Kimchi Mamas

Korean Celeb Face Match

Have you ever wondered which celebrity you resembled the most?  Now you can with a free iPhone app called "Korean Celeb Face Match" (also available for Android here)!  My mom actually introduced this app to me, can you believe it?  How times have changed!  

It's fun and simple: you can take a photo using the app itself, or upload an existing one from your photo stream, confirm where your face is, then they guess your age and give you your result.

Here are my results using the same picture, so that tells you something about the scientific precision of it all, but it's great fun nonetheless, even with non-Asian faces.  (Note: the writing is in Korean because my mom had the Korean version installed, the one we are linking to is in English.)

 

Julie vs. Moon Hee Jun

 

Julie vs. Kim Hyun Ah

 

I'm a little mortified at the Moon Hee Jun comparison, because he was hands-down my little sister's favorite member of H.O.T., and I used to make fun of him and his eyebrows all the time (I mean come on, how could anyone look past Kang Ta?  Amirite, ladies???).  Now I look at him, and I think he looks like Jack White.  Does that mean I look like Jack White???

And I have no idea who Kim Hyun Ah is, but I appreciate being compared to a 21-year-old female vs. a 35-year-old male the second time around!

Try this out and let me know what your results are!  Have fun!

--Julie 

Bay Area! Go Watch the APA Vagina Monologues on May 17!

Although I love vaginas and enjoy talking about them, I have yet to go see a Vagina Monologues show.  Oh, how I wish I can go to this one!  The cast is all Asian/Pacific Islander, and I bet this will be a transformative experience.

From their website:

NAPAWF Bay Area proudly presents an Asian Pacific American women's production of the Vagina Monologues. Set in the historic Castro Theater of San Francisco, we'd like to invite you to an evening celebrating community visibility, the stories of women, and Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. 

This production is directed by Gabrielle Patacsil and features an all Asian Pacific American women-identified cast. Proceeds benefit the local Bay Area chapter of the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum, the nation's only multi-issue women's organization for Asian Pacific American women and girls. 

And here are the performers introducing themselves in an awe-inspiring, irreverent, hilarious, and poignant video:

The APA Vagina Monologues
Thursday, May 17, 2012 7:30 PM
Castro Theatre
429 Castro Street (at Market)
San Francisco, CA 94114
United States

Tickets are $15-65 and can be purchased here.

Cute Korean Paper Doll

Just saw this on KokoLiving and thought it was too adorable not to share:

It's a cute little Korean paper doll complete with a sidebar containing little facts about Korea that could easily be made into a cute bookmark.

Download Paper-dolls-world-korea (PDF)

Happy Asian Pacific American History Month!

The charming men of the National Film Society recently gathered together a group of notable Asian Americans (including Kimchi brethren Phil Yu of Angry Asian Man, Randall Park, and Joy Osmanski), dubbed them "The Asian Avengers," and dished about the the cornucopia (or the lack thereof) of Asian role models they had when they were young:

You can see more of their work at their YouTube channel.

Happy International Women's Day!

Hey Kimchi Mamas!  

Did you know that we have our own day?  Here are some tips from World Vision on how to commemorate this special day.

1. Save a woman’s life in child birth: 
Did you know that in countries like Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, and Bolivia, having a baby is one of the most dangerous things a woman can do? By helping train local midwives in remote communities, you could save a life. Visit StrongWomenStrongWorld.org to learn more.

2. Mentor a girl close to home: 
A growing poverty rate, poor-performing schools, and teen violence make it tough to be a girl growing up here in our own country. Reach out and influence the life of a young girl in your own community by volunteering as a tutor or mentor. Get connected at BBBS.org.

3. Use your voice to stop trafficking: 
Human trafficking and sexual exploitation affects girls and women in horrific ways all around the world, but the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in the US Senate can help end the practice. Contact your Senators and ask them to renew this bill to protect women and girls, both here in the US and around the world.

4. Invest in a small business owner: 
Websites like WorldVisionMicro.org or Kiva.org connect you to hardworking women entrepreneurs, waiting to realize their dream of a dressmaking business, chicken farm, or food stall that will help them provide for their family. Even better, when the loan is paid off, your donated funds are loaned out again and again to make a bigger impact.

