THE KHMERICAN

Khmerican talks to the creators of the hilariously profane...

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 13:04:59 -0500

Khmerican talks to the creators of the hilariously profane ‘Stuff’ Cambodian Folks Say. Phanit Duong (Kosal Jivit) and Chantha Luk (Loc Bong Chluy) are planning a Hella Chluy Empire. Check out their videos at http://youtube.com/chluyfilms.

Introducing Will Koenig of Salem

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:52:38 -0500

“I want to learn what it means to be a Khmerican, so I can better understand what my wife and son experience,” says Will Koenig, a journalist who lived in Cambodia for three years, returning to the states in 2006.

Koenig didn’t have much contact with Cambodians until he went to the country and found various employment, including at publications, academic institutions, and development agencies. His communication and technical skills allowed him to earn his keep while experiencing the culture and meeting people who changed his life, including the woman he would eventually marry.

But he sees the relationship between America and Cambodia in terms of strides to be made abroad. “I think a lot of Cambodians look to Cambodian Americans for a hint at the possibilities the future holds. America offers a beacon for freedom and progress, and Khmericans will have an out-sized role to play in the development, in every sense, of Cambodia,” says Koenig. “That’s why Khmerican.com is so valuable, because it is a place to showcase the best and brightest.”

Koenig believes his involvement with Khmerican will be a chance to experiment with the possibilities of online journalism. He feels his long background in the profession is strength yet also a weakness, given the precarious position of news personnel as their industry changes dramatically thanks to technology. And how is his Khmer linguistic ability after his sojourn in the Southeast Asian kingdom? “Terrible.”

Even so, we welcome Will Koenig, based in Salem, Oregon, to our team. He brings to the table further multimedia competency, having initiated our podcasting, and an eye for copyediting, his day job. An ebook compilation of columns he has written about his adventures in Cambodia is available at http://khmr.cn/at-home-on-the-mekong

Introducing Darlene Ly of Long Beach

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:46:00 -0500

“One of the things I hope to achieve for myself while at Khmerican is to be more informed and active in the current happenings of the Cambodian American community,” says Darlene Ly, a grad student at Cal State Long Beach and seasoned participant in several local organizations. “Simultaneously, I hope that the Cambodian American community will utilize Khmerican as a great resource to stay connected and work collaboratively towards a common cause, such as developing better learning communities for the youth.”

Ly’s concern for youth stems from her realization of the power of mentorship. In her personal experiences, she has seen how beneficial the interaction between a student and a mentor can be. “I realize that education may be the only key to success for many low income students, such as Cambodian Americans, and I want to help them see that they are capable of achieving in school and in life.”

Ly grew up in the city that would eventually be officially recognized as Cambodia Town, and her formative experiences reflect that. She always enjoyed attending the Cambodian New Year festivities at a sprawling local park, with her family and friends surrounding her during the day-long event with food, games, and performances every year. Ly also credits her father and older sister as being positive influences in regard to her culturally-aware upbringing.

While noting the bicultural status of Khmer Americans, Ly believes that the generational gap is significant, with many of the youth today respecting their heritage but perhaps most comfortable with an American outlook. After all, as she points out, it has been more than three decades since the first wave of immigration.

As a community liaison, Ly would like Khmerican to serve “people who are interested in better understanding Khmer Americans” and relevant happenings. Ly brings some photography skills along with her networking abilities; she will reach out and facilitate our contact with various networks, including the broader Southeast Asian community in Southern California.

EC

Kyoum salanh blog neeh' meyn theyn ! :D

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 02:45:06 -0500

Oh word? Thanks, we ‘sralanh’ it a lot too! -__-

Introducing Donny Te of Tempe

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 13:41:00 -0500

Donny Te has a passion for writing. Combined with his love of politics, he’s glad to be working as an editor for an elections news website in Arizona. Growing up around the Twin Cities in Minnesota, Te learned Cambodian values from his close-knit family and the considerable community there. Even so, it wasn’t always easy trying to fit in with mainstream society, and aside from family members, he knew of few figures that inspired Khmer pride.

But he believes that’s starting to change, thanks to social media. “I hope Cambodians can go to our website and discover things that they’ve never realized before. My goal is to reach out to the visitors and inform them of what’s going on,” says Te.

