Category Archives: blog

blog, news

Apple’s Steve Jobs made us all better with the tools he left us, but he left us too soon

I bought my first Apple in 1984.

It was the Mac. I just had to have it. I had no practical use for it. I had a computer at work (a PC) and didn’t bring work home. I didn’t have a business. No need to do spreadsheets. There certainly was no internet. I just wanted the hot thing. So the Mac sat on my desk next to all my other gadgets like my TRS-100 and my Osborne. I believe in technology. It doesn’t always believe in me. But I believe in technology to transform life. And that I suppose is the reason we mourn Steve Jobs.

He gave us all the right tools.

He didn’t tell us what to say or do. He left that to us. But he gave us the tools to live our dreams.

Jobs really was the anti-corporate ideal. He was a true corporate rebel. And he won. Even after being fired from Apple, he came back and led its rebirth. I wonder why more corporate heads don’t adopt his style. The difference isn’t just generational or about the tech business.

He did something really revolutionary. He made products for the people. Products for the rest of us.

They weren’t cheap, which is why most people went with PCs. But Apple was all about simplicity, beauty and ease of use.

He made tech human. You didn’t have to know DOS to make the darn thing run.

Jobs integrated the code into our lives. And now even if you’re a PC guy, you felt his presence. Jobs created pressure on the competition to be even better at being Mac-like. And now how can we live without all these tools that make us do what we do?

I never met Jobs. I did meet Woz several times. And now I see. Woz was the nerd’s nerd. Jobs was the dreamer.

One other thing that gets me about Jobs is he is my age.

I like to tell a self-deprecating joke about being in the same Harvard Class as Bill Gates. I graduated. He dropped out. I guess I showed him.

But Jobs was the dropout who trumped us all.

He’s a reminder that we can all accomplish so much more if we are lucky to discover what we were truly put on this earth to do.

Here’s Jobs’ Commencement address at Stanford (2005) that you may have seen snippets of on TV.

When you ever feel ready to give up on things, watch it. Get inspired. It’s a simple message. Have faith that the dots will connect. Find what you love and believe. Live each day as if it were your last, because yes, you will be dead soon. And as an homage to the Whole Earth Catalogue, stay hungry, stay foolish.

blog, diversity, news, politics, race

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is over, but not in real life; The New York Times wants to know about “Anderson”

Everyone should be marching and saluting now that “Don’t ask, don’t tell” is over in the military.

Check out my latest column on the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund blog:

http://aaldef.org/blog/dont-ask-dont-tell-bad-for-the-military-but-good-enough-for-civilian-life-and-anderson-1.html

blog, diversity, news, politics, race

More fuel for that Model Minority Myth: We’re No.1! Asian Americans tops in U.S. for median household income. So why don’t I feel rich?

You know the Model Minority Myth.  The myth perpetrators, mostly conservative whites, put us up on a pedestal as the shining example of minority achievement. They  talk about how Asian Americans are so great, and imply to other people of color that they should follow our example, and act like us.

But it’s a myth, we aren’t all that, and we spend most of our lives trying to live down the MMM.

Now with the Census Bureau’s release that more and more Americans are living in poverty, there is a bit of MMM bait that you might see used. 

Did you see it stick out like a burnt potsticker? 

Asian Americans are again No.1 in median household incomes in the U.S., a trend that began in 2000 and continues.

We’re rich! We’re better than whites! Hip-hip-hooray?

Asian Americans are supposed to be number-types, but only the most wretched Tiger Moms and Dads would take pride in those stats.

As usual, the Census numbers obscure some truths about the community.

No matter how high the median income, there’s still plenty of pain.

Read more in my amok column on the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund blog….

http://aaldef.org/blog/emergency-chute-needed-even-for-asian-americans.html