That's right more narcissistic behavior from Jen. Surfed upon this student's journal. Guess I give a not bad workshop. Woo hoo! Look at my previous Feb 2003 post. Though don't know how much more I want to deal with MANAA. I'm burned out, especially til the election is over. Plus there's various other reasons but I won't divulge on here.

Saturday, February 01, 2003

Wow, I didn't think I'd have that much fun at APAAC (Asian Pacific American Awareness Conference) because it was forced volunteerism on my part.
Lynne and I got there at 8am (ugh)
After breakfast, we went to 3 workshops (well, there was lunch after the first one) that were extremely interesting. The first was about South Asia (India, Pakistan, etc.) and religion, which actually gave me some better definitions.
Then the second one was about stereotypes. I think this was the best workshop that I've been to. It was put on by a group called MANAA (Media Action Network for Asian Americans http://www.manaa.org/), a non-profit based in LA that works towards ending stereotypes of Asian Americans in the media. Damn, it was so informative and moving that I wanted to sign up right there. I mean, this is what I've always hated - stereotypes in the media (especially of APIs) and here's a group doing something about it. I learned that if you see something you don't like, write to their advertisers because that'll hurt them. Also, DON'T BUY THE FEB. ISSUE OF MAXIM! (sorry guys) There's a cartoon depicting a buff white guy beating up Ghandhi to show how to kick someone's ass. I think they're trying to contrast an aggressive person and a pacifist, but why not Jesus or MLK? It's just as hurtful. I dunno, but that group spoke to me, kinda awoke the activist in me, but since I don't have the time to commit, I'll just keep my eyes & ears open and write letters, etc. Other Asian Americans should, too, because our voice is out there, but it could be stronger.
The third one was about gays that was good, too, but I've been to a panel of gays & lesbians before, so it was very similar. One thing I've noticed - there's a lot of gay Asian males, but you rarely see lesbian Asians ('exotic scenes' excluded). I wonder why?
But anyways, time to go back to work after a whole day of the conference. I really wish more people came out - there was probably only about 100 or so.
Posted 2/1/2003 at 7:32 PM