s Watch has dubbed this as a “crucial development” in human rights although they note there are still political prisoners being held that have not been released.

By: Jimmy Zhou

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-01-13/burma-political-prisoners-freed/52528408/1

Ingredients:
Cucumbers
Hummus

I generally use Costco’s Red Pepper hummus, simply because it comes in a giant T-rex sized tub. But I am a firm believer in the versatility of hummus and I believe that any flavor hummus will do.

As soon as the post went viral, the pizza chain took immediate action by firing the offending employee and apologizing to Cho for the incident. The pizza chain posted on their Facebook:  ”This act goes against our company values, and we’ve confirmed with the franchisee that this matter was addressed immediately and that the employee is being terminated. We are truly sorry for this customer’s experience.”

Nonetheless, other members of the chain have been less sympathetic to Cho. One manager known as Jerome in New York commented, “This is a place of business. I truly don’t think it’s fair what she did; it’s just crazy … I think the lady put it out there just to get some attention — some people like that type of attention. I truly don’t think it’s fair. It’s been taking up all our time. It’s been very disruptive.”

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/09/idUS343657984420120109

By Jimmy Zhou

BOOKS

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

These eight stories by beloved and bestselling author Jhumpa Lahiri take us from Cambridge and Seattle to India and Thailand, as they explore the secrets at the heart of family life. Here they enter the worlds of sisters and brothers, fathers and mothers, daughters and sons, friends and lovers. Rich with the signature gifts that have established Jhumpa Lahiri as one of our most essential writers, Unaccustomed Earth exquisitely renders the most intricate workings of the heart and mind. – Amazon.com

I think Lahiri’s first collection of short stories, The Interpreter of Maladies, is more well known. But Unaccustomed Earth…doesn’t have better stories, I would say, but longer stories, more nuanced, more heartbreaking. Taken together it’s one long, dull ache of bittersweetness

COMICS

Huntress (artist: Marcus To)

Look out! By the end of this hot new miniseries, the Huntress will have the largest price on her head in DC Universe history. What will the Huntress do that warrants such a death mark? And who puts it there? The jaw-dropping events will be revealed as the Huntress heads home to Italy and embarks on a mission that defines her life. – TFAW.com

This is a fast-paced, entertaining series with a fierce leading lady, and the art by Marcus To is gorgeous. Seriously, clothes porn and beautiful flowing hair everywhere. You couldn’t ask for a better combination.

Wonder Woman (artist: Cliff Chiang)

The Gods walk among us. To them, our lives are playthings. Only one woman would dare to protect humanity from the wrath of such strange and powerful forces.

But is she one of us – or one of them? – TFAW.com

And that woman is, of course, Wonder Woman (or Diana, as she prefers to be called). I’m a big fan of mythology: gods, monsters, heroic journeys, etc., and this series adheres to that genre, except with some interesting new interpretations of old gods like Apollo and Hermes. Not to mention it’s another series with a lead female character and gorgeous art, this time by Cliff Chiang.

Batgirl (Cassandra Cain run)

Exploding out from no man’s land — the all-new Batgirl! In the midst of No Man’s Land, Batman gave a nameless girl with a violent past the costume and title of Batgirl. Exceeding his expectations, the new, silent Batgirl quickly made the role her own, earning the trust of the Dark Knight’s allies, including the first Batgirl, Oracle. Now, in post-No Man’s Land Gotham, Batgirl struggles to learn the lessons of how to live a normal life, lessons she never learned from her mentor, the deadly assassin known as Cain. And when a mercenary from her past resurfaces, bent on revenge, can Batgirl bury her own violent tendencies and break the cycle of death and destruction that has dogged her since childhood? – Amazon.com

And finally, a series that I’ve talked about before but didn’t manage to read until recently: the 2000 Batgirl run, with Cassandra Cain. Unlike the other two, this is a series with an Asian American protagonist. There’s not a lot about Cassandra’s race and assimilation and etc. But as a series about a young woman who tries so hard to redeem herself for something she did as a kid, without any understanding; about someone who will protect everyone on her watch, no matter what; about an amazing character, in short, who happens to be Asian American: it’s awesome. Check Amazon for the trade paperbacks (which collect most of the issues) or your local comic book store.

TV SHOWS

The Walking Dead

After waking from a coma in an abandoned hospital, police officer Rick Grimes finds the world he knew gone – ravaged by a zombie epidemic of apocalyptic proportions. Nearby, on the outskirts of Atlanta, a small encampment struggles to survive as ‘the dead’ stalk them at every turn. Can Rick and the others hold onto their humanity as they fight to live in this terrifying new world? And, amidst dire conditions and personal rivalries, will they ultimately survive one another? – Amazon.com

One word for this series: Glenn. The Korean American ex-delivery guy who, let’s face it, saves everyone’s ass by knowing pretty much every secret passage and escape route in Atlanta. Also the most adorable member of that group of survivors. I have no shame in recommending this series just for him (although there are a host of other good factors. But I’ll just add in one more for the sake of convenience and time: zombies).

