Voxcali

Nigo created a hit shark hoodie, brought Japanese streetwear to America, and helped produce “Tokyo Drift”, earning him a pop culture star.

Nigo is the godfather of Japanese streetwear and in this industry, he’s been behind the scenes running things.

He was born Tomoaki Nagao in Maebashi, a central city in Japan, and Nigo always had an eye for fashion and American pop culture. He took his interest to Tokyo to study at Bunka Fashion College which is a prestigious school known to produce Japanese fashion legends. While in school, Nigo was enrolled in a fashion editing class and started his career working for Popeye Magazine, one of Japan’s most influential publications.

In 1993 Nigo borrowed 4 million yen from a friend to open ‘Nowhere’, his very first clothing store in the Harajuku District. Here he began selling t-shirts and camouflage hoodies which would later be recognized as the highly desired brand A Bathing Ape also known as BAPE.

At first he was designing thirty to fifty pieces at a time, sending half of them off to his buddies in the industry including big names like Pharell Williams and Kanye West. With pink shark zip ups and limited edition drops, BAPE quickly became one of the most popular brands amongst teenagers and rappers in both the U.S and Japan.

By the late ‘90s, BAPE had six stores in Japan that were bringing in 2 million yen a year. For decades Nigo’s iconic designs were the most recognizable Asian streetwear symbols expanding to shoes and children’s clothes.

But BAPE wasn’t Nigo’s only endeavor. In 2003 alongside Pharell Williams, he launched Billionaire Boys Club and sister brand Ice Cream. Together the duo combined Japanese streetwear and U.S. hip hop with their bright graphics and flashy details.

That same year Nigo expanded his talent into the music industry, becoming the DJ and producer for Japanese hip hop group Teriyaki Boyz who are responsible for the hit “Tokyo Drift” from The Fast and the Furious series.

In 2011 Nigo sold 80% of BAPE to Hong Kong fashion conglomerate I.T for $2.8 million before officially leaving in 2013 to work on expanding another one of his labels called Human Made. Even after departing from BAPE, Nigo’s influence continued to be recognized.

He worked with Louis Vuitton and style visionary Virgil Abloh on two exclusive collections in 2020 and in 2021 he was named the new artistic director at KENZO.

Aside from KENZO, Nigo is still collaborating with major brands and paving his way as a cultural icon. He’s climbed the industry ladder, shaping Japan’s street style to running global fashion houses proving his legacy to be a global movement.

A Korean American from Washington earned a lasting place in the hip-hop and K-pop scenes in both the US and South Korea.

Jay Park is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, dancer, and entrepreneur whose Usher-esque performances have captivated global audiences from his current base in S. Korea.

At 38 he continues touring across the Pacific while releasing his single “Remedy.”

Park’s US music career went into high gear in 2017 when he was signed by Jay-Z’s Roc Nation as the first Asian American artist on the record label.  He released 2 EPs with the label in collaboration with his own label AOMG, including the hit “Soju” featuring rapper 2 Chains.

That same year Park founded the label H1ghr Music focused on Seattle and South Korean hip hop talent.

Park’s career as an entertainer began in 2010 with a cover of B.o.B’s “Nothin’ on You” that went viral on YouTube.  It led to an official collaboration and enabled his debut EP Count On Me which sold more than 5 million copies while driving the original song’s popularity in South Korea.

Park released a 2011 mini-album Take a Deeper Look featured “Abandoned” which peaked at number 2 on the US World Charts with songs in Korean and English.

The EP’s success led to 2012’s New Breed, the first of his six studio albums, which topped the charts in South Korea.  The lead single “Girlfriend” was produced by fellow AOMG member Cha Cha Malone.  

Park’s debut album won him the “Netizen’s Choice Male Artist of the Year” at the Korean Music Awards.

The resulting fame allowed him to found his own label, AOMG which has released four albums: Evolution in 2014, Worldwide in 2015, Everything You Wanted in 2016, and The Road Less Traveled in 2019.  The first three charted top five in South Korea.

In 2022 Park founded More Vision to focus on K-Pop.

Park has over 3 million followers each on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Spotify.

His most viewed YouTube videos are the sexually charged “Mommae” with 181 million views and the flashy choreography of “All I Wanna Do” with 79 million views.  Both are also his most streamed songs.

As a high schooler in greater Seattle Park joined the b-boy crew Art of Movement in 2003 as he began exploring music.  A local talent audition hosted by South Korean conglomerate JYP Entertainment earned him a spot on the K-pop boy band 2PM.  In the course of a docuseries Park ultimately became group leader under the name Jaebeom.

2PM debuted its lead single “10 Out of 10” in 2008, but Park left the group after only a year after he made disparaging comments about Koreans.  He was “young and dumb,” he later reflected. Park has served as a judge or producer on various music and talent competition shows, including “Show Me the Money” and “Asia’s Got Talent.”  He was also a cast member on “Saturday Night Live Korea.”

These AAPI-owned beauty brands deserve a place in your makeup bag.

These AAPI beauty brands are not just a part of a trend, they are taking over the future of cosmetics. 

Patrick Ta Beauty

Celebrity makeup artist, Patrick Ta, founded his own brand in 2019 that brings full glam formulas right to your vanity. His line is known for its blendable blushes and radiant bronzers and was created to give everyone that signature Patrick Ta glow. 

Glamnetic

Thailand native Ann McFerran developed Glamnetic in 2019 to offer lash lovers an easy-to-apply magnetic lash. These viral lashes have completely changed the game for anyone who struggles to get their lashes to stick or doesn’t want to spend hundreds on lash extensions. 

Live Tinted 

Beauty influencer Deepica Mutyala launched Live Tinted in 2018 with one viral product called the Huestick which acted as a color corrector, lip, and cheek tint. Today Live Tinted offers a full range of inclusive products that prioritize skin health.

Kulfi Beauty

Priyanka Ganjoo founded Kulfi Beauty in 2021 with a strong focus on South Asian beauty bringing underrepresented skin tones to the forefront. Their creamy concealers and fun lip shades were designed to celebrate individuality. 

Peach & Lily

South Korean born Alicia Yoon was a major player in bringing the K-beauty wave to the United States. She founded Peach & Lily in 2012 with a love for clean and gentle formulas that would eventually help popularize “glass skin” around the world. 

Her blend of deep football knowledge and sharp wit has made Mina Kimes a highly paid and respected analyst in the male-dominated world of sports media.

The depth of her NFL analyses has made Mina Kimes one of the most respected female voices in sports media.

Since joining ESPN in 2014 Kimes has made regular appearances on First Take, Highly Questionable, Pardon the Interruption, and Around the Horn.  She was named an analyst for NFL Live in 2020 alongside former players Dan Orlovsky, Marcus Spears, Ryan Clark, and Keyshawn Johnson. 

Her acumen with X’s and O’s is the heart of The Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny, a football-focused podcast produced by Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions since 2022.  The podcast can be found on her YouTube channel which has nearly 90,000 subscribers.  The pigskin prof has won 900,000 followers on X and 376,000 on Instagram.

In September 2023 Kimes signed a multiyear deal with ESPN at $1.7 million per year.  Her podcast deal with Omaha Productions is separate and reportedly pushes her combined income past $2 million annually.

Kimes has also worked as a color commentator for Los Angeles Rams preseason games.

Outside of sports she has hosted after-shows for the Netflix series Love is Blind and HBO’s Big Little Lies.  She was a Celebrity Jeopardy! contestant who won her first show.

Before her sports media career Kimes was a business journalist working for Fortune Magazine from 2007 to 2013 and as a Bloomberg News investigative reporter in 2013.

