I had the pleasure of visiting Yu & Me Books for the first time last month when I visited NYC to explore the city with a friend. Before I met up with my friend, my aunt suggested this bookstore and the two of us had a chance to meet up for the first time since the pandemic to catch up and talk honestly about our family. This bookstore was set up in response to the growth of anti-Asian attacks to the Chinatown community during the Covid-19 pandemic, and to fortify the community during multiple crises at once.
The bookstore was cozy. The owner was cool and very welcoming. There was a little reading book in the back where my aunt and I talked. You can also get a coffee.
Pics and vid of the bookstore before the damage from the fire.
There’s a gofundme to support the bookseller and the workers to have wages for up to a year while repairs are underway. It’s fully funded but more can still help:
While I’m still interested in reading the book, it’s helpful to have more critical reviews to help temper expectations beyond the hype that’s surrounding this story.
Alt text: #OTW Signal discusses #Section230 and training #AI with #fanfic + tips for you on editing #Fanlore. Read more at https://t.co/DcDea1LSEy pic.twitter.com/sIywPZY4c8 — Transformative Works (@OTW_News) May 6, 2023
There’s a person on Twitter who identifies as part of the Sakha ethnic group in Far East Russia/Yakutia, and they had made a nothing-burger tweet where they said they enjoyed seeing fan art of anime that portrays a semi-realistic art style that has characters have more visible ethnic features. And the example they drew was of someone with darker skin and more narrow eyes.
The East Asian artists I follow flipped and accused the OP of being racist, and doubled-down on it by saying Asian people can internalize racist viewpoints.
It’s so messed up, they just said they like a certain way fan works are portrayed and they probably have a different relationship to Asian artworks because of their own heritage and background. They’re not even saying anime style is bad, but honestly it’s a common critique that anime has pale skinned characters as the default and I have seen plenty of anime whom, when they want to show a Chinese or Korean character in an episode, they go to racial stereotyping and sometimes make the eyes look visibly more narrow (looking at ya Hikaru no Go).
I think it’s pretty scummy to see East Asians in the West dunk on an Asian person from an indigenous ethnic group whose history of being colonized by Russia and who most likely have a different perspective on how Asians are portrayed in the media . I have also seen, elsewhere, xenophobic attitudes from Chinese people towards Mongolian and Siberian Asians that also contributes to erasure of their identity and culture.
What are we really doing as a community when we make these angry social media posts like this?
ALT
