ANDREA PLATE WRITES — Imagine how it feels. A young American male sees this cell phone text: “You’ve been marked eligible and must come to the nearest branch in the area for immediate departure to Iran.” That actually happened, this past week, to draft-age men across America. The text was…
ANDREA PLATE WRITES – It was Christmas Eve, the final performance of a three-week “Nutcracker Ballet” series at the University of California, Irvine’s Barclay Theater. “Are there, like, a ton of Asians around, or is it my imagination?” someone in the crowd mumbled to his friend. But of course! How…
ANDREA PLATE WRITES — “A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards.” – Theodore Roosevelt Say again? November 11 is Veterans Day. Do Americans deserve to celebrate? These have not been the best of…
ANDREA PLATE WRITES — “We are Ambassadors who represent our country on and off duty,” General Robert Abrams, Commander of US Forces South Korea (USFK), tweeted over the summer about his decision to extend the curfew suspension period for furthef review regarding troops’ behavior, rather than revoke it for good. The…
ANDREA PLATE WRITES – What population will be hardest hit by the proposed White House crackdown on homelessness in California? Asian Americans. Consider these facts: Asian Americans are the fastest-growing major racial or ethnic group in the United States. They are also the fastest – growing homeless population in San Francisco and LA. Homelessness…
ANDREA PLATES WRITES –Military-related suicide is a worldwide contagion. Since 2017, the number of such deaths in South Korea has gone up. Troop morale has gone down. Angry, conscripted men are calling for women to join their discontented ranks. Gay men and women report harassment, bullying, assault and, according to…
Asia Media Press, the ambitious new spinoff from our Asia Media International website and Asia Media Center, announces the official publication of the ebook version of its initial title: a knowing and moving behind-the-scenes look at the care and un-caring of veteran soldiers in serious treatment at the largest Veterans…
ANDREA PLATE WRITES – Let us all breathe a sigh of relief. Tuesday’s U.S. Senate confirmation hearings (July 30) into the matter of Air Force General John Early Hyten’s fitness to serve as Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was not a #MeToo mobbing – thanks to Martha…
ANDREA PLATE WRITES – Retired Lieutenant Colonel Amy McGrath served 20 years in the Marines, flew 89 combat missions and dropped bombs on Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Now, she’s aiming for a bigger target: the Senate seat of Republican Majority leader Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving US Senator from the…
Asia Media International’s Senior Advisory Andrea Plate celebrated a pre-launch party for her book “Madness: In the Trenches of America’s Troubled Department of Veterans Affairs,” which was produced by Asia Media International and published by Marshall Cavendish Asia, at the Del Rey Yacht Club in Marina Del Rey. The four…
Actors of color have fought long and hard for cinematic breakthroughs— Sidney Poitier, the first African American Oscar winner (“Lilies of the Field, ” 1963); Ben Kingsley, the first Asian—he is half-Indian—to win an Oscar (“Gandhi,” 1982); and Hallee Berry, the first African American woman to win an Oscar (“Monster’s…
ANDREA PLATE WRITES – For 15 years, I was a senior staff social worker at the United States federal government’s Department of Veterans Affairs—the country’s largest integrated healthcare system— in its largest branch, located in West Los Angeles, California. Each year, the system serves 9 million veterans nationwide. One summer…
ANDREA PLATE WRITES – “Although my research focuses on Mexico, its findings are relevant to understanding the broader phenomenon of people who grew up in the United States but have been deported to countries around the world,” says author Beth C. Caldwell in her compelling, comprehensive and properly chilling new…
ANDREA PLATE WRITES – The early reviews are in: Amazon Prime’s “Homecoming” series is a hit. The story-line, about a counselor helping veterans returning home transition to civilian life, is suspenseful. It’s gritty and “noir.” It’s a psychological thriller. And it features a cinematic superstar, Julia Roberts, who proves that, rather…
ANDREA PLATE WRITES: The fine-art fingerprints of Debra Granik, director of 2010’s “Winter’s Bone,” are all over her stunning new movie “Leave no Trace,” recently released on DVD. Both set the stage for breakout young actresses—“Trace’s” star, Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie is just eighteen — Jennifer Lawrence was around twenty when…
ANDREA PLATE WRITES – What’s the big deal about Dr Ronny L. Jackson, President Trump’s embattled nominee for Secretary of Veterans Affairs? It’s obvious, if the allegations are true. They include: creating a hostile work environment. Drinking excessively on the job. Prescribing and dispensing medications inappropriately, to his own staff,…
