Heein Choi's Independent Study Blogs (Year 2014, Fall Semester)

Asian American Leaders in 1969: Birth of Ethnic Studies

Dear members of our class,

            I am so excited to be able to have this opportunity together. I am excited to laugh with you, cry with you, and most of all, grow with you. This safe space that our Guru has created gives us the opportunities that previous Asian American studies majors and Asian American students never had before. However, it is also important to note that since we have this new opportunity, we must take full advantage and accomplish our goals. Before moving on to what we hope to accomplish in the future, I think it is important to look back at where we have started.

            Maybe just a little under a year ago, our other Guru, Max, had introduced us to AASI and the Asian American studies major. At that time, our numbers were small. To see our group and interest level rise to the point where we can’t use our old reliable room in Morton is an incredible achievement. Since last year, AASI’s Facebook page has gone from 0 likes to over 500 and reached over 4,000 people, simply on one post. One year has gone by and we have done amazing things.

            Although we have come this far, there is no limit to how successful we can be. As an organization, our campus brand will spread further once we establish ourselves into a formal organization. However some things that I always want to remind AASI, I hope we can expand just beyond the minority circle. Minorities already know that there are issues being a person of color in this country, while nearly 50% of whites argue that racism does not exist anymore. Let’s not keep preaching to the choir, but rather, try to inform the people that need to hear our message the most. I also am hesitant of building a structure that has exact positions in our organizations (secretary, president, etc.) While this might foster new voices to contribute to AASI, I don’t want the people that are elected secretary to feel that are pigeonholed into one area of AASI. The secretary should have just as much say as the president.

            All in all, our organization is doing a great job representing the voices that cannot be heard or are simply being ignored. Like the Cambodian-Americans that are struggling financially and academically, many people are ignoring our issues simply because we are successful statistically. However, once we explain how diverse being Asian means, I believe people will have a better idea.

Thank you.

-Heein

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Reflection #2: Rap Record
11:30 PM 9/29/14

Quick update on the rap record that Jon and I are thinking of doing.

At first, I viewed the concept of the song as just claiming our Asian American identity. However, last night at 3:22 AM, I set Jonathon this text:

"Heein: Yo. So I was thinking and how do you like this concept. We narrate the day Vincent chin died in his perspective or a third person perspective"

Basically, I hoped to frame the song like this:

Verse 1: Provide the back story of Vincent Chin. How he was preparing for his bachelorette party, how his mother didn't want him to go, and how he had no care in the world for Asian American issues.

Verse 2: Story of his death and the "punishment" of the murderers.

Verse 3: The meaning for Asian Americans now.

Just some late-night thoughts.

Also, last night, I reached out to G Yamazawa, the spoken word artist from over the weekend, and he asked if he could post my email on to his Facebook page. I was definitely honored to hear him respond back like this, and he and I arranged to meet over Thanksgiving break.

Hopefully, ASI can bring him back to Williamsburg and listen to his story of the only Asian American kid growing up in the South and how that upbringing shapes his career today.

Excited for the future.


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Reflection #1: Thoughts in the Shower
1:15 AM 9/29/14

What a day. I apologize for the informality of this post, but I just hopped out the shower and too many thoughts are going through my mind right now.

1. The first thought that came to my mind was with my talk with Jonathon Hsu today. I asked him for advice on what kind of projects I can do for the future for ASI. We bounced ideas back and forth and this is what he came up with:

Capture the artwork/way of expression/moment/random things you do that best conveys your Asian identity.

This weekend, I went to the spoken word event hosted by AMP, and the special performer was G Yamazawa. His resume is too long for me to write, but the thing that struck me was how similar we were. He grew up in the South in a predominately African-American community and his spoken words just struck a special cord with me. With every single story he told, I could relate to every single syllable flying out his mouth.

I even performed spoken word. Never in a million years would I ever think that I would do something like that in front of a crowd, but I felt like that this moment was too perfect to pass--I had to assert my Asian American identity in front of this predominately white crowd. Hopefully I'll perfect that and post that spoken word as part of this project.

I'm just really excited to work with a project in mind. Pallavi already agreed to be part of this project by showing off her traditional dances.

2. These are my texts to Jonathon Hsu..

"Heein: Yo
Heein: This is heein
Heein: Want to make a rap record
Heein: No this is not a joke"

Thankfully, Jonathon really matched my excitement. Jonathon and I are starting a rap group... Hopefully we can keep it low-key for a bit and receive advice from Professor Thulwell and G Yamazawa, who is also a rapper, and perfect a record. Music has always been a huge part of my life, and I want to contribute back to this art form by adding our wrinkle to the mix. Even though it'll sound ridiculously amateur and the first record might be weak, I'm just excited to show my true colors in my passion.

Of course in the shower I thought of the perfect hook. During the spoken word, one of the dopest lines by G Yamazawa was "Don't worry if I eat dogs, 'cause I eat cats like you." Hopefully we can sample his voice and have that looping over some scratches of the record.

Needless to say.... I'm fucking excited.