Dean Dreaming

With what’s left of Asian Heritage Month, I’d thought I’d write about a few Asians that make me proud to be one myself. Asians by nature are a quiet proud group of people who don’t make alot of fuss about alot of things. We just go about our business and let our walking do the talking. But you know, I’d like in some small way to pay tribute to my own kind. So I’ll be writing about a few Asians that either I personally know or have seen in the media.

Up first: Kristi Yamaguchi.

I’ve been so busy that I had hard time catching up on my weekly dose of Dancing With The Stars. But I couldn’t miss the final show of this season. So glad to see Kristi win it all and represent Asians.

I don’t care what anyone says but you can’t possibly sit there and compare ice skating to ballroom dancing. The moves and the body mechanics are so different from each other. If it was that much of an advantage to her, then Mario (R&B Singer) should’ve been right up there with Kristi and Jason Taylor.

Why does she make me proud?

I was truly impressed considering her personality is very conservative and inhibited. That really showed when she first started on the show. But slowly, she started to come out of her shell and really show how good and how much passion she has for ballroom dancing. She really did bring out that competitive side to her and win it all. I respected her before and her work on the ice. But I have a new found respect her now. Dancing or any form of it really does require you to just let go and “feel it”. And for someone who is a classic introvert, she really did come a long way.

It was more surprising to learn that she was born with with clubfeet. It is a birth defect. The foot is twisted in (inverted) and down. Without treatment , persons afflicted often appear to walk on their ankles, or on the sides of their feet. Kristi was able to get this treated as a baby. But seeing that figure skating and ballroom dancing requires you to use your feet, then I start to develop a new found respect for her.

I don’t get to see alot of well known Asians represent us outside of the stereotypical kung-fu scene so it was refreshing to see her beat out some tough competition. You go girl!

The Youtube video above is of her and Mark doing the Cha-Cha-Cha. Totally hot moves. Not as sexy as Mark and Sabrina’s cha-cha-cha last year, but still hot!