Supermoon, Solar Eclipse, Vernal Equinox, March Madness, Starbucks Race Hustling, and Netanyahu Derangement Syndrome All In One Day!

Well, I guess the only thing I can do as commentary is post this Onion story. 

It's been a lunatic day, in which learning that Starbucks is actually encouraging its baristas to engage customers in discussions about race relations wasn't even the craziest thing that happened.  The inevitable backlash has, admittedly, provided its own form of Schadenfreudelicious entertainment. (Of course the incomparable Iowahawk has a quip.)

Elsewhere, my head is spinning from all the post-Israeli election howling from various people and quarters and media outlets.  I really can't take any more of it, because all the yelling and yammering has coalesced into one wordless collective shriek.  Maybe later I'll try to consider the fallout and talk about foreign policy again, but for now let's just call the furious reactions together "Netanyahu Derangement Syndrome" and let it go at that, mmmkay?

Finally, let me add: THANK GOD March Madness has finally started.  It's the only madness right now that makes any damn sense at all.  

(PS: Go, Anybody-But-Duke!)

Nerd News: Diversity Initiatives vs. Asian Americans

Yet again.  One could do an entire case study on Stuyvesant in NYC:

These challenges have a bearing on K-12 schools, too, suggesting that the the bamboo ceiling may be even lower than once thought. Stuyvesant, one of New York City’s nine specialized public high schools, doesn't consider race in its admissions process; students only need take a standardized test to apply. Still, the policy has come under fire because of the student demographics that result: 73 percent of 'Stuy's' current students are Asian, while 22 percent are white. Just 2 percent of the school's population are Hispanic, and 1 percent is black.

Quote of the Day on Ferguson

Benjamin Watson of the New Orleans Saints has what is likely the best commentary yet.  You can also read it directly on his Facebook page.  For once in this unrest somebody has used social media constructively ... and done so with grace and wisdom.  (Take note, reprehensible sensationalist media outlets.)

The Bamboo Ceiling: Asian Students Sue Harvard and Chapel Hill Over Affirmative Action Policies

It's not the first lawsuit in educational circles, and it won't be the last.  Remember, higher ed is the place that told me to my face, "You don't count as a minority."  In all honesty, I don't want different standards; I want to compete on level ground with everybody else - I will go toe to toe with any white guy you please in this field (and I have).  Nevertheless, it is neither fair nor right when the gatekeepers pick and choose the "minorities" that they want (and exclude the ones that they don't).

Food Fight!

Edible things as racial metaphor. 

Nerd News: Race-Based Admissions at UCLA

Professor Whistleblower.

Nerd News: Rutgers Beclowns Itself

So Condoleezza Rice won't be the Commencement speaker at Rutgers after all because too many people there don't want to hear her.  You know, it's embarrassing that an institution of higher education that supposedly prides itself on the free and open discourse and debate of ideas can do this to the country's first black female Secretary of State and still pat itself on the back for being oh-so-enlightened and progressive.  Rice was the most powerful woman in the US during her time in office.  If she hadn't been in a Republican administration, colleges and universities across the country would have canonized her by now.

Politico Asks: Why Are Asian Americans Democrats?

WELL, NOT ALL OF US ARE, FOR ONE THING.

UPDATE: One response in Reason magazine.

Question: "Will Asians Kill Race Preferences in California?"

KILL THEM WITH FIRE.  Schadenfreudelicious phrase in the story: "spontaneous Asian-American backlash."  Let me tell you something, people: Do NOT screw with Asians with it comes to getting a good education.  (But what do I know, right?  According to all the race-preference academic crowds, I'm just a white girl.)

Nerd News: Asians vs. Affirmative Action in California

Again.  

As a friend once said, "Asians don't count.  You're too successful."  

Someone else not too long ago: "You don't count as a minority.  You count as a white person."  (Me: "You know that that was the same attitude in apartheid South Africa?")

Sen. Tim Scott on the 50th Anniversary of MLK's Speech

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina has written a nice little column to mark the day.  Do read.  Apparently he was not invited to speak at today's festivities in DC -  a fact I find not so much baffling as pathetically biased and blinkered on the part of the organizers.  Does the (R) after his name negate the fact that he is the only black Senator in Congress?   (Don't answer that.)

UPDATE: Iowahawk's tweet!  If you don't follow Iowahawk, you're doing Twitter wrong.

1963: you can't have that job because you're black. 2013: you can't be black because you have that job. #SenatorTimScott
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) August 28, 2013

Progress?

Cheerios and Interracial Families

I totally didn't understand the controversy.  It's an adorable ad.  The family in it had a black dad and a white mom.  SO WHAT?  But apparently some jerks got their undies in a bunch about it online.  So here's the backlash to the backlash: the reminder that hey, interracial families exist.  Thank you: this has been your public service announcement.  In fact, a whole bunch of my friends have married someone of another race and are raising gorgeous interracial families.  Love should be color-blind.  Shall we also bring up the related topic of interracial adoptions?  Don't be a hater, man.