Kimes was born in Omaha, Nebraska and raised in Gilbert, Arizona where she was her high school’s valedictorian. She graduated summa cum laude from Yale with a bachelor of arts in English in 2007.  Kimes is Korean on her mother’s side.  She has been married since 2015 and welcomed a son in 2023.  She has joked that she decided to have a kid in part because they had the “cap space.”

Our Beltway Brain Rom Basu Borsellino explains why President Trump may get impeached but is unlikely to be convicted and removed from office after the midterm elections.

Hello, this is Tom Kagy with Unconventional Wisdom. Today we have as our expert, Rom Basu Borsellino. Rom's main qualification for speaking on these issues is that he spent 10 years in Washington, D.C., two of them in the White House itself. And actually maybe an even more important qualification is that Rom is the product of the heartland of America, Iowa, which is probably about as close as you can get to the heartland of the whole MAGA movement.

We have been dealing with a president who has disrupted everything in the six months or so that he's been in office. He's disrupted global trade. He's disrupted the migrant workforce. He's disrupted our sense of what is proper for a president to do by sending in National Guard and even active duty Marines into Los Angeles. Now he's doing the same thing with Washington, D.C.

He has tried to bully our elite universities into towing his philosophy on education, which is practically unheard of, unspeakable really for an American president. He has alienated all of our main allies. 

Pretty much he's made America a combination of a laughing stock and a bully. So a lot of us would love to see his character go. And our hope is that come midterms, we will have the proper composition in Congress to make this happen.

Rom has his own ideas about what the prospect of something like that happening are. And so I figured this would be a good conversation to get Rom's view on why this may not happen.  Rom, that a pretty accurate statement of your view?

Romen (02:14)

Thank you, Tom. Thank you for having me. I simply don't see it. I don't see  the math there to impeach the president.  I would put the prospect of that happening, Tom, at near zero percent, is my view.

Tom Kagy (02:31)

Okay. And what is that based on Rom? Why are you so pessimistic about this?

Romen (02:33)

I would say, Tom, that the number one reason I don't see this happening is because Republicans had the chance to do it before and they simply didn't. They chose not to on a couple different occasions. you know, now they have even better conditions to not break from the president. They, you know, control both the House and the Senate.  But again, even if that were to change, I think the Republican Party has gotten more conservative and more sycophantic towards Trump.

So I would look to the past and say, why didn't they do it at all during the first term, at least more than a handful of Republicans? And don't see that changing.

Tom Kagy (03:15)

Well, could we maybe hope that the conditions that Trump has introduced in his second term are just much more extreme than what he did or managed to get done in the first term?

Romen (03:27)

I think that's a totally fair point and I think that the number of things that he's done in such a short period of time, so many of them, a lot of people view as pretty heinous, seem like impeachable offenses. But again, let's look at the things that, you know, he was sort of getting in trouble for during the first term. This was not necessarily an impeachable offense, but something like Charlottesville, where, you know, a group of white supremacists with tiki torches were in the streets chanting, Jews will not replace us.

And Trump held a press conference the next day to say that they were fine people on both sides. There was some discontent vocally from members of his party, even his cabinet, but not in a significant way. Nothing that seemed to actually move the needle in terms of people breaking from him. And then you had the first actual impeachment vote was about an extortion attempt. I mean, he told president of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky that

He needed Zelensky to dig up dirt on Biden, who was likely going to be Trump's opponent in the next election. I would think, Tom, that that would be enough for everyone to vote for impeachment, but it simply didn't happen. If I'm remembering correctly, there was maybe no breaks from Trump in the House, maybe a handful. The next, of course, impeachment attempt was after January 6th,

So what happened after January 6th, of course, is that the conditions were right to impeach Trump, meaning that in theory at least, the folks voting against him could vote their conscience because Trump is leaving office And actually 10 Republicans in the House voted to impeach Trump.

What's sort of remarkable is what happened next. Of those 10, only two are still remaining. Eight of them, like Liz Cheney and others, got primaried out by the Republican Party or realized that they were going to get primaried and resigned or didn't run for reelection on their own accord. In the Senate, it was something like seven Republicans voted to impeach and remove Trump because you need the two-thirds majority in the Senate, and they needed 10. And so...

There are two lessons from that, think, Tom. One is that it simply didn't happen after January 6th, which I think if it was going to happen, it would have happened then. And the second is that those who did vote to oppose Trump had to pay a political price and are often for most of them are no longer in power. Again, eight out of the 10 House members, they have now been replaced with ostensibly more conservative, more Trump sycophantic members of Congress. So this is to say that the conditions have gotten harder to impeach Trump, not easier, and even when it seemed like it was going to happen before, or it could happen before, it didn't. So I think we've moved away from a place where it's even possible.

Tom Kagy (06:26)

Okay, I mean, that's a very, very strong argument. You know, I agree that if the president is going to get impeached for anything, the January 6th incident is probably about as good an impeachable offense as you can come up with. But what about the fact that the economic conditions, which I think

you know, was an important part of what got Trump elected this time. What about the fact that that has deteriorated since he took office? Do you think that that might cause the politicians, the GOP to look less, feel less dependent on Trump's coattails? Because after all, according to polls anyways, the most important factor that got Trump elected was the working class apparently felt that, you know, or they believed that it was Biden's fault that they were having to pay more for food, you know, and other necessities. But it seems to me that we might be facing even a worse situation coming up with this loss of all the migrant farm workers, the ridiculous tariffs. 

So do you not think that it's possible that the politicians will take heed of the very negative impact that this presidency is having and sort of, you know, kind of put their fingers up to the wind and decide that, maybe, you know, it's time for Trump to go.

Romen (08:13)

 I agree with you, Tom, that I think these economic conditions, between the tariffs and what's happening with the ICE raids, it's one of the more compelling arguments for why people would be upset with Trump and why they could and would potentially break from him. But even months into this, we're not seeing any sort of evidence that that's the case in a meaningful way.

The Republicans basically voted to allow Trump to keep calling the shots on tariffs. So I think that while your rank and file middle American, Iowans, for example, where I come from, may be disappointed with Trump, there seems to be a disconnect from what your average American might want and what your Republican voter in Congress might want.

Tom Kagy (09:05)

If the voter sentiment changes significantly, we could see a larger number of senators than we have now. Right now, I think it's fairly close, right? It's what, 53 to 47? Something like that,  is it possible that the discontent over inflation, discontent over the treatment of migrant workers, the deportation, the very offensive deportation push, the way that we're alienating our allies, you know. Offending  Zelensky, who actually is seen as a war hero and is quite popular with much of the world. So you don't think that that might induce the electorate to maybe go against their typical tendencies and vote Democrat.

Romen (10:08)

again, to be impeached and removed, that requires a two thirds majority in the Senate as well. And given that a lot of the senators, which again, still wasn't enough to remove him in the first term, but a lot of those who did have the courage to speak out against him are no longer in the Senate and have been replaced by folks who are likely even more hardline Republican than them. I simply don't see it happening. 

But I do agree with you, Tom, that it is likely, very likely in fact, that both the Democrats will take back the House of Representatives and that they will impeach him in the House. And it's even possible that a couple Republicans could go along with that, though I don't necessarily see it since the House, every election cycle has gotten more and more polarized and that's going to be the case even more now. So with new maps potentially being redrawn.

