Amy Bui's journal while in Oxford (summer 2004)

During her work at Oxford University last summer, former APSA member Amy Bui wrote journal entries that were published in the Orange County Register. Here is a link to her writings (with snazzy photos!):

http://www.ocregister.com/local/scical/amy.shtml

APSA president Dave Matias wins award!

Dave Matias recently received the Outstanding Asian American Studies Student award for 2004-2005. Congratulations, Dave!

Art exhibit displays journey to America (Daily Titan)

Art exhibit displays journey to America
Photographs, statues, and short film honor Asian-American month

Kristina Ridenour
Daily Titan Staff
Tuesday, May 3, 2005

Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month has included a variety of events to honor the cultural accomplishments of people in the community.

Two events included the opening of an exhibit celebrating the journey of Vietnamese who have come to America and a short film titled “Suspension.”

Professor Richard Jong, a lecturer of Asian American studies at Cal State Fullerton, highlighted the mission of the events.

“I believe the primary goal of the heritage month is to educate the campus community. By generating awareness, the events have the potential to expand our collective understanding of what constitutes American history, culture and national identity,” he said.

The art exhibit, entitled “A Long Journey of Courage: The Story of the Vietnamese People Coming to America” was unveiled on April 28 in the Atrium Gallery of the Pollak Library.
The exhibit commemorates the 30th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975 and also celebrates the establishment of the Vietnamese community in the United States, according to a program available in the gallery.

The two sections of the gallery have many different pieces from photographs exploring nature, watercolors of experiences in concentration camps to vibrant colored costumes.

A glass case at the exhibit displays statues carved out of tree roots. The artist, Dr. Pham Chi Nhan, was a medical doctor in Vietnam who was imprisoned in the Philippines. He used his time in jail to explore his artistic side and the delicately crafted statues were what resulted.

What most inspired Gerry Del Rio Cortes, a senior biology major, to come and view the gallery was the musical instruments and jewelry.

“It shows that people will continue to be creative even in those conditions,” Cortes said.
The exhibit will be showcased until June 30.

The short comedic film, “Suspension,” written and directed by CSUF alumna Rhianne Paz Bergado, is a high school tale of outsiders who triumph in the end. The film stars Maria A. Yanez as the main character who goes to a new school and shows the popular clique that it is OK to be different. Also starring in the film is CSUF student Grant Bardsley who is befriended by Yanez’s character.

After the showing, Bergado spoke to students about film making on a small scale and how she was inspired to make the film.

“The story came from elements of my own life,” Bergado said.

The film will also be shown on March 12 at the El Centro Cultural De Mexico in Santa Ana.

On May 5, a screening of UC Davis Professor Darrell Hamamoto’s “Yellowcaust: A Patriot Act” will be shown to honor Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

“This film is an experimental, abridged version of a longer adult film that Hamamoto has made called ‘Skin on Skin.’ He made these films, in part, to address issues of sexuality and gender representation as they pertain to Asian-Americans. I expect some viewers to be offended by this approach, while others will praise his efforts,” Jong said.

Adult film aims to dispell stereotype (Daily Titan)

Adult film aims to dispell stereotype
UC Davis professor makes movie to prove Asian sexuality strong

By Nichole Ng
For the Daily Titan
Tuesday, May 3, 2005

When pornography is mentioned, some might think of sexual connotations instantly. Not so for UC Davis Professor Darrell Hamamoto, the maker of “Skin on Skin,” an adult film featuring an all-Asian cast. The film was created with hopes to change the stereotypes of Asian male sexuality and masculinity.

Hamamoto wrote and published an essay titled “The Joy Fuck Club” in 1998, in which he related and discussed the stereotypical portrayal of Asian male sexuality being dominated by “white racial supremacist.”

In an article from the California Aggie, Hamamoto said he will interfere greatly in order to save Asian sexuality, and that by making a porno, he blew peoples’ minds.

In addition to “Skin on Skin,” Hamamoto produced “Yellocaust: A Patriot Act,” which relates political and historical events that dealt with Asian racism.