Rant: Poverty and Cultural Authenticity

Short version: you don't need the former in order to have the latter.

So tell me, ye judges of authenticity: am I "authentic" enough for you?  Maybe my smartphone and laptop and high heels disqualify me as a "proper" Taiwanese.  Should I be back wading in the rice paddy and wearing a coolie hat with a baby strapped to my back?  Does that better meet your laughably ignorant expectations?  Would it make you feel better if all the businesspeople and computer engineers of Taipei knock down the high-rises and go back to living in villages?  trade in their cars for wagons and water buffalo again?  ARE WE ANY LESS TAIWANESE BECAUSE WE'RE NOT POOR?  How insulting.

Oh, and heaven forbid that anyone say that the greater issue is whether quality of life is better.  Let me tell you: on my last visit to "the old country," one of my elderly aunts started telling me about life 50 years ago when she knew that "culturally authentic" poverty firsthand.  I won't weary you with details; suffice it to say it was horrifying and included phrases like "no running water" and "no indoor plumbing."  Then she smiled, gestured around her comfortable modern home, and said, well, thank goodness that's all over with!  Indeed.

Lord, give me patience with those horrible people who argue about "authenticity" ... or, better yet, Lord, give me the self-control not to punch them in the face.  Why, one might even think the authenticity police's breathtakingly arrogant behavior is ... raaaaaaaaaaacist or something.

OK, OK, how about something like this for a solution?  Wealthy tourists want to see "authenticity" from the ethnic locals while the ethnic locals want a better life with modern advances.  Why not take a hint from the brilliant Gary Larson's cartoon?  

Film Culture Commentary: In Praise of Tarantino and "Django Unchained"

Everybody's always known that Quentin Tarantino's movies are really movies about movies, and here's a review specifically considering that quality in Tarantino in general and Django Unchained in particular.

Ivy League Admissions and Asian American Students

*Sigh.*  

RELATED: Entrance exam issues at Stuy earlier this year.

Q: "Are You Indian?" A: "American!"

Joe Biden's mouth strikes again, but I just LOVE the reply.  

You know, a similar sort of thing happened to me once during a rising argument with other people about China and Taiwan.  They finally got flustered and demanded repeatedly to know, "Do you consider yourself Chinese or Taiwanese?  Chinese or Taiwanese?"  I just smiled sweetly and said, "I'm an American."  That totally took the wind out of their sails ... and had the bonus of being true.

Tiger Nation: Thoughts on Asian-American Success

Take a look.  Personally, I don't get why so many Asian-Americans vote left.  You'd think the age-old inculcated emphasis on education and hard work and personal responsibility would lead to more voting on the right or libertarian.  I can't believe that's just me, yeah?  I'll add too that race-based school admissions and affirmative action tends to harm Asian-Americans.  (You'll remember the latest go-round here.)

Nerd News: College Admission Bias and Asian-American Students

This isn't the first time, and it won't be the last.  When confronted with those "identify your race" survey questions, I always refuse to mark anything.

Nerd News: Florida's New Plan for Racially-Based Educational Goals

OK, how is this not both stupid and blatantly raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacist?

The Florida State Board of Education passed a plan that sets goals for students in math and reading based upon their race. On Tuesday, the board passed a revised strategic plan that says that by 2018, it wants 90 percent of Asian students, 88 percent of white students, 81 percent of Hispanics and 74 percent of black students to be reading at or above grade level. For math, the goals are 92 percent of Asian kids to be proficient, whites at 86 percent, Hispanics at 80 percent and blacks at 74 percent. It also measures by other groupings, such as poverty and disabilities, reported the Palm Beach Post.

There's so much wrong with this that I don't even know where to start. The Florida State Board of Education sucks, and you can quote me on that.  

Follow-Up: New York's Stuy Entrance Exam Controversy

I had noted the controversy here.  Here's a follow-up in the form of gentle reader and Stuy alum Eric's comment on the NAACP "othering" Asians in the Stuy entrance exam kerfuffle. Here's a blurb:

The NAACP isn’t contesting the neutrality of the exam. ... their claim is based on the result. The problem is the NAACP’s solution calls for race-based disparate treatment, which is a worse civil rights violation than disparate impact. 

I’m not angling towards separation. I’m calling out the NAACP for separating Asians. I agree that we should be able to trust the NAACP to guard the interests of Asian children – not ‘other’ and sacrifice Asians in order to favor other minority groups.  

You know what’s insulting? Read the NAACP complaint and see how it marginalizes Asians with the rhetorical trick of grouping together “either whites or Asian Americans”.