thenewwei

[thenewwei]

Pre-Order Release of BAD AMERICANS: PART I

I’m proud to announce the Pre-Order Publication of the BIG BOLD BOOK–BAD AMERICANS: PART I, set to be released in eBook, Hardcover and Paperback format on September 15, 2025 (right now, only the eBook preorder is available, but hardcover and paperback will be up soon!). This is Part I of The Great American Pandemic Novel–the entire frame narrative with all six individual stories that presents the…

[thenewwei]

Pre-Order Release of BAD AMERICANS: PART I

I'm proud to announce the Pre-Order Publication of the BIG BOLD BOOK--BAD AMERICANS: PART I, set to be released in eBook, Hardcover and Paperback format on September 15, 2025 (right now, only the eBook preorder is available, but hardcover and paperback will be up soon!). This is Part I of The Great American Pandemic Novel--the entire frame narrative with all six individual stories that presents the first Part of the Two-Part Opus BAD AMERICANS.

This is a powerful yet entertaining portrait of the American Pandemic experience as experienced through the realities and imaginations of 12 diverse Americans quarantined at a robust mansion complex in the Hamptons run by an eccentric billionaire named Olive Mixer. You'll meet entertaining and powerful personalities like Andrea Mendoza, a front line nurse; Taylor Williams, a conservative former Army Lieutenant; Cathy Wei Quan, an idealistic social work student; Ricard Shaw, a QAnon-influenced biker; Rashan Hall, an elementary school teacher; Nalini Shah, a privileged lawyer; Hayley Clark, a beautiful model; Pritesh Lakshmi, a neurotic engineer; Lisa Applebaum, a liberal blogger; Khassan Murdashev, an Uber driver and part-time comic; Sylvania, a seamstress and former fashion icon; and Angela Diaz, a hair salon operator--among many others!

In addition, you will be able to enjoy their powerful tales of courage, sacrifice and resilience in the face of unimaginable trauma--and also experience the drama as they interact in a Bachelor-like social atmosphere!

I'm so happy the already released stories are getting such a wonderful reception from critics and readers alike. Just read some of the reviews:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Tejas-Desai/author/B009G8YAT4

The book has been called "a genre-defying tour de force" and a "landmark literary event." The stories are "a master class in short story writing." Desai is "one of the boldest and most innovative authors in our nation."

I'm keeping the price of the eBook at $2.99 during the pre-order phase and part of the launch phase. However, it will eventually be raised to the List Price of $6.99 so if you want the eBook, I would recommend pre-ordering it. Remember that the Hardcover and Paperback editions will also be available on launch day, and they won't be limited to Amazon--you should be able to purchase it from any retailer you wish--Barnes & Noble, Indiebound, Bookshop, Books-a-Million etc.

My book designers have created a beautiful book in every way so please do feel free to order either (or both) formats!

I'm also working on creating audiobooks of the individual stories, likely narrated by yours truly! So keep an eye out for that!

BAD AMERICANS: PART I is a book I'm truly proud of, one that I think is my greatest narrative achievement to date, and an important contribution to American literature. I hope you will check it out!

Tejas Desai https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FF5DZ7GV #books #book #authors #newrelease #newreleases #mustread #america #pandemic #pandemicmemories #COVID19 #newbooks #newbookseries

[thenewwei]

Goodreads

First Goodreads review for Bad Americans: Part I! “A must-read for fans of socio-political fiction and experimental narrative forms, Bad Americans cements Desai’s reputation as a writer unafraid to interrogate the complexities of modern life. The September 2025 release of Part I promises to be a landmark literary event.” #book#bookstagram#booksbooksbooks#mustread#mustreadbooks#…

[thenewwei]

Release of 5th & 6th BAD AMERICANS stories: Mason Mayhem and Love Liability

I’m very happy to announce the pre-order release of eBook editions of the 5th and 6th stories in Bad Americans: Part I. With “Mason Mayhem,” Ricard Shaw, a working class biker living in rural Connecticut, weaves a disturbing tale about Freemasons conniving to control the international world order and how a freedom-loving biker tries, against all the odds, to investigate and topple their designs.…

