Alex Tizon Quotes

#1. Having met other immigrants like myself in America, I can say that a great number of us came to our same "Oriental" identity in a similar fashion. We arrived in the United States as Japanese or Korean or Filipino, but over time we became Orientals.

Alex Tizon

#2. Our common status made talk easier. [...] She knew the paradox of being stared at and not seen. She knew what it felt like to walk out of a movie theater feeling ashamed or erased.

Alex Tizon

#3. Just this year, as I was sitting in dining hall at UO, a white student at the next table complained about the "invasion" of Asians on campus. Only outsiders invade.

Alex Tizon

#4. I recalled an economics professor in Fujian who spoke to me of China's inevitable return to the top of the world order. It was just a matter of time.
"I have teapots older than your country," the professor said, sipping his tea. "And they're /very/ sturdy teapots.

Alex Tizon

#5. We could debate whether movies reflect or create the reality. It's clear to me they do both.

Alex Tizon

#6. When relatives asked, "How is your life in America?" my father would answer, Nandito pa rin kami. We're still here.

Alex Tizon

#7. Very few things hurt my young ego more than an Asian female openly shaming me for my Asian-ness. If she could not accept me, who could? If even Asian women saw the men of their own blood as less than other men, what was the use in arguing otherwise?

Alex Tizon