Recovering from a Home Burglary

I live in an ungentrified, densely-populated, urban neighborhood; some snobby upper-middle people might even call my neighborhood a ghetto. For me, it's where I've always wanted to live: an undeveloped neighborhood where class wasn't an issue. I had previously envied those who moved into Soho when it was rows of slaughter houses and Williamsburg when there was gang violence on the streets. Within many artist sub-cultures in NYC, to live in an ungentrified urban development was a mark of honor and courage among artists/activists like myself. It's one thing to say that you're not bourgeois, but to live among the more disenfranchised is another.
As an artist/activist whose heroines and heroes have always been the likes of Yuri Kochiyama, Grace Lee Boggs, Maya Angelou, and Malcolm X, I have always known in my heart that I had to live in a neighborhood like one that I do. I have dedicated my life to fighting classism, racism, sexism, and now ableism, (which is discrimination against people with disabilities). It is easy to fight classism from afar, from an ivory tower or from an upper-middle to middle class neighborhoods where I have lived most of my life. Many intellectuals can talk the talk, but cannot walk the walk. So here I am. I am a product of privilege in certain ways; I spent my last years of high school in an upper-middle class neighborhood, contemplating Kant and Plato which led to my liberal enlightenment. Contemplating Kant, despite their being dead white men with Euro-centric views of the universe, can instill a great sense of duty and social responsibility. If there is any one thing responsible for my poverty, it is my liberal education that has propelled my quest for social justice in mental health among many other social issues. I am imbued with upper-middle class liberal tastes. However, with some of the issues in my family, I was in certain ways deprived of things I can't quite say in this blog.

I wanted to move into this neighborhoods, where there are drug dealers and not-so-kind people on the streets. I chose this despite all my other choices so I should not lament. But lately, I have questioning my decision to buy my condo in this neighborhood and here's why:

Lately, my neighborhood has been under siege, making national headlines with a brutal shooting of 5 cops and a story that reads like a script out of an episode of Law and Order. In pursuit of the criminals, the police deployed the SWAT Team and a police helicopter, which hovered directly over our building at 5:30am in the morning on July 16, 2009. The sound of it was so surreal, had someone told me that it was UFO landing on top of our building I would likely have believed them. I literally woke up believing that I had dreamt the strange loud noise and fell immediately back to sleep. This happened less than 2 blocks from my home on July 16, 2009: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/nyregion/17jersey.html?scp=1&sq=reed%20street%20jersey%20city&st=cse

One month later, my home was burglarized while I was asleep. It's been crazy ever since. I have to finish writing this later, but I think I have to go to sleep. But below are the events that happened.

I woke up around noon on August 11, 2009 to find the window fan in one of the 2 windows in my office removed and placed in a chair next to the window. One of the last things I had done prior to going to bed at 3 am was turn off the window fan so I was immediately alarmed and knew that this was an indication that something was seriously wrong. I walked into my dining and living room area and discovered that my 2 laptops and digital camera were gone. My immediate impulse was to knock on some of the doors on my floor to ask if anyone had seen or heard anything, but I could not find my bag, which contained my house keys. I walked throughout my home, searching in the usual places I stored my bag, but it was nowhere to be found. I frantically continued to search for my bag, which also contained my cellphone, wallet, cash and credit cards, in disbelief. I then called the police, my sister and Vanessa, the superintendent of our building. I began to search my apartment for other missing items and clues while still in a mild state of shock and disbelief. At approximately 12:20pm, Officer Howlett came and took my police report.
My apartment is on the 5^th floor and the window, which appeared to be the point of entry, is not on a fire escape so the point of entry being that window seemed very implausible. But it did certainly appear that way. I wondered if the perpetrator might have entered through the roof and somehow accessed the window via the roof so I asked Officer Howlett if we should perhaps investigate the roof. I asked him to please take a look at the roof, which is only accessible by key. The door to the roof, if not opened with a key, sounds siren so I cleared roof access with Vanessa. I also asked her if there was anyone else who had roof keys and she said no. The officer and I went on the roof and found nothing unusual. The only things I noticed in the roof area directly above the window, were DirectTV Satellite Dishes installed. The officer said this was not significant in any way. He seemed skeptical that the window was the point of entry for the burglar to enter my apartment. The window was not adjacent to any other structures that could have given the burglar access to this window at such a dangerous height of 5 flights. He asked me if anyone had keys to my apartment and if my door had been open when I discovered the burglary. I told him that only my superintendent had the keys and that the door was slightly ajar when I first discovered the burglary as if the intruder left using my front door. He asked me questions that seemed to imply that it was possible that the perpetrator somehow used the front door as access and set up the scene to appear as if the window was used to as the point of entry. To this day, I do not have any solid evidence to establish the exact point of entry.
Later that evening when a neighbor, Ben, came over to help me replace the lock to my door, he noticed a large palm print on the outside ledge of the window. So I called the police again to request that they come and take the prints as evidence. Officers Bravo and Montanez came, looked at the palm print and said that the surface of the ledge was not a good surface to take fingerprints from and that the likelihood of such evidence being admissible in court was slim. I think if I recall correctly they also said that palm prints are not taken for criminal records, only fingerprints are taken for arrested individuals.