Tom Kagy (11:09)

Okay. Well, what about the fact that there's news dribbling out constantly? There has been mostly bad news as far as how the MAGA base perceives what Trump is doing. For example, his Justice Department not releasing the Epstein file and him making that bogus demand that the court release the transcript, is of course a meaningless thing. It's a file that might contain damaging information. So he was basically trying to divert the attention to the transcript. But so what about that? I mean, so we have, you know, that really kind of ticked off a lot of people in his MAGA base who care about things like that a lot. There's also the fact that he's been grossly violating the emoluments clause in the Constitution by setting up this little crypto drop box, World Liberty Financial, where people that want to get a meeting with him can  put in a couple of million dollars worth of token purchases, which of course he is able to see, although it's not publicly available. 

And then he apparently, according to some reports, he is granting access to these people in the form of lunches and dinners at even the White House and at Mar-a-Lago. So as these kinds of things start dribbling out, these evidence that he's really running the country for his own profit, as these things start dribbling out, is it possible that maybe the voters will feel like enough is enough?

And that this guy is just too dishonest to be president. And I understand the senators are elected for six years, so most of the senators that are in office now will be in office after the midterms. But I believe there may be a potential to replace a dozen of them. So maybe combined with that, plus senators who are in the GOP but vote their conscience. Like Susan Collins, mentioned Lisa Murkowski, Todd Young, that the combination of senators voting their conscience from the GOP and a turnover in the Senate could make up the 67 votes that's needed to convict.

Romen (13:57)

So you brought up a couple of great points. I think the biggest one, Tom, and I think a lot of people, even casual political observers only would agree. The Epstein files has, you know, they've called Trump Teflon Don since the moment he announced his candidacy for president in 2015 because it seemed like there was no scandal that could really bring him down. This feels like the one that has the most staying power because a lot of the people who are upset about it, his refusal to release the Epstein files, are his own base. So I do think that that's something that is upsetting people and could turn the tide against him. But even still, even in the past few weeks of this Epstein business, polling has shown that there are at least mid-30 percentile  of voters who are standing with him. And again, that is in the face of all of the things that you've mentioned. Now, some might say 30 something percent approval rating is God awful. Others might say, and this is my point of view, Trump has done everything wrong. He has violated what certainly feels like every law, every rule, every norm. He bullies prominent Republican senators. The blatant corruption and things that would, you would think, crater his approval rating and the fact that a third of voters are still okay with that. I think that number is strong enough to prohibit people from speaking out against them. I think that no Republican could achieve real political power if 30 plus percent of their own party is supporting Donald Trump over them.

And we know that Trump is a vindictive person. He just had the home raided of John Bolton, a Republican, who has supported him on some issues, but spoken out against him on another.  You know, I think the Department of Homeland Security, or maybe it was the FBI, just raided his home. So that's a shot across the bow. There's a clear message that there will be consequences if you oppose him.

And I think when 30 something, let's say between 35 and 39%, people that are still supporting him, even after the crypto things you've mentioned, even after the Epstein stuff, the tariff stuff, it's simply not enough for someone like, let's say it's JD Vance or Marco Rubio or whoever wants to be the next president. That type of person could not win the nomination.

And thus the presidency, at least in my opinion, if those folks who are clearly Trump diehards have a vendetta against him, against the presumptive nominee, because of them getting Trump out of office. And then you mentioned the corruption things. I think the average voter wouldn't necessarily look at the crypto stuff in a way that they wouldn't have looked at. Corruption during the first term things like. World leaders feeling the need to host parties at Mar-a-Lago to curry favor with Trump. I mean that was going on and I think your average American doesn't really pay attention or care or know that much about it. So even though I think things are bad. I don't see that moving the needle. Then there's the Supreme Court which has really refused to hold Trump accountable and I think.

The Supreme Court acts, you mentioned a finger in the wind earlier, Tom. I think their actions are in a very unscientific way, an opportunity for us to look at who's willing to oppose Trump, especially, say, conservatives. And the Supreme Court is letting him do whatever he wants. And a lot of them are supported by sort of your normal conservatives who may not be MAGA folks. I think that even

Never Trumpers will look at the Supreme Court justices and say, well, Trump's done a lot of bad things, but putting Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court or Neil Gorsuch or Brett Kavanaugh was an OK move. And even those folks are not speaking out against him or stopping him. So I think if that's a barometer, then it's not happening, the full scale repudiation of him, at least not yet.

Tom Kagy (18:40)

Okay, now who do you think make up this core, you know, 30, you said 35 to 39%. Who do you think are the voters that make up this core block that is impossible for a GOP candidate to overcome?

Romen (18:58)

Right. So you of course, mentioned my home state of Iowa in my introduction. Iowa is interesting, Tom, because in the 2008 primary in the caucuses, they sent Barack Obama basically to stardom. Then they voted for him in both the 08 and 2012 general elections, but then they flipped to Trump in 2016. They stuck with Trump in 2020 and then Trump won by a massive margin in the state of Iowa.

In 2024, he won by something like 14 points. I think Iowa is a good case in point of the types of folks that have been swayed largely by his personality. Again, they were, they were willing to vote for Obama. But now they are diehard Trump supporters and the more things Trump has done that should theoretically alienate him from voters who are up for grabs, people who would have voted for a Democrat in previous cycles, they are digging their heels in and getting more and more pro-Trump. So those are the types of people, your everyday voters, that I think are just with him. whether or not that's because they actually agree with his policies, whether or not they're saving face and doubling down and saying, I don't want to admit that I was wrong.  Or, you know, a lot of, a lot of people use the word brainwashed. I think that is simplifying it too much, but

There are people who, you know, Tom, I'm sure you've seen this. There are folks who are getting deported. They and their families are getting deported because of Trump. And they're saying, I still support him. And they still think on the whole that he's doing good things. This is almost cult-like behavior. And I think to some large degree, number of those 30-something percent of people are almost in a cult. I'm sorry to say.

Tom Kagy (20:54)

Yes, well, it is very cult-like.I did see an item suggesting that the Hispanics in Texas, at least, were sort moving away from Trump. I I believe he managed to get something like some crazy amount of Hispanics to vote for him, something in the order of 40%. But I believe they're seeing some signs that they're sort of moving away from him. But be that as it may,

For example, a state like Iowa, it's a mostly white, largely rural state, and I figure is probably fairly representative of the staunchest Trump-supporting states. Now, do you think that most of his supporters are whites that are somehow offended by

Romen (21:34)

Yes.

Tom Kagy (21:54)

Their perception of current Democrat policies.

Romen (21:58)

I think whether or not it's the actual policies or simply the messaging, and I do think it's largely the latter, I think it's the idea that Democrats are this woke group who want to value minorities and the trans community and immigrants over at the expense of hardworking white farmers and whatnot, and Trump is the only person looking out for them.

I think the Republican Party, to their credit, has been very good at that messaging. I say to their credit, even though I think it's incredibly racist and plenty of other isms there, but it's swaying people. the reality, Tom, is that, you know, I think the Democratic Party is the party that will give subsidies to farmers and will not slap on these sort of tariffs that are almost crippling their ability to export their products. But the policy has become secondary. And I think this is something, you and I haven't really gotten into yet in this conversation is who is leading the opposition to Trump in terms of messaging and leading a public sentiment. And I think most people would agree that the Democratic Party is largely MIA on this.

I think folks like Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries have failed at making a compelling message that would help Democrats or that would help the electorate turn against Trump and come towards the Democratic Party. So you need two things. You need Trump to self-destruct and you need someone else to step in and say, here's how we can do a better job. And without both of them, it seems difficult. And, you know, I'm curious if you would agree with me on this about the Democratic Party's messaging that they simply haven't been leading the opposition you know, then one quick thing I'll add is take a look at the New York City mayoral race with Zohran Mamdani. He has done a really good job. know, whatever you think about his policies, he's done a good job of exciting and galvanizing progressives and the electorate. And yet, Democratic leaders across the country are unwilling to endorse him. And it really seems like this sort of stubbornness where.

