Jeremy Lin graces the cover of the November issue of GQ Magazine, hitting news stands October 23. 

AsianConnections thanks GQ and Conde Nast for permission to use these knock-out images of Jeremy by Paola Kudacki/GQ Magazine.

The slogan on GQ's cover is "Look Sharp - Live Smart" - Jeremy Lin certainly looks sharp in these photos, he's one photogenic guy. 

Lin talks with GQ writer Will Leitch who spent time with him when he was in the Big Apple to do the GQ photo shoot and attend other events. It was Lin's first trip to New York since it was announced that he would no longer be a Knicks player. 

Lin talks about how the fans and Linsanity affected him, the Knicks, the Houston Rockets, and being Asian American. 

Read the GQ article and view more images of Jeremy by Paola Kudacki and a behind the scenes video by Matt Baron here.  

"There's a lot of perceptions and stereotypes of Asian-Americans that are out there today, and the fact that I'm Asian-American makes it harder to believe, even crazier, more unexpected," he says. "I'm going to have to play well for a longer period of time for certain people to believe it, because I'm Asian.

And that's just the reality of it." It's not all that dissimilar from what Yao Ming went through. "When Yao came out his rookie year as the first pick of the Draft, you have Charles Barkley saying, 'If he scores seventeen points in a game, I'm going to kiss a donkey's butt,' " Lin says....

With a nation grieving over the loss of loved ones and the destruction from Hurricane Sandy on the East coast, a relief concert "Coming Together" with artists including Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Joel and Sting raised funds for Hurricane Sandy victims at NYC's Rockefeller Center which aired on NBC, HBO, and other outlets. With more recovery and fundraising efforts underway, our spirits are uplifted by the countless stories of courage and heroism by people helping people in the face of Hurricane Sandy. On the West coast, Ben Fong-Torres describes the dancing in the streets of San Francisco, and a thumbs up by Mayor Ed Lee over a World Series win with people from all walks of life and ethnicities coming together. The capacity of the human spirit is boundless. There is hope after all. - Suzanne Joe Kai, editor, AsianConnections.com

By Ben Fong-Torres

Yes, there was the joyful craziness, the dancing in the streets of San Francisco when Giants closer Sergio Romo struck out triple crown winner Miguel Cabrera in Detroit to win the World Series. (click here to full story with images)

And yes, there was the victory parade and Civic Center celebration, drawing more than a million fans into San Francisco, from all over Northern California.

But I also think of the line of 15 or 20 people in front of a tiny Taco Bell/KFC place on a recent late Tuesday afternoon. Taco Bell had promised free tacos if any player in the Series stole a base.

The Giants center fielder,...

 
Update: March 26, 2012

The first of eight soldiers implicated in the death of 19-year-old Army Private Danny Chen will be tried in military court April 4 at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan.

Sergeant Travis Carden, 25, from Fowler, Indiana, will appear before a general court-martial, to face charges of violating lawful general regulation, maltreatment and assault.

The trials of seven other soldiers will be scheduled once their charges are referred to a court-martial. The Organization of Chinese Americans New York Chapter has launched a grassroots campaign including a video and a petition demanding a thorough and transparent investigation, and urging the trials to be moved to the United States.

On October 3, 2011 U.S. Private Chen was found dead of a gunshot wound to his head in a guard tower. Just hours before, his family said Private Chen had been dragged out of his bed by fellow soldiers, dragged across the floor, forced to crawl, pelted with rocks, ordered to do pull-ups with water in his mouth, and insulted with ethnic slurs. His family said he was accused of forgetting to turn off the water heater after taking a shower. 

In Private Chen's personal journal he began keeping since his basic training in April, 2011, and through his emails and letters are stories of being bullied about his ethnicity. “Everyone here jokingly makes fun of me for being Asian,” he said in one letter to his parents. In another letter he wrote, “People crack...

If you know Rain, BoA (shown left), and Sistar, then you already know K-Pop, Korea’s contemporary pop music and its artists.

K-Pop music is one of the fastest growing music genres in the world, and along with Korea’s popular TV drama serials, films and comic books are a growing source of export revenue for Korea.  

The growing global fan base of Korea's entertainment and cultural offerings, known as "Hallyu" or the "Korean Wave" feels more like a tidal wave in some countries. In France, for example, fans mostly in their youth sold out a concert in Paris reportedly in fifteen minutes. Several hundred fans who missed out on tickets held a rally and danced to K-Pop music in front of the Louvre Museum campaigning for a second concert. They got their wish for a second concert which also sold out in minutes. Aflash mob as witnessed by this YouTube video shows hundreds of fans from all ethnicities crowding the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris last June, 2011 to welcome their favorite K-Pop artists. (image right)

On December 31, 2011 Korea's Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Choe Kwang-shik announced a 2012 policy to expand support of Hallyu, to help keep the wave of Korean pop culture surging across its borders. The Korean government also hopes to attract more Hallyu fans into the areas of food, tourism, fashion and other cultural and entertainment offerings.

Leaders from Hollywood and S. Korea’s entertainment industry and academia convened in...

APAICS Congratulates New 
Asian American and Pacific Islander 

Members of 113th US Congress

Update as of November 23, 2012:

Washington, DC -- On Tuesday, November 6, 2012 five new Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) leaders were elected to serve in the 113th United States Congress, with one race for California's 7th Congressional District near Sacramento too close to call on Election night.

The Associated Press called the race on November 15 in favor of Dr. Ami Bera who was running against incumbent Republican Dan Lundgren. This was Bera's second attempt to unseat Lundgren.

Dr. Bera, 45, a Los Angeles-born physician becomes the third Indian-American elected to the House of Representatives, after Singh Saund in 1952, and Governor Bobby Jindal who was elected in 2004 and is still Governor of Louisiana.

Update as of November 23, 2012: Longtime incumbent Republican Dan Lundgren, 66, a lifelong politician who has served 9 terms in Congress, and was a former State Attorney General has not issued a statement on his official website.

Under California law, a recount may be requested by a candidate or voter within five days after the county registrar has finalized results. It is not known if Lundgren will pursue a recount.  

Image: Dr. Ami Bera campaigning with former President Bill Clinton  Photo credit: Ami Bera Campaign

Click here to the full story and photos of all five leaders. 

Click here to the latest as Congress welcomes...