Isn't Darn Good Content Enough?

In today's market, with a mass of content speeding at consumers, publishers have come to learn that it's time to diversify and up your game. Advertisers are demanding events and branded online packages. There are buzz words and must-dos. It seems like an endless game of catch-up. Magazines of all sizes just trying to stay on top of the latest trend in content delivery.

For example, have you noticed that EVERYONE is trying to put out a social networking site? I frankly am all for the Facebooks of the world. But really, how many do we need?

We are also trying in some ways to bring you new forms of content, we are dabbling with video and you heard it hear first, we are working on a new design for the website, to give you new daily content.

Notice that last word: content. It is key.

I recently stepped away from the always disappointing game of "now what do we do to stay current and hip?" We put on the brakes in many ways and realized that for a small magazine we are just going to remain calm and stick to our roots. We are going to do what we do best: Produce original, intriguing, engaging content for you the reader. Not rehashed, repackaged 800-times text jumbles. But real stories! remember those?? And we aren't going to worry about branding franchise type events and conferences for now.

Sure it could be a dangerous move, but in competition you do what you are best at. And I believe, and I hope you will prove it, that even as technology and content delivery changes, your desire for our unique lens on East West culture will remain strong. And those glossy pages with strong stories will still hold a place near and dear to your heart. Besides, we will be that unique item called a magazine you will be craving after all the other content binges wear you out.

So help us prove it. Good journalism, good content must win.

Asian Foodies United

I have just found a great new way of spending even more time on the Internet than I already do - www.biggestmenu.com. It’s like the YouTube / Flicker / Chowhound / Myspace / Facebook of foodies. Users post pictures of their favorite foods and restaurants, and the site organizes that info around locations, making it really easy to find a place to eat in your ‘hood. The top cities thus far with the most pictures are in Southern California - Alhambra, Monterey Park, San Gabriel, Pasadena. The three founders of the site are UC Irvine grads (and surprise - they're Asian). There is picture after picture of food, food, food, with prices listed! Prices, hah, that’s so Chinese! said my friend B. I love the prices! It’s a menu after all. Also you can "lick" pictures you like. If you’re the first to put a restaurant up on the site, you "discovered" it. It's entertaining to put up a picture and see it get licked and drooled over with comments.

I was at work and I kept looking at this site. If I truly join the foodie cult, I fear I will gain weight. It’s particularly funny that the site profile asks for your exercise routine. Eat responsibly folks!

Funding Better Mental Health

Within a culture and community that still encourages the covering up of mental illness, we all know it is critical that more attention be given to the mental health of the Asian American population. We've heard it time and time again, with the statistics about AAs and mental health plastering mainstream news sites and programs. But forget the shock and awe of the numbers, what I've been waiting for is the action that will hopefully lead us to answers and solutions.

And finally a bit of good news, a step, it seems, in the right direction as the University of California Davis has received a five-year, $3.9 million federal grant to create a national center to study the matter. Get the full scoop here.