I’m in the act of hardcore procrastination, but I had to share this find.

SnapDragon consultants, a market research firm, published this last year, but it’s new to me so here goes: Ten Things Every Brand Should Know About Asian-American Youth (pdf). Very interesting stuff, I wonder if this would change the way Asian American churches would present their programs to youth today. It is, after all, a study for marketing purposes. And I have to wonder if this is already dated since it’s been almost two years this has been published.

1. Many Asian-American youth feel excluded and misunderstood by most brands. It’s made worse by the fact that they see advertisers actively wooing the African-American and Hispanic markets.
2. Mixed race kids are proudly identifying as Hapa, a once derogatory word in Hawaiian to mean “half.” Hapa is also slang for marijuana in Japanese (spelled Happa). Hapa is supplanting terms like Amerasian, biracial, and blasian.
3. Asian-American youth are secret fans of “easy listening” adult contemporary music. Lite FM is a hidden passion.
4. There’s a “hero gap” among Asian-American kids, which is being filled for many by activists from other cultures. Martin Luther King is a role model and hero to many young Asian-Americans.
5. Most Asian-American kids refer to white people as “white people” the same way African-Americans do
6. Underage gambling is huge. The “new” American poker obsession is nothing new to Asian-American kids and gambling has a long history in Asian culture. Many students Rigg spoke with are avid online gamblers and cardplayers. Many organize private online poker tournaments.
7. Asian-American kids want an end to the hyper-nerdy images of themselves on TV and want to see more punked-out skater and graffiti DJ images which reflect a different energy. The feeling is: Enough with the math geeks, future doctors and violinists. Asian-American kids crave street credibility—not just academic accolades.
8. Asian-American kids universally hate the question: Where are you from—especially since the answers are usually something like “Westchester” or “Boston.”
9. All things Korean are hot and getting hotter. Fashion. Foods. DJs. Online communities. Korea is the new Japan.
10. The 15 minutes of seemingly benign American Idol fame for William Hung had a surprisingly negative effect on Asian-American students. There’s a feeling that Hung perpetuated the worst stereotypes about Asian people and gave non-Asians permission to indulge in two years of racial stereotyping and mocking.

What do you think? Do these ten things ring true for you or the youth that you know? What would you add or subtract from this list?

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I’ve been asked to be the speaker for a youth retreat for Atlanta Chinese Church. And as I’m drawing up material and prepping, I’d like to solicit the blogosphere for advice in how to approach young Chinese American Christians. The age range seems to be middle to high school and they tend to be generally affluent and well educated. As a Korean American, I guess I want to make sure I don’t make too many assumptions and am aware of any nuances in the subculture.

Currently, my direction of talks are fairly “big picture” of the Christian life, but would like to know how to approach issues of ethnicity and hopefully challenge the “idols” of the Chinese culture, if they are different from the ones I know from the Korean culture, I’d love to know.

So, any advice will be appreciated. And I’ll let you know how it goes! The retreat dates are Dec. 31-Jan.3, and I have a total of six sessions to do, which I will be surprised if I don’t lose my voice by the end, I will be very surprised! Thanks in advance~

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On Derek Webb’s “House Show” album (Kudos to Sue Hong Saddington for sharing it with me years ago), I first heard Derek Webb talking about how we would all be better off if our deepest and darkest sin would show up on the 5 o’clock news. His rationale was that then we wouldn’t need to hide, we could walk around with a clear picture of who we are instead of refusing to acknowledge that most of what we do is cover up and package ourselves so nicely, as though nothing were wrong with us, that our outer beauty could make up for what is going on inside and behind closed doors.

Recently, at a youth praise night, I had a chance to speak on the subject of confession, and instead of merely speaking on it, I asked the youth pastors and leaders to confess with me something that they personally wrestled with, to embody confession. The worst thing that can happen for us as Asian American Christians is to somehow present ourselves as “holier than thou” when in fact, our sinfulness is acknowledged and embedded in our very faith. We therefore do not approach church and worship to appear holy, but as a response to our dirtiness. That night, we took the risk and dark and ugly confessions were made. Each youth pastor stepped forward and spoke the unspeakable…and we responded by applause and embrace. Then, much to my surprise, many youth themselves came out to confess their sins, anger, pride, smoking, pornography, suicidal thoughts, drugs, and self-hate. We cheered and sang worship songs in response. It made a lot more sense that way, those lyrics came alive after that discomfort, that ugliness.

But now weeks later, the thought of continuing that type of openness and vulnerability has returned to the status of daunting. Obviously, confession isn’t for show, but it’s a fascinatingly terrifying and tantalizing thought isn’t it, your worst sin on display?

Steven, whoever you are, you may have been ‘outed’ by your wife, but you are now, if but for the moment, to live free from the lie. You are free to seek a savior whom you and I clearly need.

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Another installment on AsianWeek – if you enjoy the piece, please leave a comment there…if not, leave a comment here , Thanks!

