Election Day Voter Protection with AALDEF

Yesterday, Election Day 2010, we took the T at 7am to volunteer with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, a national organization that protects the civil rights of Asian Americans. We helped conduct the 2010 Asian American Voter Protection Survey at a polling site in Boston's Chinatown. Questions included "Is this your first time voting?", "Did you get translation services?" and "What are the three main issues that influenced your vote?" We were happily surprised by some of the responses -- "of course this isn't the first time I'm voting -- I've voted every year since I became a citizen !" -- and disappointed by others, "There are no translated materials."

All in all, it was a productive and exciting morning. Of course we didn't go back to campus without a visit to a couple of bakeries. We hope to continue engaging with Boston's Asian American community. Thanks for inviting us, AALDEF!

civically engaged Asian Americans!

putting my Cantonese to use! (Jenny)

Jenny Ye + Joselyn Lai

Ed/Pol Co-chairs

Masquerade- A Success!

In collaboration with MIT AAA & CSC and Tufts AAA, Harvard AAA hosted one of the most successful events of the season. But I'm not just talking about success in terms of numbers (550+ attendees, $1500+ for the Boston Chinatown Library Campaign...just saying), the event itself was HOT.

We. tore. up. the. dancefloor. That's right. DJ Zeus and DJ Aja put on some sick tracks, and the rest of the night was history. There were students from BC, BU, Harvard, MIT, Northeastern, Tufts, and Wellesley who filled up every inch of the the Sheraton ballroom. Only at Masquerade can you see over 500 beautifully dressed people get low at the same time ;)

Alas the night had to end, and there was a collective groan when the music cut-off and the lights came on. For those of you who missed it-- don't worry-- Masquerade will happen again next year...and it will be even better.


Special thanks to AAA board. You guys are the best.

Love,
Rose

Brain Break for the Ballot !

Local ice cream and absentee ballot request forms... who knew that these two things were such a successful combination?

This past Wednesday (October 13), AAA teamed up with the Institute of Politics - National Campaign to host "Brain Break for the Ballot", an ice-cream brain break at Annenberg Hall that aimed to get students to request absentee ballots for the upcoming general election. 2010 marks the midterm elections, which means every House seat is on the ballot, along with 1/3 of the Senate seats, many governorships, and local positions. On Study Card Day last month, hundreds of students of the Class of 2014 registered to vote as they turned in their study card, and our event was designed to help them with the next step -- getting a ballot to vote.

students requesting absentee ballots on the ice cream line

Frosh Rep Tony Cho working with VP Winston Chang on addressing envelopes

Ed/Pol Co-chairs!

ice cream!

We were successful! Over 200 forms were filled and seven large tubs of delicious ice cream were consumed. In terms of AAA's goals, we succeeded at working to increase civic participation among Asian American students and the student body at large.

This event would not have been possible without the great help of the Institute of Politics, the Harvard Democrats, and the Harvard Republicans. More exciting Ed/Pol events with these organizations to come!

Want to declare your commitment to civic participation? Want to help Harvard beat other colleges to bring Kollaboration (an exciting Asian American performance showcase) to campus? Please register for Youth Charge Now, a contest aimed at raising youth civic participation. It takes under a minute, just name, email, and address. Remember to put Harvard as your college!

Cheers,

Jenny Ye

Educational/Political Committee Co-chair

Whoa...so many events!

October is a busy month...midterms (actually, I have one tomorrow I should study for. Hmmm...), colder weather, extracurriculars heating up...and AAA is no different! We have a ton of interesting events that we encourage you all to attend this week!

1. Teach for America Information Session - interested in public education, kids, or social justice? Want to take a few years off from school or before starting your "real life" job? This is one excellent option to consider!  Sever 102, Tuesday (Oct. 12), 6-7 PM 

2. (Ice Cream) Brain Break for the Ballot - geared at freshmen, although everyone welcome! We'll help you register to vote or get your absentee ballot for the upcoming November elections. And then we'll give you ice cream. How awesome is that? Annenberg D-Hall, Wednesday (Oct. 13), 9-10:30 PM


3. Harvard Asian American Alumni Alliance (H4A) 1st Inaugural Summit - join us for an exciting weekend of movie screenings, receptions, panels, networking, the Elevate Pitch Competition and a chance to meet many of Harvard's coolest Asian American alumni! Harvard University, Friday - Sunday (Oct. 15-17)


4. We also encourage all undergraduates to sign up for one of our mentorship programs. Check your emails - you can be placed with a graduate school mentor from Harvard Medical School, Business School, or Law School!