They are looking at something that's working. Even Trump supporters are coming on board with Zohran Mamdani and Democrats are sort of unwilling to acknowledge that this might be what they need to do and instead are digging their heels in when it comes to supporting him. I think that's a losing message and a losing strategy, you know, something needs to change in order to really turn the tide against Trump. But again, I'm curious how you feel about that.

Tom Kagy (24:51)

Well, what you say makes a lot of sense. I mean, I do know that most people, most Americans, most people have fairly short attention spans and their ability to hold on to facts is very rather limited, you in their busy lives or trying to make a living. They're not going to be spending a lot of effort trying to dig in and figure out what the policies have been and how well they've worked there. They're basically going to be hearing the messaging. So I agree with you. I think you've got a lot of wisdom in that statement. So you've convinced me that you should be the strategist for the Democratic Party. So as the Democratic Party strategist, what would you suggest that the Democrats would do to overcome this terrible messaging deficit?

Romen (25:37)

You know, as I just mentioned, Zohran, obviously New York City is not the, the, the United States. And I think the last, the last thing you could do is go into the farms of Iowa and say, Hey, we've got this great messaging coming out of this young Muslim man in New York City that we're going to use with you.  But I think that what Zohran, and again, I'm using him as emblematic rather than talking about him specifically. He is speaking about populist issues and he is speaking about housing and affordability and it is very good message control and even global issues that others have steered away from.  know, certain feelings about what's happening with Israel, Palestine. Zohran hasn't steered away from talking about those things and whether or not you ultimately agree with him at the end of the day, I think people value authenticity and genuineness. And if I'm suddenly leading the Republican party, I would put a premium, or sorry, so sorry. If I was suddenly leading the Democratic party, I would immediately try and talk to all of our prospective candidates. And when we're recruiting candidates, I would put a premium on authenticity and say, people are sick of the overly manufactured, consulted candidates, the types that whether or not it is say her fault.

People thought that Hillary Clinton didn't necessarily believe in anything that she was your typical politician. And I think, you know, maybe we get into some sexism here because they're both women, but people thought similar things about Kamala Harris, that they were just saying what they might need to get elected. That's something that people valued about Trump is that he said whatever he wanted and agree with him or disagree with him. They liked that quality. I think Zohran is. doing a lot of that. And I think it's important that Democrats find more candidates in every part of the country who's doing that and simply does not come across as some poll tested democratic party hack who's repeating the company line. So those are the types of candidates I would want to recruit where I am in charge right now.

Tom Kagy (27:53)

Okay, authenticity. Yeah, that makes sense. The other thing that you said, you know, the reaction against woke politics. Now, that seems to be the other half of what you're saying is that the Democrats should not make woke policies politics be a part of their messaging, leave that out. They're going to get the minority or the various minority votes anyways. So just leave out the woke politics and talk about the bread and butter issues. Is that would that kind of sum up what you're saying?

Romen (28:29)

Actually, not necessarily.  That's a trickier one because I, in general, Tom, I don't think that Democrats are the ones hammering quote unquote woke policies. Also, think, you know, woke has become sort of a dog whistle used by the Republicans, but I think Republicans are the ones talking about it. And I think it's become effective for the Republicans. I think that they're the ones going out there and saying Democrats care more about DEI and you know, trans people competing in high school sports and whatnot. And Democrats have a tough time responding to that messaging. So I wouldn't say that Democrats are faltering by bringing it up, but I think there is a much needed good response to those things. And I do think ultimately, Tom, authenticity in a response. If a Democratic candidate says “I've thought long and hard about this and here's the conclusion I've come to”

 Even someone like Andy Beshear, he is a Democrat and he is the governor of Kentucky, which seems impossible for a Democrat to win in Kentucky, but he's managed to do it. And I think he's done it without throwing quote unquote woke communities or the trans community under the bus. He talks about these issues thoughtfully and I don't know his exact talking points, but we need to look at candidates like that who've done a pretty good job. But no, I would not say that Democrats are faltering by bringing these issues up. I would say they're faltering by simply not knowing how to respond to attacks against them. 

The Trump campaign, as you may remember, Tom, I saw it maybe a hundred times on TV. They said something like Trump cares about you. Kamala cares about they/ them. And It had a picture of a lot of trans folks and I found it abhorrent personally, but testing has shown that that ad itself might have moved the needle a couple points. And so as much as I hate to admit that cruelty might win the day, it is having a practical, unfortunately, victory in some ways. So we need to figure out how to respond to that, but I don't think our issue is bringing it up.

Tom Kagy (30:51)

Okay, so what is the way that Democrats should respond? Do you have any, aside from authenticity, which I agree is probably appealing in any candidate for any party, but are there any specific topics or issues that you think that Democrats could spend more time hammering on?

Romen (31:10)

I actually think we use the Republicans' own messaging against them. I think we say Republicans were meant to be a conservative party that wants less government. And now all of sudden you want government interfering in these things. You want government to decide whether or not gay people can get married. You want government to decide whether or not trans people can live their own lives normally. You want government to decide whether or not, ou know, women can get abortions. I think Democrats should be able to say, if those are the things you believe in, in smaller government, don't believe the lies, we are the party for you. We want every individually to be able to be themselves and live freely. And yes, that means trans people and gay people and, you know, minorities can can do what they want without bothering us and we won't bother them. But that's what it means to have. smaller, non-intrusive, smarter government. And those are Republican talking points that the Republican Party has strayed away from. So think there's an opportunity to use that messaging against.

Tom Kagy (32:17)

Yeah, that's a very insightful point. And I think you're absolutely right. I do think that you should become the Democratic strategist. I think you could do the party a lot of good. it's sort of shifting back a little bit toward the topic of getting Trump out of office. You mentioned that it would take two things, the other one being that he commits some unspeakably horrible offense. You know, shooting somebody on the proverbial Washington Mall apparently is not a horrible enough offense if we're to believe the conventional wisdom. What do you imagine would be the kind of things that could come out that would be horrible enough that he would get impeached even by, let's say, a 50-50 Senate?

Romen (33:10)

My goodness. I mean, it's crazy, Tom. It is literally, in my mind, it is literally hard to imagine it because, you know, we talked about this a few minutes ago. January 6th was so abhorrent. Cops, several cops committed suicide afterwards. It was so bad. Some of the January 6th police officers. And that wasn't enough. So maybe the...

Maybe we get stronger evidence about Trump being involved with Epstein. Maybe that's the straw that breaks the camel's back. At least it seems to me like it could be based on the sentiment. And as you and I have talked about, of course, the elections. you know, there's two parts, right? Part one is Democrats have a huge showing. And then part two in the midterms. And then part two is Trump does something that you and I can't even think about. But I don't know, I guess something more Epstein related, more solid evidence. What do you think, Tom, when you've mentioned your perhaps optimism that such an impeachment could actually happen, do you think that's over things he's already done or do you think it would take some new catastrophic incident?

Tom Kagy (34:29)

Yeah, I mean, it's kind of hard for me to discuss it because it sounds self-contradictory. mean, on the one hand, we don't want the economy to become shambles. And yet I think that is one of the things that can free us of this person, is the economy tanking.

And yet I don't want that to happen. I'm, you know, half of me is hoping that it will tank for a while. And the other half is hoping that somehow we can avert this by getting rid of the tariffs and, you know, going back to a normal, our normal supremacy really that we've been enjoying in global trade and commerce, which this guy is destroying. So yeah, that that I think would be a big part of it. I think the economy where, you know, our jobless rate goes up to, you know, somewhere in the south.

