Daily Dose & Announcements: 06/30/09
June 30, 2009
>>Despite Their Success, Asians Not Rising to Heights of Silicon Valley’s Corporate World
>>Rockets Could Lose Yao for Season or More
>> U.S. Senate Confirms Harold Koh as Legal Adviser of Department of State
>>CA Legislators Draft Resolution to Recognize and Apologize to Chinese Americans
>> Filipino Community Solidarity Rally
>>4th Annual Leland Avenue Street Fair
>>”Friends Reunited” 2nd Annual Dance Benefit
>> Tanabata Festival
>>2009 IWL Release Event & Public Reading
>> Asian Americans Take Center Stage in Enigmatic “Kelland”
Compiled by Melissa He
Commerce
Despite Their Success, Asians Not Rising to Heights of Silicon Valley’s Corporate World
A first-of-its-kind “census” of local executives by Buck Gee and Wesley Hom shows that while Asians make up more than a third of the work force at some of Silicon Valley’s biggest tech companies, they are far less prominent in the boardroom or the highest executive offices: Asians represent about 6% of board members and about 10% of corporate officers of the Bay Area’s 25 largest companies.
Despite the growing prominence of Asians at Silicon Valley tech companies, they have made no gains in the share of seats on the boards of large tech companies since 1999, the study finds.
The executive census and a related paper - “The Failure of Asian Success in the Bay Area” - say several social factors hold Asian managers back, including cultural deference to superiors, which U.S. managers may view as a worker lacking confidence or knowledge; a lack of strong English skills; and a failure of some Asian workers to invest enough effort in networking.
-Silicon Valley Mercury News
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Sports
Rockets Could Lose Yao for Season or More
As the NBA draft approached, the fear isn’t that he’s just lost for next season, but longer. With four surgeries in three years, the Rockets worried they were reaching a breaking point.
For now, the Rockets have privately told league peers it could be a full season before Yao might be able to return to basketball. Multiple league executives, officials close to Yao and two doctors with knowledge of the diagnoses are describing a troubling re-fracture of his navicular bone. Three pins were inserted a year ago, but the foot cracked in the playoffs and isn’t healing.
Houston has long been fearful that Yao’s responsibilities to the Chinese national team were rapidly contributing to his breakdown. Yao wouldn’t have missed the Beijing Olympics for the world, but it was clear he wasn’t fully healed in those Games. Now the darkest fears are close to confirmation: It isn’t just a season on the brink for Yao Ming, but perhaps a career.
-sports.yahoo.com
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Nation
U.S. Senate Confirms Harold Koh as Legal Adviser of Department of State
Washington, DC - On Thursday, June 25, the U.S. Senate confirmed Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh as the legal adviser of the U.S. Department of State. Koh will head up the department’s legal staff, advising Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on a variety of issues.
Koh is the first Asian American to serve in the post of legal adviser and the fourth Asian American appointee under the new administration.
Koh is a leading expert on public and private international law, national security law and human rights. He is also a veteran to the Department after having served as an assistant secretary of state during the Clinton administration.
More than 56 Asian American and Pacific Islander organizations across the country pushed for Koh’s confirmation. Koh was confirmed with a 62-35 vote.
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Bay/California
CA Legislators Draft Resolution to Recognize and Apologize to Chinese Americans
Sacramento - Assembly members Paul Fong (D-Cupertino) and De León (D-Los Angeles) spoke with media recently to discuss their joint authored Assembly Concurrent Resolution 42, which recognizes contributions Chinese made to California and offers the first formal apology for unjust laws occurring up to the 1960’s.
ACR 42 is an apology from the State of California to Chinese Americans for unjust laws and discrimination dating from the Gold Rush Era to the 1960’s. Such unjust laws included foreign miner’s tax on all gold found, prohibition to marry the person of their choice, Chinese Exclusion Act, prohibition to buy a home and work for a state, county or city entity.
