“American justice has become American injustice. Superimposed on you.” Showcased at this year’s San Diego Asian Film Festival, “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail” is a documentary directed by Steve James that encapsulates a five-year-long legal battle between the state of New York and Abacus Federal Savings Bank. Within the first three minutes of the film,…
Established in 1994, the Association of Hmong Students (AHS) hosted its fourth annual Hmong Awareness Day (HAD) event at UCLA on April 5th, 2017. To second-year AHS Secretary, Paja Thao, “HAD is an opportunity to make people on campus aware of my identity, where I’m from and who I am. It is a very important…
My mom is Taiwanese and my dad is Chinese, but many people only see me as Chinese. This was more of an issue when I was growing up than it is now, but usually when I tell someone in the U.S. that I’m Taiwanese and Chinese, they reply with, “Oh, so you’re Chinese, right?” As…
In a sea of Southeast Asians on campus, I am a minority. I am underrepresented. I am Laotian. Oftentimes, people misidentify me as Vietnamese. While I do not find that to be an insult, it functions as a reminder that I am not able to relate or identify with a cultural group on campus. Laos…
As of December 2016, Andrew Ahn’s “Spa Night” is now available on DVD, Netflix, Vimeo, iTunes, and Amazon. The critically acclaimed film is about a young Korean American man discovering his homosexuality in the 24-hour spas of Los Angeles Koreatown while navigating the struggles of his family’s financial challenges. The film paints a nuanced, multi-dimensional…
In honor of May being Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Pacific Ties and Asian Pacific Coalition (APC) are teaming up to featuring Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) Bruins. We’ll be posting one interview per day. Dr. Travis J. Cross is Associate Professor of Music and department Vice Chair at UCLA, where he conducts the…