Seven or eight, nine percent combined with people paying five or 10 percent more for their essential items, food, clothing, things like that. I think that would move the needle as far as the electorate. And we might even get a Senate that is a clear majority Republican. mean, I'm sorry, Democrat. And I think on the other side, in terms of what can Trump do to help us get rid of him, I think if there were some really clear specific instances of him granting policy favors to people who have given him money, essentially, by buying his worthless world financial, whatever that thing is called, world financial tokens, I think if we have even one or two instances where he clearly, as a quid pro quo, made a policy decision based on a few million dollars being plunked into his world financial or some of his other crypto assets, I think that would do it too. So, mean, the combination of those two, think, would ensure that he gets convicted, which is what I would love to see. Because if anybody deserves to be convicted, it would be him.

So that's my feeling. you know, Rom, you have, because I'm not a political junkie. I was not able to see some of those things that you brought up, you know, about democratic messaging, about the fact that it's not the Democrat messaging so much as their failure to, you know, to be able to respond to GOP messaging about, you know, really GOP putting words in their mouths, you know. I think that's a very important point because Trump is very good at, very masterful actually, in saying very simple, you know, simple minded things that mean something to the average person. And I think a lot of Democrats, by the time they become, you know, congressmen or senators, they forget how to do that.

So, yeah, I I hate to admit it, but it does speak a bit to Trump's gift for, you know, self-promotion, as well as, you know, a kind of a creepy kind of a dynamism. And I do think it's a very sad statement of the American psyche that all of these terrible, stupid, illegal, power grabbing things that he's done is not enough to offend them and yet they might be pissed off enough if he were to have been implicated in some sexual activity that took place 20 years ago. But I agree with you. That is probably the kind of thing that would weaken his 35% core bass.

Romen (38:29)

Yeah. And I agree with you as well about Trump's strength as a messenger. You I think in 2016, I and frankly, a lot of people thought that his victory was an anomaly. I think that in 2020, he had everything going against him from the economy to COVID to the scandals. And yet Biden's victory wasn't by a huge margin. 

And then in 2024, he won the popular vote. And I think it's time for, you know, Democrats to acknowledge that Trump has been a strong candidate for president in terms of, you know, not in terms of doing anything good, but in terms of being able to attract voters to his side. So hate to give him credit, but he's doing something right in terms of gaining power and, you know, convincing people.

Tom Kagy (39:25)

Yeah, well, you've actually put some doubt in my mind. I came into this thinking, yeah, this Trump guy has been doing so terribly that, he's going to lose the midterms, you know, and he's going to get impeached and convicted. But you have put some doubt in my mind. So let's leave it at this. mean, if Trump gets impeached and convicted, you owe me lunch. If he doesn't, I owe you lunch.

Romen (39:54)

Deal, we'll shake on it next time I see you, Tom.

Tom Kagy (39:57)

Okay, all right. Thank you very much, Ram, for your insight.

Romen (40:01)

Thank you for having me.

Authentic snacks, strong cultural roots, and a $45 million valuation makes Bokksu one of the fastest growing subscription box companies.

Every time a subscription box hits your door, it’s like opening up a present once a month because you always receive something new. And one of the coolest boxes out there is Bokksu.

Subscribing to Bokksu is like securing a whole trip to Japan every month packed into a box that comes right to your front door. Inside are authentic and rare Japanese snacks, a perfect tea pairing, and a magazine guide that tells you the snack origins and ingredient information. Each month you receive a selection of 20-24 snacks straight from Japan as if you brought them all back home from vacation.

Bokksu was founded in 2015 by Danny Taing with his mind set on giving anyone around the world an opportunity to try authentic Japanese snacks. He is the son of Cambodian-Chinese refugees and was born in New York City and raised in New Jersey.

Taing never intended to be an entrepreneur. He graduated with a Bachelor’s in Psychology and Communication and a Master’s in Sociology from Stanford University then went on to work at Google as a marketing strategist.

His path shifted after studying abroad in Japan at Waseda University where he became fluent in Japanese and developed a deep appreciation for the culture and cuisine. Taing made the decision that he wanted to make it easier for the rest of the globe to discover and enjoy authentic Japanese products. And so the idea of Bokksu came about.

With the help of his mother, Taing started off filling every subscription box by hand, adding a unique postcard with a handwritten thank you note in each one for the 20 customers that he had. Now he oversees a team of around 60 employees with a warehouse in Japan that packs and ships 20,000-30,000 boxes a month to 100 different countries.

His love for these snacks and the culture that they carry has built Bokksu into a $45 million company. They have partnered with many U.S. retail stores as well, bringing the best snacks to everyday shoppers at places like Hot Topic and CVS Pharmacy.

Bokksu’s commitment to tradition and heritage is what makes the brand so special. With all of the snacks being sourced from small family businesses in Japan, we are getting treats that hold history. Bokksu has become more than just a subscription box and truly a cultural bridge. Each package holds a small piece of Japan that invites its receiver to experience, taste, and learn with traditions that have been around for centuries.

Meet 5 Asian hunks crushing the fitness scene by bringing power and personality to our screens.

These Asian fitness icons are heating up our phones proving that strength and real gains know no boundaries. 

Number 5: Hwang Chul-soon

He’s South Korea’s ultimate body builder and is a four-time Musclemania Pro Champion. With one of the most aesthetic bodies in the world, Chul-soon has insane proportions and an exciting charisma that makes him legendary in the world of bodybuilding. 

Number 4: Bart Kwan

Not only is he a power-lifter, he is also the co-founder of Barbell Brigade Gym in Los Angeles and he is redefining the way Asian men are seen in fitness. His outgoing personality and pure strength has allowed him to build his own community around lifting culture with over 500 thousand Instagram followers. 

Number 3: Jimmy Progress 

He’s a rising name on social media and Jimmy is all about growing those muscles and strength. He has become one of the most followed Asian-American fitness creators on TikTok as he blends his good looks with real knowledge. 

Number 2: Lucion Pushparaj

He was nicknamed the “Black Lion of Asia” and is probably Sri Lanka’s most well known body builder. In 2018 he was the first Sri Lankan to win the World Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Federation Mr. Universe title and has been admired for his large muscles and competing internationally. 

Number 1: Tyler Pathradecha

Thai-American athlete Tyler Pathradecha is one of the biggest Asian fitness influencers with over 2 million followers. With his shredded physique, he helps people build strength and tone their muscles while still focusing on body confidence.

Asian males growing up in America face extra challenges in identity formation when their self-images clash with White prejudices and expectations.

Hello, this is Tom Kagy with Unconventional Wisdom.

Welcome to part four of Identity is Our Operating System. Identity is more than an abstract concept. It's literally our operating system. It's what sets our priorities and preferences, our affiliations and attractions, our goals in life, and a sense of our ultimate destiny.

In this part, I am exploring another key factor in our identity formation — how we're received by peers and how we interact with them. This aspect of identity formation has an extra dimension for an Asian male growing up in America, especially in a setting in which we're interacting predominantly with Whites with their own prejudices, phobias, and insecurities toward Asian males who challenge their expectations.

The interactions between a young Asian male and his white peers is especially stark in the context of an all-male military school like Fishburne, the setting of most of Chapter 4 of my college novel, The Summerset, which represents my deepest examination of the factors that went into my own identity formation.

The Summerset, Chapter 4

I usually came home drunk, opening the doors quietly so as not to awaken my family, and picked my way carefully through the pitch-black living room to my porch room. If I was drunk enough, I could flop on the bed and lose consciousness painlessly. Otherwise, I lay staring out at the reticent stars until I was suddenly cold sober, feeling the sense of incompleteness and dissatisfaction that oppressed so much more at night. During those bleak small hours, I flicked on the reluctant fluorescent lamp and rummaged through the boxes of sentimental paraphernalia and plain junk that were heaped on one side of the room.

