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Yes, this post is about earwax. Because it’s the end of the month, and we’ve covered everything else from eyelids to the Jets, from Bi to Malcolm X.

So yes, this post is about earwax.

A couple of months ago, I took my daughter in to the doctor for a check up. When he looked in her ear, he told me that she had lots and lots of wax built up in there. But that it was something that was common for Asians.

I was like, huh? Why would Asians have more ear wax in their ears? What kind of racist generalization is that?

And so I sat and stewed. But then recently, another parent blogged about her daughter’s ear wax, and linked to an article in the NYT about ear wax.

Earwax comes in two types, wet and dry. The wet form predominates in Africa and Europe, where 97 percent or more of the people have it, and the dry form among East Asians, while populations of Southern and Central Asia are roughly half and half.

Ok. Well, firstly, I had no idea that there were two kinds of ear wax. I mean, I really only have experience with one kind of ear wax, and that is my own. But, apparently, the wet ear wax is easier to clean with a cotton swab, and the dry ear wax is easier to clean with a little tiny teeny spoon thing. I never saw those spoon things until I went to college.

But anyway, apparently, some scientists have found a gene that controls the kind of ear wax you have, and have linked it to genes that cause sweat (dry ear wax = low odor sweat). I think it’s pretty crazy.

I guess this is one of those times when we truly to have to celebrate our dry ear wax heritage. Because even if we are Asian Americans living in America, a lot of us still have that dry ear wax that links us back to our heritage. And those funny little spoons.

Tags: ear wax.

In my eyes, a blog is like a lemon. From the outside, they pretty much all look the same. On the inside, they are all still pretty much the same too. Sour as hell. Some might be a little sweeter, but in general, it’s not the main course. You know, just like a slice of lemon on its own is wack, a slice of lemon with a Diet Coke or a lobster or even ice water is great. And so it is with blogs. The best way to keep up with them is when you should be doing other things: working, writing a paper, or building robots (Eugene).

So today it’s a blog party. Which I guess is something like a Lemon Party. And that is where the analogy ends.

Below, some of the best blogs from across the Internets from some of my favorite API folks on the scene.

Read more

Tags: Internets.

Shuffled! is a weekly column appearing every Thursday here on BPRLive. Each week, we welcome a person from the APA community to share some thoughts about the music they listen to. Check out the Shuffled! archive for past articles.

Today’s Shuffler: Michelle Myers

Michelle Myers is an Assistant Professor in the Learning Lab Department at Community College of Philadelphia where she teaches developmental English. At CCP, she also serves as the faculty advisor of the Spoken Word Poetry Club and as a faculty editor of the CAP Literary Magazine, both providing support for students who seek to express themselves in various forms of non-conventional creative expression. Michelle is a member of the arts collective Asians Misbehavin’, which recently shot a short film to be aired on a Philadelphia-area public television station, WYBE, during the summer of 2008. In her desire to positively contribute to Philadelphia’s Asian/Asian American communities, she works part-time as Grants Coordinator at the Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Associations Coalition (SEAMAAC) and as Oral History Project Coordinator at the Asian Arts Initiative. Finally, Michelle is a columnist for the Anti-Racist Parent, a blog for parents who are committed to raising children with an anti-racist outlook, and is a featured artist in Jessica Chen Drammeh’s documentary film Anomaly; the film explores the mixed race experience.

Michelle is also a member of the spoken word group Yellow Rage. They featured last year at East Meets Words. Check them out or better yet go to one of their shows. I hear they’ve got some new pieces.

Let’s check out her Shuffled… Read more

Tags: Shuffled!.

Damn this is just too much.

Thanks to Tad over at Mass Movement TV, who himself got the scoop off EyeASage’s page.

You see that new “Indiana Jones” flick? Three guesses who this is:

If you guessed Cuba Gooding Jr, you are wrong! It’s this dude! Yeah him!

I ain’t mad Bam. Get paid!

Tags: Movie.

Check out R&B crooner Kevin So on Thursday, May 29 at Club Passim 8pm, tickets $15/$13 for members. You too can help “Celebrate Asian Heritage Month.”

(I can’t read Chinese, but I’m curious what those characters under his name say… anybody?)

Tags: Concert.

Popular chef/TV personality/author/world travel/general asshole Anthony Bourdain said once on his show that inside every great chef is a Chinese chef. Although he has a great tendency to fetishize both the perceived simplicity and, I guess, non-American-ness of Asian foods, I think the sentiment of this particular statement is pretty right on.

Bourdain means to say Chinese chefs don’t waste any part of the animal. Fish eyeballs, pig’s feet, rooster testicles: it’s all been cooked for thousands of years. And that’s not just the Chinese of course, it’s true all over the world, pretty much anywhere where food isn’t so removed from its original form.

It’s mostly just in this country where beef doesn’t come from a cow, it comes from the freezer.

But while connecting to food is great, it doesn’t replace connecting with people. So I’m putting this trailer up here to give my man Leonard some shine. He’s working on a film that reflects on just those issues.

So all you wealthy BPR readers out there, give the dude some cash to help him finish making this movie! Check his site out at kitchenstink.com.

Tags: Food, Movie, Video.

As some regular readers of this blog know, I’m an alumni of the University of Washington, Seattle (Go Huskies!), a.k.a. U-Dub. When I was a student there, I was pretty apolitical especially concerning Asian American issues. I thought being Asian American was just hot pot, Karaoke, food, clubbing, and more food. Maybe I was just oblivious to the UW Asian American activist scene.

One recent event that happened at U-Dub caught my eye. On May 18, 2008, last Sunday, the University of Washington awarded honorary degrees to Japanese American students who were forced into internment camps during World War II.

440 UW Japanese American students were forced into internment camps by the federal government in 1942. 440! Holy cow. That’s a lot of Asian Americans and that was back in 1942! Some of them were lucky enough to be able to return to college and earn their degrees, but many were unable to do so. As an institution, there are many things to complain about the University of Washington: the slow bureaucracy, the facelessness of the large class sizes. But there are things to be proud about. This is one of those events. Of course, one could ask the question why it took UW so long to get around to “righting this wrong,” but I’ll focus on the positive.

You can watch the entire ceremony on UWTV. I would say that UWTV is certainly one of the better university-sponsored television stations I have ever seen. They put on very interesting technical talks and lectures. And I’m not just saying this because I’ve been on UWTV. They also do a very good job of putting together a finished product. If you have time, you should take a look at the recording of the Dalai Lama’s visit to the University of Washington.

Incidentally, Norman Mineta, former United States Secretary of Transportation, makes an appearance and speaks about how he and his Japanese immigrant parents were detained at an internment camp in Wyoming during World War II.

As we reflect upon what is like to be an Asian American this APA Heritage Month, I think it is good to be reminded of our collective history as Americans, both good and bad. Certainly, Japanese internment has to rank as one of the lowlights of American history.

Tags: Community, Video.

Perhaps the only thing more important than the very important democratic candidate race for president has been the very serious and important competition between cable funnyman Steven Colbert and South Korean pop superstar Rain. If you haven’t caught it yet, the two finally duked it out on Colbert’s show, with Rain proving to be the more natural, if not more enthusiastic, battle dancing superstar. Read more