Another point of community contact that he has maintained is his visits to Buddhist temples, which his parents took him to in his early years and which he now seeks out for himself since his recent move to Arizona. He plans to get to know the local population better through involvement with two temples he now knows of with large gatherings of Cambodians.

His interest in politics partly results from feeling that “today’s generation isn’t that involved with how they could make a difference in their community.” In addition, Te especially enjoys covering athletics and once dreamed of becoming a sports writer. Although he has always found that writing comes naturally to him, Te expects to learn about things as well by becoming a part of Khmerican’s staff: “I want to become closer to my heritage than I was growing up. I hope that our visitors will do the same when they read our articles.”

“I want to write on a variety of issues concerning the Khmer community in the Phoenix area, from politics to entertainment and restaurant reviews.” Te will serve as Khmerican’s first reporter in the Mountain time zone, based in Tempe, Arizona.

Introducing Kenith Oun of Lowell

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:09:00 -0500

“I can try to express stories with my photography skills and hopefully help the younger generations to learn and not repeat history,” says Kenith Oun, a customer support technician by vocation but a photographer in his spare time. He hopes to turn that hobby into a full-time job one day, maybe even getting some of his shots published in National Geographic.

Oun believes there are plenty of role models for today’s Khmer American youth, but that those born here don’t fully appreciate or take advantage of the tremendous opportunities in front of them. “We who live here are so adapted to American customs that we don’t take opportunity seriously like people who live back in Cambodia.” Educational achievement is one area in particular that we take for granted, according to Oun, whereas many in Cambodia can only dream of having good schools to attend.

However, there is reason for optimism. Not only are there role models, but we can be whoever we want to be: “Most of us born in America can be raised properly and do so much for our future,” says Oun, whether becoming entertainers, researchers, or politicians. Indeed, by “declaring the success of Khmer people all around the world,” sharing their positive stories in online social networks, Khmerican can influence many in the US and beyond—this will give Khmer youth hope and proof that we do succeed.

Representing Lowell, Massachusetts, home to the largest population of Khmer Americans after Long Beach, Kenith Oun will be the fourth photographer to join our team.

Click below for the full transcript of today’s live...

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:45:00 -0500

Click below for the full transcript of today’s live tweeting by Eric Chuk of Michael Haas’ book talk, Modern Cambodia’s Emergence From the Killing Fields at UCLA. Feedback and discussion are always welcomed.

Transcript in PDF
Transcript in PDF
Transcript in PDF

Khmerican.com CEO and co-founder Phatry Derek Pan, Khmerican.com...

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 21:22:01 -0500

Khmerican.com CEO and co-founder Phatry Derek Pan, Khmerican.com content manager and editor Eric Chuk, and journalist Will Koenig discuss the purpose and goals of the Khmerican team. This podcast is audio only.

Music courtesy of Bochan Huy at bochanmusic.com.

Houston bballer and now The Khmerican’s first sponsored...

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 04:43:00 -0500

Houston bballer and now The Khmerican’s first sponsored athlete, @Jan Kieng.

Introducing Sameth Mell of Seattle

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:43:00 -0500

What were your experiences growing up in regards to the Cambodian American community?

Growing up in a multi-cultural social environment, I was conditioned during my growing years to offset the interest upon the Khmer community because of the surrounding dominant culture via the importation of American ideals, education, social norms and idealism, etc. However strong the cultivating mechanisms were, through systems of indoctrination such as schools, social characters, political associations and so forth- the strong urge of my surfacing ethno-cultural imperatives formulated as an embryo during my first years in college.

During my younger years, my participation and interfacing with Khmer culture & tradition included: Khmer language class (one summer in third grade), New Year’s Celebration at community temples, traditional marriage ceremonies and spiritualistic gatherings.

If you could provide an example or two of what events sort of stuck out for you?

There became a time when I felt emotionally absent and disconnected from being “Khmer”, due to the lack of role models. I remembered that the only things that I’ve learned about being Khmer were through the “Khmer Rouge Genocide” narratives. This particular platform of information was readily available and served as a premiere program whenever people wanted to discuss anything regarding Khmer history. Despite the historical fact that Khmer Arts and history flourished tremendously throughout history, most of what is written and regurgitated through semantics and language syntax have always utilized this very dark period of Khmer history as a scope conversation starter and many times as a way to feel connection with Khmer people. I found this to be very unintelligent and one in which I personally do not accept as a point of reference for Khmer history.