A box containing the letters I had written home during my high school years in the States was one of the first things to engage my bleary-eyed interest. Chronological order being almost a neurotic obsession of mine, I arranged all the letters by their postmarks before starting to read them. The first three dozen were sent from Waynesboro, Virginia during the year I spent at Fishburne Military School. And I began reading those with the curious dread you feel when about to overhear a conversation about yourself.

September 6, 1970.

Dear Ma and Papa,

It's Sunday and I've just returned from church. Since they force everyone to go to church, I went to the Presbyterian church with my roommate, Ellis Simmons. I'll get along with him just fine because he's also intelligent and is on the football team too. I'm sure I'll be a starting halfback for the JV team and Simmons has the best chance for quarterback.

But am I glad football camp is finally over. Five hours a day, morning, afternoon and evening is a little too much. Three guys quit on the second day and Coach Keller made them give their reasons in front of the whole team. Afterwards, everyone called them cakes and a few other names I won't mention. You know how Ma is. The other boys are here now and we started wearing our uniforms today. Grey shirt, black tie, grey pants with black stripes, overseas cap, and spit shined shoes. They are a pain in the butt. They've issued everyone 03s for drills.

Us first-year guys are called rats. We have to wear our caps at all times. We have to do a weird thing called bracing when we walk around inside the quadrangle. The old men can also make us do just about anything they want, but they pick on grubs mostly. This place is like an ancient red brick fortress with ivy creeping all over it. You can smell the oldness. Among the boys are the sons of General Lavelle, Admiral Gehring, and the nephew of Senator Byrd, and a few others. On the other hand, there are a lot of boys from juvenile halls, too. Letter writing hour is almost over now, and we have town leave in a few minutes. Ellis says hello. How is everything at home? Write soon. Love, Bob.

At 5'6 and 130 pounds, Nicholas was the townie killer.

He had a hawk nose, thick, leering lips, and murderously narrow eyes. In his rat ear Nicholas had bloodied the mouths of three old men who had tried to make him do push-ups for failing to salute them. He was a lieutenant now, but he warned the rats that he would beat the shit out of them if they ever tried to salute him.

I was one of the boys sitting around at Fishburne Drugs, listening to his discourses on the absurdities of regulations. Afternoon town leave was almost over and we strolled up the hill. A beat up yellow Dodge slowed alongside us.

"You bellhops ain't nothing but a bunch of pussies, you hear?" shouted the driver, whose burly arm hung outside.

"Step out here, boy, if you got the balls." Nicholas whipped out his belt.

We did the same, wishing that the heavy steel buckles were a lot heavier. Nicholas assumed a bow-legged stance that made him look even shorter.

The driver hefted his couple of hundred pounds onto the sidewalk while his gang spilled out like roaches. A moment of panic and exhilaration. The gleaming Phillips head screwdriver that the burly man unsheathed from a paper bag. Nicholas lurching forward with a cry. The flash of his belt buckle and a sudden red gash below the townie's eye.

My body shot forward. A foot and a fist landed against a townie. There was a bewildered look in his eyes and a cry of surprise sprang from my throat. In another instant, the car was roaring away. Nicholas leered at me.

"We took care of them pussies, ey Jap?" he said, threading his belt back into the loops. "What say your name was?"

"Taratelli."

"You don't look like no wop."

"I'm half Korean."

"You from North or South Korea?"

"South."

He nodded and clapped me on the back.

After dinner, several rats were gathered in Inman's room discussing the fight.

"Well, those townies were just plain cakes," he said.

"You're the cake, Inman," I retorted. "I didn't see you out in front."

"Hey, fuck you, Taratelli. I can take you, no sweat at all."

"You boys gonna just talk or show us some action?" said a tall thin cadet named Hutter, breaking the momentary silence.

"Shut up, Hutter," said Simmons. "Just ignore him, Bob. Ain't no sense in getting thrown out of school your first week here."

"You're on, Inman," I said. And we proceeded to the gym.

Hutter knocked discreetly on every door along the way and intimated that there was to be a fight. By the time Inman and I had removed our hats, ties, collar stays, shirts, and shoes, half the corp had turned out to form a rough circle around us. We squared off and began circling slowly, our eyes glassy from the concentration. I had no desire to fight him. He was one of the boys I liked. But the crowd wanted a fight and they would have a fight.

We drew together, prodded by the catcalls. And just as we were within arm's reach, drew back. I sensed from the shouts that I was the favorite and felt that I owed them something. I rushed in, proceeded by an ineffectual storm of fists. And after a brief exchange in which we only hit each other's arms, we came apart. This aroused the mob to a frenzy, then quickly disappointed them.

"Don't tell me both of you're chicken shit," said a reproachful voice.

There were small beads of perspiration on Inman's upper lip.

"I could finish you off with my karate anytime, Taratelli," he said.

This drew a chorus of jeers, and a few voices urged him to use it in that case.

"I'm a blue belt," he said.

"Let's see you use it then," I taunted. What do blue belts know about karate? "Come on, kick me."

He assumed a cat stance and immediately abandoned it when I charged in, swinging rapidly at his head. He ducked and with a wild swing whacked the side of my head, making my ears ring. This encouraged him to attempt an awkward front kick that only set him off balance, his right leg momentarily held ineffectually in the air, and his torso thrown helplessly back in an attempt to regain his balance. I kicked him in the stomach and he fell over with a groan. A wild cheer went up from the mob as it closed in.

"You won," gasped Inman, holding a limp hand for me to grasp.

"Kill him, step on him," urged Guzman, a cadet from South America.

Inman looked up anxiously.

"Aren't you even going to get up?" Guzman berated him scornfully.

I wondered why he hated Inman so strongly. Then I was picked up and carried out of the gym, leaving Inman alone on his knees.

That night I concluded that my big toe was cracked. I had managed to walk without a noticeable limp, but I knew football was now out of the question. I dreaded what the team members would say when I told them that I was quitting. I didn't intend on telling anyone that I had broken my toe kicking Inman. I would be the laughing stock.

On Monday afternoon, Coach Keller had me stand up on the bleachers while the football squad gathered solemnly in front of me. They were all looking at me, but their eyes refused to meet mine. I almost changed my mind and briefly thought it would be better to have them laugh at me than to have them think that I was a cake. But it was too late. They knew why I was standing on the bleachers, not in football gear. I decided to quit the team.

There was only the sound of cleats shifting on the cinder track. Gehring, the captain as well as battalion commander, began putting on his helmet.

"Why?" he said simply, as if the matter were only of passing interest. He had forced on the helmet and was toying with the chin strap.

"I'm too tired to study at night after practice."

He nodded and snapped on the strap. "Well, at least you didn't quit during camp like those three cakes," he said, and led the team out on the field at a trot. At that moment, Ghering became my idol.

I was tossing and turning long after taps that night, unable to take my mind off the disgrace of quitting.

"Damn it, Bob! You shouldn't have quit," said Ellis suddenly. I had thought he was asleep. "You don't get nowhere unless you're on the team."

"How about Nicholas?"

"Hell, he's a star wrestler. Besides, just because everyone's scared shitless of him doesn't mean they like him. You never see guys like Ghering, Lavelle and Taylor associating with him, do you?"

"Well, I'll be on distinguished honor roll. They give out rank on basis of grades, so we can still be BC and XO in three years."

"Honor roll don't mean shit except with parents and faculty," he said impatiently. "Hell, look at Morris. He got way better grades than Gehring, and he ain't nothing but a measly CC. And band company at that!"