5. Finally, we support our LGBTQ friends in National Coming Out Day (Oct. 12). There will be a rally tomorrow morning and a vigil tomorrow night, so please join us in these events if you can!

Bring KOLLABORATION to Harvard!

If you haven't heard of Kollaboration, they are a really awesome non-profit dedicated to "Empowerment through Entertainment." They aim to show Asian Americans in a positive light in the entertainment field. 

AAA would love to bring them to Harvard to perform for free. It's as easy as registering your basic info with the civic engagement initiative Youth Charge Now (make sure you list your college as Harvard University....we're competing with other schools across the nation)! Please, help us out and register!!!

REGISTER HERE: https://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5521/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=24540

Some videos of Kollaboration performers:

Far East Movement

....is officially the first Asian American music group to break the Top 10 on Itunes and Billboard (it hit #1 on the former), with their song, "Like a G6."

You may be wondering, "What is a G6?" Seems like a lot of other people are wondering too. Yay, Internet.

Jenny, Jos, and I were lucky enough to meet the members of Far East Movement at MIT CSC's New Year's Banquet last spring. Not only do they hail from diverse Asian backgrounds (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino), they're reaaaalllllly nice, and know how to throw a good show. And now I can say they hit it big! I have an autographed CD from them, so maybe I'll just leave that in the AAA office so someone in the future can listen to it and be like, "Ohhh....so that's what they sounded like before they were famous..."

Listen to their song below and see for yourself:

Socially just? Leader? Care about the APIA community?

Then you should apply for the Youth Advisory Council for the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice (AAJC)! I'd love to see more folks in our community expressing their social just-ness any and every way they can!    <3 Athena

Some information below:


Flex your social entrepreneurship skills to address issues of racial equity pertinent to the AAPI community. Youth Advisory Council members will have the opportunity to:  

•    meet local and national policy movers, shakers and makers
•    receive technical assistance and resources on issues facing your campus/community
•    access to local and national conferences and trainings including the Annual Advancing Justice
     Conference
•    gain firsthand experience in local grassroots advocacy organizing to form policy solutions
•    get looped in about exciting post-graduate opportunities
AAJC is offering mini-grants and other resources to help you implement your dream community-based program, campaign or event from start to finish. If you have an idea, we want to support it and watch you make it happen!

Applications are due on Wednesday, October 13th at 11:59PM EST.
Apply online.
Read the FAQ.

Questions, comments and concerns can be directed to Olivia Chow at ochow@advancingequality.org.

New school year, more board love, exciting events!

We've started a new semester, and all of us here on AAA Board are pumped.

Throughout September, we welcomed the Class of 2014 with an awesome pre-party, popsicles and hugs at the Activities Fair, a fun field day with HAPA, dim sum and info session love, and a kick off for our sib family program. We also hosted an info session for the Boston Consulting Group for interested upperclassmen.

On Wednesday, we had freshman representative elections. This year, 11 freshmen ran for 4 frosh rep positions. Frosh Reps, who serve on the board for one semester, get to do all sorts of cool things. They go to Board Retreat in Cape Cod to help plan AAA events for the rest of the semester, attend weekly board meetings, organize one "Freshman Event," and emcee at our year-end cultural event Feast.

We applaud and thank all of the freshmen who ran this year. You all are AMAZING people, and we hope that you all will want to stay involved through our Freshman Committees, Sib Families, and other programming and events. You'll always be part of the fAAAmily! And don't worry - 2011 Board Elections are in December, so you'll have more opportunities to join Board in other capacities in the future.

That said, CONGRATS to our 2010 Freshman Representatives (below): Robert Cai, Tony Cho, Rachael Foo, Robert Gonzalez, and Eunice Kim. We are so excited to have you all on board! Look at the hotness emanating from this pic.

we love you, prefrosh!!

class of 2014ers and I at the Student Activities Fair

check our our sweet t-shirts and shades!

