Saturday, January 26, 2013
Friday, September 7, 2012
Arriving at the Chinese and Indian ethnoburb
So you're from Los Angeles, what brings you to Cupertino?
a) Proximity to good East and South Asian food, well-funded libraries, and an overwhelming selection of summer camps for children.
b) Because my family of 6 subscribes to Ray Pahl's household work strategy whereby a collective decision was made to invest in the household member with the greatest earning potential, the benefit of migrating northward towards higher income outweighed the costs. The opportunity cost of not moving would effectively hamper any monetary or non-monetary benefits of staying.
c) Here is arguably the heart of Chindia valley, and even though walking into a large tech firm anywhere in the Bay Area will showcase a global and diverse workforce, the City of Cupertino is 63% Asian and an elementary school here will have as high as 94% Asian representation.
d) I'm a 1.5 generation East Asian immigrant and was always a minority growing up (as in one of 2 non-white kids in school) and definitely a minority in undergraduate school. Being in the majority is still fascinating to me.
West Los Angeles vs. Chindia Valley
a) Proximity to good East and South Asian food, well-funded libraries, and an overwhelming selection of summer camps for children.
b) Because my family of 6 subscribes to Ray Pahl's household work strategy whereby a collective decision was made to invest in the household member with the greatest earning potential, the benefit of migrating northward towards higher income outweighed the costs. The opportunity cost of not moving would effectively hamper any monetary or non-monetary benefits of staying.
c) Here is arguably the heart of Chindia valley, and even though walking into a large tech firm anywhere in the Bay Area will showcase a global and diverse workforce, the City of Cupertino is 63% Asian and an elementary school here will have as high as 94% Asian representation.
d) I'm a 1.5 generation East Asian immigrant and was always a minority growing up (as in one of 2 non-white kids in school) and definitely a minority in undergraduate school. Being in the majority is still fascinating to me.
West Los Angeles vs. Chindia Valley
- Everyone’s working on a screenplay vs. everyone’s got a website under development
- Food trucks for lunch vs. bento boxes for lunch
- Spanish vs. Hindi/Chinese
- Doll-sized portions vs. Biking to work
- Dress well to impress vs. Dress well and lose credibility
- If you’re even semi-professional, you will inevitably be screened for a game show vs. once you reach semi-professional status you will find yourself too expensive for companies and out of a job
- Strangers are friendly to you because you could be an agent or producer vs. Strangers are friendly to you because you could be an angel investor
- Carmageddon vs. Karmageddon (no more flowers in the hair)
- Carmageddon vs. Karmageddon (no more flowers in the hair)
- Waiter/actor vs. Engineer/app developer
- Parents with one room in home dedicated to training future stars for video and print auditions vs. Parents with one room in home dedicated to all homework all the time
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