He turned over as if to show that the discussion was over. I knew he was right and that didn't help me get to sleep any easier.

"We could have run this place in our senior year and had that luxury suite up on third floor," he added, as if he couldn't rub it in enough. "You blew it all when you quit, shithead!" With that, he turned over again.

"Fuck you, Simmons."

"Hey, Jap, you ain't bracing," said a voice from across the quadrangle.

I'd grown accustomed to doing only a cursory imitation.

"Drop and do thirty right now!" It was Johnson, a large, fat redhead with pale skin. His face was covered with a generous number of blotches that were charitably called freckles.

"I was bracing Johnson," I insisted, letting him know that I regarded him with disdain.

"You're asking for it, Taratelli!" he shouted, pointing a sausage finger at me. "I mean it. Do thirty right now!" He was shaking with impotent rage. "Make it forty!"

I pretended not to hear him and continued walking.

"Do what the old man tells you, said Rallis who happened to be passing by.

I dropped down and did forty with Johnson looking on.

A few days later I was scheduled for guard duty. During study period I stood out in the center of the quadrangle to make sure that no one was walking outside of their rooms. An early snow gave the school an atmosphere of tranquility, and I thought happily of the Christmas vacation I would be spending in Los Angeles with my family who would be there on home leave. The military regimen and petty coarseness of the cadets had begun to seem oppressive. But now, standing under the clear starlit sky, I could feel that it wasn't so bad.

I saw Johnson sneaking out of his room and walking rapidly across the stoop. Hey, Johnson, don't you know it's study hall? Get back into your room unless you want a few demerits to march off, I said gleefully. He stopped and gave me a pained look, then continued walking.

Alright, that's five." He stopped. "'Taratelle, you got a lot to learn. You can't buck the system like that and get away with it. Get back in your room right now unless you want another five.' He cursed as he went back to his room.

At the end of the first term, Simmons and I were the only ones on Distinguished Honor Roll. And a rumor began that we had been cheating off each other, dividing up the work between us. After a while, even our instructors began regarding us suspiciously whenever we sat anywhere near each other in our classes. I was sure they matched all of our homework for signs of collaboration.

"You know what this means, don't you?" said Ellis.

Shelley, our English instructor, had told us in class that one of us would have to do our paper on a different topic from the rest of the class. He had said it without a trace of a smile or preamble, as if it were a proven fact that we cheated. But I also felt that that wasn't the only reason for Ellis's decision to move out of the room. And I had been preparing for a switch for some time.

"I'd rather room with Brun anyways," I said lightly. "He doesn't tap his fucking pencil against his teeth when he studies." The next day, he moved in with Hutter.

We stood on a dark street corner on an unseasonably warm Saturday night in late March, passing around a pint of Ancient Age we had acquired for an exorbitant price from Jackson, the school bootlegger.

We heard the pleasant chattering of girls approaching along the street and soon saw three girls slip into view. Two were our age and cute and one was older and fat.

"Evening girls," said Brun, working up his most suave voice.

"'Lo y'all," said the girl wearing a white sweater and a green miniskirt. Her legs were nice and slender and she had long red hair.

"Whatcha girls doin'?"

"Gettin' some air and maybe goin' down to Fishburne Drugs," said White Sweater.

"What're you all doin?" ventured the cute one with shy, full lips. She wore a brown dress that wasn't quite as short as White Sweater's. The fat one was holding onto her arms.

"This is what we're doing," I said, holding up the bourbon. "Why don't you girls join us?"

They looked at one another and the cute ones shrugged agreeably. The fat one tugged at Brown Dress's arm and mumbled something that had the quality of a protest.

"There's not a thing doing at Fishburne's," avowed Dean as if he had been wasting his time there all night.

"Why not?" said White Sweater pleasantly, taking the bottle. She had faint freckles and lovely white teeth. Her delicate white throat worked rapidly as she took a long drink.

"Well, Louisa!" protested Brown Dress to the persistent tugging of the fat girl. "You can go on down if you like. We'll see you later."

The fat one shot her an angry look and took off in a huff.

Brown Dress smiled and took the bottle gingerly in her hand as if it were a bomb.

"Where you from?" White Sweater took my garrison cap and placed it jauntily on her head. Her eyes sparkled from the bourbon.

"Korea. You been there of course?"

"No, I never been out of this here state," she answered seriously. "Are you Japanese? No, no." She shook her head looking briefly exasperated at herself. She took another drink before continuing.

"What's your name?"

"Bob deBoop."

She regarded me suspiciously then laughed. "I know! You're one of those Thai boys, am I right?"

There were four boys from Thailand at Fishburne. Satisfied about my nationality, she tugged me a little ways away from the others.

"You know that girl, Louisa?" she asked in a confidential whisper. I nodded as if I had known Louisa since childhood.

"Well, she's gotten, you know, knocked up by some boy from Charlottesville and she's supposed to meet him at Fishburne's tonight."

"You're not serious," I gasped. She nodded adamantly.

"That other girl, Mary Ann, is her sister."

"What's your name?"

"Sissy Gilliam," she said this brightly as if I should have known that it could have been none other.

"Well, Miss Gilliam," I said, insinuating her toward the narrow street that led to a dirt road. "You have the prettiest red hair I've seen in years." I didn't particularly care for red hair, but Sissy was sexy.

"Do I?" She turned around to called to her friend. "I'll see you at Fishburn's."

We slid our arms around each other. She had a firm slender waist that undulated deliciously as she walked.

She slipped on the loose gravel road, obliging me to grip her tightly.

"My, you saved my life," she sighed, placing a hand lightly on her breast. Then she placed her hands on my shoulders and we kissed. I guided her over to the deep, soft grass at the side of the road.

After picking off the bits of grass from each other, Sissy insisted on accompanying me back to the school.

"Don't hurry so," she complained. "You're bouncing like a rubber ball."

As we were walking below the barracks, a voice called out from a third floor window.

"That you, Sissy?" It was Jackson.

"Hello, Frankie," she said, waving, and I wished I could evaporate from her arms and blow quietly through the guard shack to the barracks. All I needed was a platoon leader for a mortal enemy.

"Who's that? That you, Taratelli?"

I confessed that it was.

"Hadn't you better be back in the barracks, boy?"

I agreed that I probably should, said goodnight to Sissy, and pulled away.

"Good night," Bob deBoop.

Simmons and I were the only ones at Fishburne to make Distinguished Honor Roll again.

"You brains make me sick," said Brun, upturning the plump red lower lip of his baby face. We were at dinner. "I worked my ass off and only barely pulled C's."

"That's 'cause you're as dumb as a nigger, Brun," said Simmons. His cold blue eyes and aristocratic nose seemed to complement his hauteur.

"Speaking of niggers," said Hutter, "I hear they're going to let one in next year."

This drew several distasteful remarks.

"No shit, because this place gets funds from the government."

Holy Jesus," Simmons began, and I got up to get some more milk. On my way back, I passed a table full of officers.

"You something special, Taratelli," asked Perkins with a leer.

"What?"

"Why don't you go sit with the other Japs?" He nodded toward the table occupied by the four Thai boys.

The thought had never occurred to me, and even while looking at them I did not understand for a moment. Satisfied with his remark, Perkins resumed his leer.

"Hell," Simmons was saying. "With a 2 and 6 record, maybe what this school needs is a good jig halfback. Remember that nigger at Blue Ridge that tore us up?"

"This place is going to the dogs," said Hutter, shaking his head sadly. "My old man will withdraw me sure if they do."

"And how about at Augusta?" Simmons continued. "Hell, 'taint hardly fair. I say we ought to get us one too." His eyes clouded with the enormity of the decision. "As long as I don't have to room with him."