5. Provide the ticket to education—clean water: 
One of the most common reasons girls in poor communities miss schooling is the lack of clean water in their village. Millions of girls and women spend several hours each day fetching water—often dirty and dangerous to their health—instead of attending school. Give the gift of clean water, and open the door to education for a young girl.

6. Band together with like-minded women: 
Whatever your passion for helping other women, you’ll do it better—and have more fun doing it—with other women excited about the same cause. National movements like Women of Vision can connect you to a network of resources while allowing you to grow your own local group of women who want to make the world better for girls and their mothers.

7. Tell the women in your life that you care: 
Empowering women starts right in our families, workplaces, and neighborhoods. Celebrate this International Women’s Day by writing a note of thanks to that teacher who encouraged you years ago, picking up coffee for that new mom in your office who’s struggling to balance it all, or telling your own sister, daughter, or mother how much you appreciate them.

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World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender.

 

Heejun's Rise to Stardom

American Idol's Heejun Han is the Korean American zeitgeist.  He is showing the world how funny, charming, thoughtful, and kind our boys can be, and why we love them so much.  He is goofy, but with a palpable gravity that shows incredible character and depth.  And his voice?  He can do soulful, he can do gravelly, he can keep up with the smooth R&B operators.  Most of all, he sings like a red-blooded male.  He sings with REAL BALLZ.  Yes, with a Z!  Check it out:

I honestly couldn't contain myself while watching that clip.  I squealed like a schoolgirl seeing him laughing and dancing with those special needs children.  And when he told the audience how he fell into a deep depression, and those kids helped him recover, my heart shattered into a million pieces, and I turned into a puddle of goo.  A big pile of LOVE GOO!  OPPAAAAA!!!

Ahem, sorry.

It also broke my heart when he kept dogging on his looks.  I'm all for self-deprecating humor, but I think he really believes he's not good-looking, which is total BS. Just look at this screenshot:

He looks like any Korean actor in a Maxim coffee commercial!  Heejun, this ajumma gives you the Kimchi Cougar Sleazy Eyebrow Raise of Approval!

Sorry, Jeremy Lin, but Heejun has stolen my heart.  I hope this doesn't go down as another turnover.  Hoo-ah!  

(Jeremy, I'm actually just kidding about the turnover thingy.  I still love you.  Call me!)

--Julie

Call for Submissions at KoreanAmericanStory.org

Do you or your family members have stories to share for an anthology devoted to the Korean immigrant experience in the 70's and 80's?  If so, please consider submitting it for publication at KoreanAmericanStory.org.  They are collecting content in a variety of formats, and they will compensate for the stories they select for publication.

Details can be found here.

--Julie

Kimchi Mama Honor Roll: Hee Jun Han on "American Idol"

"American Idol" featured a Korean American contestant yesterday named Hee Jun Han.  With the goofy music playing in the background, the extended interview, and the overenthusiasm, I didn't know what to expect.  But Hee Jun, who hails from Flushing, NY, definitely gave "American Idol" some motherland flavor, from complimenting Ryan Seacrest on his small face (even comparing his face to his fist, which is SO KOREAN!) to his insistent self-deprecation.  He was super-endearing and gracious to the judges, and I think he's destined to become a fan favorite!

I'll be rooting for him! Hee Jun-ah FIGHTING!!!

--Julie

Houston, We Have a Problem...and a Confession

To my beloved Kimchi Mamas,

Please do me and our community a favor by reading this short article on self-harm and violence in the Korean American community

I know this seems like a big bummer to post this during the holiday season, but 'tis also the season for a spike in suicides, suicide attempts, and domestic violence.

Does this ring a bell for you at all?  It definitely did for me:

Grace Yoon, executive director of the Korean American Family Service Center in New York, told The Huffington Post that Koreans come to America with high hopes of acquiring wealth and providing a good education for their children. When their expectations are not met, some feel like they have let their families down. Yoon commented that the problem has gotten worse since the recession, "especially with Korean fathers and heads of households whose small businesses are not doing well."

