> By Ellyn Pak

> Illustration by Noah Dempewolf

  

 

Their voices are distinct, each representing a facet of their disparate worlds. They exercise their writing chops online, providing glimpses of their lives through a window that show intimate details and thoughts on endless topics including sex, racism, food and parenting.

But together, they make up an ever-growing circle of savvy Korean American bloggers who have generated buzz and developed cyber-cred among millions of others maintaining an online diary.

They write with honesty and gusto, unencumbered by journalistic standards, and garner attention from thousands of Web surfers — some anonymous, some loyal, most curious.

“You just think you’re going to put your opinions somewhere, get it out. It can be attention-grabbing if people respond, reply, cross-list. That’s the whole dynamic of interactive and peer-driven media,” says Peter Krapp, a film and media studies professor at University of California-Irvine who has studied the blogging phenomenon.

“If they are an interesting, unorthodox, witty or disrespectful voice in a particular context, it might be nice to get a blog from them,” Krapp adds.

That’s exactly what makes these bloggers break rank from the others and garner a nod from their own peers.

 

  

angryasianman.com

“These are opinions; nothing more, nothing less.”

Phil Yu senses a hint of disappointment when people meet him and realize he’s not as angry as they expect.

“I’m generally a nice, reasonable guy, I think,” says Yu, a 28-year-old Los Angeles resident who runs angryasianman.com. “The Web site is my persona, perhaps one I get to be outside of real life.”

The blog, launched in February 2001, started as a place for Yu to rant about issues surrounding Asian American politics, identity and representation in the media and pop culture. Yu, who works on Web content stuff by day, says there was no defining moment in his life that spurred him to write about those topics.

“It was primarily for my benefit,” Yu says. “I didn’t expect anyone to read it. Maybe my friends and random visitors. I definitely didn’t expect an audience.”

He didn’t grow up an Asian American activist, he says. He didn’t gain that perspective in college where most do. In a way, writing about certain topics pertaining to Asian Americans made him inadvertently more conscious of what was out there.

Photos courtesy of Sarah Gim

“It wasn’t anything like that. It was a gradual understanding of issues that were happening around me and observing the media,” says Yu, a self-proclaimed pop-culture junkie.

His entries started off being tongue-in-cheek, an exaggerated look at some of the things he felt compelled to write about. But the undercurrent was undoubtedly clear: that racism and stereotypes exist. What makes Yu different from others is that he isn’t afraid to point it all out. And he infuses it with a touch of humor and realism to which readers can relate.