“Yellocaust” offers a provocative solution to the alienated sexuality of Asian Americans that draws from the rich tradition of erotic arts as found in most Asian cultures,” Hamamoto said in an e-mail.

In all its controversy, and in conjunction with Asian-American month, Hamamoto will be coming to Cal State Fullerton on Thursday to make his presentation. The event is part of the series, “Imaginasian,” which the Asian Pacific Student Association organized.

The process of getting Hamamoto to speak on campus was a tedious one. After a month-long process of discussing the controversy about the issue, the board of APSA had to get funding and permission from the funding committee, which voted 24 to 1 in favor of the event.

APSA President Dave Matias said he hoped that inviting Hamamoto to speak on campus would spark a controversy that would make people think and become more aware of the racism that exists in all areas of America’s institutions, and also hopefully that people can regard Asian males as equal to Caucasian males in all aspects.

In the multi-billion dollar industry of adult films, Asian males are rarely featured he said.
Matias said the majority of the industry is owned and dominated by Caucasian people, and naturally the majority of the actors are Caucasian, and that it resembles racism.

Treasurer of the APSA Dominador Pinera said that psychologically, because of all the stereotyping that has been going on, it has become a self-fulfilling prophecy for Asian males.
Another reason could be culture. Candice Heiden, the publicity director of APSA, said that culturally, Caucasian males are generally more outspoken and open than Asian males.

“It’s a culture thing, like being humble. Asian guys seem shy generally, and maybe sometimes that shyness is taken for inferiority,” she said.

Aware of a backlash that could happen because of this controversial event, Matias said some might think he’s doing this because adult films are entertaining, and it is for entertainment purposes only.

“Maybe my motives aren’t clearly expressed, and people may take it the wrong way. But that’s ok because we want people to see that a film of this nature with an all Asian cast can still do these type of things just as well as any other members of society, regardless of their ethnicity or background,” he said.

Hamamoto will be speaking at the Mackey Auditorium, located at the Ruby Gerontology Center at 1 p.m. His presentation will include screenings of “Yellocaust” and “Skin on Skin.” Banners and flyers of the event are posted around campus and more information can be obtained at the APSA’s Web site at http://csufapsa.tripod.com/id3.html.

X-rated film shows students the reality of Asian sexuality (Daily Titan)

X-rated film shows students the reality of Asian sexuality
Darrel Hamamoto's porn flick gives Titans 'cultural education'

Julie Kim
Daily Titan Opinion Editor
Monday, May 9, 2005

An Asian-American couple was shown having sex on the big screen of the Mackey Auditorium in the Ruby Gerontology Center on Thursday.

The X-rated video, entitled “Yellocaust: A Patriot Act,” marked the conclusion of Cal State Fullerton’s celebration of Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

“We wanted to present something that needed to be exposed,” said Asian-American studies professor Susan Shoho, who helped organize the event. “But it’s not about showing a skin flick; it’s about cultural education.”

UC Davis Asian-American studies professor Darrell Y. Hamamoto, who directed the six-minute politicized pornography, said he created “Yellocaust” for several reasons.

One reason is that the Asian community was going through systemic genocide by the United States military. To underscore that impression, Hamamoto edited into “Yellocaust” sounds of people wailing and a scrolling text outlining historical information.

For example, according to the video, 200,000 Filipinos died in the hands of American soldiers. The movie also addressed a proposal to sterilize Asian-Americans and claimed some Chinese men have been unable to procreate with their wives because of a United States ban on Chinese women entering into the United States.

In order to survive this “slow-motion Holocaust,” Asians must have sexual vitality, Hamamoto said.

But the problem is that the white-dominated media has portrayed Asian men as emasculated, Hamamoto added.

Asian-American studies senior Chaz Curry agreed.

“His attempt to justify the Asian-American male stereotype by making an adult film with the sole purpose of casting an Asian-American male is very radical, but at the same time very practical,” he said.