[thenewwei]

Release of "Mason Mayhem" and "Love Liability" by Tejas Desai

I’m very happy to announce the pre-order release of eBook editions of the 5th and 6th stories in Bad Americans: Part I. With “Mason Mayhem,” Ricard Shaw, a working class biker living in rural Connecticut, weaves a disturbing tale about Freemasons conniving to control the international world order and how a freedom-loving biker tries, against all the odds, to investigate and topple their designs. Essentially QAnon meets Picaresque, it is an exciting, thrilling and controversial story that gives the reader a rare glimpse into rural, small town America. “Mason Mayhem” is scheduled to be released on 7/15/25, but you can pre-order this ebook now.

Then, countering his story, is “Love Liability.” Nalini Shah is a privileged litigation lawyer from Fairfield County, Connecticut, living in a fancy apartment in Long Island City overlooking the East River, when the pandemic makes her question her priorities. Her story, “Love Liability,” is a novelette about a rape trial involving an impressionable teenager who falls in love with a slick biker and runs afoul of his friends. Combining the trial tale with idyllic scenes of suburban Connecticut and the exhilaration of first love, “Love Liability” is both riveting and moving. It is scheduled to be released on 8/15/25 but you can preorder it now.

These are the final two eBook stories to be released before the pre-order release, in multiple formats, of the frame novel with stories Bad Americans: Part I by Tejas Desai, which will be published on September 15, 2025.

Bad Americans: Part I by Tejas Desai is a groundbreaking book: a frame novel containing six stories told by the characters in a reality TV-type setting at a Hamptons mansion complex during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Together with Bad Americans: Part II by Tejas Desai, scheduled to be released on April 15, 2026 after its stories are released as eBooks a month apart, it is The Great American Pandemic Novel, already being praised by readers as “an unforgettable portrait of a nation” and “a landmark literary event.”

Order your tales now, and anticipate the release of the whole book!

Mason Mayhem (aka Ricard's Story):

Love Liability (aka Nalini's Story):

#mustread #newrelease #NewRelease2025 #mustreadbooks #BookNow #books #bookstagram #novel #novels #storytelling #stories #storiesthatmatter #shortstory #shortstories #shortstorycollection #shortstorycompetition #ebooks #EBOOK #kindlebooks #KindleUnlimited #kindle #shortreads #shortread #novelette #thriller #LegalThriller #mystery #suspense #trials #QAnon

[thenewwei]

First Goodreads review for Bad Americans: Part I!

“A must-read for fans of socio-political fiction and experimental narrative forms, Bad Americans cements Desai’s reputation as a writer unafraid to interrogate the complexities of modern life. The September 2025 release of Part I promises to be a landmark literary event.” #book #bookstagram #booksbooksbooks #mustread #mustreadbooks #tourdeforce #provocative #literatura #literaturelover #author #bookreviews #review #pandemic #Decameron #thebachelor #BadAmericans #humantragedy #thehumantragedy #GoodAmericans #thenewwei #TheNewWave #renaissance #authorsofinstagram #covid #novel #novelas #stories #shortstories #storytelling #story

[thenewwei]

Hello Everyone,

I'm having a free promotion today on Amazon of all my four previous books, but I would really like to ask that you purchase the 4 story eBooks from my mixed novel/story collection Bad Americans for $0.99 that are out today. You don't need a Kindle to download or read these eBooks, you just need to download the free Kindle app on your preferred electronic device.

Two (On the Frontlines, Immigrants Unite!) are already published and two (Corona Chaos, Black Boy's Ballad) are available for pre-order. If people buy a bunch of them at once, it raises them on Amazon's list and likely puts them #1 on multiple genre lists, increasing their visibility (and sales) during the promotion and possibly for days after. So your purchasing these cheap eBooks would help in the overall campaign to get readers interested in this important book which I've slaved away at writing and researching since 2020. Plus you'll get to own and read some fantastically entertaining realistic fiction!