My parent’s families have been executed by the regime and these personal traumas have become my secondary traumatic experience. However, I do not accept the filtered down version in which those who are the architects of control have manipulated and perverted the copulation of the existence of truth and perspective into their own narratives. I believe that there are very powerful people, who are in very high places, who control the web of life on earth and that have instigated systematically this debilitating event on Khmer life.

This engagement of warfare through the tool of genocide has symbolically castrated the Khmer genetics and in effect the offspring of Khmer potentiality. You can see this as “they” have branded Khmer golden era to be between 1950’s and 1970’s. A golden era is usually the epoch of a civilization. Once you reach the top of the mountain, where can you go from there? You start descending down the mountain, of course. This is not to say that we, as Khmer people will continue to plummet. As you can see, our civilization has built a monumental temple that continues to last up until this day. Life is full of peaks and valleys. In this current state of Khmer re-birth, I believe that we are witnessing the beginning of a Khmer Arts Renaissance.

How have those things shaped you in who you are today?

As I ingested and digested concepts of “identity” through my personal lenses I began to become more sensitive to systems of organization that have subjugated and oppressed me on a meta-physical level through the institution of class-ism, racism and the many forms of “isms”, which cannot be expressed verbally or thoroughly via the written language, but through the vessel of hyper-dimensional choreographs.

These personal testaments and inter-world phenomena between culture and the “spirit” breathed into existence the genesis stage of my identity politics. I’ve always felt that I needed to learn more and accumulate knowledge in the determination to activate and utilize that knowledge to ascend myself beyond my current inner-standing.

The rebellious attributes I have grown to accustom myself continued to manifest in all vital areas of my life. In this respect, the schisms that I have performed while growing up as a refugee born Khmer in a land foreign to my ethnic cultural background have given me a duality to entertain and to exorcise. This ritualistic dance has been a mediator in the disputes I have amongst the many paradigms my identity has bled itself into.

Do you feel that the Cambodian-Americans today, especially the youth, have had many role models to look up to in terms of doing good for themselves or for their community?

I believe that Khmer youth have been misled from their progenitors through the impact of assimilation and customary menus for their lifestyles, including where they derive their education, philosophy and personal beliefs. Through today’s a la Carte menu being served from the ministry of propagation, there are hierarchies in which role models are selected and administered. The media, in its 360 capacity, serves as the source of dictation towards youth. As a result, regardless of the skin color of the role models presented, either they are someone who does not resemble the image of the perceiver, or if the model is of similar background- all those models are like manikins. They operate as a quasi second hand experience for youth.

My experience is that the majority of Khmer-Americans have undergone a program that is as subtle as MK-ULTRA, in which many have internalized corrupted images of themselves based on what those in power have fed them. As a result, the race to the top of the pyramid continues to permeate the family structures and social ties within the community. This condition manifests itself in multi-dimensions, but one in particular is the worship of currency. Money has replaced loyalty and reality has become perverted.

There are very few person(s), in my opinion, who can be enthroned the honor of “role model” in today’s environment. I have come across many Khmer Americans who have looked outside of their ethnicity in exchange for the support of, and comfort from a role model who has a different background. I’m not implying that this is right or wrong, I just want to put it out there, that unless “we” as a Khmer people come together to construct and re-build a Khmer Nation, there will always be a lack of Khmer role models for our youth and the generations to come.

From a meta-spiritual perspective, I do not believe in that any role model is a good role model. Because I deeply have faith that the only person you are in search of is yourself. And until you have reached the beginning of your end and the end of your beginning, you will constantly be in search of anything outside of yourself.

Why do I feel this way? Because Khmer is a spiritual derivative, and until we go back to the beginning through the end, we will not ever come to the interface between who we are as a “people”, who “we” were and the possibilities of who “we” can become.

What type of work do you do nowadays?

I am a researcher in the paranormal, marginalized histories, a practicing meta-spiritualist, a community member, and in some respects- I consider myself an artist.

How/why did you choose to do what you do?

I have this connectivity with my higher self. I’m searching for truth through living reality. I’m learning to express and distill the qualities of my work so that it can be manifested in amounts I can project, and hopefully others, perhaps, can decode and decipher.

