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My beloved Seattle Mariners today made Don Wakamastu the first Asian-American manager in Major League Baseball. As a baseball fan, I’m happy because I think the signing signals a positive new direction with the organization and it’s philosophy. From all reports I believe Don Wakamatsu will be in a good position to work with the young group of players he’s just been handed. Of course, you never know until game are played, but it’s exciting.

As an Asian-American though, I couldn’t be happier. This isn’t an equality or fairness issue — I honestly believe that in the eyes of the baseball organization hiring Wak (as he’s know in baseball circles) made the most sense from a baseball perspective, just as it would’ve been had they gone with any of the six other highly qualified candidates. But that doesn’t keep me from being ecstatic about the choice of a Japanese-American. What excites me is two fold: we’ve (Asians and mixed-Asians in particular) come this far, and we’re still making progress.

A generation ago, there were not Japanese born players in baseball.* Likewise, even today, the majority of Asian players in America are just that — from Asia. While there are a few hapa (mixed blood) players, they aren’t stars. And though MLB has made some strides to embrace managers of African-Americana and Latino descent, there is still some significant ceilings.

As I think back on my love of baseball (instilled at a very early age), I realize all my heroes invariably were hispanic. While there’s a variety of reasons for this (ie. Edgar Martinez kicks ass), a large part of this is something I addressed it previous blog posts. It’s important for a young kid to have role models that look like they do. Obviously, I’m not hispanic, but at the same time when I turned on TV as a child, all I saw was a sea of white people — it was exciting for me to see people of all races achieving at the highest levels playing a game I myself struggled at.

How awesome it must be for a young hapa child to turn on a ballgame and see a variety of players of asian descent. How great it will be for my children. For that reason alone, I wish Don Wakamatsu the greatest of success. It’s just icing on the cake if he takes my Mariners to the World Series (no pressure Don).

* Heck, let’s not forget that just one generation ago Don Wakamatsu’s father was born at the Tule Lake Relocation Center in N. California (where – coincidentally – my grandmother and her family was interned), an unfortunate victim of one of the worst racial profiling issues in 20th Century America. Sometimes we get so used to seeing incremental change that we miss the hugely exciting ones like this.

I tire of blogging about dead gods.

Today’s news of Mitch Mitchell’s death finds me in a weird place. As I put it on Facebook:

Still, today isn’t about remorse for history. It’s these things that make me wistful not for the past, but for the future. I can’t help but think about who’s next. Who’s waiting in the wings to replace Mitch Mitchell and all of the Jimi Hendrix Experience? Who will be the next Tony Hillerman or Michael Crichton (let alone Lennon, Cobain, Poe)?

I know you’re out there. This is a challenge and a call, the war isn’t going well and replacements are hard to find. Who will step forward to lead us into the next musical and literary age?

On this (pardon the pun) note, one of my favorite Walt Whitman poems:

This is such an awesome project, I just felt it deserved it’s own post — I’ve added the cool “Human Calendar” to the sidebar. This calendar is composed of everyday people in a “Brady Bunch” grid with everyone looking at the date. Most of the models were friends of the programmer who happened by his Portland-based place over a couple of days, so it’s full of PDX locals. I’d forgotten how much I liked this calendar, pretty much the only way it could be better is if it was composed of Muppets.*

If you’d like to add a Human Calendar to your homepage, weblog, MySpace, Google Homepage or website, there are easy Widget/Contraptions on the HumanCalendar.com website.

* Which really, is my answer to everything. e.g.: “This ice cream is so good. Pretty much the only way it could be better is if it was composed of Muppets.”

Just a head’s up, I’ve fallen off the <nowiki> wagon </nowiki> (that’s a really funny joke if you understand MediaWiki syntax*). And am doing some consulting and blogging for AboutUs among other non-AboutUs wiki and writing projects.

Among other things, I’m helping to build out templates to make using AboutUs easier (and prettier) for community members and staff alike. But right now, I want to direct people to today’s blog post I wrote over on the AboutUs Weblog concerning wiki-based resources to help this election season.

I don’t need to tell you how important the races and measures (state and local ones too) are, you know this. These non-partisan wikis provide a good grounding on information that matters, written and edited from a community standpoint. Go vote** — beyond jury duty, it’s really the only obligation of your time and energy that this fine democracy asks of you. (And yes, it’s more of an obligation than a 10-minute fill out a ballot — take an hour or two and get familiar with the issues and make an educated decision. Even if I disagree with it, that’s all I ask. I promise to respect you the morning after election day.)

– Tak

* Okay, it isn’t really that funny even if you understand MediaWiki syntax, but I think it’s hilarious.
** Also, remember to get your free Ben & Jerry’s cone for voting.