Being Asian American - Gil Asakawa

Date/Time:	Tuesday, 18 Apr 2006 at 8:00 pm
Location:	Sun Room, Memorial Union
Cost:	Free
Contact:
Phone:	515-294-9934
Channel:	Lecture Series
Categories:	Lectures
Actions:	Download iCal/vCal | Email Reminder

Gil Asakawa is executive producer for DenverPost.com. Under his leadership, the Web site has expanded to include blogs, audio and video podcasts, multimedia and flash content, games and RSS feeds. In 2005, DenverPost.com launched News Hound, a custom-branded RSS reader with a simple user interface so non-technical users can take advantage of RSS feeds. Gil has a BFA in fine arts, and began his journalism career as a music editor for an alternative weekly. He was a rock critic for 15 years and daily newspaper entertainment editor before falling in love with the Internet. He has written freelance pieces for Rolling Stone and other publications, and is the author of "Being Japanese American" (Stone Bridge Press, 2004) and co-author of "The Toy Book" (Knopf, 1990).

---

Executive Producer for Development & Production, DenverPost.com, responsible for managing staff and content of Web site for The Denver Post, Colorado's daily newspaper.
• "Nikkei View" online column published since 1998 both online and in the Rocky Mountain Jiho, Denver's bilingual Japanese newspaper (Nikkei View is also syndicated by various newspapers and Web sites around the country).
• Author of "The Japanese American Guide" (Stone Bridge Press, 2004)
• Editorial board chair of the Pacific Citizen, the national newspaper of the Japanese American Citizens League
Past
• Internet: Maintaining content and newsletters for: Nikkeiview.com, Empowerful Changes, ColoradoDragonBoat.org, asiaXpress.com, Japan America Society of Colorado. Editorial director and director of content and community development for Digital City Denver (America Online), Trip.com, ServiceMagic.com, TamTam.com. Responsible for editorial content, content partnerships, syndication, community-building initiatives and a content-rich newsletters. Copy-edited Encore International Web site. Freelanced for Gaiam.com, AsiaXpress and CitySearch Denver.
• Print: Writing editorial content for on- and offline companies, non-profits, events and projects, including feature articles, essays, reviews, marketing and public relations copy-writing and copy-editing. Freelance writer and content consultant for publications and Web sites including Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Front Range Tech Biz, Boulder Magazine, 5280 Magazine, Newsweek Japan, Mandala Magazine. Entertainment Editor, Gazette, Colorado Springs, CO. Conceived, launched and produced weekly GO! entertainment magazine, also writing including weekly gallery column & music stories; Music Editor, Westword, Denver's alternative weekly newspaper; Contributor to "Music Hound Essential Album Guides" for Rock, Country, Blues and Folk, published by Visible Ink Press; Co-authored The Toy Book , a history of Baby-Boomers' toys of the Fifties and Sixties, with Leland Rucker, published fall 1991 by Alfred Knopf; Freelance writing for Rolling Stone, Blues Access, Creem, Pulse, Request, Goldmine, Flatirons, New Country, Baby Boomer Collectibles, No Depression.
• Broadcast: Wrote and recorded commentary for San Francisco NPR station KQED's weekly radio program, "Pacific Time." Weekly "Out & About" entertainment reports during Friday Noon News, KKTV, Colorado Springs; KIKX "New Music Review' weekly record reviews on alternative radio station; Co-hosted "Music Talk" weekly call-in talk show on KBCO, Boulder, CO; Co-hosted "Critical Static" music video review segments "Music Link" TV program; Launched "E-TOWN," a non-profit NPR program in Boulder, CO featuring live music and environmental spoken-word segments.
• Editing: Copy-edited revised edition of "Nisei Voices" by Joyce Hirohata Gonzales and Paul Tsunegoro Hirohata, oral history of Nisei Japanese American high school students valedictorians in California during the 1930s; copy-edited "Finding Billy: An Internet Odyssey" by Diana Dale (Paros Press)
• Misc.: Instructor, "E-Commerce and Online Marketing" at Art Institute of Colorado; U.S. rock columnist for Interpulse, a quarterly pop-culture insert distributed in Komsomolskaya Pravda, Russia's largest-circulation daily paper.

PUBLIC SPEAKER
• Panelist, "The Japanese American Experience," Denver Press Club, April 2003
• "Asians and the Mainstream Media" speech at Colorado College, Colorado Springs, March 2003
• Keynote Speaker, "2003 Unity Day" at Fountain Valley School, Colorado Springs, CO
• Voiceover, "The Art of Aikido" instructional DVD, 2003
• TV and radio interviews for annual Colorado Dragon Boat Festival
• Keynote speaker, Aurora Asian/Pacific Community Partnership annual meeting
• Lectured for Colorado Author's League and Internet Chamber of Commerce
• Guest lecturer at high school and college level, including Jefferson County Schools, Art Institute of Colorado (Music & Video Dept.), University of Colorado at Boulder, Metro State College, and Colorado College, Colorado Springs
• Public speaker and panelist on technology, media, popular culture and Asian-American issues: Wrote and recorded commentary for San Francisco NPR station KQED's weekly radio program, "Pacific Time"; panelist for Commtrends Conference, 2000-2001, Western State College, Gunnison, Colorado; panelist on Online Writing for South By Southwest Interactive Conference, Austin, Texas, March 2000; panelist for Colorado Council for the Arts GAO Annual Arts Grants for 1998; panelist on New Media and the Arts for CCA's Regional Arts Dialogue Feb. '98 at Western State College, Gunnison, Colorado; panelist for Weiss Urban Livability Colloquium at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill on popular music April 24-26, 1998; Gave "Pop Goes the Culture" lecture about postwar Japanese pop culture from music to anime for Japan National Tourism Organization, Oct. '95; panelist and moderator for panels and workshops at South By Southwest Music & Media Conference, Austin Texas, on the music industry, freelance writing and online media.

COMMUNITY
• Member, Online News Association
• Member, Society of Professional Journalists
• Member, Asian American Journalists Association
• Served on Denver Mayor-elect John Hickenlooper's Transition Committee for Human Rights/Community Relations Agency, 2003
• Steering Committee member, Colorado Dragon Boat Festival (master of ceremonies, public relations, promotional video voiceover), 2001-2003
• Board member, Aurora Asian/Pacific Community Partnership, sponsors of annual Aurora Asian Film Festival, 2003
• Entertainment stage master of ceremonies for annual "Sakura Matsuri" or Cherry Blossom Festival in downtown Denver
• Advisory Committee member, ArtStreet, City and County of Denver
• National Board of Directors of Japanese American Citizens League, Editorial Board Chair for the JACL's Pacific Citizen national newspaper, former former president of the board of the Mile-Hi JACL Chapter
• Executive committee board member, Japan-America Society of Colorado
• Member-at-large, Asian American Journalists Association, President, Colorado Chapter of AAJA 1987-'88
• Program Advisory Committee member for Colorado Institute of Art's new Online Media & Marketing program
• Former board member, Denver Film Society, sponsors of the annual Denver International Film Festival, and master of ceremonies for screenings of DIFF films