I have an affinity with being “Khmer” and more importantly with looking into beyond the obvious. I can never be satiated until I can uncover more trails of knowledge leading to where it all began, through dark matter material. And this journey is beyond the physical realm. I’m a believer in the belief that we are extra-terrestrial souls traveling through space in time via the body space suit. Our ancestors throughout antiquity understood this spiritual concept and as each generation moves into the “future”, our retaining this wisdom becomes too degenerative. This experience is pertinent and vital in the educational complex called “life”, and it is a unique journey for everyone.

Living in the US, do you see the disconnect between people living here and people in Cambodia? If so, what is the difference between here and there? Also, how do you hope to bridge the two worlds together knowing that KHMERICAN is really a symbolic representation of a piece of the Khmer diaspora (i.e. Cambodian-French, -Canadian, -Australian)?

There are disconnects between Khmer Americans living in America and in the United States of America. So, let’s address this issue first. United States of America is a corporation that exists as an extensional control web from the District of Columbia and operates through the involuntary submission of person(s)’ sovereignty. Now with that being said, the majority of the people live within the United States of America and on American land. So, there is this unconscious schism already. Adding onto this cerebral submission and tossing this into the diasporic equation with Srok Khmer; the disconnect is great! That disconnect is wider than the any geometrics nor can it be measured by scientific avenues. This disconnect does not exist in the tangible world, it is a disconnect on a spiritual emotional plane.

The difference between Khmer Americans and Khmers living in Srok Khmer is that there is an escalation of self-aggrandizing for Khmer Americans, and this might be true for the whole of the Khmer diaspora. Its is obvious that the economy in the US is stronger than that in Cambodia and that the social structures which incurred during the separation of Khmer people to America have become an instrument of measurement for status and survival modalities. In essence, perspectives of Khmer people in Srok Khmer are like the individualization of the Khmer community in America in terms of the socio-economical advantages.

As each Khmer generation comes into existence in America, I am beginning to see a degenerative mechanism in which language, culture and customs are not first hand experiences, but second or even third hand experiences. The youth are learning about their ethnic culture through second and third hand experiences. They become spectators instead of participants. And many of the newer generations are living within “parentheses” in which their lifestyles are conformed to protocols and policies of an order of operation. The majority cannot express themselves outside the boundaries and parameters that have been placed to lock them into a cerebrally submissive state.

Since the last time I have visited Srok Khmer, I have observed that there is a survival imperative present in every corner of the country. This is not to say that Khmer Americans are not struggling as well, however I am merely stating that Khmer folks in Srok Khmer are working very hard to adjust themselves accordingly to the rate of new age colonization that is taking place. It’s like, the interfacing with foreigners have induced Khmer people in Srok Khmer to trans-humanize themselves to be like the “other”.

While Khmer Americans are living in America, we do not have the privilege to interface with our ancestors the way Srok Khmer people do. We are not close to the heritage sites in which our ancestors built to lead us back towards the beginning. We are off shore observers and as close in proximity as we can get is through tourism, unless like the few are doing- they live as expats. Many times, unless we can consume and ingest the intelligence and the quintessential elementals of our culture, the essential of communicating with the ancestral effigy is lost.

On the other face of the coin, Srok Khmer people might not have the necessary access to what our ancestors built for us in Angkor Wat. Not everyone has the capacity to travel and the privilege to be away from their livelihood. On a more spiritual plane, not every Khmer person can communicate with the divine nature of those pictographs in Angkor Wat. Our ancestors knew that in order to bring us back to where we were they had to find a modality of communication that is outside of this so called “synthetic synchronicity”.

Language cannot be a vessel in and of it self. We had to communicate through pictographic projections, like psyche phenomena. The mind works in pictures and each of the carvings and artwork are to be broken down and decoded through our inner technology, which is our Khmer genetics that activates our connection to the divine ancestral spiritual energy.

In America we have the largest Cambodian community outside of mainland Southeast Asia (with the possible exception of Paris). Personally, do you think KHMERICAN can have a positive influence on Khmer-America and other communities internationally? If so, in what way(s)?

