Rise Feedback

Regarding the Rise book: What was your favorite reading? What was the reading you liked the least? Why? The Kindle version had some poor spacing of timelines and the comics don’t zoom, but did you have any other problems?

I honestly enjoyed the way the authors and editors decided to write the book by subsectioning the topics. I also felt that their approach was unique and refreshing. Because of my ADHD, I used Audible and the Kindle version at the same time. In hearing it read by different people, I’m sure that it made it much more interesting. I didn’t encounter any hiccups with either version. I enjoyed the essays in the beginning of each chapter, especially, The 2000’s: An Essay by Phil Yu. LA
I bought the Kindle version of Rise but found it difficult to read. I ended up borrowing a hard copy from the local library and it was so much easier to follow, especially seeing the graphics were helpful. The reading I liked most was the whitewash/yellowface in the media. I didn’t have a reading I liked least. This was a great book and I plan on buying a hard copy to have. TA
I thought the Rise book was an entertaining yet informative book for the class. I do think there was a lot of reading assigned for this class though, so I usually only read the sections of the books that I had to answer questions on. My favorite reading from the book was about Asian American superheroes finally being shown in movies. I think the book did a great job at explaining how important representation is in the media, and I was glad to learn that more movies are coming out featuring Asian superheroes. I did not dislike any particular reading from Rise, although some were a little dry and hard to get through, not one sticks out in my mind as being bad. EB
The reading in the Rise book I enjoyed the most was about the Yellowfacing we see a lot in the entertainment industry. And it was interesting to me because there were examples from modern day, which is disrespectful to the entire Asian community. My least favorite reading was about Vincent Chin. And the reasoning behind this is because his entire story was really heartbreaking to me and he deserves justice. I did not have the Kindle version, so I did not run into any problems. MB
In the Rise book my favorite reading was the chapters written by Jeff Yang, I enjoyed his writing and learning about his experiences and how he got to where he is today. My least favorite readings were ones that seemed like conversations or comics, I felt it was more difficult to stay engaged and be interested with those readings. AC
My favorite was The 2000s by Phil Yu because it was cool to read about how Asian Americans connected in the early days of the Internet, and I enjoyed his sense of humor. I wasn’t too interested in The Asian American Playlist because I just didn’t recognize any of the music. I didn’t have any major issues with the Kindle version of the book. AC
I found the ‘When Inclusion Can Turn into Erasure’ reading the most interesting. I hadn’t ever thought about how Pacific Islanders would have felt left out. I wasn’t a big fan of the book in general. I listened to the audiobook, which I really disliked because the readers were not very good. As for content, I didn’t like how the book painted Asian Americans as both victims and empowered at the same time.I often felt like, “well which is it?” Should I be thinking “oh poor us we’re so oppressed”, or “wow Asians are awesome!” I think that the fact that it had multiple authors gave it no sense of continuity and thus, the tone shifted all over the place. AC
My favorite reading was the final essay, Beyond. Overall, I liked that the textbook was published so recently and carried a somewhat casual tone. It was easy to follow and interesting. With Beyond in particular, it puts into context that after learning about all the achievements made by the Asian American community, American culture still largely rejects them and there’s a good amount of work to do to change the status quo. I didn’t have a specific least favorite reading, but I couldn’t get into the comics. It wasn’t because I didn’t like the content, but because I couldn’t read them. The text wasn’t legible and for some reason zooming in didn’t work/help. It could have totally been an operator error, but I also didn’t feel like I missed out on much by not reading them. AC
My favorite reading was the more modern readings because they pertained to my life more. My least favorite readings were some of the older historical readings, which were often less interesting because we had already covered them in school. CC
In the Rise book I enjoyed reading about the 90s, that was my teen years and it brought back a lot of memories. I also like the Boba achievement. Didn’t really dislike anything. Sorry. I did have the Kindle version. What I ended up doing was just looking for the title of what you asked us to read. The page numbers were completely off-base DC
My favorite reading “The First Action Hero” because it was interesting learning the challenges Liu faced as being an actor in an underrepresented community. I didn’t have a least favorite reading and enjoyed the book. I bought a physical copy of the book, so I didn’t have any technological issues. JC