Today wrapped up Prefrosh weekend -- three days of giddy high school seniors taking over the campus talking about choosing between Harvard, Y---, P-------, S-------, etc etc and ultimately making the exciting, thrilling decision of coming to Harvard !

AAA had a weekend full of events beginning Saturday morning.

I was stationed outside of the Admissions Office, greeting prefrosh, chatting with those that were waiting for their hosts, and directing people to our Pan Asian BBQ! I got carried away at the Admissions Office... never made it to the barbeque, but it looks like a great success! How were the burgers?

HAPA (the Half Asian Peoples Association) and other Asian American groups unite on the Science Center Lawn !

Next up.... Our Pre-frosh Saturday Night Social. Lots of fun in Cabot House. Not sure if there are photos...

On Sunday, we welcome tons of prefrosh at the Student Activities Fair (re: first picture) with t-shirts, "AAA 2014" sunglasses, pizza, and fruit (my contribution). We now have over 100 new members to our email list! Success?

Sunday night, we wrapped up our activities with a milkshakes and Mexican food with Fuerza Latina. What better way to wrap up a weekend than with a smooth, strawberry milkshake?

I speak for the fAAAmily when I say: WE LOVE YOU, PREFROSH! Welcome to the fAAAmily. Thanks for making our weekend so exciting and fulfilling. We can't wait to have you at our events, and plan them with you! Have an AMAZING senior spring and summer. Stop. doing. HW. now.

Love,

Jenny + the fAAAmily

ed/pol co-chair

Fun with Google Auto-complete Part 1

It's really interesting to see what kinds of stereotypes people have about different races and ethnicities. One way to explore this is through Google auto-complete. This is what I came up when using Google to search "Why are (insert race/ethnicity here)" and turning auto-complete on:

1) Why are Asians...

  -called zipperheads

  -so smart

  -eyes slanted

  -so skinny

  -so ugly

  -bad drivers

  -good at math

   -short

  -yellow

  -so short

2) Why are Asian Americans...

  -considered model minorities

3) Why are Chinese...

  -people called zipperheads

  -eyes slanted

  -restaurants closed on mondays

 -people so skinny

  -people so smart

  -people so ugly

  -people so rude

 -people yellow

 -bad drivers

 -people short

4) Why are Koreans...

 -called zipperheads

 -so rude

 -good at starcraft

-so racist

 -so skinny

-so tall

-so good at speedskating

-so pretty

-so smart

5) Why are Japanese...

-people so weird

-girls so pretty

-women so hot

-people so skinny

-so smart

-killing whales

-people so perverted

-short

-so healthy

-women pigeon food

6) Why are Vietnamese...

-called charlie

-called gooks

-people rude

-so good at poker

-so short

7) Why are Filipinos...

-so ugly

-so annoying

-always late

-good dancers

-good singers

-so rude

-short

-stupid

-so pretty

-dark

8) Why are Indians...

-so smelly

-so smart

-so ugly

-so cheap

-obsessed with fairness

-afraid of dogs

-so racist

-so rich

-called indians

-vegetarian

Pre-frosh Weekend 2010!

What's up Harvard Class of 2014? We hope you are as excited about visiting Harvard as we are to see you. Here is a list of official events that we are holding this weekend. Hope you can make it to at least some of them! We will be wearing bright blue T-shirts all day Saturday, and we even have some free AAA sunglasses for you. Come meet us and get your pair! :)

SATURDAY

Pan-Asian Barbecue

12-2 PM | Science Center Lawn

Sponsored by AAA, Taiwanese Culture Society, Thai Society, Japan Society, Korean Association, Harvard Vietnamese Association, Harvard Hong Kong Society, Chinese Students Association, Half Asian Peoples Association, and Harvard Philippine Forum; the Pan-Asian BBQ is YOUR chance to meet and celebrate the diversity of Asian culture at Harvard. Come join us for BBQ favorites and Asian selects.

Pre-frosh Saturday Night Social
8- ? PM | Cabot House B-41; Meet at the John Harvard Statue at 8 PM!
Join Asian American Association and Harvard Philippine Forum for an evening of fun pre-party music, food, and mingling. We'll also show you where the parties are and how to get there so you can enjoy your Saturday night!