The nearer it got to Spring Leave, the more this song was heard on campus:

All I want is a three-day pass,

"Dammit, Brun! I've got to get this finished by tonight or else Shelley will have a shit fit." I was trying to finish a hawkish editorial for CQ, our school paper while Brun had been pestering me with algebra problems.

"Look, I'm sorry, Taratelli, but just one more. If I don't come through this term, my parents won't be sending me back here next year." He had been puffing nervously on cigarettes while studying, and the smoke had formed a dense haze in the room.

"Would you put that damn cigarette out? You smoke like a fucking train."

I helped him grudgingly for the dozenth time.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Always do the function in the brackets first!"

"Hey, thanks a lot, man," he said, and returned to his desk.

After a few minutes, he pushed his chair back.

"Taratelli?"

"Yeah?"

"I'd like to have you stay over at my house if you don't have any plans for the break." He rapped nervously on the desk with his pencil. I had been waiting for an invitation from Simmons that had never come.

"Thanks, but I think I'll just stay here for the break."

"Okay, sure," said Brun and went back to puzzling over his second-degree algebraic equations.

"Hey, Brun," I said after my typewriter had been silent for some time. "I might as well help you with your algebra." He turned to me eagerly with a grin. "You dumb shit," I added.

On the day leave began, there was April snow for the first time in 22 years in Waynesboro. Before the afternoon was out, it had covered over the tracks made by the jubilant cadets and their parents who had come to pick them up. After the last exultant cries and laughter had died away, I went over to the TV room and stared at the flickering screen along with two Thai boys and a pale bespectacled boy from Oregon whose name I had never bothered to learn.

After suppering on crackers and coke from the vending machines, I escaped the depressing company and returned to my room to write a pathetically cheerful letter telling how I would spend the leave with my roommate. The full moon leered coldly as I lay thinking of the good time I had had during Thanksgiving leave with Simmons, and the plans we had made — those painful reminders of an irretrievably lost future.

The snow melted in a few days, leaving behind the fragrant blossoms, so romantically nostalgic, that made me ache for things ten thousand miles away. I sat for hours on the windowsill, feeling the warmth of the same yellow sun that shone over Korea, and listening over and over to Sweet Caroline.

In charge of the ROTC program at Fishburne was a young Army major who had a penchant for painstakingly realistic military training exercises. Major Miles's crowning achievement was the elaborate two-day field maneuvers in late May. The corps was divided into two armies, distinguished from each other by the bright red scarves of the Red Army.

After arming us with blanks, artillery simulators, and walkie-talkies, Major Miles marched us out to a forest outside of town, dressed in our fatigues. Along the way we passed a grazing brown mare. Major Miles quickly ducked under the wire fence and patted the horse tenderly on the muzzle.

"Good morning, Suzy Wong," he said.

By evening, the excitement of battle was accelerating to a climax and the maneuvers had taken on the innuendos of an American involvement in Asia. The dusky woods were thick with wild cries and commands, rustling of running feet, rifle cracks, and the always terrifying whistle and explosion of the artillery simulators. Our platoon had been engaged in several frays and only four of us remained, tired but anxious to fire off what was left of our blanks.

We wandered aimlessly in search of the enemy. With a sudden violent rustling of leaves, several figures dropped down from the trees around us, firing as they fell. I felt a hot blast on my back and spun around.

"Take that, you gook," cried Hutter, firing another blast against my chest.

"You fuckhead!" I grabbed his rifle barrel and wrenched it from his hands.

"You're supposed to be dead," he cried in indignation, his frame trembling violently.

I dropped the rifles and with a solid punch to his jaw sent him sprawling back into the underbrush. The battle stopped abruptly.

"You shouldn't have done that, Tartelli," said Simmons hotly. "This isn't a real war, you know.

"He fired that damn thing right up against me!"

Suddenly it was not too dark to see the hostile faces around me. Simmons, Goering, Jackson, Johnson.

Hunter was sitting off to the side holding his jaw. Major Miles appeared out of nowhere.

"If you can't participate in these war games like a soldier instead of a bully, then maybe you should remain in your room tomorrow to think over your conduct." This won a murmur of general approval and he continued, "The next time you hit someone, I will personally recommend you for expulsion!" He stalked away, abandoning me to the wolves.

Gehring stepped up to me. "Why'd you do it, Tartelli?" His square jaws were set grimly and his small eyes glittered coldly. Had there been a single friendly or even a neutral face, I might have answered him.

"Fucking Jap," muttered several voices. My face burned as I gazed mutely into Gehring's eyes. I wanted to call out, You cowards, I'll face you one by one. As if in answer to my thought, Simmons came forward and faced me intently.

"Hunter's my friend and I'd like to fight you for him." Then with a quick sidewise glance at the crowd of faces, "and I believe I can whip you too."

"Yeah, why don't you fight him?" demanded Gehring coldly.

With each silent second that passed, Simmons's eyes grew bolder with the drops of courage distilled from the mob behind him. I looked down.

"You puss," said Gehing, turning away.

As I walked back alone to school along the thankfully dark and endless road, I cursed myself for not having accepted Simmons' challenge.

After a challenging G League stint, Fanbo Zeng is getting another chance to make his NBA debut with the Brooklyn Nets after a stellar three-season run in the CBA.

On August 4th the Brooklyn Nets signed power forward Fanbo Zeng after his productive three-season stint in the Chinese Basketball Association.

The 22-year-old Chinese wing will have an uphill battle to make the team but should have an opportunity to impress during preseason.

Zeng previously played for the G League Ignite during the 2021-22 season but struggled, averaging just 3.8 points through nine games with a poor field goal percentage.   The Indiana Pacers signed him to an Exhibit 10 contract to play for a year at minimum salary, but Zeng failed to make an NBA debut.

This past season with the CBA’s Beijing Ducks Zeng averaged a personal best 14.7 points while shooting a highly efficient 53% from the field and 41% from three.  At 6’11” he has proven to be an effective rim protector, averaging 1.5 block per game during his 3 years in the CBA.  He’s also showcased offensive talents by averaging 12.3 points per game while reliably shooting 80% at the charity stripe.

Zeng was once considered China’s top basketball prospect after spending his first two high school years at Florida’s Windermere Preparatory School.  The pandemic made him unable to rejoin the team after he had returned to China following the season. Touted as a four-star recruit, Zeng had originally committed to Gonzaga before opting to play in the G League instead.

From karaoke rooms to packed out dance floors, these are the current go-to spots where SF’s Asian nightlife comes alive.

Looking to experience San Francisco's Asian nightlife? Let’s dive into the city's most popular spots where you can find vibrant music and diverse crowds.

Starting with Lion’s Den Lounge in Chinatown. It’s the ultimate destination for live music, Asian-inspired cocktails, and fun event nights that are always buzzing.

Another Chinatown gem is Chi Lounge which features a more upscale vibe that will definitely remind you of your Asian roots. This hidden bar and lounge is located inside of the Imperial Palace restaurant and is perfect for starting or ending the night.

Raven Bar is San Francisco’s number one throwback nightclub. Make sure to check out their weekly happy hour specials if you are in the mood for an evening filled with nostalgic music and endless dancing.

If you’re more into speakeasies, Local Edition is an underground lounge with a 1950’s newspaper theme. It’s stylish, classy and known for its lively crowd.

Finally XeX is a brand new go-to club in the Bay. They just opened this year in June and have plans on reviving Polk Street with karaoke, sushi, and specialty cocktails so expect this place to be SF’s next big Asian hotspot.

Whether you’re going for something more intimate or ready for a high energy night to remember, San Francisco’s nightlife scene is the place to be.