Time Magazine has a great article on Michelle Rhee, Chancellor of Washington DC’s public schools. Rhee grew up in a nice neighborhood in Toledo, Ohio, a middle child, between two brothers. Her parents immigrated from South Korea several years before she was born, so that her father could study medicine at the University of Michigan. Rhee has promised to make Washington the highest-performing urban school district in the nation, a prospect that, if realized, could transform the way schools across the country are run. She is attempting to do this through a relentless focus on finding--and rewarding--strong teachers, purging incompetent ones and weakening the tenure system that keeps bad teachers in the classroom. Rhee graduated from Cornell University in 1992, joined Teach for America and is now causing quite a controversy in her pursuit to rework DC’s public schools. Read the article below or at time.com.

You know once J.Crew starts putting Asian models on their pages, the Asian models will be all the rage. Here is Du Juan in December’s J. Crew catalog. She is well on her way to being the next Naomi Campbell and Gisele Bundchen. Pic from Asian Models Blog

Bruce Lee knows martial arts and ping pong. See the video below of Bruce Lee playing ping pong with nunchuck - allegedly Filmed with the incredible Nokia N96. Thanks Solito!

Despite all the turmoil in the world, we hope you have a great Thanksgiving and remember to be thankful for everything you have, especially for living in the United States, the greatest country in the world. A country which allows us to run this magazine, despite rules and regulations, as a way to express our opinions, belief and ideals without consequence. Happy Thanksgiving!

Hye Park has a huge editorial in Korea Harper Bazaar. While we love the exposure of an Asian model, we’re not too fond of the fur on some of the designs in a few of the photographs...so we won’t mention the designers. Photographed by Song Changrae. source Asian Models Blog

William H. (Mo) Marumoto suddenly passed away on Tuesday, November 25, 2008, of a massive heart attack. He was an icon and a selfless man known to thousands for his big and generous heart. Upon his retirement as Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Interface Group, Ltd., Marumoto accepted the position as President and CEO of the Asian Pacific Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) in Washington, D.C., in September 2006. Marumoto’s career expanded more than five decades of giving back to his country, his community, and his friends. He joined the White House staff as Special Assistant to the President Richard M. Nixon and served more than three years recruiting individuals for Cabinet and sub-Cabinet positions. Prior to his stint at the White House, he was Assistant to the Secretary at the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, responsible for all senior-level recruiting for the U.S. Office of Education. Mo’s contributions to the Asian American communities across the country span several decades and his compassion to help people find a job, smoke a good cigar and go fishing are but a few of the many kindnesses that came naturally to him. He has enriched the lives of so many people he touched.

Here is a picture of Gwen Lu in the Nordstrom December 2008 catalog. This is Gwen Lu’s third consecutive appearance for Nordstrom. She was in the October 2008 issue and has over 10 pages in the November (Holiday) 2008 issue. Fall 2008 is turning out to be a good season for Gwen Lu because she has appeared in four editorials in France and Taiwan so far, and she has also booked a couple of catalog work (i.e. the money jobs) with Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom.

Just a reminder that Far East Movement will be doing their LIVE ONLINE ALBUM RELEASE PARTY for their new album “ANIMAL” tonight (Nov 25, 2008) at 9 pm PACIFIC TIME at their BRAND NEW website: HTTP://WWW.FAREASTMOVEMENT.COM. This is the first of it’s kind!

I was flipping through The New York Times this weekend and saw Du Juan’s Giorgio Armani ad (above). She is the hottest Asian model now with ad campaigns for Armani and David Yurman this season. Du Juan walked 3.1 phillip lim, Anna Sui, Marc Jacobs, Oscar de la Renta, Zac Posen, Alberta Ferretti, and Bottega Veneta shows in New York and Milan. In October 2008 she was featured on the cover of Chinese Vogue, photographed by Mario Sorrenti. I’m hoping we catch up with her at NYC Fashion Week in February.

Our red carpet correspondent Pacific Rim Photo Press caught up with Aaron Yoo at the Koream Journal event this weekend. Aaron appeared in the films 21 (with Jim Sturgess), Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and The Wackness. He will also star in the 2009 remake of Friday the 13th. Watch to see what he reveals about sex tapes, on whether he feels he’s a “token” Asian in films and his latest films. He’s really making a name for himself as one of the most sought after Asian actors. Aaron is also a smarty having graduated UPenn in 2003.

On Thanksgiving night at 9 p.m., CNN will pay tribute to the top 10 CNN Heroes of 2008. The top 10 CNN Heroes, chosen by a blue-ribbon panel from an initial pool of more than 3,700 viewer nominations, were each honored with a documentary tribute and introduced by a celebrity presenter. Each of the top 10 Heroes receives $25,000. One of the nominees is Phymean Noun and her organization, Championing Children. Growing up during the Pol Pot genocide, everyday Noun not only fought to stay alive but to finish high school. That education led to a decade-long career with various aid organizations, like the United Nations. On a fateful trip to Phnom Penh in 2002, she tossed a chicken leg into a garbage can. Phymean then watched in horror as several children fought to reclaim her discarded food. After meeting the children and hearing their stories, she learned that they worked at Stung Mean Chey, the municipal garbage dump. Children comprise a large majority of the workforce at Stun Mean Chey. Many of them are barefoot, shirtless and can be as young as four years old. Children often work from 3 a.m. until dusk for about 50 cents a day. At that moment, she decided to leave her job and dedicate $30,000 of her own money to starting schools for underprivileged children. Today, she runs the Stung Mey Chey Center, which provides more than 200 “dump children”, a free education, health services and an opportunity to be a child in a safe environment. Tune in Thanksgiving night to a great show hosted by Anderson Cooper with performances by Alicia Keys, John Legend and Christina Aquilera.

Patrick Demarchelier shot Lakshmi Lakshmi Menon for the December 2008 US Vogue. She was featured in an article that spotlights the brightest stars in fashion today. Lakshmi Menon was listed as one of 6 such girls. Nice to see more Asian girls making it in the mainstream. - Asian Models Blog