ACR 42 also recognizes the work Chinese in California performed on the Transcontinental Railroad and the Delta levees, and their contributions to the success of California’s fishing and agricultural industries.
EVENT: Filipino Community Solidarity Rally
DESCRIPTION: Rally to support funding of SF-based Filipino nonprofits
DETAILS: Wear white if possible. Tues. 6/30, 5pm, SF City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place (Post St. side), San Francisco
CONTACT: Rudy Asercion, rudyasercion@gmail.com or 415 724-0641; Jose Pecho, jose@jpinvests.com or 925.286.6607
EVENT: 4th Annual Leland Avenue Street Fair
DESCRIPTION: Join the Visitacion Valley community for a day of fun, food, and music, as a variety of talented artists, musicians, vendors, craftspeople, and charitable organizations line the streets of downtown Visitacion Valley to celebrate our place in San Francisco.
DETAILS: Free, Sunday September 27, 2009, 10am to 4pm, Leland Ave @ Bayshore
CONTACT: http://vvboom.vvcdc.org/festival.html
EVENT: “Friends Reunited” 2nd Annual Dance Benefit
DESCRIPTION: Hawaiian comedian Andy Bumatai and popular local band PULSE will be performing at the benefit for Asian Women’s Shelter.
DETAILS: $30, Saturday, August 8, 2009, 8:00pm - 12:00am, at Hotel Kabuki, 1625 Post St., San Francisco
CONTACT: (415) 271-3290 or email AWSdance@yahoo.com for tickets or sponsorship opportunities
EVENT: Tanabata Festival or Star Festival
DESCRIPTION: The Tanabata Festival is observed throughout Japan with decorations of bamboo branches and personally handwritten wishes written on colorful strips of paper. Legend has it that it is a romantic Chinese tale between two heavenly beings. The Princess Weaver or Shokujo (Vega Star) and the Cow Herder or Kengyu (Altair Star) meet on the eve of July 7th upon the winged bridge of magpies along the Milky Way. Wishes are written to the heavens in celebration of their yearly reunion.
DETAILS: Free, 7/1 - 7/31, Kinokuniya Bldg, Kintetsu and Miyako Malls, Japantown, San Francisco
CONTACT: Geri Handa, (415) 309-7789
EVENT: 2009 Interdisciplinary / Intergenerational Writers Lab Online Anthology Release Event & Public Reading
DESCRIPTION: To celebrate the new publication and the completion of the intensive 8-week writing lab, IWL students and instructors will share their new work at a public reading.
DETAILS: $10-20, Wed., 7/8, 7-9pm at Intersection for the Arts, 446 Valencia Street (at 15th St & 16th St), San Francisco
CONTACT: (415) 626-2787 x.108 or visit www.theintersection.org
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Arts
Asian Americans Take Center Stage in Enigmatic “Kelland”
Los Angeles - Author Paul G. Bens, Jr., crafts in his first novel a story centered on the themes of loss and betrayal. Characters Minh and Toan Ngo, brothers who, along with their parents, escape from Viet Nam near the end of the war come to represent the heart and soul of the story.
Combining elements of horror and mystery with current events, Kelland actually centers on four unique story lines: Minh, Toan, a little boy named George, and Melanie, a mother reeling from a recent tragedy in her life. Each of them meets Kelland, an enigmatic stranger with the power to expose all the secrets of their lives, and the common thread tying all the divergent stories together.
Readers can find out for themselves all the mysteries of Kelland on its September 1, 2009 release.
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2 Responses to “Daily Dose & Announcements: 06/30/09”
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Thank you Melissa (and Asian Week) for the mention! I appreciate it very much.
>Despite Their Success, Asians Not Rising to Heights of Silicon Valley’s Corporate World
The high percentages of asians in the workforce reflect high percentages in the local populations. CEO’s come from everywhere, so it is stupid and/or dishonest to expect the CEO percentages not to reflect average national demographics.