The Souls of Yellow Folk: Essays by Wesley Yang reviewed
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Re: The Souls of Yellow Folk: Essays by Wesley Yang reviewed
#2> those — often Asian, usually male — who find themselves excluded from certain intangible perquisites of American life: love, success, security, and belonging
I’m going to need some actual data on that, compared to outcomes of different gender/ethnicity combos.
Re: The Souls of Yellow Folk: Essays by Wesley Yang reviewed
#3That's rather an ambitious title, isn't it? W.E.B. Dubois might be the most respected African-American intellectual, and "The Souls of Black Folk" might be his finest work. Yang is setting the bar rather high for himself.
Re: The Souls of Yellow Folk: Essays by Wesley Yang reviewed
#4> those — often Asian, usually male — who find themselves excluded from certain intangible perquisites of American life: love, success, security, and belonging I’m going to need some actual data on that, compared to outcomes of different gender/ethnicity combos.
This is not a quote from the book being reviewed, this is a quote from the review itself summarizing the book's stories. Fuller context:
"Representing a decade of journalism and essential reading for those concerned with identity in America today, Yang’s essays range from profiles of pickup artists to critiques of campus activism, but they tend to center on those — often Asian, usually male — who find themselves excluded from certain intangible perquisites of American life: love, success, security, and belonging."
So in context, you are asking for data... which would be asking "what are the subjects of each story in the book". You seem to be confusing the stories in a book of articles and essays with a statistical work about something else, or maybe you meant to ask a different question?
Re: The Souls of Yellow Folk: Essays by Wesley Yang reviewed
#5I just happened to read this book last week and as an fyi...
Despite the book's title, only the first 3 chapters out of 13 are focused on Asian culture. The other chapters talk about Aaron Swartz's legal battle and suicide, Tony Judt and his controversial position Israel, Neil Strauss and pick up artists, sex diaries and hookups on the web, etc. The Asian chapter on the Virginia Tech shooter's was educational for me because I didn't know his social awkwardness caused rejections from girls on campus and how it fueled his anger.
I thought the book was interesting. If you like Ribbonfarm type of writing, you might like his dissection of various topics.
Re: The Souls of Yellow Folk: Essays by Wesley Yang reviewed
#6> those — often Asian, usually male — who find themselves excluded from certain intangible perquisites of American life: love, success, security, and belonging I’m going to need some actual data on that, compared to outcomes of different gender/ethnicity combos.
Here is "love" data for college students. Take particular note of the summary:
> First, Asian guys are screwed, obviously.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2008/07/why-does-race...
Asians as a group have more economic success and security than whites do. But they're right to complain about love. Economic success doesn't mean much by itself, unless your idea of the good life is to sit in the dark muttering over your big pile of gold.
Re: The Souls of Yellow Folk: Essays by Wesley Yang reviewed
#7I'll be interested to read the book.
The "Paper Tigers" essay (subtitled "What happens to all the Asian-American overachievers when the test-taking ends?") was one of the best things I've read recently. It's been submitted to HN several times since being published in 2011, but hasn't gotten much discussion. Here's the one with the most: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7506651
The original essay is here: http://nymag.com/news/features/asian-americans-2011-5/
And here's clean PDF: http://nyapm.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/PaperTigers.pdf
Re: The Souls of Yellow Folk: Essays by Wesley Yang reviewed
#8I'll be interested to read the book. The "Paper Tigers" essay (subtitled "What happens to all the Asian-American overachievers when the test-taking ends?") was one of the best things I've read recently. It's been submitted to HN several times since being published in 2011, but hasn't gotten much discussion. Here's the one with the most: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7506651 The original essay is here: http://n…
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Re: The Souls of Yellow Folk: Essays by Wesley Yang reviewed
#9That's rather an ambitious title, isn't it? W.E.B. Dubois might be the most respected African-American intellectual, and "The Souls of Black Folk" might be his finest work. Yang is setting the bar rather high for himself.
Did you intend "ambitious" to be sarcastic? Given the content, it feels parallel calling Dubois "uppity": https://uppitynegronetwork.com/what-is-an-uppity-negro/
In the Paper Tigers essay, much time is spent condemning the highly regulated degree of ambition deemed appropriate for Asian Americans. Yang consciously rejects this, and wants the freedom to aim higher. From his Paper Tigers essay (and partially requoted in the article) he references James Baldwin:
I wanted what James Baldwin sought as a writer —“a power which outlasts kingdoms.” Anything short of that seemed a humiliating compromise. I would become an aristocrat of the spirit, who prides himself on his incompetence in the middling tasks that are the world’s business. Who does not seek after material gain. Who is his own law.
This, of course, was madness. A child of Asian immigrants born into the suburbs of New Jersey and educated at Rutgers cannot be a law unto himself.
I think it's fair to describe those who seek "a power which outlasts kingdoms" as "ambitious". The question is whether current American society treats this degree of ambition by Asian Americans the same as it does those of other races.
Re: The Souls of Yellow Folk: Essays by Wesley Yang reviewed
#10> those — often Asian, usually male — who find themselves excluded from certain intangible perquisites of American life: love, success, security, and belonging I’m going to need some actual data on that, compared to outcomes of different gender/ethnicity combos.
Okcupid did some analyses on this. The big losers in the US sexual market are black females, black males, and asian males.
https://theblog.okcupid.com/race-and-attraction-2009-2014-10...