I sometimes come across scenes in movies or TV shows that make fun of Asian students’ obsession of getting As. The characters (usually white) would ecstatically celebrate getting a B, while their Asian peers look gloomy, if not depressed. Although years passed since I watched this sitcom, I still remembered the scene in which the…
ni meiyou bing (you’re not sick) I came to UCLA with a dream that I’d be somehow new. That the real me would just appear. Maybe a day after moving in, my first panic attack. I run away from the dining hall. Between striding and rushing deep into campus, I end up in the courtyard of the…
Last Friday I watched UCLA’s 2009 Chinese American Culture Night. It brought up a number of themes of relevance to Asian Pacific Islander (API) Americans today, one of which was eating disorders and poor body image. A 2007 feature article in Audrey magazine goes into depth about the multiple issues that API women struggle with…