So, Hersch has a post on his site about a co-worker saying something to the effect of, "You know, she’s one of those Orientals or something." Hersch then goes on about how he e-mails his co-worker about wanting to be referred to as an "Asian," rather than an "Oriental." Anyway, you can read about the rest of his story on his page.
Now it’s time for my short rant. While some people of Filipino descent refer to themselves as Asians, I sometimes like to point out that Filipinos are really no more Asian than those originating from the Indian subcontinent. The Philippine islands are just that: islands. They lie on the western Pacific rim, and are Pacific islands. I usually like to make that distinction because I feel closer in culture to Hawaiians or some other Pacific island inhabitant than I do to Chinese, to Japanese, or to Russians (yes, I would call Russians Asians). It’s probably petty, and if Pacific islander was not a choice for ethnicity at a time I choose to actually answer that question on a form, I would pick Asian.
I’m just hoping that one day nobody has to make that distinction because (and here’s the hippy-love-free-everyone line) we’re all humans and being Filipino doesn’t make me all that physically different than someone who is Irish, Italian, or Nigerian. Anyways, time for sleep 
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