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About The Asian reporter. (Portland, Or.) 1991-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 3, 2014)
OPINION Page 6 n THE ASIAN REPORTER November 3, 2014 Volume 24 Number 21 November 3, 2014 ISSN: 1094-9453 The Asian Reporter is published on the first and third Monday each month. Please send all correspondence to: The Asian Reporter 922 N Killingsworth Street, Portland, OR 97217 Phone: (503) 283-4440, Fax: (503) 283-4445 News Department e-mail: news@asianreporter.com Advertising Department e-mail: ads@asianreporter.com General e-mail: info@asianreporter.com Website: www.asianreporter.com Please send reader feedback, Asian-related press releases, and community interest ideas/stories to the addresses listed above. Please include a contact phone number. Advertising information available upon request. Publisher Jaime Lim Contributing Editors Ronault L.S. Catalani (Polo), Jeff Wenger Correspondents Ian Blazina, Josephine Bridges, Pamela Ellgen, Maileen Hamto, Edward J. Han, A.P. Kryza, Marie Lo, Simeon Mamaril, Julie Stegeman, Toni Tabora-Roberts, Allison Voigts Illustrator Jonathan Hill News Service Associated Press/Newsfinder Copyright 2014. Opinions expressed in this newspaper are those of the authors and not necessarily those of this publication. Member Associated Press/Newsfinder Asian American Journalists Association Better Business Bureau Pacific Northwest Minority Publishers (PNMP) Philippine American Chamber of Commerce of Oregon MY TURN n Marie Lo Rethinking the “home” in “homesteading” Correspondence: The Asian Reporter welcomes reader response and participation. Please send all correspondence to: Mail: 922 N Killingsworth Street, Portland, OR 97217-2220 Phone: (503) 283-4440 ** Fax: (503) 283-4445 News Department e-mail: news@asianreporter.com General e-mail: info@asianreporter.com SUBSCRIPTION RATES (U.S. rates only) Individual subscription (sent bulk rate): q Half year: $14 q Full year: $24 q Two years: $40 Individual subscription (sent first class mail): q Half year: $24 q Full year: $40 q Two years: $72 Office subscription (5 copies to one address): q Half year: $40 q Full year: $75 q Two years: $145 Institutional subscription (25 copies to one address): q Half year: $100 q Full year: $180 q Two years: $280 NEW SUBSCRIBER / ADDRESS CORRECTION INFORMATION FORM: Subscriber’s name: Company name: Address: City, State, ZIP: Phone: Fax: E-mail: Mail with payment or Fax with credit card information to: The Asian Reporter, Attn: Subscription Dept., 922 N Killingsworth Street, Portland, OR 97217-2220 Phone: (503) 283-4440 * Fax: (503) 283-4445 q q q For VISA, Mastercard, or American Express payment only: Name (as it appears on the card): Type of card (circle): VISA Mastercard Card number: American Express Security code: Expiration date: Address of card: The last four issues of The Asian Reporter are available for pick up free at our office 24 hours a day at 922 N Killingsworth Street, Portland, Oregon. Back issues of The Asian Reporter may be ordered by mail at the following rates: First copy: $1.50 Additional copies ordered at the same time: $1.00 each Send orders to: Asian Reporter Back Issues, 922 N. Killingsworth St., Portland, OR 97217-2220 The Asian Reporter welcomes reader response and participation. If you have a comment on a story we have printed, or have an Asian-related personal or community focus idea, please contact us. Please include a contact name, address, and phone number on all correspondence. Thank you. have lived in Portland for more than 11 years, but it was only during the past year, when my husband, daughter, and I lived temporarily in San Antonio, Texas, that I realized how “Portland-y” I’ve become. We lived in a part of San Antonio called the Pearl. We frequented the farmers market and ate at the two vegetarian restaurants in the city. I sat by our apartment pool in 100+ degree weather knitting a cowl. Our Subaru Outback stuck out like a flannel shirt at a debutante ball. One could tell from a mile away that we weren’t from around those parts. Now that we’re back in Portland with its gray drizzling days, I feel right at home. There are vegetarian and vegan options everywhere we go. I can knit and spin yarn without feeling awkward and self-conscious. Portland is a crafty hub of sustainability, where “being green” is a badge of pride and not a state of envy. Back to Portland also means back to the world of urban homesteads, where gardens, composting, and backyard chickens live in perfect eco-harmony. We gather around the television to watch reruns of “Little House on the Prairie,” a cultural model of the romance of homesteading if there ever was one. It is one of my husband’s favorite shows. He is, of course, an Oregonian — born and raised — and he grew up on a farm where it wasn’t unusual to snuggle up with baby goats on the couch. This little family idyll, however, is interrupted by our six-year-old who asks, “Why aren’t there any Asian people on the show?” My husband and I look at each other, wondering where to begin. Do we go with the historical answer? And what would be the historical answer? That there were hardly any Asians on American television shows in the late 1970s? Or, would the historical answer be that this show was based on books by Laura Ingalls Wilder and reflected the general absence of Asians in early 20th-century literature? Or, do we talk about how these omissions are the result of laws that not only prevented Asian settlement and encouraged Europeans homesteaders, but that also took this land away from Native Americans? We went with an answer about immigration, explaining how early Asian immigrants were mainly men who worked on the railroads and that I during this period, there weren’t many Asians in Minnesota. I couldn’t help but wonder if we neglected to point out the obvious — that if she were to watch television shows from the past few decades, there would be just as few Asians on television as there were on the prairies in the late 19th century. For example, shows like “Sex and the City” and the more recent program “Girls” are set in New York City, home to more than one million Asian Americans, according to the 2010 census. Yet, Asian-American characters on these shows are about as prominent as “Wing,” the Chinese railroad worker played by legendary Japanese-American actor James Shigeta, who only appeared in one episode during season three of “Little House.” Her question also pointed out a gap in contempo- rary homesteading narratives, especially ones that are popular in Portland. Where are Asian Ameri- cans? What are the factors and reasons behind our relative lack of visibility? Have we been mainly focused on exploring issues of immigration and assimilation at the expense of other issues? To what extent do Asian-American experiences not align with this particular narrative as it is based on Euro-American homesteading experiences and enabled by the racist and colonizing 1862 Home stead Act? The concepts of home and belonging have long been central to Asian-American cultural expres- sions. Should the word “home” in “homesteading” also be examined from Asian-American perspec- tives as well? There are a few Asian-American writers — in- cluding David Mas Masumoto and Ruth Ozeki — who have explored some aspects of urban home- steading narratives such as organic farming, genet- ically modified plants, and the meat industry. And there is Bich Minh Nguyen’s 2014 book, Pioneer Girl, which is based on the original title of Wilder’s autobiography. As Nguyen’s literary mystery shows, there is room for examining the intersec- tions of homesteading and immigration. This, I hope, will also be a vital site of Asian-American cul- tural critique. And until more Asian Americans en- gage, complicate, and expand the current discourse of homesteading, the answer to the question “why aren’t there any Asians?” will continue to be based on simple references to the historical past. Opinions expressed in this newspaper are those of the authors and not necessarily those of this publication. Wondering what events are going on this week? Check out The Asian Reporter’s Community and A.C.E. Calendar sections, on pages 10 and 12.