Regarding the Rise book, my favorite reading was the “Beyond” essay because it describes how Asian America is still evolving and struggling, and how our past affects our present and our future. The reading I liked the least was “How to Yellowface.” I understand that it is supposed to be humorous and upsetting, but it was out-of-place and off-putting for me. I did not have any qualms with the Kindle version. SC
Before by Jeff Yang especially about the Long Duk Dong character and how that represented racism in the movie Sixteen Candles. I also liked the Propaganda Family Tree on pgs 32-33 because I am very visual and into art so that helped me learn all the stereotypes that prompted hate for Asian Americans. What was the reading you liked the least? The dialogue between writers Why? Hard to follow. NE
My favorite reading was definitely the Jeremy Lin comic because of how it dealt with an up and coming NBA star which is something I was able to understand well and relate with closely. I honestly could not recall a reading that I did not like, and did not encounter any problems with the Kindle version of the book. It was actually quite easy to navigate. JG
I really liked the Spaces readings in the Rise book because of how immersive they were. My favorite one of those was from the 2010’s section: Spaces – University Culture Fest. This one just felt relatable to me because it so aptly (and weirdly precisely) described the things I saw at events in my first year at university. DK
At first, I thought that this would be an easy pick, because I had to narrow it down… but I would have to say that my favorite reading would be the essays by Jeff Yang at the beginning of each chapter. He has a style of writing that is relaxed, yet informative. I felt like I was reading for pleasure. I really did not have any sections or parts that I disliked in Rise, but I did find myself skimming over, rather than examining some of the graphic novel parts of the book. I purchased the textbook, thinking that I would need to highlight and annotate (I’m old school like that, because I am old), so no troubles with the Kindle version. JK
I read about 90% of the whole book as I read through all of the pages except for the ones that had side panel pages that had information of other topics like the Asian market on page. JM
My favorite reading in regards to the Rise book was the parts that talked about subjects that I was familiar with but yet to know and learn more about. For example, the section that talked about Boba tea on page 124, I found some interesting facts that I didn’t know before. I didn’t know that in Taiwan, the word Boba is slang for boobs. The reading I liked the least was probably the pages talking about the list of styles through each timeline. I didn’t really like the section or found the section to be the least interesting as I’m not a fan of fashion even though it was somewhat intriguing learning about other people other than the ones that we know like Awkwafina. I read the hardback book, so it was rather straightforward and clear with the timelines. JM
Overall I really enjoyed reading the Rise book. While some of the shorter pieces were a good read, my favorite was the 2010’s essay by Phillip Wang, as he discussed topics that were very relevant to me during my upbringing. I vividly remember watching Wong Fu Production and Nigahiga videos on YouTube. While I didn’t think much of it at the time, they really served as role models for Asian kids growing up in the US like myself. My least favorite was the 1990’s Essay, as it was very long, even though it covered some interesting historical events pertaining to Asians. RM
I really liked reading the interview portion of Simu Liu and Kumail Nanjiani. It was interesting to see the perspective of actors from major movies and how their roles were influenced. I didn’t like the compilation parts like music and movies just because of the formatting. Otherwise, I enjoyed those parts as well. I did not have any other problems. FP
My favorite reading was on page 96 “Asian Americans Dot Com The Wild Rise and Hard Fall of the Nineties Startup Kings” because I am fascinated with the Asian America ingenuity and technology minded. I liked the success story of Jerry Yang of how he achieved success with Yahoo and how he gives back to his community by donating $25 million to the Asian Art Museum. The rise and fall story of Tony Hsieh is so tragic and heartbreaking. His success at Zappos, an internet shoe company is first of its kind during the dot com boom. His amazing vision and entrepreneurship skills is what made him an icon in the internet businesses. I liked all of the readings in the book because it highlights the talents and capability of Asian Americans and it helps dispel the negative stereotypes of Asian Americans. RP