SUNDAY
Asian American Association Picnic
1-3 PM | Science Center Lawn
Interested in meeting cool people, eating good food, learning about different cultures, or serving the Asian-American community? Then come enjoy a mid-day picnic with AAA. We will serve dim sum and other delicious Asian treats. Frisbee also provided, but feel free to bring any other fun outdoor game ideas you might have!

Student Activities Fair

3-5 PM | Student Organization Center-Hilles

Come find our booth and chat with our board members!

Nighttime Nosh
8:30-10 PM | Adams Lower Common Room
If you're attending classes on Monday, you'll need some brain food to stay alert. Enjoy some high-energy snacks, drinks, and icebreakers during this Sunday night study break with members from Asian American Association and Fuerza Latina!

Coffee Party comes to campus!

Eric Byler, Coffee Party USA

Tonight, equipped with coffee cake from Chinatown, pastries from Au Bon Pain, and a wide assortment of drinks (yes, coffee), AAA collaborated with the Harvard College Democrats to host an event with Coffee Party USA. Eric Byler, award winning filmmaker and one of the founders of the Coffee Party, joined students, alums, and community members for a fruitful discussion in Harvard Hall.

Coffee Party USA was born a few months ago in response to the antagonism and intolerance of the Tea Party. It's all about facilitating discussion among people who want to see cooperation in government, and don't share the radical positions of the "Tea Party" protesters that fill up our news.

By the time the Coffee Party was born, Eric had gained netroots organizing experience from his work on 9500 Liberty, a documentary/political movement resisting the anti-immigration policies of his county in Virginia. The law that was passed (then repealed, thank goodness) legitimized and encouraged racial profiling is just like the new law threatening immigrants in Arizona. 9500 Liberty is showing this Sunday at the Boston Independent Film Festival.

What came out of tonight was a productive discussion about the ways that students can have a voice in the national political discussion. Sure, many of us don't identify with the radicalism that we see on TV, but what do we do about it? How are we using social media effectively to make our voice heard? What we hope to do next is to stay connected with the Coffee Party and continue to engage students on campus politically.

-- Jenny

Educational/Political Co-chair

what's coming up next: PREFROSH WEEKEND. WE'RE SO EXCITED FOR THE CLASS OF 2014!!!

Tonight Was a Good Night

So the lighting isn't the best in this picture, but I'm glad we have proof that we met Vera Wang. She was pretty chill. Rose was like, "Can we take a picture with you?" and Vera (yup, first name basis! LOL...yeah, not really) was like, "Yeah, sure." Woot.

Anyway, it was really fun to volunteer for Identities 2010, because we got to take part in an amazing production (congrats Phil, Nara, and the rest of the Identities Board!). Can't wait until next year!

After the show, Kevin, Andy, and I headed to Matthews Basement to cook some Korean BBQ for basically anyone in the near vicinity. The next time we have some random food to cook late at night, please feel free to join us! We had beef, pork, rice, pickled radish, seaweed, spicy tuna, and Coca-Cola. Best combo ever. Here are some pics of food and chilling...at 3 AM. :D

Cool Asian of the Day: Vera Wang

This Chinese-American and New York City native is an extremely influential fashion designer. At one time, she trained as a figure skater. When she didn't make the Olympic team, she moved into the fashion industry instead. Wang is best known for her wedding dresses, but she has fragrance, jewelry, eyewear, shoe, and houseware collections as well.

She will also be recognized with a "Leadership in the Arts" award at Identities 2010, one of Harvard's premier fashion/art shows, which is co-sponsored by AAA. Identities will be held on 4/17/10 in Annenberg Hall from 10-11 PM.

Hope we can see you all there!


(photo courtesy of http://itsnotmywedding.wordpress.com)

Party time

Whether you like

(photo courtesy http://ginavivinetto.wordpress.com)

OR

(photo courtesy http://www.chocosho.com)

OR

(photo courtesy of http://godardsletterboxes.files.wordpress.com)

Then join us Friday night...