Much to my annoyance, some of the Christmas zealots in my neighborhood put up their lights as early as Halloween this year. And I distinctly remember hearing the first hints of Christmas music over the speakers in a pharmacy two weeks before Thanksgiving, as if to remind everyone to think of their local drugstore first when desperately seeking those oh-so-one-of-a-kind Santa hats.

So by this point in the Christmas madness, things are in full swing and although I identify myself as a Christian, I have to say, I hate it. I hate what Christmas has become and all the little trappings, which upon review, can really be quite absurd.

Take, for instance, the Christmas tree. I have no idea how a pagan custom of 16th century Germanic tribes could become synonymous with the birth of a Jewish messiah and then become so enmeshed with Americana that we drape the tree in popcorn strings and top it off with some sparkly star. It seems all the more absurd that a Korean American man married to an Indian American woman would subscribe to such a strange and foreign practice and think of it as normal.

And there’s Santa Claus, Rudolph and Frosty the Snowman too. I understand most of this is all good fun and done in the name of secular pluralism, but when these religious and irreligious symbols begin to show up as families are baking turkeys and juggling vacation days, while we are being inundated with American holiday consumerism at its year-end peak, I have to ask, whatever happened to the holy in the holidays?

What does it mean to make a day holy? How do Asian Americans create or adopt a connection to our religious traditions, whatever they may be?

This is not intended to make you feel less spiritual or to power up your inner atheist. The word “holy” simply means to “set apart.” In this sense, a “holy day” was a day set apart to remember, to reflect and to break up the monotony of days. And whether we call ourselves religious, we are all inclined to make certain things and days “holy.”

My grinch-like tendencies that flare up during the last 45 days of the year are because these days do not seem holy to me at all. They’re filled with insane trips to the mall, desperate for parking spaces, feelings of guilt because I have to lose weight even before this season begins, wondering if I got the right gifts for people or if I at least spent an adequate amount on them so I can look them in the eye when I unwrap the box with my name on it.

I’m tired of Christmas as usual. I can do without the “Fa la la la.” What I want for this time right before the new year, before that odometer turns to January again, is to set aside time and space for those who have been set aside: the poor, the lonely, the holy.

And if you haven’t heard already, join the Advent Conspiracy!

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DJ Chuang listed 14 unmet needs among Koreans and Indians at the L2 Foundation Blog:

The article also highlights top issues that are specific to the Korean and Indian communities:

The three key themes among Koreans were concerns of the elderly, language issues and mental health issues.

The three key themes among Indians were concerns of the elderly, mental health issues and domestic violence issues.

My wife being Indian and myself Korean, this obviously doesn’t bode well for us! We’re both looking forward to a double helping of elderly and mental health issues~ yikes.

The report sought to identify cultural attitudes and perceptions that might cause reluctance among members of the Korean and Indian communities to seek assistance.

“For example, if you have a young Indian couple who believe they could benefit from marriage counseling,” Fiebert said, “they might fear that the marriage counselor will push them into a divorce. They see that many Americans divorce, but maybe they don’t want a divorce. They need to understand that the counselor is going to work with them to resolve their marriage issues and don’t have to be frightened that counseling is going to result in divorce.

Now, I consider myself and my relationships to be fairly healthy, but anytime you see something like this, it does make you back up and check. It’s crazy when you know the statistics and all you’re thinking is, I’ve gotta beat these numbers.

The report identified 14 basic “problem areas or unmet need themes:” (in no particular order)

• Concerns of the elderly
• Mental health issues
• Domestic violence and child abuse
• Discrimination, lack of power and lack of trust
• Health and medical issues
• Health insurance issues
• Immigration concerns
• Intragroup conflict
• Lack of awareness of community services
• Language issues
• Generational conflict
• Poverty
• Substance abuse and addiction problems
• Transportation problems

Which of these loom largest for you and your community? I’ll be honest and say my top three potential problem areas or unmet needs are, personally: concerns of the elderly, language issues, and generational conflict. I think I can collapse language issues and generational conflict, but then I’d need to tack on health and medical issues with the concerns of the elderly. But as for me and our little household, I’d say we’re OK so far…but I probably should check with the boss to make sure.

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A couple of weeks ago, Dr. Paul Huh came to the AsianAmergence gathering and led us in a discussion of traditional Korean musical forms and how they might be help both Koreans and Korean Americans gain insight into our worship.

As editor of the PCUSA Korean-English hymnal entitled “Come, Let Us Worship,” Dr. Huh had created short canticles (소창) around the psalms. He led us in a few that night which was an incredible experience to hear and participate in. Also, as an accomplished cellist, Dr. Huh also brought in the instrument represented in the middle photo (i.e. I don’t know what it’s called) and played it for us, explaining how Korean instrumentation displayed the culture’s affinity for relationality over technicality or virtuosity in the Western sense.

But without further ado, please check it out for yourselves; although a little long, it was really enjoyable.

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h/t to Hyphen Magazine for this video…

Chinese people encounter fortune cookies for the first time. In conjunction with The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 9. Lee (Edited by Sherng Lee Huang www.shernglee.com)

If the snippet above looks interesting to you, check out the further lesson with Jennifer 8. Lee at an @Google Talk.

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