Monthly Archives: September 2011

blog, diversity, news, politics, race, sports

It is now 9-12. Back to the diversions…the NFL, the dying SF Giants, and coming to the aid of a real charity– “Kate plus 8”

Yesterday was appropriately somber.

Let’s see if we can keep up the memory of 9-11 long enough to let the spirit of unity seep into all the things that polarize us and keep us a part…at least politically.

http://aaldef.org/blog/taking-the-leap-the-horror-and-the-love-of-911.html

Yesterday, the diversions came back. Football was an escape—from baseball. My SF Giants won, but they’re on an egg-timer running out of sand.  Attention turns to the gridiron.  Hey what about that Cam Newton? People doubted his smarts. The guy is the real deal.  The 49ers win, but not because of Alex Smith. Ted Ginn Jr., take a bow. The Jets come to life on a Reavis INT. Hey what about that Cam Newton?

The morning news tries to revive American Jobs Act in the news cycle. I think Obama should have added reality TV stars to the list right after teacher layoffs.

Did you see poor Kate Gosselin on “The Today Show”?  Her shows being cancelled tonight and she’s out of a job. Boo-hoo.

Pathetic.  It may as well be a job interview.

The gal had the gall to dis her ex- who said it’s good that the kids could have a normal life. Instead of seconding the thought, Kate rails on about how John wants a “mediocre” life for his kids, and how going back to “normal” is cruel and unusual for the now reality TV addicted Kate and family.

I felt sad for the hapa kids who now have a media mother who has been sucked into the consumer culture big time. Reality is no longer good enough. Only the fake world  satisfies. 

Maybe we can find her a half-way house, a show on local cable. Or maybe a YOUTUBE channel.

The best idea to avoid John’s idea of “mediocre,” is to pimp herself and the kids out to a “mediocre” reality show. Since interracial forays are her thing, maybe she can hook-up with FlavaFlav and his big clock on BET? Or maybe Erik Estrada or George Lopez would like to do something with her on Telemundo. Or maybe she can have celebrity babysitters. The Kardashians? All of them.

But I think it’s sad for the half-Asian kids.

Their lives could use a different kind of Tiger Mom.

blog, news, race, sports

Baseball’s poetics: Down the stretch with the “2-1″ Giants, and then Velez scores

I have refrained from commenting too much on the Giants this year. I’ve watched or listened to every game, and lived and died with every one run victory.

Last night may have been the last straw for this SF native.  

Maybe the difference was that it was the Dodgers and Lincecum was on the mound for us. These are always meaningful games beyond the standings. Once again, Timmy was brilliant. But for a Giants pitcher to win a game by himself, he has to be brilliant plus.

The Giants staked him a 1 run lead.

A one-run-lead should be like giving salad to meat-eaters. It’s just the appetizer, right?

For the Giants, it’s the whole meal.

It takes four runs for the Giants to be bullet-proof. Unfortunately, this season it takes them four games to score that many.

Last night the Giants barely got three hits.

For this reason, I dub the 2011 team  “2-1” Giants.  No typo, it’s “Two to one.”  It’s emblematic of the ideal score and the most vigorous display of team offense this year. When we win, that is. Otherwise, it’s 2-1, Giants lose. Like last night.

We have been talking about this lack of offense for the last 5 years at least.  

“Get a slugger” has long been a refrain since the lament, “When Benjie Molina bats cleanup you’re in trouble.” But the Giants have always managed to be entertaining.  Hapless, nerf-bat swinging, not so-giant Giants.  I watched, I rooted, I cried. Losing was the norm. Close, but not close enough. Whatcha going to do? Root for the A’s?

Then 2010 came and the timely hitting and the luck played out. I went to every post-season game, to the parade, bought every T-shirt, the works.

Our reward in 2011 has been  a return to pre-2010. No laughers here. It’s baseball by the pitch. When you have a pitching team, that’s the way it is. You score one run, and your pitchers have to hold.  Makes for a tense,  frustrating game, because arms can’t score.

Love the K’s. But you can’t throw the ball over the fence and call it a home run for our side.

And when the defense fails and a cheap run for the other team scores, a pinprick turns into a dagger.

That happened last night with the Dodgers and their pinch-runner, Eugenio Velez.

Velez was part of those pre-2010 Giants teams,  the ones that made us sift and sort the Giants of the future. Would it be Bowker? Would it be pre-panda Panda?  Freddy Lewis?  Velez? Who would be Giant enough?

