"South Korea on Wednesday admitted for the first time that in its rush to send children to American and European homes decades ago, its adoption agencies committed widespread malpractices, including falsifying documents, to make them more adoptable."
"The withdrawal is the latest tangible effect of recent court rulings that experts say make it difficult for coalitions to bring claims on behalf of groups of historically marginalized voters."
"After her husband was unexpectedly detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement during a routine check-in, a Fountain Valley woman became a single mother overnight and worries the father of her toddler may be removed from the U.S."
Tonight #AlysaLiu of #Oakland CA became the 1st #American to win the Women's World Singles Figure Skating Championship in 19 years!!!
The last American woman to achieve this was being #DebiThomas in 1986.
USA!!! 
We're trying out a WhatsApp channel that directly delivers nonpartisan reporting of Asian Americans, science, and society to hard-to-reach audiences!
Sign up through this link to get daily texts at no cost; your parents (and your aunties and uncles) will thank you.
You have agency. Use it.
When you don’t speak up for yourself, your community, your audience and the truth — someone else will. We know how that has gone."
Thank you to E&P for the recognition and to their staff, Mike and Robin Blinder, for publishing my full response, which you can read below. I deeply appreciate the nominations from our Managing Editor Rhysea Agrawal and friend Emily Sachar. We got more work to do!
This month, I was honored to be selected to the Editor & Publisher (E&P) Magazine 2025 Tomorrow's News Trailblazers for my work at @thexylom.
I was asked for a lesson I’ve learned early in my career that I think future news trailblazers should know. I have some strong thoughts, considering my upbringing in Hong Kong and current events stateside:
"In the words of historian Timothy Snyder, 'Do not obey in advance. Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.'
"You don’t have to be a stenographer for the wealthy and powerful."
In an essay, Ann Nguyen writes about how she found healing in her decades-long relationship with her Vietnamese mom and food.
"The thinner I was, the closer we became, bonded by our body dysmorphia and desire to hit the forever-moving bullseye of the abstract concept of “the perfect body” imagined by a society that knew it did not truly exist."
https://www.thexylom.com/post/perspective-forgiving-my-almond-mom
Fancy touching grass?
We're trying something new: a Whatsapp channel to better serve audiences who are not on social media.
We will be broadcasting the same stories and updates that we post here on the messaging app on trial basis.
Tell a friend to get the latest news on Asian Americans, science, and society:
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vb3RJS4AInPu1KHYBJ37/
Really fascinating piece of SF history: The Chinatown Telephone Exchange
"Both male and female operators had to remember nearly 1500 names along with the owners place of residence. They had to know all of the languages spoken in Chinatown as well as all of the different dialects. These operators knew all of the 4-5,000 residents of Chinatown. They knew all of the extensions for the businesses and residences in the area. They handled more than thirteen thousand calls a day. The phone system was also a method for contracting labor. Employers called with job offers and the operators would know to whom to put them through."
https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Chinese_Telephone_Exchange
Three people were arrested for home burglaries targeting #AAPI households in the San José #sfba area.
“Authorities also said enhanced charges of hate crimes would probably be added.”
Good. Fuck these guys.
Unpaywalled: https://archive.ph/4tNkf
President Biden @potus formally recognized the cultural heritage of the Indigenous Peoples and communities of the Pacific Islands by renaming the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument as the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument.
He also became the first President to formally honor the Hui Panalāʻau, Native Hawaiians sent to secure United States territorial claim to the islands in the run up to World War II. #Indigenous #aapi #uspol #uspolitics #politics #PacificIslands #environment https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2025/01/02/fact-sheet-president-biden-recognizes-fuller-story-of-pacific-islands-heritage/
Didn't know #Lego made #LunarNewYear sets.
Just took a look and that lantern set costs $130 on #Amazon and contains 1295 pieces!!! 
Looks great but who would buy that for a kid??? 
I was unpacking my Asian groceries that I buy from Weee! (An app) in the lobby of my building.
My elderly neighbor came to stand next to me and ask how much each item costs. She then gave me the neighborhood Asian grocery price for each item, did all the math, told me good job for saving money, and gave me cooking advice.
She reminds me of my grandfather, who used to have the same passion for grocery accounting, math and recipes in Teochew.
By #voting for #Democrats We Make Our Lives Better!
The National Park Service announced the designations of 19 new National Historic Landmarks that are nationally significant properties for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Americans, African Americans, Asian American Pacific Islanders, and women’s history in addition to moments important in development of American technology, landscape design, and art. #environment #Nature #aapi #lgbtq https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1207/secretary-haaland-designates-19-new-national-historic-landmarks.htm
People say media representation doesn’t matter but it was because of Minari that we got really important cultural conversations: everyone realizing that most East Asians have dry ear wax, and East Asians being surprised to learn there’s a wet kind.
The big news in the AI ethics world today is that an MIT expert on AI ethics went on stage at NeurIPS and said some horrific things about Chinese people.
FWIW the organizers seem to be taking this seriously.
Some days when I am exasperated about America, I think about how the Bay Area is where I found hundreds of queer Asian immigrant lesbians and bi and trans women who came here to build a life and community that we couldn't have wherever we came from.
From @josephinelee in our magazine: A story unknown to most, since the 1960s, Taiwanese-Americans have been fighting for freedom in their motherland from the Bayou City. https://www.texasobserver.org/houston-hotbed-taiwanese-nationalism/
#AsianaamericanHistory #aapi #TaiwaneseAmerican #China #Taiwan #culture #history #Houston #GulfCoast #immigration #news #politics #USpol #Texas