ANIME

Digimon Adventure 01

On August 1, 1999, seven children from Japan are suddenly thrust into a strange dimension called the “Digital World” while they are at summer camp. During their adventure, children Tai, Matt, Sora, Izzy, Mimi, Joe, and T.K., discover that they are in a land where digital creatures called “Digimon” dwell. Befriending seven other Digimon, the children learn that they have the ability to help their partners digitally evolve (digivolve) into stronger, powerful forms that can combat enemies for a short amount of time. Setting off on their journey, the children start searching for a way home. – Wikipedia

Oh, come on. Don’t tell me you didn’t watch this as a kid. Rewatching it now, I spend a lot of time sighing and asking out loud for better dialogue (“Oh no! Our way has been blocked by a pile of debris!” Oh really, I couldn’t tell from that giant pile of debris in plain view) and more consistent character development. But I’ve watched Glee, so actually it wasn’t that terrible. And in terms of less offensive shit and more fun adventure times (with friendship! And courage! And lots of friendship) Digimon has Glee beat. So take some time to re-explore your childhood. (I also encourage you to watch with friends, so there’s someone else to groan to about the obvious dialogue and plot holes.)

There was a buzz around the Matrix Theatre on the opening night of the play All My Sons, written by Arthur Miller, directed by Cameron Watson, and produced by Joseph Stern. The play brought up the themes of greed and the consideration of a world beside our immediate selves and family.

The play is set three years after a tragic decision was made, and portrays the consequences of a man who neglects his moral responsibility to the world. Three years ago, Joe Keller, the boss of a machine shop and the main protagonist of the play, and Steve Deever, the partner of Keller, decided to knowingly ship out defective machine parts during World War II. This decision results in the death of 21 soldiers and the imprisonment of Deever. The repercussions of this tragedy persist to three years later, when the Deever and Keller family must face the ugly truth of Joe’s actions.

One of the key points of this performance of the play was the multi-racial casting. In a play that typically features an all-white cast, this particular performance had a purposefully ethnically mixed cast: Joe is black, his wife is white, their son is biracial, the Deevers are Asian, and the neighbors are white and Hispanic.

“The cast is ethnically mixed and we cast the play specifically that way,” Stern explains.

Stern’s decision proved profound, as there was an inevitable mental debate on the reasons for this particular casting and the racial undertones and stereotypes that would cause for such casting.

A nearly innumerable set of ideas and theories were set up for debate.

In particular, what caught my attention was the casting of the Deever family as Asian. This is a play set soon after World War II. The Deever family suffered terribly from Joe Keller’s decision. This brings to mind the suffering of the Japanese citizens from the atomic bomb – a man-made machine of mass destruction.

This portrayal of suffering brought up issues with the model minority myth that continues to hurt the Asian-American and Asian Pacific Islander community. Throughout the play, the Deever family is persistently placed in this tension concerning the idea that everything is alright. They are obviously scarred from the events of the past, yet they are pressured to hide their anguish from a surrounding community who acts as if ignoring the past is the equivalent to erasing it. The Asian American and Asian Pacific Islander community is not an ideal community where no strife or poverty is felt. There are many members who are in need of assistance, yet the community continues to be portrayed as a hard-working group who can work hard, study hard, and eventually rise to a comfortable place.

Chris, the idealistic and honest son of Joe Keller, is bi-racial. This complements the struggle for some bi-racial people in establishing a full-fledged identity as two cultures merge. There is this sense of absolutes in society. Black. White. Asian. This strikes two points. One is the increasing appearance of interracial relationships within society. Another point is the tendency of society to lump the Asians all together into one group. The Chinese are different from the Japanese. The Japanese are different from the Koreans. This pertains to the differences between the French and the English, as well as the differences between the Spanish and the Mexican. There are multiple identities within this one group that continues to be lumped together. As Chris Keller struggles with his sense of place in the world, the diversity of the people in the community labeled as Asian-American is being neglected.

The play was an overall success. The cast decisions were able to successfully tie in racial themes into the spectacular blend of heart-gripping themes already present in the words Miller’s play.

The University of California Regents meeting on November 28th was accompanied by the small but loud and pasionate student protesters.

UCLA graduate student Jason Ball says protesters are expressing outrage over UCLA budget cuts and fee hikes, bank bailouts and economic injustice.

