VIEWS FROM VERMONT

WHAT UP Y'ALL.

Kai Huang here currently writing from Stratton Mountain Ski Resort in Stratton, VT. I've been here for about a week seeing patients in the urgent care clinic at the base of the mountain as part of the Harvard Medical School "Skiing Injuries and Family Practice" elective, and I already miss the fairly racist but at least racially diverse greater Boston area that I sadly left on Super Bowl Sunday (shout out to all you white people who use coded language to talk about how certain Seahawks players are a bad influence for the youth!!).

So, the thing is, I didn't realize this when I signed up for the elective, but Vermont is over 96% white according to the 2010 U.S. Census (thanks to Creative Director Jeff Cott AKA Kid Koala for this article). So in honor of that, today's post, entitled "VIEWS FROM VERMONT" will actually just be me highlighting some good old fashioned racism here in this lovely mountain state!

That's right. It's another long-awaited edition of "Fucked Up Things White People Do for 1,000, Alex." One of my favorite segments here at EMW.

FIRST UP, this humorous and tragic article forwarded to me by our exceptionally well organized yet persistently whiny and nap-prone Assistant Director slash flower picking enthusiast Amanda Zhang, known to (a) make plans and (b) put them into action. Click the image below for that full article!

Ahh I can't lie, I love it when stuff like this happens. Sometimes you just need an event like this to help white people let us know how they really feel! Because other times, it can be kind of hard to tell.

ALRIGHT NEXT, a series of choice quotes from my supervisors at the clinic, who are esteemed physicians on faculty at Harvard and other white institutions in the northeastern United States. Here are my favorites from the week:

"I was amazed at how little these students were learning. But you know, at the time, Harvard was under a lot of pressure to admit 'disadvantaged' students, who probably wouldn't have won in a fair and equal election."

"These days, you can't even ask if someone's male or female. I saw a form the other day that said Male, Female, or Neutral... or Trans, it must have been. I said to myself, 'What is the world coming to?'" (LOL this one's a bonus, for all you transphobic and oppressively gender conforming ass clowns out there!)

"Ah, damn it. They need to give me some real utensils." I respond, "What, did they give you plastic?" ... "No, they gave me chopsticks." Motherfucker, (a) I'm Asian and I'm standing right in front of you and (b) YOU EATING SUSHI RIGHT NOW.

Given, I ain't say shit in response to any of these comments because med school kind of conditions you to never speak out against bigoted authority figures. Beats it out of you, etc. I'm only comfortable posting this slander about my unnamed supervisors on the internet because I don't believe they'll find it before graduation (May 28, 2015). If you guys do see this though, I'm just playing! I love you and Harvard Medical School.

BOOM AND LAST. This one's not too fucked up, but just kinda made me chuckle. Peep this dope ass Oriental food aisle at the Shaw's over in nearby Manchester, VT:

Lol. Oh H-Mart Cambridge how I miss you so. We should have a white aisle there, call it Caucasoid or something. For all your mayo, bread, and police force needs! Credit Manda for the tagline.

Alright that's all for now, fam. Stay tuned for blog posts on the most recent EMW Gallery Opening AKA Fresh Friday featuring Evelyn's moms Jane Kuang, East Meets Beats (beets?) #12 featuring GOLDBLOC, and possibly some other shit if I can get our staff to stop playing Pokemon Yellow. You already know. Pika pika.

<3 K

FRESH FRIDAYS FEATURING BRIAN CHAN

What up y'all.

Guess who's back in the building. It's Kai Huang with another track for the children. Man, so it's been a minute since I've checked in with you all here on the EMW blog, so my apologies for that. I took some time to do some away rotations out in the Bay Area, CA. Saw some patients. It was cool. But at the same time, it's wonderful to be back here in home sweet Cambridge, MA, fam. Get back on this blog game.

Alright so y'all might know that for a few months now, we've been hosting different artists here in the main gallery space at EMW. During my time away, our friend the very talented Alahna Watson had an exhibit here entitled g.r.i.t.s. (Girl Raised In The South). I was super bummed to have missed it, but I heard it was bomb af. Shouts to that girl and shouts to all of Jamaica Plain.

Today though, I want to recap an event we had just earlier this week. Gallery openings usually take place on the first Friday of each month and have thus been dubbed Fresh Fridays by our creative director Jeff Cott AKA Kid Koala (so called because of his striking resemblance to the tree-dwelling marsupials native to Australia). Due to scheduling issues, however, this month's Fresh Friday took place on the second Thursday... this Thursday, January 8.

The feature artist was our friend and colleague Brian Chan, who is a craftsman of otherworldly genius. He mostly came up in the MIT and Mass Art scenes and now works over at the MIT Hobby Shop. "Hmm. A craftsman?", you say. What does he do exactly? Man, it's kind of tough to describe what the man doesn't do. He does 3D printing. He makes musical instruments. He makes swords. He folds some of the most intricate origami known to man. If you don't believe me, g'head and type "brian chan origami" into Google and see what happens. He also made this fucking Ironman suit and has been known to sleep in it from time to time:

So, I warn you. Do not attempt to run up on this dude at home. It's not gonna end well for you. I'm saying, don't let the friendly Asian Hufflepuff demeanor fool you... my man really doesn't fuck around when it comes to his art, son. NOBODY IS SAFE.

Actually nah lol he's a really nice dude though. He gave a brief artist's talk and took questions from the audience and we'll have that segment as well as a more in-depth one-on-one interview up shortly, so stay tuned. Our video editing team is still playing Skyrim. But word, it was marvelous having Brian in the space to share his passion with us and I'm honored to count myself among his fans and admirers. To be there and to witness the level of detail in this man's work was really something awe-inspiring. I just imagine this dude locked up in his basement eating nothing but Nongshim ramen from H-Mart for like five months straight, muttering sheepishly to himself the whole time, lost in a parallel universe of unhinged creativity. Then he showers and emerges from the cave like Lazarus and fucks everybody's heads up with whatever new project he was cooking up down there. Crazy. That's EMW for you, man. Props to that dude and to everyone who came through. Gallery hours coming.

Alright I'm gonna get back to video editing now. And by video editing, I mean Skyrim. Peace. To check out more photos from the gallery opening, peep our Facebook.

Love, Kai

OH WORD, and Brian's running a 3D printing and design workshop this Saturday, January 17, y'all. Sign up here! https://openartlabbrianchan.splashthat.com/