You'd think with pics like this around campus that UT Austin would be the scariest school ever. But it's quite friendly.
4.20.05-- Who's afraid of a big bad red state?
You'd think with pics like this around campus that UT Austin would be the scariest school ever. But it's quite friendly.
Greetings. I type this from a huge plane flying above Alabama right now. I've just returned from Asheville, North Carolina where upon my landing at the Asheville airport on Monday, my presence single-handedly tripled the town's Asian population.
I am joking of course. Though there sure aren't a lot of Asians in Asheville. That's for damn sure. Even the Japanese Restaurant (which I expected to be run by some Japanese immigrants who somehow settled in North Carolina) is all run by white folks. I was brought out by the UNCA college student group called "A.S.I.A.-- Asian Students in Asheville." There is no Chinese, Japanese, Pilipino club-- at UNCA, the five Asian kids can't split hairs and must come together in one all-inclusive group! I did see Asian kids on the campus who weren't part of the club, so there is actually more like ten Asian kids at this school. I was heading toward the glass door, and there was one coming toward me on the other side of the door-- I thought I was looking into a mirror or something.
Here I am with Minori, the student in Asheville who coordinated my visit. People actually asked her if I was her mom.
At the Asheville airport, you can pick up a book and on honor system, put money in the wooden box to buy it. The money raised goes to support the local libraries.
Wow. A red state that uses the honor system and promotes literacy? How can this be?
I get a little nervous going to red states. Especially after this recent election when all sorts of weird emails came out with diagrams comparing states that supported slavery in the 1800s to the states whose electoral votes went to Bush. The resemblance was uncanny and the implication of this juxtaposition was that red states were as evil as slave owners and slavery itself. There was also a chart going around showing the average IQs of each state. Blue states had the highest national IQs while red states all had bottom ranked IQ scores. This of course hinting that red states were if anything, ignorant.
I tour through red states with caution. Especially when the students preface my visit with, "We really need you to come to our school Kristina, so many of these white students don't recognize the issues or their own racism"-- like I am their cultural weapon, flown in to "inject" cultural justice and racial tolerance with one-fell performative swoop. I imagine these Asian students at my arrival, ready to throw me at the campus Republicans like David to Goliath, hiding behind my apron as I single-handedly slay every ounce of racial oppression on their campus. And me, getting pounded to death in the fight of it all, betraying the hope of these students.
Yeah I know, I guess I am putting a little more pressure on myself than necessary.
What is more challenging is when depite having a bio available for the public to use, these venues always insist on writing one for me. Here is the bio that was invented for me in Asheville... I found it on their website listing...
"A solo performer, Wong has appeared on such television programs as “ER” and a series of Oscar Mayer commercials. She is a noted documentary filmmaker and serves as the Artistic Director of the Asian American Teen Theater Company. Events are free and open to the public."
Talk about an uphill battle! Despite having won prestigious fellowships and awards for my work as an artist (which I think is why I'm being flown out to these schools in the first place), and despite having my honors clearly listed in my easy-to-copy bio, these venues insist on changing my selling point to my half-day of non-speaking extra work on ER and my hokey Oscar Mayer commercial that I clearly satirize on the "Acting Page" of this site.
This happened when I was a guest-in-residence in Urbana-Champaign too. I showed up at this campus thinking they would bill me as this esteemed emerging American artist, but instead I was greeted with huge posters that read, "Kristina Wong is coming-- She appeared on ER."
And this is why I need to be more stringent with the publicity clause in my contracts.... I feel like such a bitch to wave around a contract and scream, "It's in my contract! It's in my contract!"
But it's true! It's in my contract that presenters are supposed to use the bio and pics I give them instead of picking around my site for the information they want. (Grumble grumble.)
Anyway, all I am saying is that despite all of my fears of red states, the publicity disasters, and the pressure of be the great liberator of Asian kids in the South-- I've learned a lot in the past month about red states and have busted a lot of stereotypes I've had about the people who live in red states. In fact it's making me realize that our country is not so much red vs. blue, but more a hue of purple...
Conclusion... red states are people too.
Kristina's Top 10 List
What I've learned about Red States from my experience touring through Florida, Texas and North Carolina.
10. There are sizable Asian communities in the South.
9. With the exception of North Carolina.
8. Asian kids from Texas can drink me under the table.
7. Unlike Asians in Los Angeles, Asian kids in red states understand what it is like to feel silenced, and therefore, are pretty organized when it comes to brining out-of-state cultural programming into their schools. More organized than on the West Coast so I see.
6. Asian kids in Red States think it's a big deal to meet someone who was once an extra on ER and was on a hokey Oscar Mayer commercial. It's the equivalent of meeting a movie star.
5. Not every white person in a red state is a member of the Klan. Only a few.
4. Somehow, Asian American students in red states find ways to reconcile actively organizing for progressive political causes while voting Republican.
3. Also, white republicans in red states aren't as scary as the those republicans you see creating trouble at anti-war rallies, they're just dumb sheep. And that's not their fault.
2. There is only one Lao student allowed per red state college. For some strange reason, especially in the South, the Lao must be kept isolated, one per campus, far away from each other so that they have no other Lao to talk to.
1. Red states aren't so scary, you just need to know how to find the pockets of blue.
More pics...
Not in a red state, but here at Michigan State University, the kids show me where East Lansing is using their hands to represent the mitten shape of the state! This is a common way they show directions and relative distance.
In San Antonio, I was shocked to find that people actually socialize in person on a daily basis. Here at La Tuna, my friend Ariel meets up with her buddies after work to relax over some beers. Outdoors. She made fun of me because I had to ask, "Is this common? Do you always hang out like this?" She laughed at me because I am obviously so LA where we hide out in our homes from the hours of 5-7pm to avoid traffic.
One thing is for sure about Texas. It's a big state. Many Texans told me they aren't a big exercise state.
Ok, that's all! Off to Boston! A blue state!
Love,
Kristina