I didn’t know who Paull Shin was before searching him up, but I’m glad I know who he is now because he seems like a very brave man. It takes a lot of courage and confidence to come out in the open and talk about his disease, and it takes real gusto to know when to quit. Reading about his accomplishments (like fighting to remove the word “oriental” from state texts and using “Asian” instead) shows that he is not just a beacon for Korean Americans, but for all Asian American communities in general.

Challenger

I grew up hearing all about the Challenger Disaster, but since it happened two years before I was born, my only experience was through pictures and school. However I didn’t really know anything about Ellison Onizuka (or the rest of the crew for that matter), who just happens to be the first Asian American in space. Like Paull Shin, Ellison was definitely a role-model for Asian Americans and it’s pretty sad what happened that day. After looking him up a bit, it seems as though he was very beloved indeed – there’s all kinds of places named after him, from street names in Little Tokyo to museums and centers for astronomy.

World War II Stragglers

Japan declared him the “Paragon of the Japanese Soldier”, a man so loyal that he sacrificed 29 years of his life participating in a war that didn’t exist anymore. This man is Hiroo Onoda and what a crazy story he has, and now all these years later in 2014 he departs this life for good. Onoda’s story really feels like a testament to the strict obedience and discipline found in Japan at the time, and it seems ripe for someone to turn it into a film or something. His story reminded me of The Cats of Mirikitani, mainly because Mirikitani was lost in limbo after World War II just like Onoda was. They both disappeared into jungles for years, the difference being that Mirikitani’s jungle was that of concrete and tall buildings.

How I Met Your Mother

I still can’t believe that after all these years, nobody realizes that when you do blanket stereotypes on television or film, you’re going to piss a lot of people off. I don’t understand why the writers/producers of How I Met Your Mother could really think that an episode like this would be met with…what…applause? I understand why they wanted to do a Kung Fu homage – it’s a great genre that a lot of people enjoy – but there could have been a much better way to go about it. That being said, How I Met Your Mother isn’t a bad show or anything and I think this should be chalked up to a stupid brainfart.