Cool Asian of the Day: Goodwin Liu

Who is this guy? As one of our Ed/Pol chairs, Jos, put it in her email:

"This guy is pretty baller + lucky. 39y.o., Stanford undergrad, Yale Law, already being talked about as Obama's long-term plan for a "demographically sexy" supreme court pick in the future. Anyway, his confirmation hearing for us circuit court in SF is this Friday! it should be pretty interesting. A lot of good things in asian american politics happen in Norcal."

 Read an article about him here. 
(photo courtesy of www.acslaw.org)

Yellow Face Screening Tuesday!

Is Hollywood White-washing racist?

If you followed the controversial whitewashing of the "AVATAR: The Last Airbender" live-action film, join AAA in discussing "Yellow Face," a documentary that explores the film's casting decisions and the nationwide response that ensued.

Director Han Tang will present the documentary and answer questions following the screening. Come learn about the whitewashing of movie characters in Hollywood history, and join us in discussing ethnic minorities in film!

-----

See the Yellow Face trailer:


-----

Yellow Face is one Chinese Actress’ journey to discover what it means to be “Asian” in America. The filmmaker is the first Chinese National to be accepted into the Juilliard School’s Drama Division. Since her graduation in 2008 she has followed the protest against “Yellow Face” in Hollywood.

AVATAR: The Last Airbender, a children’s show on Nickelodeon featured Asian and Inuit characters in a fantasy setting. The creators of the show were inspired and informed by Asian and Inuit culture. The upcoming live action feature ‘The Last Airbender’ produced by Paramount cast all three leads white, and filled background roles and non-speaking extras with Asian, Hispanic and Middle Eastern nationalities. Although the “Yellow Face” casting outraged many fans, others remain at peace with it.

The filmmaker raises these questions: Is Whitewashing Racist? Why does “Yellow Face” still exist in 2010? This idea of what’s “Asian” in America today – is it racist? And what is the societal impact on future generations?

AAA does Census Outreach!

Today, AAA joined the Institute of Politics Community Action Committee, IOP National Campaign, and the Harvard Democrats, for "March to the Mailbox," a census outreach push all across America. Athena and I joined the Asian Community Development Corporation in Boston's Chinatown to help with distributing Chinese materials about the Census to residents, shopper, and visitors. We stood outside Ming's Supermarket, distributed free t-shirts, hats, and flags to the hundreds of shoppers. My Cantonese sure came in handy! We had lots of fun, shout out to Angela from Tufts! (We hope to do more events with Tufts soon!)

The Census is such an important event. It comes once every 10 years, and it determines federal funding and representation to a neighborhood for a decade! It's especially important that immigrant populations like Chinatown, and other hard to count populations (including students!) are counted because everything from the number of hospitals, to the number of classrooms is determined based on this data. If you haven't already filled out your Census, please do so immediately! There's no excuse not to fill out the 10-question, once in a decade, survey that your community depends on. Remind your friends!

"Fill it Out, Mail it Back"

Coffeehouse is going to be way too delicious tomorrow

Look at all of these foods we're going to be eating tomorrow for Coffeehouse (RSVP to the facebook event here). Best of all, it's all FREE! My mouth is watering as I upload these pictures:

Tai Shao Baozi
(picture courtesy of
 eatingasia.typepad.com)

              

Shumai 
(picture courtesy of zabu-zabu.com)

Asian mini-cakes, including tiramisu, 
strawberry, and chocolate flavors 
(picture courtesy of jessicasdinnerparty.com)

Buns (pineapple + 10 other flavors)
(picture courtesy of newyork.seriouseats.com)

Mango pudding 
(picture courtesy of forkyou.com)

Red Bean Pudding
(picture courtesy our-lildiary.com)

Zhong Zhi
(picture courtesy of beachloverkitchen.com)

Red Bean Balls
(picture courtesy of rasamalaysia.com)

Egg Tart
(picture courtesy of blog.craftzine.com)
*Note: Don't worry - your egg tart will not actually have a face on it!

Welcome to our blog!

Hi everyone!

We're pretty excited about our new AAA blog. We're going to be updating it regularly with all kinds of news regarding AAA, what we have planned for the year, as well as other stuff we just wanted to share with you all. Enjoy!