Fast forward to my return from Arizona on Sept 17. On Sept 18, there was another burglary in my building. Scary as shit and everyone is on the edge.

Workshop/Screening in Phoenix and Amazing Sedona

I got some good news yesterday. Michael Isip, Vice Pres of TV Content, KQED, the public TV network in San Francisco, said he really liked our most recent 61 min rough cut. His high opinion of our cut makes it much more likely that our final cut will be broadcast on PBS.

Sept 10 - I gave the first workshop "Deconstructing the Asian American Model Minority Myth" with Hyung Chol Yoo, PhD, a professor of psychology of Arizona State University at the 2009 National Assoc. of Rights Protection and Advocacy annual conference at the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak (an amazingly beautiful hotel). For more info, you can read my blog about this workshop. But I'm not done writing about it yet:(http://www.amongourkin.org/2009/09/deconstructing-model-minority-myth.html)

As always, I meet some of the most interesting people at these conferences like Ron Bassman (ronaldbassman.com). A psychologist, he was once told that he was a chronic schizophrenic with little hope of recovery and would have to be on medications for the rest of his life. At one point, he was in insulin-induced coma, administered electroconvulsive therapy (shock therapy) and a host of other "treatments" which ultimately harmed him in many ways. Institutionalization and forced treatment were common practices in the 1960's for people with mental illnesses. People with mental illnesses were viewed as having no rights. He defied all norms by becoming a PhD. recovering from an "incurable" mental illness and recently wrote a book "A Fight to Be." I highly recommend that you check his website: ronaldbassman.com out.

This Pointe Hilton Hotel was absolutely gorgeous with a water park, consisting of 8 pools. I tubed down this "river pool" and went slithering down this very long water slide 3x. I think I was the only person over the age of 12 having so much fun. (It's 105 degrees in Phoenix so you need to swim)

Sept 10 - The screening of my 61 min rough cut at the Arizona Public Health Assoc. Conference went ok. I thought it was charming that they served popcorn during the film. The turnouts were far lower than expected, but we got good film evaluations at the public health conference. Less than half of the number of people expected attended the conference. The recession apparently has affected travel budgets for public health administrations. Even less than that number attended my screening.

The audience was mostly MDs, PhDs, MPHs, nurses and other health service providers. I thought they as medical professionals would have negative comments about some of the anti-psychotropic medication opinions expressed by consumers in my film, but none of them mentioned that in their written evaluations. A few said that the film was powerful and amazing. Two women stayed after the screening and talked to me in depth about the social importance of the film. One Native American woman said that she, too, could relate to the experience of trying to bridge the intergenerational cultural gap between Can and his traditional parents.
She said that many young Native Americans have conflicts with their more traditional parents. She said the film was powerful in rendering that situation. Her comment made me think how such human experiences resonate universally, no matter how culturally-specific we may think they are. A medical doctor told me he learned a lot and the film gave him insight into his ex-girlfriend who was from Taiwan. He made no mention of the medical stuff.

We also got a few negative responses, which was expected. 2 people said the film wasn't enjoyable, but educational. Some said it was a little disjointed, but I already knew that. But overall, I received much better
responses than I had expected.