The KHMERICAN, in my humble opinion will become a portal of information and a hub of inspiration for Khmer communities across the globe. I am quite confident that the genesis of this project as it starts out in Khmer America, will continue to have correspondence with the larger Khmer Diaspora. This reach will in turn garner credibility and authenticate its existence within the global Khmer communities. I have really high hopes that this work is an agent of change and positive provocateur.

The readership of The KHMERICAN is roughly around the ages of 19-35. The KHMERICAN has an extensive reach beyond arms length in spurring dialogue to further inoculate the younger Khmer generations. I am very excited to see how the construct of Khmer identity will contend to in the next decade.

What strengths do you bring to the Khmerican? And what is one weakness you feel that Khmerican can develop or foster?

I feel that I am resourceful and I always bring with me a fresh, handful and innovative group of ideas and concepts. I have always been fascinated with symbology and how symbols and pictographs are subliminally categorized by the mind. As an online web based Khmer news agency, I am sure that there will be opportunities in levels of marketing, branding and advertising in which I will be participating. A pregnant idea, if given birth, can be an infectious virology that can be utilized to counter-act the ignorance, hate and fear that is being coerced into the world.

While at THE KHMERICAN, what do you hope to achieve for yourself and for the community?

I am quite confident that for myself, I can continue to process my academics, experiences and skills to further engage in the construct of Khmer identity. For the community, I wish to be a willful servant to provide shadow information and be a participant in the formulation of a new Khmer platform.

Being 'Khmericanized'

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 20:37:00 -0500

Dear Supporters of the Khmerican,

Recently, we acquired a new domain, khmr.cn. No, we are not moving to China as the domain suffix might allude. Instead, we are in the process of organizing a way for the world to view content exclusively related to Khmer America. We want to take this opportunity to explain how it works and share how you can be involved.

Khmr.cn will serve as your new ‘shortcut to Khmer America.’ The domain is our custom URL shortening hosted through bit.ly. In other words, it’s a long strand URL converted to a new, much shorter easy-to-remember address. So when you see a khmr.cn, you know ahead that the content is specifically Khmer American.

So how does it work?

Effective immediately, all articles published by The Khmerican and third-party sources will become ‘khmericanized.’ In addition to news stories, individuals such as artists, politicians, and other public figures, along with organizations and businesses are subject to the new custom URL.

Now you might be wondering how that may effect you the domain owner. Well, absolutely nothing.

For example, our co-founder’s personal website is phatryderekpan.com. We ‘khmericanized’ it to khmr.cn/p-d-p. When you click on this new custom URL, you will be automatically redirected to the website’s domain, preserving 100% of the original address. In future updates, we intend to use the service to create a national online directory of sorts, for example, khmr.cn/artist/yournamehere.

We understand that this process will be tedious and selective. So meantime, we are going to begin compiling a shortlist of individuals, organizations, and businesses, that will be subject to the new URL change.

The service is for private use only. However, we hope to extend our brand to anyone interested in using it for commercial and non-commercial purposes. Alternatively, if you wish to secure your own custom khmr.cn with us now, inquire privately through email. All custom URLs are free of charge for a limited time and are available on a first come, first serve basis.

Sincerely,
Team Khmerican

Hit us up on email, Facebook, Twitter, whatever. Taking your...

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:58:49 -0500

Hit us up on email, Facebook, Twitter, whatever. Taking your votes until MONDAY, DEC 19TH.

Introducing Jae Om of Northern Virginia

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:09:00 -0500

“I see Khmerican as a great representation of a generation of Khmers that want to make a difference. It’s encouraging and will definitely inspire others to reach out to those in their communities that want to showcase their cultures and people,” says Jae Om, a Virginia resident who works in the information technology and entertainment marketing sectors. Om is also currently pursuing a degree in broadcast journalism and has experience writing about entertainment news.

As an entrepreneur, a student, and a mother, it’s a wonder that Om has the drive to add yet another role to her list of duties—reporter for the Khmerican. However, it makes sense, given that she has a deep appreciation for her Cambodian heritage and the wisdom of her elders. She cites the local Cambodian New Year festivities as a joyful embrace of the culture, a point of solidarity with the Khmer community. Her parents are her personal heroes for what they survived through; their stories have helped her put her own struggles in perspective. She gives the older generation much credit for raising their children to traditional standards in a culture that in many ways runs to the contrary.