The article goes on to say that the intergenerational language barrier as well as the cultural taboo against seeking mental health services may contribute to the higher-than-average suicide rate in Korean Americans.

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If this helps anyone at all, I'll just put myself out there as someone who did try to kill herself when she was in the throes of what she now recognizes as a major depressive episode.  

I was 21, feeling exhausted and beaten down, not doing well in school, but instead of seeking help, I just ignored my health and soldiered on, terrified of delaying my graduation by yet another quarter or year.  It got to the point where I stopped talking to my friends and stopped checking in with my parents, unable to keep up the lies when I claimed I was okay.  As I got more and more insular, my whole world consisted of my classes and my inability to attend them, my lack of focus, my inevitable failure.  So a few days before my first finals, hating myself for letting my parents down, they who worked so hard and sacrificed so much so that I could go to a top-notch school, and I couldn't even repay them with simply succeeding, I tried to take my own life.  I honestly thought I was doing them a favor, relieving a burden.

I was so, so lucky that my attempt was feeble at best, and my roommate was in the apartment.

After that, I was hospitalized for a week.  For some reason, I had this stereotype against psychiatry and didn't consider it a fully-valid field of medicine.  I could not have been more wrong.  Thanks to the medication, counseling, and support I received then and afterwards, I finally graduated from university.  My grade point average was barely enough to scrape past, and my department might or might not have overlooked a single missing requirement, but I did it.  And my life instantly became easier once I stepped foot outside that damn campus and moved on with my life.

Did I at 21 have even the tiniest correct inkling about how life after college would be like?  Absolutely not!  My instincts and intuition that I relied on so heavily turned out to be completely off; I think it was because I was completely biased to see only the negative.  That's what depression does; it skews your outlook on everything to just remember the negative and completely ignore the positive, and that small shift in perspective is what makes depression so dangerous.  It was actually quite a relief to discover that my "lenses" were off and needed readjusting.  

The turning point for me was my dad tearfully telling me that he would rather have a non-college-graduate daughter than no daughter at all.  That he would have let me crash at home for as long as I needed in order to get back on my feet again.  And that he was truly sorry that it had to come to this for him to tell me that, that this was completely uncharted territory for him, that we would get through this together.  My mom was too overcome with emotion to speak to me then, but as time went on, I came to realize that she felt the same way.  And believe me when I tell you that my parents made the Tiger Mom look like a kitten; that I was pushed very hard all my childhood; and if you had asked me before all this if I truly believed they loved me, I would have a hearty laugh at the mere notion.

But it turned out that my Korean parents, as stoic and strict and cruel and physically punitive as they were, were still parents.  And now they are very demonstrative, nurturing, giving, loving grandparents.  

And now, daily I think to myself, "I'm so relieved I'm not dead.  All the fun I would have missed out on!"

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If you at any point feel as hopeless as I did that summer, please know that you aren't "crazy," that you are struggling alongside countless others, that there are other solutions besides death, that people love you and are rooting for you, that honest-to-goodness there is light at the end of the tunnel.  Or at the very least, there are enough points of light inside the tunnel to make it worth sticking around to observe.  DO NOT MISS OUT ON THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.

Call a friend and tell them you need help, call 1-800-273-8255, go to the emergency room, connect with people online, just don't leave yourself alone with the thoughts you are thinking, the same way you would try to save your friend who is trapped in a house with someone who is trying to kill them.

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If you got this far, thanks so much for reading.  This was difficult to write.

--Julie

How Do White Supremacists View Asians?

Koji Steven Sakai at 8Asians.com did what many of us do not dare to do: he lurked on white supremacist discussion boards in order to see what they though of Asian people.

Sakai reported back that the feelings were in fact mixed; some white supremacists viewed Asians, especially the Japanese, as a race to respect and/or model in terms of setting up a homogeneous yet prosperous society.  Others viewed us as a yellow menace.  

The excerpts included in the article just chilled me to the bone.  I found it a fascinating read, and wanted to share with the Kimchi Mama community.  What did you guys think?

--Julie

PS: Koji Steven Sakai is currently working on "Chink," a horror movie with an Asian American protagonist.