Asians In the (Inaugural) Spotlight

I just wanted to geek out a little bit about how a few Asians played pretty integral roles (both direct and indirect) in the inauguration ceremonies last week:

Yo-Yo Ma
Yeah, maybe his cello performance was “lip-synced”. But let’s face it, he’s no Milli. Or even Vanilli. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that this guy can pull off a soul-shaking, life-altering performance. In fact, he can probably do so with less effort than you or I use to scratch our butt. The important thing is, he was up there, smiling, having the time of his life, doing what he was put on this earth to do: play the $*%@#! out of the cello... And he was doing it for an incredible ocassion.

Jason Wu
This 26-year old designer apparently had no idea his dress was even picked by the First Lady until he saw it on TV. According to Wu, the only protocol for the dress was that "it had to sparkle." And sparkle it did! The man's was already gaining quite a bit of noteriety in the fashion business. Says the Times: "His dolls ($70 to $400) are sold at F. A. O. Schwarz. His evening dresses ($2,990 to $4,700) are sold at Bergdorf Goodman... Mr. Wu mentions that his collection is expected to have sales of $4 million this year." Awesome.

Luke Song
This guy designed the infamous hat that Aretha Franklin wore during her performance of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” Apparently the first lady of soul has been a customer of his family’s store for about 20 years. Oh yeah, and the hat store is called Mr. Song Millinery. I had no idea the word "millinery" even existed until now. Yay for Asians and new vocabulary!

Konrad Ng
Admittedly, Konrad didn’t “do” anything at the inauguration. But as the First Brother-In-Law, he was sitting up there, as part of the first family. How awesome is that?? The NY Times even did an article about the multi-cultural nature of the First Family.

Props to mah peoples.

-e