a note about the name...

Being an amateur blogger, I quickly discovered that possibly the most challenging part of creating a blog is picking a name. It took awhile, and I thought that Wesleyan Asian American Student Internet Nexus Blog was a bit too long. So I've settled with "Wesleyazn" as it combines the school and also a term that specifically was created within Asian American culture. The term "AZN" is an abbreviation for "Asian" which is believed to have been originally created by Asian American youth influenced by urban hip hop culture. Some might argue that those who associate or identify as AZN, are known to express their racial and cultural identities through hip hop that may be deemed as uninformed, careless, or everyone's favorite adjective, problematic (like this shining example). This interests me because of the way the term calls so many aspects of culture into question such as race, and appropriation, as well as expressions of resistance within American pop culture. The blog name in this sense is meant to be provocative and also a bit ironic. Asian American hip hop is a developing artistic and cultural form of expression which demands questioning and a sense of awareness. I hope it may be discussed and explored at length in this site. I am also hoping to explore issues surrounding race and cultural appropriation in general within mainstream media through this blog.

"AZN" can also be considered just as a simple a phonetic spelling of "Asian" which has been employed by many Internet users as a abbreviated type of "textual slang". Much like other abbreviations such as "lol" or "brb", "wtf?" etc., it is important to note that its existence has been shaped and perpetuated through Internet user interaction. This is also a large part of the Wesleyazn name choice because I am hoping that this will grow into an interactive space, where new ideas and concepts can be created through collaborative efforts.

So, in short you may want to consider the title as a silly sounding ironic name that is almost a pun, but not quite, which adds to its ridiculousness.....? discuss!