11.07.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 5:41 am by Administrator
Came across this article today. I have a few thoughts, some diplomatic, some not so diplomatic about the topic of the phenomenon of Asian fetishes. Keep in mind, a difference exists between having an interest and respect for a different culture and being obsessed with it and making blanket assumptions about a group of people.
Asian-American women like this writer of this piece portray a minefield when it comes to dating white guys. You would think smart, young educated Asian American women would be able tell the difference between an Asiaphile, or a basic dumbass from a guy who respects them. Then again, maybe not.
Do Asian women go for white guys because they are more aggressive in pursuing them and they like the attention? The writer has reservations about why she is in demand but also doesn’t seem to regret that she is in the game unlike some Asian males who have to combat even worse stereotypes. That said, relationships are about having common interests, values, respect and compatibility and ultimately love. But the only way to learn about
relationships is through the school of hard knocks—experience. No pain, no gain, especially for Asian-Americans who for all their educational and economic success have a ways to go politically and socially in this country.
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10.30.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:47 am by Administrator
If you want to become great at something, you can’t skip steps, as your mother might have told you. Here’s the ladder of excellence in five levels, made popular by the late psychologist Thomas Gordon, about three decades ago. (Source: Fortune, Oct. 30, 2006).
1. Unconscious incompentence: You think you know, but you have no idea that you’re ignorant of your own ignorance.
2. Conscious incompetence: Now you’re aware of what you don’t know and start to do something about it. It’s like starting to learn the basics of a new language.
3. Conscious competence: You can accomplish a task but only with great mental effort. You can make small talk in Spanish but you’re constantly thinking about what you’re saying but you’re speech is less than perfect.
4. Unconscious excellence: You’re no longer thinking, you’re doing. You can carry on a conversation in Spanish fluently without thinking about the rules of grammar.
5. Conscious exellence: The highest echelon. Here you use your conscious mind to break down and adjust the elements of your performance. You can explain to other people what you are doing.
Finally, beware of overconscious incompentence. That means your awareness of your Achilles heel becomes debilitating. Some examples from the sports world are Miami Heat center Shaquille O’Neal shooting free throws or Yankee second baseman Chuck Knoblauch trying to throw to first base. Visualize positive outcomes. Let your mind be your ally.
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10.03.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 12:13 am by Administrator
I’ve decided to enter the blogosphere to give my two cents on the pressing and not-so pressing issues of the day, hopefully making observations and providing analysis that readers find interesting.
I’m 33 years old and live in Shoreline, Wash. and work as the assistant sports editor of The Enterprise Newspapers in Lynnwood, a 75,000 circulation group of weeklies that is a subsidiary of the Washington Post-owned Everett Herald. I am originally from the Portland, Ore. area and am a single Asian male, well half-Asian actually. I graduated from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash. in 1996 with a B.A. in Politics.
My areas of interest that I may comment on include politics, economics and class differences, race, American society and culture, and sports.
I am not an expert by any means, only an observer of the political process mostly from the vantage point as a journalist. My limited experience in politics includes a stint as a U.S. House of Representatives page and volunteer campaign worker for a U.S. House Democrat. I’ve never been a political reporter per se, but have covered my share political issues pertaining to school boards, city councils and county board of supervisors.
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