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Podcast & Q&A: Sam Yoon, Candidate for Mayor of Boston

July 15, 2009

By disgrasian.com

Boston City Councilman Sam Yoon is currently running for mayor. A Democrat who was born in Seoul, moved to the U.S. at 10 months old, and became a citizen at 10 years old, Sam is the first Asian-American to hold elected office in Boston. Bear in mind that Boston is one of America’s oldest cities, almost 379 years old. To be the first Asian-American elected official in the city’s storied 379 year-history is nothing short of amazian.

We sat down recently for a Q & A with Sam about his campaign. We not only learned of his stellar qualifications - Princeton undergrad, Harvard grad, community organizing - we also discovered something completely unexpected about the 39 year-old politician. As they’d say in Boston, Sam is wicked funny.

Over email, we discussed some of DISGRASIAN’s favorite topics: Hardass Asian Parents, math, advanced degrees, hot dogs, and, of course, the Boston Red Sox. Read more

Asian Pacific Americans During the Great Depression

December 31, 2008

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As we begin 2009, economists tell us that we are officially in a recession. Some say we are heading into the worst economic conditions since the global Great Depression that lasted from 1929 until the Second World Read more

City Hemorrhages Filipino American Nurses

December 31, 2008

Expect San Francisco government employee unions to turn the screws up on incoming supervisors - particularly Eric Mar and David Chiu - after the latest layoffs. Although the city budget is more than $6 billion, Mayor Gavin Newsom and the board face its inflexibility, having to make cuts in a shrinking $1.2 Read more

Holiday Cheer From Santa Obama

December 25, 2008

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Shinseki and Chu cabinet appointments signify new beginnings for APIs: Norman Mineta and Elaine Chao broke barriers by becoming the first API cabinet members, with much celebration from our community. Read more

From Milk to Fong

December 24, 2008

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For a San Francisco political primer, watch Milk. Not only is there Sean Penn’s portrayal of assassinated San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk but there’s also Milk’s advisor Michael Wong (played by Kelvin Yu) and the bit part of Milk’s supervisorial colleague, Gordon Lau (played by Kelvin Han Yee). Much is portrayed about Read more

Spam Musubi

December 22, 2008

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I can officially confirm that Barack Obama will be our first Asian Pacific American president. Not only does he have an Indonesian American half-sister, a Chinese Canadian brother-in-law, several APA staffers, many APA friends and years spent living in Hawai‘i and Indonesia, but he and his family also enjoy eating spam musubi. Read more

APA Person of the Year: Swati Dandekar

December 17, 2008

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2008 was a year when Asian Pacific Americans came into their own politically. Barack Obama was elected with significant Asian Pacific American support, and each of the other top contenders also had APA supporters, staffers or both. Read more

Mar Celebrates Victory

December 13, 2008

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SAN FRANCISCO — Eric Mar, two-term member of the San Francisco Board of Education and supervisor-elect for San Francisco’s District 1 (Richmond District), symbolically accepted the baton from current Supervisor Jake McGoldrick in front of a packed house of 300 supporters on Dec. 6. Read more

Human Rights at 60

December 10, 2008

human-rights

On Dec. 10, 1948, the United Nations ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was a unique moment in time because the horrors of World War II were still fresh, but the polarization of the Cold War was not yet an impediment to global standards of this kind. Read more

Calavera Highway

December 4, 2008

calavera highway

It is fitting that Renee Tajima-Peña released Calavera Highway, just months before the victory of Barack Obama, a multi-racial, multi-cultural man.

Every person is multi-cultural, a product of diverse influences that include race, religion, language, national origin, sexual orientation, social class and more. Read more

Comeback of the Year

November 26, 2008

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Norman Yee - who gathered the highest votes on the school board with more than 144,000 and far outdistanced Sandra Lee Fewer (also elected) by nearly 30,000 votes - suffered life-threatening spinal injuries in 2006 after a car struck him at 4th and Bryant Streets. But that nasty spill hasn’t affected his love Read more

Celebrating Michi Weglyn

November 26, 2008

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Author, researcher, costume designer, poet, painter and civil rights activist Michi Nishiura Weglyn died on April 25, 1999, at age 72, but her life continues to serve as an inspiration. As we approach the tenth Read more

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