Author Archives: Efren

About Efren

Efren is a 30-something queer Filipino American guy living in San Francisco. In the past, he was a wanna-be academic even teaching in Asian American studies at San Francisco State, a wanna-be queer rights and HIV activist, and he used to "blog" when that meant spewing one's college student angst using a text editor on a terminal screen to write in a BBS or usenet back in the early 90s. For all his railing against the model minority myth, he's realized he's done something only a few people can claim--getting into UCSF twice, once for a PhD program in medical sociology which he left; and then for pharmacy school, where he'll be a member of the class of '13. He apologizes profusely for setting the bar unintentionally high for his cousins. blog twitter

Gay Interracial Relationships: On Being “Sticky Rice” and Loving Other Asian Men

Posted on June 17, 2008 by Efren

So Jeff Yang up and did it — he talked about interracial relationships among Asians, but added a twist and focused on straight Asian men. And while it’s all well and good, and talks about on a really peripheral level … Continue reading →

Posted in Discrimination, LGBT, Observations | 52 Comments

Hot Asian dykes! On reality TV! And they’re not Tila Tequila!

Posted on June 10, 2008 by Efren

Ok, so I put that last bit in to get all the Tila Tequila trolls to check this out. After trying desperately not to see (and failing miserably) the whole debacle of so-called bisexual Tila Tequila’s show, A Shot At … Continue reading →

Posted in Entertainment, LGBT | 20 Comments

The San Jose Little Saigon controversy and its impact on Vietnamese American politics

Posted on June 9, 2008 by Efren

In the San Jose Mercury News today, there’s an article on the impact on Vietnamese American politics and politicians in San Jose. Madison Nguyen, the first Vietnamese American to ever be elected to San Jose’s city council despite the city … Continue reading →

Posted in Observations, Politics | 6 Comments

Asian American 2.0?

Posted on May 27, 2008 by Efren

In SFGate today, Jeff Yang talks about the clashing ideas of Asian American identity among generations, namely my generation (people born in the 70s) and older, and those who are in their teens and 20s. He brings up issues that … Continue reading →

Posted in Lifestyles | 58 Comments

George Takei is getting married!

Posted on May 20, 2008 by Efren

After the decision by California to allow same-sex marriages last Thursday, hundreds of queer couples are planning to get married, including George Takei and his partner, Brad Altman. In his announcement on his web site, George Takei notes parallels in … Continue reading →

Posted in Current Events, Discrimination, Entertainment, LGBT, Lifestyles, Observations, WTF | 4 Comments

California overturns same-sex marriage ban

Posted on May 15, 2008 by Efren

This morning, the California Supreme Court overturned a ban on same-sex marriage based on a lawsuit filed in part by Stuart Gaffney, a queer mixed-race Asian man, declaring that prior laws discriminated against same-sex couples on the basis of sexual … Continue reading →

Posted in Current Events, LGBT | Tagged | 1 Comment

Filipino doctors suspended over YouTube “rectal surgery video”

Posted on May 15, 2008 by Efren

As someone who currently works in health care in the US, I’m constantly being reminded to maintain patient confidentiality, making sure not to talk about any cases out in public, or mention any names or other personal information, for fear … Continue reading →

Posted in Current Events, Discrimination, LGBT, Observations, WTF | 18 Comments

AsiaSF goes Hollywood!

Posted on May 7, 2008 by Efren

One of San Francisco’s best known restaurants, AsiaSF, is establishing a new restaurant in Hollywood, called AsiaSF Hollywood (which kinda sounds like the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, but I digress). Aside from the lethal drinks and pretty good small … Continue reading →

Posted in Entertainment, Food & Drink, LGBT | 2 Comments

Costco Begins Rice Rationing

Posted on April 24, 2008 by Efren

Getting rice for free has always been a given in nearly all the Asian restaurants I’ve been to (except, of course, for the ones that cater more towards white people who had the gall to charge, and meant that I … Continue reading →

Posted in Current Events, Food & Drink, WTF | Tagged , | 14 Comments

Downelink, Being Downe and the Gay Asian Community

Posted on April 7, 2008 by Efren

So a couple of days ago, I gave a lecture for a good friend’s class in SFSU’s Asian American Studies Department on HIV/AIDS and the queer API men’s community. It brought up a lot of interesting memories, since I used … Continue reading →

Posted in LGBT, Lifestyles, Observations | 18 Comments

Chop Socky!

Posted on April 2, 2008 by Efren

So in an e-mail that we all got from our fearless leader, Ernie, we got this rather interesting synopsis of an upcoming cartoon on Cartoon Network, Chop Socky Chooks: Lets analyze why this show is freaking racist to Asians. First … Continue reading →

Posted in Discrimination, Entertainment, Observations, WTF | 13 Comments

Duel Love: Soft porn on your DS!

Posted on March 5, 2008 by Efren

As most gamers know, there’s a lot of video games out there that basically parades as soft porn for guys, especially in Japan, where it’s fairly common to buy “video games” that consists of looking at big-breasted girls in various … Continue reading →

Posted in Entertainment, Video Games, WTF | 12 Comments