Month: April 2021

On April 8th, 2021, The Lotus hosted its first ever Asian Studies Alumni Career Panel. The purposes of this career exploration event were to better understand post-graduation opportunities for students who studied Asian Studies; discuss work or fellowship experiences in Asia; and more broadly, address post-CC trajectories, questions, and concerns. The CC alumni that The Lotus had the privilege of inviting and hearing from were: Shayna McClure ‘18, Rishi Ling ‘18, Keita Moore ‘11, and Deme Yuan ‘02.  Shayna McClure ’18 majored in Molecular Biology and minored in Asian Studies. Shayna studied Japanese for 4 years and studied abroad in Japan for 5 months at the International Christian University in Mitaka, Tokyo. She is currently a 2nd year pharmacy student at The University of...

Let the words speak. Let the wounds heal. Lâm Thiên Nghi  [ a poetry exploration of body, of womxnhood, of herstory, and the future. ]

By Kelly Yue The Lotus paid a socially-distanced visit to the Asian House on a Wednesday evening to participate in their weekly dinner and speak with the Japanese Cultural Program Coordinator (CPC), Machi Niiya, as well as three residents (Sarah Yamamoto, Luca Xu, and Andrew Choy) to learn about their experiences living in the Asian House. During normal times, the Asian House would house 13 residents including the CPC. But due to the pandemic, the number of residents was reduced to 6 this year. Luca says the smaller number of residents made the Asian House feel like a home to her. While social distancing guidelines made it difficult for students to interact with the broader campus community, they prompted Asian House residents to develop more intimate relationships. “Hanging out ...

By Jia Mei On March 15, 2021, I got a New York Times notification on my phone saying that a shooting at spas in Atlanta killed 8 people. Two hours later, my roommate told me that some of the victims have been identified– 6 of whom were women of Asian descent. As an Asian American who has been following the news on the rise in anti-Asian violence during the pandemic, I couldn’t help but think back on all the deeply rooted problems that led up to this tragic mass shooting.  Growing up, I knew of many Asian relatives and friends’ families that worked in industries that exploited their labor—from restaurants to nail shops to salons to massage spas. The work conditions for these places are far from desirable, but this was a way of surviving in a capitalist economy that depended on th...

In predominantly white institutions such as CC, it can be challenging to feel like all aspects of your identity are acknowledged and respected. Affinity groups can help people feel seen with respect to the various identities they hold.  – Mateen Zafer[1] Discrimination, hate, and the purposeful exclusion of the Asian American community peaked on the 16th of March when a gunman killed eight people across three different spas in Atlanta. Six of the victims: Soon Chung Park, 74; Hyun Jung Grant, 51; Suncha Kim, 69; Yong Ae Yue, 63; Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33; Xiaojie Tan, 49; Daoyou Feng, 44, were of Asian origin.[2] Their murders highlighted the bitter reality of how various stereotypes and myths around Asian communities – whether it is the sexualization of Asian women, or the ...