Studying Workplace Stereotypes

After reports from Asian American government workers that they are not receiving equal and fair treatment, hindering their upward career climb, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is investigating.

According to an article in the Washington Post, some AA workers have said they were being denied time off to attend conferences or to take advantage of training opportunities. Meanwhile others complain that their agency does not promote or sponsor specific AA programs to the same degree that they do for other minority groups.

While AAs represent just under 6 percent of federal employees, the issue is not the amount overall but that few make it to top levels.

Columnist Steven Barr writes:

"...relatively few Asian Americans make it into the highest ranks of the government -- 146 out of 6,349 career members of the Senior Executive Service, according to a congressional audit released in May."

The EEOC's findings are expected next year. The one question we find most interesting that will be looked at is whether or not AAs are hesitant or reluctant to file discrimination complaints. Culturally this would make sense, and it could be a significant problem.

Have you ever faced workplace discrimination? What have you done?
Read the Wasabi Woman's column about Stepping out of Stereotypes for workplace success for some tips.

A Campaign on Chinatown or Not?

In recent days both the LA Times and New York Times have run articles examinging the validity of donations to Clinton's campaign from the Chinese community.

Both articles say reporters couldn't track down many of the listed donors, other donors held jobs such as "dishwasher" or "cook," which presumably make it hard to imagine they could afford a donation, and still others apparently lack legal-resident status.

The LA Times article states...

At this point in the presidential campaign cycle, Clinton has raised more money than any candidate in history. Those dishwashers, waiters and street stall hawkers are part of the reason. And Clinton's success in gathering money from Chinatown's least-affluent residents stems from a two-pronged strategy: mutually beneficial alliances with powerful groups, and appeals to the hopes and dreams of people now consigned to the margins.

It goes on to speak of criminal associations and donors feeling pressured to give by neighborhood associations.

The Asian & Pacific Islander American Vote, a DC-based advocacy group, is fighting back, saying in a press release that "undue scrutiny on a specific ethnic subgroup" is a sign of "negligent journalism."

And the Washington Post quoted board member Noelani Kalipi saying "in the past, Asian Americans have been criticized for not participating enough in the political process. It is ironic, we are being attacked for doing exactly what citizens are supposed to do: exercise their rights and fulfill their responsibilities."

Your thoughts?

Newsmakers on a Sunday

Wow what a weekend. Sunday may normally be a slow news day.
But when I landed on MSN first thing Sunday morning, the two lead stories (the kind with pictures) featured prominent Indian Americans. A big news day for us!

The most notable of course was Bobby Jindal and his gubernatorial win.
Padma Lakshmi also got front page placement. The Top Chef host and author of the new cookbook, "Tangy Tart Hot & Sweet" was seen leading a photo story about "real women" and their real bodies and flaws. Yes, Lakshmi's well-known arm scar from a childhood accident may well classify as a flaw, but this model beauty has parlayed the "flaw" into a sexy symbol with ease. The other really "real" women talk of issues relating to teeth, weight and hips.

An Indian American supermodel in the limelight and a newly-elected Indian American governor. We've got the brains, the looks and the issues and power in the bag!

The Boys

When you wear 10 hats and have a magazine to put out, you hardly ever get to talk to readers in real time and with real voices (read: not email). In fact, I am actually quite sheltered from direct reader contact, due to the nature of our setup and in the interest of time management. But recently, I started answering our main line and had the chance to talk to a couple readers firsthand: Neha and Sarah in particular. No messages, no emails from our editorial assistants transcribing the message, it was a real reader conversation.

And I must say, I enjoyed it!

It is was fun and interesting. One thing I picked up on from doing this this week was that our Face of East West contest is a phenomena in itself. We get more inquiries about this than anything else and readers are quite thoughtful in their questions. How to enter, what it takes, who decides, what if I live out of the country, etc, etc.

(All those questions can be answered with one thought: come back in January for details on the Face of East West 2008 and how/when to enter. )

In the meantime, I was left wondering if we should finally tip our hats to our male readers with a similar contest specifically targeted toward them. We've pondered it for years. In fact all four years of the Face contest. And while the current competition doesn't exclude anyone from entering, we know that most men feel it is a woman's game. So, you decide. Call us, email us, post here or simply take our poll. Should we start a men's competition, and if yes, how should it differ?

Oh and before I leave, go go John Cho on "Ugly Betty" last night. While it might be argued that his role is somewhat stereotypical (i.e. accountant), his character has other elements which help to break him out of that, and most importantly, he was darn funny! Hmm. Maybe John Cho equals cover? Either way, we will definitely catch up with him soon to discuss the role and also with his Harold and Kumar cohort Kal Penn who's landed on "House."

Have a great weekend!

20 Questions

I've always loved what I call the Q&A game. I play it with dates, with my walking buddies on long treks of 10 to 18 miles (currently training for the Breast Cancer 3-day) and even with you regular blog readers.
Remember, we played it before the recent unveiling of the Face of East West 2007....

Today, since we just finished making the final pick for our next cover, I am up for the game again. Can you guess who will grace the next cover of East West? Nope, its not the newly-crowned Face of East West Misa Chien. She'll appear next year.

One hint: it's a female and she's on TV.

Actually, that's two hints, but I'm in a generous mood. To get more hints, just ask me a question and I'll answer!

Oh and before I forget, we need your feedback on the new site design. Here's the official media word on the site.

Asian Remakes

There has been quite a bit of talk in recent years of the Hollywood trend toward remaking and reinventing Asian films, and doing so with great box office success. And it's the horror genre in particular that seems most prevalent.

While I, myself, tend to shy away from horror pics on Netflix nights, the remake business does intrigue me, and so this blog posting from the folks at Cinematical is of great interest. It is a fresh take on the trend, offering up the top 7 Asian scare flicks yet to be remade. The key word: yet.

Check some out. We can compare nightmares later.

Hacked? No Problem

If you logged on to EastWestMagazine.com anytime Friday morning, then you know we were hacked! Instead of magazine goodness, visitors were treated to a semi-complete, church website. Was it a sign from God?

Nope, just an evil hacker. Thankfully, we were back up within an hour or two, but all the fuss did put a few kinks into our plans to unveil our new site design on the same day.

So, needless to say, it is a bit late. And it is not 100% complete yet, but we hope you like what you see so far. We'll be changing things more-tweaking, trying new functionality, etc-over the coming weeks, and in the meantime, we would love your feedback.

Tell us what works and what doesn't.

The point of the redesign was to make the site more conducive to daily updates. That's right, EastWestMagazine.com is going daily. Visit us EVERYDAY (M-F of course, even we need our weekends once in awhile) for new content and stories.
AND, we will soon be adding video, for example of our recent cover shoot, and photos of shoots and interviews. I could go on and on and on about our plans, but for now, just enjoy and explore. And please excuse the kinks...

Changes, Changes, Changes

Yes, we've been unusually quiet for awhile, but for good reason.

As we organize and reorganize for a New Year (can you believe 2008 is just down the road?), we've decided to change things up a bit.

For starters, we'll have a new Web site format unveiling next week. The new format will allow us to provide you with new content daily, and we hope you'll make EastWestMagazine.com a regular stop in your Web surfing day. I think you're gonna like it!

Second, we've decided to give you a double issue for this Fall/Winter season. So instead of two issues Oct/Nov and Dec/Jan, look for one jam-packed, better and bigger issue on newsstands November 9th.
We'll go back to our regular schedule next year, but hey, sometimes you've just gotta mix things up! Questions? Shoot us an email. Otherwise, mark your calendars for an exciting season with East West!