Ellen Owens-Summo, the Vice Pres of the Arizona Public Health Association, said she felt frustrated throughout the film b/c she felt like Can's identity was like fused with his mental illness. She didn't feel like he was moving forward. I told her she was witnessing the reality of the situation. Can sometimes does over-identify with his mental disorder and talks about it incessantly. Though he has gotten better lately. One of his friends sometimes jokingly refers to him as Mr. Bipolar. He is stuck in certain ways. In a way, her comment was a compliment b/c it meant that we were accurately portraying reality as uncomfortable as that was. But this was clearly a struggle that I as a director have had to deal with over and over again. Showing Can's repetitiveness makes him less likable, but it is in actuality how he behaves. Should I make a deliberate effort to make him more likable with less regard for accuracy? Yes, some producers/directors would say. No, is what I have been saying. But I am open to making him more likeable without detracting from the overall integrity of the reality.

I was so glad that the screening was over. Because of my home burglary on Aug 11, I lost 2 wks of editing time and felt so inadequate presenting the cut as it was. I was actually glad that the audience size was smaller than expected because the cut wasn't where it should have been. I was running on pure adrenaline for the last 2 days before leaving for Phoenix and I had gotten only an hour of sleep the night before I flew out of NJ. I was so relieved.

Sept 11 - The day after my screening, I attended the conference as a participant and learned so much about American public health issues, like how social determinants affect health and longevity. Cheryl Easley, President of the American Public Health Assoc. gave an inspiring speech about human rights and health disparities. Native Americans have an average lifespan far below the American average. People with serious and chronic mental illnesses live 25 years less than the average American for a multitude of reasons related to side effects of medications and other
social and economic factors.

I also attended this workshop about obstetric care for Somali refugees in Phoenix. And I was really impressed with the extent to which this obstetrican/gynecologist went to in order provide culturally and linguistically appropriate care to these refugees who fled their homelands because of the civil war there. The clinic was highly successful. The only question I had going through my mind was how is it that these Somalis are able to receive culturally competent medical care after only being here for a few years? Asian Americans have been in this country for 4 centuries and yet many Asian Americans do not receive culturally and linguistically competent medical care. Is it the model minority myth that makes people think that Asian Americans do not need culturally competent mental health care? Maybe probably?

Do you know that one's race to some extent is a reliable predictor of lifespan and health outcomes? Income and socioeconomic status often affect diet, levels of stress and exercise habits. All these factors affect our health choices. Did you know that most immigrants, even those from developing countries, are healthier than most average Americans upon arrival? But as soon as they start assimilating to the American lifestyle, their health goes downhill. It's a conundrum. Check out this
documentary clip: http://www.unnaturalcauses.org/video_clips.php


SEPT 12- AMAZING SEDONA
redrockcountry.org

I went to Sedona to do research on Navajo and Hopi languages and cultures for my next film about the linguistic history of the U.S. Unbeknownst to most Americans, this land was once the home of thousands of Native American languages, many of which are now extinct or are in danger of extinction today. Franz Boas, the father of anthropology, could not even begin to categorize all of them due to vast numbers and variations of languages and dialects. Modern day America is the most monolingual this land has ever been. I think this is such a fascinating statement, given the current legal, social and cultural debates surrounding the use of English and Spanish. Many Americans are debating whether they want to live in a bilingual society, much less a land where thousands of languages are spoken. As a Korean American, I've heard so many racist comments leveled at recent immigrants who do not speak English well as if all Americans "should" speak English. This "should" is culturally induced and certainly not a prerequisite for American Citizenship. In fact, Citizenship tests are frequently given in many languages because of Title VI of the U.S. Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of national origin. (My grandmother when she was 82 took her test in Korean and proudly scored a 96% on her exam, much to our surprise.) There is a misconception that America is supposed to be a English monolingual society, when, in fact, our ancestors and forefathers were multi-lingual. Not to mention the fact that the first Amendment of the Bill of Rights explicitly prohibits government from interfering freedom of speech rights. It has been my personal mission as an American to correct these kinds of social wrongs from happening. The film will map out the historical and prehistorical linguistic landscape of the U.S. beginning with the tongues of the Native Americans, most of whose languages did not have a written form.

