Kip Fulbeck

The kids in these photographs don't look like they belong in a museum. They're having too much fun. They gloat and grin, share secrets and show off their retainers and rock collections. "I wanted to capture them exactly as they are," says artist Kip Fulbeck. " 'If they liked soccer,' I told them, 'Bring a ball.' 'If you're a goof be a goof.' I just wanted to avoid that posed Christmas card thing." Most of all, Fulbeck wanted to give these children -- all of whom are of mixed racial heritage -- the freedom to answer the simple but potentially fraught question: "Who are you?"

Growing up in Indonesia, Maya Soetoro-Ng often felt too American. Although she adored her native land's traditional gamelan music and shadow puppets, spiced cuisine and Hindu epics, her manner was too loud, too irreverent — hallmarks, she said, of being raised by a strong American mother. But when she entered the Jakarta International School at age 12, the only student of Indonesian ancestry, she felt too Indonesian. She was more reserved than the confident, boisterous Americans she met there and later in Hawaii, she said.

As a kid, Kip Fulbeck found it almost impossible to fit in because of his ethnic background: His mother is Cantonese; his father is English and Irish. Strangers thought it perfectly appropriate to ask, "What are you?" It's a question he still encounters, but he's channeled it into the photo project "Kip Fulbeck: Part Asian, 100% Hapa" at the Japanese American National Museum. The show, opening today, has 80 portraits of multiracial people along with poignant, angry and humorous answers.

The kids in these photographs don't look like they belong in a museum. They're having too much fun. They gloat and grin, share secrets and show off their retainers and rock collections. "I wanted to capture them exactly as they are," says artist Kip Fulbeck. " 'If they liked soccer,' I told them, 'Bring a ball.' 'If you're a goof be a goof.' I just wanted to avoid that posed Christmas card thing." Most of all, Fulbeck wanted to give these children -- all of whom are of mixed racial heritage -- the freedom to answer the simple but potentially fraught question: "Who are you?"

In Chinese restaurants, he was the kid who was always given the fork. In his largely white Covina public schools, he was the one beaten up and taunted as a "Chinaman" and "burnt potato chip." Kip Fulbeck, a Santa Barbara artist, filmmaker, athlete and art professor who is of Chinese, Irish, Welsh and English descent, was born at a time when several states still banned mixed-race marriages and the children of such unions were routinely stigmatized.

Growing up in Indonesia, Maya Soetoro-Ng often felt too American. Although she adored her native land's traditional gamelan music and shadow puppets, spiced cuisine and Hindu epics, her manner was too loud, too irreverent — hallmarks, she said, of being raised by a strong American mother. But when she entered the Jakarta International School at age 12, the only student of Indonesian ancestry, she felt too Indonesian. She was more reserved than the confident, boisterous Americans she met there and later in Hawaii, she said.

While I appreciate any coverage of Asian American writing, I must address Susan Salter Reynolds' portrayal of nontraditional subjectivity in the genre as somehow being a recent phenomenon ("That Was 'Joy Luck,' This Is Now," June 29). Certainly, if we look at mainstream Asian American writing over the past two decades, commercial success has overwhelmingly favored traditionally accepted subjectivities (mother- daughter relationships, immigrant experience, etc.) written about by female authors.

And the Winners Are: "Highway Patrolman," an Overseas Filmgroup picture about a young Mexican police officer, took top honors at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, securing the best picture award and top director honors for Alex Cox.

William Kazmierowicz of UC San Diego and Marilyn Peck of Swim San Diego each won two events in Saturday's San Diego Senior Invitational swim meet, but both the men's and women's competitions were dominated by the University of Indiana at UC San Diego. Kazmierowicz won the 200- individual medley and 100-meter backstroke, while UCSD teammate Kip Fulbeck won the 100-meter butterfly and placed second in the 50-meter freestyle. In the women's competetion, Peck won the 500 and 1,000 freestyle events.

In Chinese restaurants, he was the kid who was always given the fork. In his largely white Covina public schools, he was the one beaten up and taunted as a "Chinaman" and "burnt potato chip." Kip Fulbeck, a Santa Barbara artist, filmmaker, athlete and art professor who is of Chinese, Irish, Welsh and English descent, was born at a time when several states still banned mixed-race marriages and the children of such unions were routinely stigmatized.

As a kid, Kip Fulbeck found it almost impossible to fit in because of his ethnic background: His mother is Cantonese; his father is English and Irish. Strangers thought it perfectly appropriate to ask, "What are you?" It's a question he still encounters, but he's channeled it into the photo project "Kip Fulbeck: Part Asian, 100% Hapa" at the Japanese American National Museum. The show, opening today, has 80 portraits of multiracial people along with poignant, angry and humorous answers.

Excuse me, but what sense does it make to send Bill Plaschke overseas to "enlighten" us on the Winter Olympics? I found nothing he wrote worthwhile or informative. His final piece, "U.S. Travails Cause Epiphany in the Snow," sums it all up for me -- he didn't belong there. Put him back on the Clipper beat or dedicate him to the-NFL-in-L.A. saga. He might have a better grasp. You wasted your money, column inches and your readers' time with his nonsense. It was obvious that he hated being there.

Regarding "It's the Whopper of a Chopper," by Jan Breslauer (Jan. 15): "Miss Saigon" and its ensuing publicity show us that publicly acceptable racism and ethnic fetishes of Asian Americans still prevail in the national consciousness: No thank you to the "classic love story of our time" being about a white soldier and his Asian prostitute. I've seen enough stereotyping of white male saviors and submissive Asian sex vixens to brainwash a nation. No thank you to the two white men who were so moved by a picture of a mother bidding farewell to her Amerasian child that they were compelled to tell their story.