Lindsey Howell, a junior psychology major, attended the event and thought the professor’s viewpoint was interesting. “I respect and support creativity,” she said.

In addition to the pornography, Hamamoto showed “Masters of the Pillow,” a 60-minute documentary made by James Hou, a former student of his. In the recording, Hou documented the making of Hamamoto’s first-feature film, “Skin on Skin” – a 40-minute X-rated video, which was intended to arouse viewers unlike “Yellocaust.”

The Asian Pacific Student Association organized the event with funding from the Association for Inter-Cultural Awareness and support from the Asian-American Studies Department.
“There was no opposition,” Shoho added.

The presentation on “Yellocaust: A Patriot Act” was scheduled for April 15, but it was postponed because the club didn’t have proper funding.

Although some students in the audience snickered at the professor and his works, which have been parodied on “The Tonight Show” and Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” he handled the criticism.

“I don’t care if you laugh at me or think I’m evil,” Hamamoto said. “Someone had to do it.”
Shoho praised Hamamoto for “stepping out of the comfort zone when other Asians might not have been comfortable with change.”

“He was willing to be seen as a pornographer and not an Asian-American activist,” she added.
One CSUF student asked how his university viewed him after the release of his adult films.
“We’re known for cows, so they were happy I gave attention to [UC] Davis,” Hamamoto said.
Another student wondered why the professor delved into the porn industry instead of making conventional feature films.

The motive was accessibility: it’s easier to make money in the multibillion-dollar porn industry, after which he planed to invest in works by other Asian-American moviemakers.

Craig Yahata article (Daily Titan)

Japanese-American veterans share experiences of WWII
Documentary captures stories of civilians and controversial Nisei

Joseph Santos
Daily Titan Staff
Monday, April 18, 2005

From the Holocaust to Pearl Harbor, events during World War II are widely discussed in high school and college history classes. Students are taught that the Germans, along with the Japanese, were enemies of America. What is rarely discussed are the Nisei, the second generation Japanese-Americans who fought for our country during the war.

“A Tradition of Honor,” a documentary produced by the Go For Broke Foundation and directed by Craig Yahata, focuses on the experiences and stories of the Nisei soldiers who fought during World War II.

The documentary is composed of interviews with various Japanese-Americans, from soldiers to civilians, who experienced different events during the war.

“Our goal was to capture their stories through their interviews,” Yahata said. “We had 150 interviews and 45 of them were in the video.”

The film also documents the activities of the 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the Military Intelligence Service. These armies of Nisei soldiers – who were looked at as the enemy by many Americans – fought for this country and their honor. Yahata made the film after learning that his uncle was in the 100th Battalion.

“It wasn’t until college that I realized there was more to this story,” Yahata said. “It was a discovery of information I had no idea about.”

After spawning the idea of making the documentary, Yahata and the foundation contacted veterans for the interviews with the help of the Hanashi Oral History Program.

“We did interviews in Hawaii, Northern California, Los Angeles and Las Vegas,” Yahata said. “They talked about their fellow soldiers like they were brothers.”

The film is Yahata’s first feature-length documentary and served as a learning experience for not only its viewers, but for himself as well, he said. Meeting veterans that knew his uncle educated Yahata not only about the war, but also about what his own relative was like.
“I really got into this to learn about my heritage,” he said.

The documentary was screened April 14 at the Ruby Gerontology Center as part of Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

“I thought it was a very well put together documentary,” said Susan Uyemura, the gerontology project coordinator.

“I think it [the story] needs to be told, I would like to see more classes teach about it.”
Although some of the information in the film was well-known to viewers at the screening, it was apparent that there was still more to learn.

“It’s really eye-opening to me; what this group went through,” said Dane Van Oort, a junior graphic design major, “It seemed like they were so dedicated to prove that they were loyal to America.”

The overall meaning of the documentary is that students should keep in mind that the history of World War II is more than the Holocaust and Pearl Harbor, it also about the people that fought for what they believed in to make our country and world what it is today, Yahata said. “I think it’s important not to forget where we came from.”