Irene Tran, a fourth year UCI student and Education major, drove all the way from Orange County to participate in this early protest. “We cannot allow the regents to make serious budget cuts without expressing our concern,” she said.

Students’ frustration and anger was directed at the raise in tuition and cuts in important programs such as tutoring and study services.

As a UCLA student, I experience the effects of the budget cuts on a daily basis. My classes are increasingly harder to get into, discussion classrooms can barely fit all 40 students and my free Covel tutoring services have shrunk.

All photos taken by staff photographer Jessica Juwono.

sleep walking fish by Dustin Nguyen

When I first started reading comics in the summer of 2010, I was expecting comics to possess the same quality that most popular media in my life did: a lack of diversity.   Despite the abundance of color in life, and the varied axes on which people live, it seems that popular media seems to cater to only one type of person: the straight, white, middle-to-upper class cisgender neurotypical individual.   Of course, there is nothing wrong with being a combination of any or all of these qualities–individuals are born or grow into these qualities naturally.  But when those qualities are the color of the month every month, the interior decoration becomes a little bland.

Unfortunately, comics do prescribe to that same palette of the month.  Despite that setback, however, I discovered someone amazing while reading the new solicits for Bryan Q. Miller’s Batgirl comics: Dustin Nguyen.

Prior to my discovery of Dustin Nguyen, I had started to believe that I would never find a modern Vietnamese artist in popular media.  So when I heard the announcement that Dustin Nguyen was drawing for Batgirl, one of my favorite comics of the time, I jumped at the chance to read his other work, specifically his work on Detective Comics, such as Heart of Hush.

Since then, I have been hooked on Nguyen’s artwork as a whole, not just in comics.  He works so many beautiful wonders–like the beautiful contours, the dark inks, the subtle watercolors–into his art that a normal comic book takes me twice as long to read because I want to burn the image of each panel into my mind’s eye.

When I had a chance to speak with Nguyen a couple weeks ago, however, we spent much less time talking about the technicalities of his art and process and much more time talking about his personal life.  I found myself charmed by Nguyen’s jokes: “Thirty-five is the new forty-five,” he said, when I told him that middle age was actually around forty or forty-five.

Nguyen charmed me most when we discussed what he did with comic books.  Every month, Nguyen receives a box delivered to his doorstep.  In this box, DC places every trade paperback and hardcover they have published that month for Nguyen’s perusal.

Although this may seem like a comic book artist’s dream box, Nguyen says that after seven years, having so many comic books becomes a hassle.   First, he lets his two kids, who are eight and five, look through the box and pick out the books that they want to read.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #3 cover

Then, with the rest of the books, Nguyen employs an interesting sales tactic: he gives his trade paperbacks and hardcover comic books away.  “I leave them at laundromats for people to pick up to read,” Nguyen said.  “You leave it, they read one issue, and they’re like, ‘Aw yeah, now I have to read the next issue!’  So come back to this laundromat a month from now and take your chances, or go out and buy the next issue.”

In regards to his personal taste for Robins, Nguyen’s favorite Robin is Tim Drake, the third Robin.   “Obviously, [he has] the better costume, has nicer hair,” Nguyen joked.  “No, I mean, he’s the one I grew up with on [Batman: The Animated Series].  Also, I think he’s one of the few Robins who wanted to be a sidekick.  I think everyone else [Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Stephanie Brown] wanted to do their own thing and used Robin as a kind of stepping stone.  Tim Drake–he knows his role and does it well.”

I feel that Nguyen, like Tim Drake, also does his job well.  His art possesses such a dynamic, stylized quality so flexible that it complements any style, whether it be a serious book–such as Paul Dini’s Heart of Hush or Derek Fridolfs’s Streets of Gotham–or even a playful book–as in Bryan Q. Miller’s Batgirl.  Every time I see his name in new comic book solicits, I feel a surge of joy, not just for the chance to be charmed by Nguyen’s wonderful art, but because someone who shares my culture made it happen for me.

Batman Beyond #2

Despite my excitement for diversity in all media, Nguyen reminded me that the approach for media must be handled with care and caution.  He recounted the story of his experience with a local newspaper:  ”The first thing they asked me, ‘Were your parents really disappointed in you [when you wanted to become an artist?'  . . . . Didn't [they] give you a hard time because you didn’t want to be like other people?”

Even the most well meaning people and media can make mistakes in this regard.  Not all parents or support figures adhere to a certain stereotype; lives exist along a spectrum.  Nguyen’s story is no exception.

Currently, Nguyen is working on Justice League Beyond with Derek Fridolfs , which will begin publishing digitally in February 2012.   You can read more about Justice League Beyond here at Comics Alliance.

All art featured on this page was pulled directly from duss005.com, Dustin Nguyen’s personal site.