After arriving in the United States from Khao-I-Dang refugee camp at age 3, Om has spent her life on the east coast. “I’m only familiar with those here, and I must say, we need to step up as people and take ownership within our community. Cambodian Americans, in my opinion, are only proud when deemed necessary. Our youth are unaware of the history.”

Om herself would like to share her own knowledge of that history, having learned by taking the initiative and educating herself. But she also has an eye toward the future, wishing to establish herself as a journalist and continue learning about the culture.

“Working as a staff writer for the Khmerican, I hope to educate, inspire and motivate my fellow Cambodians and others alike to step up and make a difference in their communities.” Jae Om is our first representative in the mid-Atlantic region.

"For the umpteenth time, Khmerican does not necessarily mean ‘Khmer American.’ Must we..."

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 04:55:00 -0500

“For the umpteenth time, Khmerican does not necessarily mean ‘Khmer American.’ Must we refer you to the Urban Dictionary definition again? We are builders and creators, just like our ancient ancestors.”

Introducing Malissa Tem of Los Angeles

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:47:00 -0500

Malissa Tem has a natural instinct for storytelling, to the point that she feels her current path as a journalism student and freelance reporter found her rather than her choosing it. She takes a meticulous approach to her work, making such extensive notes that she can feel overwhelmed by the story she’s trying to cover. However, she believes the Khmerican is a fitting venue for her talents, one that “offers a different perspective that is often neglected by other media outlets.” In fact, Tem sees the Khmerican as being able to “build a large network of leaders in the different Cambodian communities buy sharing stories that can inspire the next wave.”

Indeed, one thing she hopes to achieve by becoming part of the news organization is to empower Khmer American youth, especially women, to develop leadership qualities that will make the community more successful. Along those lines, Tem makes another observation: “I find a lot of parents, older siblings, and relatives creating an environment that reinforces good role models because Cambodian Americans cannot latch on to a role model who directly identifies as Cambodian in mainstream media.”

In other words, it is a population that most commonly looks to familial ties for its identify formation. This was certainly true for Tem herself while growing up; she lived 40 miles northeast of Long Beach, yet her family made regular trips there to replenish their cooking ingredients. She also has fond recollections of family outings that emphasized the link back to their heritage.

“I remember attending a Cambodian New Year Festival at a large regional park as a child and being overwhelmed with this sense of belonging—for the first time I met strangers who were also Cambodian. These sorts of events inspired me to get involved with researching and interviewing subjects about the Cambodian diaspora in the United States while attending UC Irvine,” says Tem.

These days, however, that sense of connection can be fostered through technology and social media. Although Tem sees significant differences in their culture and economics, Cambodians in America and those abroad are able to exchange ideas and represent themselves better.

Malissa Tem plans to continue exploring these issues through stories and images. She joins the Khmerican as a reporter and photographer in the greater Los Angeles area.

Introducing Bunthay Cheam of Seattle

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 21:38:00 -0500

Bunthay Cheam’s main exposure to his Khmer heritage was through his father, who was a community organizer and worked on youth development in White Center, a neighborhood that is home to the largest Cambodians in the Seattle area. Cheam was also a member of the Khmer Student Association at the University of Washington, but does not regard himself as directly active in the community. However, he does make a point of attending notable local events, and he has a passion for the culture. Clearly, in joining the Khmerican team, he also believes in shedding light on the stories of Khmer America.

Cheam shared further some reflections about his upbringing and recent trends he has noticed. “I don’t think we had many good role models growing up. Although there were programs/groups formed during the 90’s that addressed this, I think there was a bit of a disconnect from kids to adults”—a lack of acknowledgment of negative social factors that those growing up in America were facing, such as drug abuse and gang activity. “I don’t think things as simple as the value of good credit or education were taught much, or taught correctly.”

In fact, Cheam himself did not consider attending college until participating in a program by the White Center Kids Society that allowed him and other middle school students to spend a weekend at the Washington State University campus. Afterward, he realized that he and many of his peers had not been thinking of education beyond high school.

Cheam has also observed that during the past decade, funding for many such social/outreach programs has dwindled, with a terrible effect on minority populations such as Cambodians. Part of reversing that is raising awareness and visibility. “Personally, I’m not aware of a central place anyone can absorb information in regards to Cambodian American community,” said Cheam. He looks forward to contributing to the Khmerican to help build that much needed hub.