I did not make it up into Navajo and Hopi reservations in Northern Arizona. I just didn't have the time and money, though I certainly did have the will. I spoke with many of the Navajo vendors who sold their jewelry and arts by the roadside at the local Dairy Queen on one of the main arteries through town. Through some of these women, I learned a bit about the culture and where the main reservations were. It seemed to help that I was Korean and was able to relate to some of their cultural dilemmas about assimilation and language. Many Native Americans have diabetes and other serious and chronic health issues.

I camped out in a tent in Sedona for 4 days, much to my own amazement. I thought I would be scared to camp alone, but after doing a little research, I discovered that I was by far safer camping alone in Sedona than living in my apartment in Jersey City. Sleeping under the stars and waking up at dawn hasn't really been a part of my lifestyle. I was going to sleep a few hours after sunset and getting up an hour after dawn, which is so contrary to my usual night owl routine.

I climbed Cathedral Rock, which is a gorgeous and amazing place to be. The views are mesmerizing and there is a spiritual and mystical quality about Sedona. I learned that there are vortexes in Sedona, which are some kind of energy fields. I had to go on all fours for latter part of the rock climb. It was a precariously dangerous 60 degree incline at a few points, where one slip could lead to death or serious injury -- at least a 40-50 foot fall. I paused, looked down and got too scared to climb further. At one point, I had given up and was ready to climb back down until 2 passerbyers cheered me on and told me not to give up. It was all a mental game. Once you begin to entertain the notion of falling, you can't go on but the minute you think you can, you can. And I made it up 3/4 of the way to the top, way past the point at which I thought I couldn't go on because it was too dangerous. What an amazing zen experience!
For some pictures of Cathedral Rock, click below:
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=cathedral+rock+sedona&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=Kku1SsPON9iD8Qb3t4S6Dg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=5

Unfortunately, I have absolutely no photos to share with you! The photos I took are all gone. Something is wrong with my brand new Polaroid camera. I came home and tried to download my photos from my camera, only to discover that there was absolutely nothing on my SD card or camera memory. Bizarre.

On my last day in Sedona, AZ, I went back to the vortex at Cathedral Rock and meditated. I also thanked God for the wonderful time and all the terrific people I had met on this glorious journey. I was truly blessed to have this time in Sedona on this journey... What a gift these past few days have been... Thank you God.



Many thanks to all of you who have helped me to make this cut, workshop, and screening possible by helping me with a hundred different details. Many thanks to the Mental Health Assoc. of California, Dianne Yamashiro-Omi of The California Endowment, and Nicholas Martin, editor. Thank you Pat Shea of NASMHPD for believing me and my project. Thank you Narges Maududi of NASMHPD for paying for my travel. Thank you Dr. Hyung Chol Yoo of ASU and Minh Ta. Thank you to my family and friends: Karen Glasser, Ben Park, Jackie Hu, Linda Hattendorf, Bill Lichtenstein, all those who attended my NYWIFT screening (Nuria and Chris), Ellen Owens-Summo, Jennifer Bonnet of the AZ PHA, Bill Stewart and Ann Marshall of NARPA. My super fantastic neighbors/friends: Eleanor Kaufman, Rich Greenstein and Ben Bartholomew.

Deconstructing the Model Minority Myth - Workshop at National Association of Rights Protection and Advocacy (NARPA)

The perception of Asian Americans as model minorities who are academically and economically successful with few social problems has done a great disservice to Asian Americans, in general, and a grave injustice to Asian Americans who experience mental health issues, in particular. Among all the ethnic groups in the U.S., Asian Americans with mental illnesses are least likely to find culturally and linguistically competent services in part because of this public perception. This notion of Asian Americans being diligent, industrious and capable of overcoming the many social and economic obstacles to the American dream has, inadvertently, been used to deny Asian Americans equitable access to social services. To further compound the issue of inequitable access to mental health services, many Asian Americans with mental illness are not revealing their psychological needs, requesting services, or stepping up to assert their rights under the law. This is the model minority myth, which basically reinforces the capitalistic ideology that America is a meritocracy, where a strong work ethic will be rewarded with financial wealth. Conservatives use the Asian American model minority myth to disparage other racial groups for "not making it" without looking at the underlying sociological complexities that tell the real story. The fact is the Asian American under-earn in comparison to their White counterparts when comparing educational background and years of experience in the same jobs. Asian Americans have historically over-invested in education in order to offset the effects of discrimination. Many believing that attaining advanced degrees from prestigious schools are the only means to achieving financial and career success.

