Commenter Spotlight: Byron Wong

Commenter Spotlight is a weekly interview with the people who comment on 8Asians.com – whether what they have to say is insightful, touching, humorous or controversial, they’ve earned the respect of other 8Asians.com readers.

8Asians readers, meet commenter Byron Wong:

Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? What do you do for a living?

My name is Byron Wong, and I live in Portland, Oregon. I have a caring and beautiful wife, two wonderful children who are four and two, and a fun and interesting job as a mortgage banker. Job-wise, I live in interesting times. I blog at bigWOWO, where I write on activism, politics, economics, intellectual ideas, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), and Asian American literature. I also blog at RiceDaddies, where I’m one of a group of Asian American dad-bloggers. I also write fiction.

More from his interview, after the jump!

How did you find out 8Asians?

I found out about 8Asians from the Fighting 44s, where I was a blogger/admin. We had some really fun cross-blog conversations back then. The old days of the internet forum, once popular, never to return. Sniff. I’m getting nostalgic just thinking about it.

What kinds of posts on 8Asians do you comment on the most?

I like reading and commenting on the posts about parenting, masculinity, media, gender issues, and activism. I’m a big fan of Jeff and Tim, and I’m happy that Akrypti came back too.

What has been the post on 8Asians you’ve reacted the most strongly? Are you the type of person to click BORED on a post?

It’s a testament to my old experience in the blogosphere that I don’t react as strongly anymore when it comes to commenting. I used to get angry at commenters/bloggers who chose to ignore or downplay the gender divide in the Asian American community, but these days, I tend to react mostly when a line of conversation requires a correction of fact. My most recent reactive comments took place on Edward’s article, where I felt I had to set the record straight on Pick Up Artists, and I had to share how I’ve personally seen their lifestyle choices harm relationships between Asian men and Asian women. It breaks my heart. In most cases, I comment out of love.

I’ve never ever clicked “Bored.” There’s always something exciting to learn from every post or comment.

What’s your Asian comfort food?

Chow fun. I usually order the House Special. If my family isn’t fast enough, I’ll eat the whole thing myself.

Anything else you want to add?

Props to the 8A community for creating a great space for Asian Americans to write, share, and network. It’s now part of my life’s mission to someday attend an 8Asians party in California.

If you’d like to interviewed for Commenter Spotlight, make sure your 8Asians LiveFyre profile has at least ten points and contact the editors.