I found all the readings regarding yellowface pretty fascinating. It inspires me to want to be a more conscious consumer of entertainment and actually think about who is cast to play what roles. I’m sure most white people in America, including myself, have not thought anything harmless of yellowfacing or whitewashing since it has been so normalized in the industry. I didn’t really have a least favorite reading other than maybe the occasional poetry. Only because I’m not personally an avid poetry consumer so it didn’t really have much significance for me. My Kindle worked fine, I’ve had issues with the Kindle version of other textbooks, but not this one. CR
My favorite reading was the one about superheroes and Asian Americans. I thought it was really interesting, as I am a big fan of Marvel and watched Shang-Chi. I didn’t really have a least favorite, but just thought some of the topics were less interesting to me. The main issue for me was the jumping around. Topics changed frequently, but over all I really enjoyed it. The combination of different medias and writing styles made it feel like I was reading a real book, not just a textbook. ES
My favorite chapter in the book “Rise” was “Beyond: An Essay by Jeff Yang, Phil Yu, and Philip Wang.” I like it because it discusses how “Asian American” hard work paid off and it also discusses the difficulties “Asian Americans” had to face, but it also discusses about this century. However, it is unfortunate that in today’s world, people still despise “Asian Americans” because some blame them for the appearance of covid-19. Everything seemed to be going in the right direction for “Asian Americans,” but when Covid-19 arrived, they had to start from the beginning. Even today, still many elderlies “Asian Americans” are attacked in San Francisco, it is devastating. I also like “Space Finding Our Religion,” because it discusses the various religions that we see around the world. I found it unique and interesting to read about different religions.
“9/11: Remembering a Tragedy and the Dark Days That Followed” was the reading I did not enjoy. I didn’t like it because I’m Muslim, and it’s really sad reading how much hatred people have for Muslims, like how some people were killed because of 9/11, and people who weren’t even Muslims but were “brown” were also attacked; it was a terrible time for everyone who was “brown.” Even though I was not born at the time, I received some insults at school about being Muslim and 9/11, as if people found out that I was a Muslim they assumed I was a threat simply because I was Muslim. My history teacher in 10th grade was a Christian, but as he grew older, he converted to being a Muslim, and when 9/11 happened, his mother was mad at him for being a Muslim and did not speak to him for the next 20 years because he converted to Muslim a few years before the 9/11 occurred. It’s tragic that his mother disowned him because he was Muslim. I did not encounter any problem since I had a hardcopy of the textbook. HS
My favorite reading from the rise book was “Asian Americans on Campus” because it dealt with Asian students’ performance and related very much to my own life. My least favorite reading was “Who’s Asian American” because while the details about the census it gave were somewhat interesting, it just didn’t relate too much to my own life or interests like most of the other readings did. LS
The Kindle version of the Rise Book worked fine for me. I liked reading “The First Action Hero” because I could relate to seeing people who look like me in Bollywood movies, but then also people who look like me not getting a good representation in American films. I did not like “Me love you long time” because it was very derogatory towards women. TS
My favorite reading was, in general, the “Rise: 2000s” reading because I read a lot of information that I was familiar with and unfamiliar with, both of which I could relate to because I have seen a lot of the information they talked about here in my childhood. My least favorite reading was the “Rise: Before” reading, not that I did not like it, I just found this one to be the least modern, and therefore, the less I could see this information in my daily life. I thought all of the reading was really interesting and I liked how this text was written as a mixture of traditionally textual elements as well as comics and other fun aspects. SS
My favorite reading from the Rise book was the one we did last week called First Action Hero. I thought that reading was very interesting, and I liked answering questions on that reading for the assignment. The reason I thought it was so interesting was because you see the heroes on screen, and don’t really think about what goes into it behind the scenes. After reading through that portion, I realized how much work they had to put into it because of their ethnicity. It wasn’t the same as Chris Evans as Captain America or Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man. I didn’t encounter any problems through the Kindle version. RS
I actually really enjoyed reading the textbook, as it was not too difficult to understand and had brief chapters that made it easy to read. I found the passages about Vincent Chin really fascinating, as well as the later chapters about more modern-day stuff like today’s Asian films (Crazy Rich Asians, The Eternals, Shang Chi.) I found the kindle version of the book pretty easy to use. JY

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