Velez had his shot. He did things with his bat and his speed, then he  undid most of it with his glove.  He had his time as a stick-figure lovable hero.  Amy G had him on. I was always bothered by how they pronounced his name. “Ay-you-henio? ” “You-henio” seems more like it. “Gene”?  “Gino”? The guy didn’t get to nickname status. No panda, no baby giraffe. No gazelle (for his speed).

When he was out of a job and found guys like Burriss and Ford back, it must have been tough for him. How oddly satisfying it must have been for him to put his spikes on home plate and score the run that would put the Giants eight-and-a-half games back.

That’s baseball’s poetics, folks. The tragedy has a beginning, middle and end.

The Giants were like a mythic tale last year. This year, they’re still an entertaining  page turner, but just a summer read, and now not likely at all to go deep into October.

blog, diversity, news, politics, race

9/11 fatigue? Not yet…it’s only 9/9! Besides, there was a good side to 9/11, that’s always worth remembering

It’s already happening. I heard someone in the media start sounding 9/11 phobic, like “haven’t we had enough memories, already.”

I don’t want to be a contrarian here. I’ve been saving up for this signifcant bench mark. The Tenth is special. Just far away and just close enough for some real perspective.

Besides, there’s a good part about 9/11 that we need to get in touch with again. It’s the part that sees all of us as one. 

No differences. Just our common humanity.  That’s worth enduring the big weekend rememberance.   Check out my amok comments on the subject at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund blog: http://aaldef.org/blog/taking-the-leap-the-horror-and-the-love-of-911.html

blog, diversity, everything else, news, race

Was yesterday the Last BBQ? To prevent heart disease, eat to live

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Well, did you eat to live? Or did you live to eat?

Since Labor Day is usually cook-out time,for most that meant skewering up some pork or beef over the grill.

Hope you remembered that the No.1 killer in America is heart disease.

According to the U.S. government, there’s more death related to cardiovascular disease than the combined rates of all other causes of death. That’s more than cancer, suicide, accidents, pneumonia/flu, diabetes, liver or kidney disease.

Of course, that’s never stopped anyone, especially my particular subgroup of Asian America–Filipino Americans–from devouring their BBQ and lechon.

Sound like you?  Then I suggest you watch the recent CNN special , “The Last Heart Attack,” with Dr. Sanjay Gupta.  

See it via this link:

The Last Heart Attack– Sanjay Gupta\’s CNN special

The special will give you everything you need to know to save your life, including giving up meat and moving toward a plant-based diet.

The program illustrates the difference between the good (HDL) and the lousy (LDL) cholesterol , and how the lousy cholesterol gets trapped in your arteries as plaque.

Turns out it matters how big the cholesterol chunks are. Bigger ones tend to flow through. Smaller ones tend to get stuck, solidify with other small chunks and cause blockages that result in heart attacks.

To find out whether you have big or small cholesterol coursing through your arteries requires a heart scan.

In the program, Gupta ups the ante by featuring the progress of former President Bill Clinton.  Check out how he went from chili dog chomper to veganism. And he did it all to save his heart.

You can too.

Don’t be fooled by stats released last year. The U.S. Office for Minority Health actually said Asian Americans were doing pretty well with a lower percentage of us with high cholesterol  and high blood pressure vs. the general population.

But that’s no reason to celebrate with some crispy pata.

Break down the numbers ethnically and Filipinos were exposed as among the worse for cholesterol, high blood pressure and hypertension. That’s not a winning trifecta.

Joining us were Native Hawaiians and Japanese.

But ahead of all of us are Asian Indians.  The Asian Indian men were found to have the highest prevalence of heart attacks compared to all, with a heart disease rate three times higher than the U.S. rate. Some doctors say it could mean that the spread of heart disease among Asian Indians is genetic.

In that sense, Gupta’s report is a tad self-serving.  But he does talk to experts who say heart disease doesn’t have to be a fait accompli.  The effects of all that bad eating can actually be reversed—by some timely and healthy eating.

The recommendation: Don’t eat anything that has a face or comes from a mother.

Cow, pig, chicken, fish, aso. OUT.  Whole grains, vegetables, fruits , beans, IN. 

Change your life? Change your food. Heart disease is a preventable, food-born illness.  

You just have to dare not to eat Filipino.

Since 1989, despite a few lapses, I’ve been pretty much vegetarian for selfish reasons. I want to live.

Last week, my sister had this revelation for me.

“I’m taking the same pills as mama,” she said.

I was shocked. She’s just a year older than me, and apparently is on course to mirror my mother and father, health-wise. Both died of heart disease.

My sister, like you, need to watch the aforementioned CNN special.

By eating to live, you can save your life.