Bunthay Cheam joins the team as our second representative based in the greater Seattle area.

EC

"If its writing disappears, the nation vanishes."

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 04:19:48 -0500

“If its writing disappears, the nation vanishes.”

- Kambuja Surya, Cambodia’s oldest publication (circa 1926)

Informational hearing on the state of Cambodian American youth

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:18:00 -0500

There was a buzz among the crowd of approximately 150 yesterday during the town hall meeting to discuss the findings of a report by Khmer Girls in Action (KGA), a Long Beach community development organization focusing on social/economic justice through the empowerment of Southeast Asian females. The earnest participants consisted of KGA members (largely high school students, some of whom doubled as panel speakers), civic officials and agency representatives, and others of the community, both leaders and concerned citizens.

While there was a wealth of information provided, and further details can be found in the full report, the four main issues covered were education, health, safety, and deportation. For a minute-by-minute account, check out the live-tweet transcript. Unfortunately, the two and a half hours wasn’t enough time to open the floor to public comment, but the gathered policy-makers were moved by the testimonies they heard and promised to follow up on the recommendations that were given.

A brief creative video made by KGA youth was shown as a wrap-up to the event.

The Khmerican & CamboFresh partnership

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:42:00 -0500

Dear Friends of the Khmerican:

We are excited to announce a new partnership with CamboFresh Clothing! Founded by Jacksonville native Van Keo, the source of the widely popular ‘CAM BOD IAN’ tee-shirts, CamboFresh has formally agreed to have the Khmerican as its official media partner. In return, CamboFresh is being recognized as the premier clothing sponsor of the Khmerican. This partnership aims to increase sales, spread brand awareness, and extend online traffic among both parties. In celebration of this special occasion, CamboFresh and the Khmerican have teamed up to treat you—our supporters! Effective immediately, everyone who uses the promotional code ‘khmerican’ when making a purchase at CamboFresh.com will have their name submitted for monthly prize giveaways. To be eligible, simply enter the code upon check-out. The more items you purchase, the higher your chances are. Drawings will be held at the end of each month. Secondly, we will be giving away a handful of free limited edition ‘KHM ERI CAN’ shirts through a photo contest to be announced later this month.

Your purchases will also help support the operations of the Khmerican. So, you can keep looking sharp with the freshest gear from CamboFresh, and at the same time feel good about contributing toward your pro-community news agency. In closing, we want to thank you for your unwavering support of the Khmerican and CamboFresh. We look forward to our new relationship and to continue reporting on the progress of Khmer America.

Sincerely,
Team Khmerican

Khmer America is looking for you!

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 22:54:00 -0500

Attention, all members of Khmer student organizations:

As a Khmer college student or alum, you may have occasionally wondered what you can do in your spare time to contribute to the welfare of Cambodia and/or the U.S. in some way. There is now an opportunity to get involved with a young company that addresses that desire by giving you a platform to share just about anything you think is newsworthy to the Khmer American community—not just among your family and friends, but nationwide.

The Khmerican (khmerican.com) was co-founded by Phatry Derek Pan, who was born in a Thai refugee camp but grew up in Seattle. Derek has become an experienced community organizer and active social media presence. Through his work, he saw the need for a centralized venue for our stories and connections. So, Khmerican aims to provide original news and photographs by a nationwide network of citizen journalists.

Through collections of relevant information and resources, the website also serves as a collaborative hub for action on various issues of interest to the community. If you can help document the range of people, places, and events that showcase life from a Khmer American perspective, we are looking for you. You might be a writer, artist, activist, or other young professional—all of whom have something worth bringing to greater awareness. At the same time, you’ll be giving both American and Cambodian society reasons to be proud by highlighting our activities and accomplishments.

Considering this ambitious movement, The Khmerican is interested in hearing from those who would like to freelance or intern, with compensation negotiable. All fields of study are potentially applicable to the work we do, which involves not just reporting and website management, but marketing and public relations, computer science, history, and much more. The time commitment is very flexible, with one-time and recurring projects possible. We welcome all levels of experience and will work with you to identify how your skills best fit our operations.

Please send resumes with a brief cover letter explaining your interest to Derek at pdp@khmerican.com, or visit blog.khmerican.com/about for more information.