Dammit! Give me that cupcake

I feel like such a looooser for not being able to keep up with the debates!! dahahah I feel like...the total uncool kid - while the web is buzzing with talk about presidential debates, palin ingenuity, brilliant SNL spoofs...I'm still trying to find the time (and sometimes, the motivation) to sit down and actually watch everything.

Bad, I know, but it's kind of hard to do right now! I can't even say time is my only excuse though...when it's on your own time, you kinda have to be in the MOOD to do that kinda stuff, ya feel me? And when I've been caught with the time, I just can't bring myself to do it. But I will, even if it's months too late. hahahaha AHH, I dunno why, but it kinda stresses me out.

Week off from classes (meaning, Mon and Wed only), but it definitely doesn't feel like one.

I finally got some time on Monday morning to work on my grant project - basically, it's about three JA women whom I wholeheartedly admire - and how their work is impacted by their own perspectives and experiences with gender dynamics within their respective working spaces. It was great, to revisit those interviews, and even in the course of six or so months, my perspectives on gender oppression have changed a little. Shifted to, I would say, more of a radical view. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing - but it definitely is inspiring in some ways, thought-provoking in others, to hear from these women directly, based on their own life experiences. These were women either directly involved in the Redress movement, or very closely tied to the activism from that period. Yes, those were different times.

BUT here's the thing.

Scott, you kind of mentioned this in one of your blog entries, but there's this perception nowadays, that the Civil Rights Movement is over, we don't have those kinds of pressing racial community issues anymore.

BUT HELLOOO. The bailout? The economy? Anti-immigration sentiment? Anti-abortion legislation? The war? Need I say more?

After some thought, I can say, although it's not just like the African American's condition way back when, it still can be the Pacific Islander's, the Native Hawaiian's, the American Indian's, the undocumented immigrant's conditions that need to be addressed. They suffer from the kinds of present day oppressions and everyday barriers in comparable ways.

And our nation is seriously experiencing some unprecedented problems - some progress and advances, yes - but on a larger scale, really, foreal - PROBLEMS.

I think in the context of this broadly complacent society, we just don't know how to deal with them the same way. Different organizing methods, varied approaches, whatever - there are obviously still a lot of things that can be done, and NEED to be done.

Which brings me to the JA community. Okay, so privileged. Duh. Up the wazoo. Or so the image goes.

What's weird to me is that the whole image of the "model minority" was applied directly to JAs ONLY! Not all Asian Americans as an entity, but Japanese Americans alone. Now it's something detrimental to the entire Asian American community.

In a very careful attempt to not spew irrationally about my frustrations with the JA community, all I'm going to say is that I think right now - with all the institutions, the hierarchies, the deeply ingrained structure of patriarchy and capitalism - if you look at Japan's history, it kind of makes sense. Granted, JAs are not the same as the Japanese, but there is still a degree of connection. What occurred to me while I was reading A Native Daughter - the book by Haunani-Kay Trask - was that, the Japanese are colonizers too! They are the sole Asian country that has outright colonized other countries. ESPECIALLY in the case of Hawai'i, they are one of the major (and I mean THE major) contributors to the support of tourism and oppression of Native Hawaiians here. There's just - no consideration. I feel like, as an entity, the Japanese are completely oblivious. Now, where the rejection of that? The rejection of that colonizing history, the deconstruction of a culture that has consistently oppressed other, less powerful ethnic groups?

Then comes the tug between culture and ideology. Patriarchy and ageism is a part of the Japanese culture - respecting your elders, particularly if they are male. There's the culture of how they treat younger women, and it carries over, unquestionably, to what happens in the states. Isn't there a way to decolonize myself against that? Anyhow, I think I'm still in the process of reconciling that stuff. Maybe Aya can help me on this one. I'm so confused.

I totally didn't mean for this to turn into a huge, ridiculous rant, but that Trask book, I swear, makes me go crazy. These are a people consistently, constantly denied access to their own land and culture, and nobody here really seems to care. It is almost identical to the American Indian situation - except that definitely happened like two centuries ago. It is virtually a complete repeat of that whole dealio, and HOW!??

I just don't get it. I don't get our country!! I don't even get my own community.

Downtime is a bad thing for me, maybe.

haha IN OTHER NEWS, I went and spent $100 on a Japanese-style manicure. Is that ridiculous or what!

I AM BACK IN LA IN NOVEMBER!! NOVEMBER 21st! That is exciting.

Ace of Cakes is a bomb show.

OH YEAH and I definitely ran 4 miles the other day. I dunno how, but I did. I've never even run that much in my whole life. It's a sign of change.