The term Asian American assumes a certain level of homogeneity even when none exists. How federal govt defines Asian American as people having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent. Asian groups are not limited to nationalities but include ethnic terms as well, such as Hmong.
Heterogeneity of this group - 43 distinct ethnic groups, more than 100 languages, and multi-religious, including but not limited to Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam.
50-70% are foreign-born and speak a language other than English at home. Approximately 40% of the Asian American population immigrated to the U.S. between 1990-2000.

The truth is that this group of people labeled "Asian Americans" really does not exist as a homogenous group of people, but are a highly diverse, multi-religious, group of 43 different ethnicities and more than 100 languages. Despite this inordinate diversity, Asian Americans, like other non-European populations, were racialized, perceived and treated in particular ways because of their race. The 2000 Census showed that the largest 5 Asian American groups are Chinese, Phillipino, Vietnamese, Korean and Asian Indian.

Here's an excellent article written by Hyung Chol (Brandon) Yoo, a professor of psychology at Arizona State University, with whom I will be presenting with at NARPA:
http://www.education.com/reference/article/unraveling-minority-myth-asian-students/

Here is my outline of Workshop at the 2009 National Association of Rights Protection and Advocacy (http://www.narpa.org/) in Phoenix, AZ on Sept 10.

Introduction and brief summary - Pearl [3 min}
When I first started this film project, it was with the intention of helping to break the silence about mental illness within Asian American communities and to contribute to the broader public discourse about mental health and cultural competency. I soon came to realize that many people in mainstream mental health organizations did not perceive as Asian Americans as having social problems and made little to no outreach efforts to Asian Americans. Even the most educated among them had internalized stereotypes about Asian Americans in their minds, coloring their perceptions of Asian Americans. I realized that even before the issue of cultural competency could be dealt with that the myth of the model minority first had to be dispelled. Many Asian Americans do not want to acknowledge that they have mental health issues in their communities and families. The denial and shame has made Asian Americans, the least to seek mental health services among all the ethnic groups in the U.S. The model minority myth actually helps to obscure the truth and reinforces the denial.
We are fortunate to have Dr. Hyung Chol Yoo, Associate Professor of Psychology of Arizona State Univ. and scholar. One of his specialties is the model minority myth. But first I'd like to show the first 20 minutes of a documentary film in progress, Can. Some of you may know Can Truong, who is a board member of NARPA.

VIDEO – Clip from documentary film “Can” [20 min]
Defining Asian America - [Pearl] [3 min]
What AA means in conversation - Most people think of people of East Asian ancestry such as Chinese, Korean and Japanese, when the term "Asian American" is used. But for the purposes of this workshop, we will be using the term to refer to
How federal govt defines AA -Asian refers to people having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent. Asian groups are not limited to nationalities but include ethnic terms as well, such as Hmong.
Heterogeneity of this group - 43 distinct ethnic groups, more than 100 languages, and multi-religious, including but not limited to Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam.
50-70% are foreign-born and speak a language other than English at home. Approximately 40% of the Asian American population immigrated to the U.S. between 1990-2000.
III. Describe Historical, sociopolitcal context and clearer definition of the model minority myth [Brandon--12 minutes]
Definition of racism - Media images that reinforces AAMMM
Not a stereotype, but a construct that reinforces the power structure
History/Sociopolitical Background
Defining Model Minority Myth and components.
VIDEO - Experts describing Model Minority Myth within the context of mental health - [10 mins]

Deconstructing the model minority myth [Brandon--10 minutes]
Ethnic Heterogeneity
Selective Immigration
Context Dependency

Implications of the MMM [Brandon--10 minutes]
Interracial tension
glass ceiling
psychological distress
Asian American women and suicide
mental health service use
silence and invisibility [Pearl] [5 mins]
lack of cultural competency care
Lack of understanding mental health experience/needs
Lack of media images of AA with mental health issues. Media images of AAs most typically reinforce cultural myths and stereotypesMany major mental health organizations are not conducting outreach to Asian Americans and currently, there exists no national Asian American grassroots groups that are dealing with mental health issues. Asian American women between the ages of 15-24 have among the highest suicide rates in the nation, with only Native American women leading the rates.