Tag: southeast asian
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Chapter 8: Monkhood
My mom tried everything to keep me off the streets, even religion. In Southeast Asian Buddhist culture it is customary for young males to spend time in their local temple as a novice monk. It’s a way to earn merit for our past offenses and a way to earn respect from the surrounding Asian community.…
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Chapter 7: Typical Day
It was 1996. The sun was shining and I had just punched some white kid in the face. I picked up his glasses and threw them down the street as he begged me to stop. I let him get on his bike and said, “You tell your brother to never talk s*** again. Get the…
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The Motivation for Mission
There are many honorable and noble reasons to engage the lost in a cross-cultural setting but there is only one that will truly sustain you for the long haul. Missions is not about alleviating poverty, eradicating world hunger, stopping human trafficking, and listen carefully…it’s not even about saving souls. Missions is about spreading the fame…
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Chapter 6: Routine
Southwest Michigan. Some small crappy town. 6:40 am. Snowing and pitch black except for the orange glow of street lights. The air was cold enough to freeze the snot running down my nose. My greatest motivation to wake up and walk to school in this shitstorm was the thought of packaged blueberry muffins, cafeteria sausages…
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Chapter 5: Friend or Foe
I spent Jr. High school in four different states. We practically lived in a U-Haul (moving truck). I wasn’t bothered by the moving though. It was the new schools that made me nervous. First impressions are everything. As a little Asian gang-banger I categorized people instantly as friends or enemies. My brother and I always…
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Money and Asians
We’ve come a long way from stashing all our valuables under the mattress or in a safe hidden somewhere in Mom and Dad’s bedroom. That’s how our folks and their folks before them did it for centuries. They keep all the gold, charms, cash and jewelry close by – and then gossiped about how much…
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Church Sucks
It’s safe to say that more than half the people on this planet feel that church sucks. They see it as an institution – one that is intolerant, irrelevant, hypocritical and completely out of touch with culture. It’s also safe to say that the other half of this planet have no official opinion of church because they’ve never formulated…
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Resurrecting Rough Riders
The resurrection of Jesus is going to be remembered this weekend. I figure it’s about time to resurrect this blog. So why use Rough Riders as a title? In 1994 a song called “Regulate” was released by Warren G. and Nate Dogg. In a tale of loyalty and respect, Nate Dogg raps about retaliating on…
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Chapter 4: Respect
Sixty seconds can seem like a long time, especially when you are getting pummeled from every side by gang members. I was getting jumped into an Asian gang called Local Oriental Killers (LOK). It was an organized beat down. The only rules were no shots to the groin and face but everything else was a…
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Chapter 2: Kung-Fu
Life was different in sunny Southern California (So Cal). Back in Massachusetts my brother and I would climb trees, explore the open woods in our backyard, and watch the bug-eyed raccoons dig through our trash from the kitchen window. So Cal Los Angeles area was an urban jungle with city as far as the eye…
The Asian Rough Rider 