August 2009

Stuffwhitepeopledo - The apparently Japanese people are used as mere props -- an undifferentiated group told to look away from the camera and at the ground, as if in submission to the white wearers of "Japanese denim."

What we see here is an extreme example of a tendency in Western culture that appeals to and reflects a demographic white majority. Another Australian, Ross Chambers, explained this tendency over ten years ago, in his essay "The Unexamined":

In contrast to minorities, whose identity is defined by their classificatory status as members of a given group, whites are perceived as individual historical agents whose unclassifiable difference from one another is their most prominent trait. Whiteness itself is thus atomized into invisibility through the individualization of white subjects.

Ontario - A 12-year-old boy is facing an assault charge over allegations he pushed an Asian-Canadian angler off a bridge.

The incident occurred on Friday at about 2:30 p.m. at Canal Lake near Bolsover, which is about 30 kilometres northwest of Lindsay in the Kawartha Lakes district, the OPP said in a news release issued Monday.

"The investigation revealed that a 46-year-old Asian Canadian male from Toronto, Ontario was fishing from a bridge located on Canal Lake when a male youth walked up behind the victim and pushed him off the bridge. The victim fell approximately five feet into the water below. The victim did not suffer any injuries," it said.

The youth is to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice on Sept. 22 in Lindsay.

No allegations against the youth have been proven in a court of law.

The issue of attacks on Asian anglers reached a head in 2007, with the Ontario Human Rights Commission releasing findings of a report in May 2008.

ChosunNews - It was a memorable day for a Korean New Zealander Melissa Lee. In the general election that day, Lee became the first Korean immigrant to get into parliament on the ruling National Party list.

"I had never been as happy as that day except when I gave birth to my baby," Lee, in Seoul to attend the 2009 Future Leaders Conference hosted by the Overseas Koreans Foundation, recalled Monday. "It was the day when my old dream came true. In elementary school in Korea, I always wrote down 'president' when we had to fill in surveys asking what our future dreams are."

She moved to Malaysia with her family when as a fifth grader, and to Australia when in her first year of high school for better prospects for university. After she graduated from university in 1988, she relocated to New Zealand with her family.

BEIJING - Chinese Valentine's Day, or Qixi, falls on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. This year, it is today. According to Chinese legend, a beloved couple, a cowherd and a weaver, are allowed to meet only once a year in heaven on this day.

In accordance with the legend, couples throughout the country are set to celebrate in both modern and traditional ways.

In eastern China's Hangzhou city, the second Xiaoshan Qixi festival will mark the occasion with an evening of dance, crafts and local cuisine.

Many households in the area will place fruit outside their windows this evening to pay homage to the star Vega (the weaving maid) and a competition that involves young girls threading a needle will be held under moonlight. These activities originate from the Han Dynasty (206BC–220AD) and are widely spread in Xiaoshan.