Worth watching

1 - For Poor, Leap to College Often Ends in a Hard Fall. From NY Times, an article describing how class differences are leading to greater gaps at college level for students. This is of course complicated by racial links, as more people of color are poorer than whites.

2 - Dear Liberal Allies, what your classes on oppression didn't tell you. A Wellesleyunderground article on the people of color perspective on oppression.

3 - LGBTQ People from India. "Often QPOC get ignored in favour of white people during conversations about gender and sexuality, so I guess this is my attempt to try and push for greater visibility of lesser known people of colour in the LGBTQ movement in other parts of the world and try to debunk the notion that LGBTQ movement is primarily a white one."

4 - Things not to say to Asians. Seriously. We're tired of this shit.



5 - China's Female Imams and Mosques

Last Call to Prayer; China's Female Mosques from sharron lovell on Vimeo.

amazing articles and videos

1 - Glamourbaby Diaries



Ruby Veridiano nurtures young women of color to challenge the fashion world and what it means to be beautiful, especially for Asian Americans. Amazing workshops!! I wish I could participate!

2 - PSY and the Acceptable Asian Man

PSY is the Korean pop star who wrote the song Gangnam Style that mainstream US has caught on. Very interesting article about how Asian pop stars are having trouble breaking into mainstream US music (hint, it's because of the Asian stereotypes/caricatures in American society).

3 - ChristianMuslim



Check out this music video for "ChristianMuslim," written, recorded and performed by Jason Chu and Rah Zemos. It's a really cool hand-drawn stop-motion animation piece speaking out against violence and bloodshed between people who "believe that we're all God's children".

4 - Refusing to Date Asian Men

Essay by Kathy Zhang '11 on the Patriarchy in US society and how stereotyping of Asians as feminine and non-sexual came from the need to suppress the minorities to uphold the dominance of white supremacy. An excellent read.

5 - Islamic History and Women You Never Hear Of

Kahula bint Azwar is the legendary woman you've never heard of. My new heroine!!

6 - PSY's Gangnam Style and what it ACTUALLY means

Analysis of PSY's hit song and putting it into context of Korean history. Excellent read.

7 - Citation Needed by allmypenguins

Article on how China isn't as suppressed as you think it is.

Melissa Harris-Perry's Commencement Speech: Wellesley College May 2012

Professor, political scientist, author, Nation columnist, MSNBC host, and rising "nerdland" icon Melissa Harris-Perry addresses the members of the Class of 2012 and an international audience of their families and friends at Wellesley College's 134th Commencement Exercises on Friday, May 25, 2012. Some good words of advice for the women who will redefine success in the world.

Wellesley empowers women

Today, I was talking with several women in my field of research in environmental science and we spoke about how women are lacking in leadership roles within science. Apparently, they have all worked with ONLY men in their workplace. WTF, where are all the women?! They said that women in general are hesitant to speak up for bigger roles and more benefits. I ended up telling them about how Wellesley really cultivates an empowering environment for women to go after ambitious career goals and teaches us not to be afraid to be offended or to stand up to bs from our male colleagues etc etc. The others were really impressed with this and said they really wished their schools had the same kind of atmosphere. Empowering women is really honestly a hugely important part of a women's education (in my opinion)!

Also, apparently it is unheard of (or at least really gutsy) to feel comfortable just calling up alums and networking with them because they are alumnae. Wellesley's alumnae network is one of the biggest pulls for me and I'm so proud of how alums are willing to bend over backwards for other alums or students, and as a young alum, I've been able to repay the karma for several students as well. I honestly believe in the quote "There's a special hell for women who don't help out other women" - if you're breaking barriers, make sure to throw down a rope for the others behind you.

I just wanted to share that story and give a shout out to all the Wellesley alums out there who are inspiring, glass-ceiling-breaking or just otherwise kickass role models for all the rest of us. Here's to you all!

Biking and living one's value system

I just finished changing a flat tire on my bike. It's my 4th flat tire in 2.5 months and I'm certainly not getting any faster at changing out the punctured inner tube. It still takes me around 1 hour if I'm lucky to get it all done. Add in the stress of figuring out how to get home on a flat and obtaining new inner tubes and you get a whole lot of frustration. It's days like these I ask myself, why do I put up with this?

Every time it happens, I recall a story an environmental studies professor at Wellesley once told us. She was asked to speak at a conference in Portland, Oregon and the conference hosts had arranged for a taxi to pick her up from the airport. But instead of taking the taxi service, my professor voluntarily looked up the public transport from the airport to her hotel and the conference site. The reason was because taking public transport in lieu of the more carbon footprint heavy taxi was more in-line with her value system as an environmentalist. If one really wants to be true to one's values, one's actions must reflect that.

Ever since I heard that story, I've been inspired to really put my actions where my words are. My decision to become vegetarian, bike to work and school, and buy more environmentally friendly products came from that. It hasn't been easy. My friends have to accommodate my dietary needs every time we have get togethers; it takes me an hour to commute to school each way and it rains a lot in Melbourne; and organic goods tend to be more expensive. But I feel despite all that, I am being true to what I believe.

There are a lot of pluses, of course. Biking every day has greatly improved my overall health (multitasking exercise and commuting, what an idea!) and it's sometimes easier than trying to figure out the fastest route by public transport. Being vegetarian also has contributed to a healthier living style and I've discovered many new delicious dishes I wouldn't necessarily have come across before. And all of this has raised awareness of environmental issues amongst people I interact with because they can see clearly the kinds of choices and impacts it makes.

So how do I feel now, hands covered in dirt and new inner tube back on my bike? I wouldn't change my mind for the world.