Here are the specific URLs and brief descriptions of the stories/eBooks:

On the Frontlines

Filipino-American nurse Andrea Mendoza, a frontline/first responder, tells this harrowing tale about the fight to battle Covid at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens. Told from multiple perspectives, including nurses, doctors and patients, the story is both dramatic and exhausting, just like the pandemic at its height.

Immigrants Unite!

21 year old Taiwanese-American social work student Cathy Wei Quan weaves this hilarious yet moving Spoken Word story about an illegal Chinese immigrant embroiled in Asian-American racist discrimination in Queens.

Corona Chaos

Conservative financial analyst and Army vet Taylor Williams counters Cathy's story with this taut, dark crime tale about legal Ecuadorian immigrants accosted by illegal Mexican drug cartels and the BLM protests.

Black Boy's Ballad

Possibly the best story in the book, this is an epic novella about a gay black librarian named Stephen from Bed Stuy who falls in love with the son of a Montana rancher and struggles to fit into "hipster" Brooklyn. Plus he needs to grapple with the imprisonment of his former Black Panther father, which ultimately turns into an intense mystery/thriller conspiracy involving the NYPD, Nation of Islam and various politicians.

Other free books (whole):

Good Americans (The Human Tragedy, Book 1)

The first book in The Human Tragedy, modeled on Balzac's Human Comedy, is this raw, highly provocative story collection of realistic fiction set mostly in America before and during The Great Recession. Including 6 short stories, a 3-part novella and an Introduction which sets the framework for the innovative short story collections that portray American society to follow, including the Bad Americans books. Kirkus Reviews called it "a solid collection of rare caliber" that "speaks volumes about the human condition and modern life in America."

The Brotherhood (The Brotherhood Chronicle, Volume 1)

Niral Solanke is a failed writer from Queens is living a dissolute life with his worthlessly wealthy Brooklyn buddies when his childhood friend, promising NYU financial student Priya Mehta, commits suicide in Union Square. Would a devout Hindu kill herself? Everyone is shocked in The Brotherhood religious community and Niral tries to right his life by helping Priya's brother Amrat find her killer. He reconnects with his rich financier friend Vishal Patel but as he investigates further, he realizes everyone is a suspect and no one is innocent in this intense noirish mystery thriller widely praised for its lively rendering of gritty Great Recession NYC. Amazon #1 bestseller in various categories and winner of two awards.

The Run and Hide (The Brotherhood Chronicle, Volume 2)

After the cataclysmic events of the first book, Niral Solanke has been banished to Thailand and is working for a diamond merchant front for a criminal gang when he is sent to India on a mission that reconnects him with The Brotherhood's new corrupt leader Bhai. Niral and a wide range of colorful characters become embroiled in multiple dramas centered on a terrorist plot against The Brotherhood by a bitter Muslim scarred by the Godhra riots. Widely praised for its vivid settings and locations particularly in Thailand and India, this is my personal favorite book and probably the most profound when considering issues of the Hindu/Buddhist ideological dichotomy and social justice.

The Dance Towards Death (The Brotherhood Chronicle, Volume 3)

Winner of 15 literary honors and an Amazon #1 bestseller, The Dance Towards Death is a relentless, kaleidoscopic international thriller set in NYC, Thailand, India, and Australia, and the culmination (for now) of Niral's unforgettable journey.

Thanks again, let me know if you have any questions.

#bookstagram#books#booktok#BadAmericans#blackfiction#UrbanFiction#gayfiction#romance#gayromance#novella#novelas#thriller#thrillerbooks#shortreads#kindle#kindleunlimitedbooks#preorder#preordernow#preordertoday#PreOrderHere#mystery#mysterybooks#gaylove#lovestory#blackexperience#urbanromance#noir#Crime#conspiracy#blacklivesmatter

Tejas Desai

[thenewwei]

Bad Americans: Black Boy's Ballad Pre-Order Release

I'm very happy and proud to announce the pre-order release of the novella "Black Boy's Ballad" from Bad Americans: Part I. This is the longest story in The Great American Pandemic Novel and probably my proudest achievement of the individual narratives in Bad Americans along with its sister novella "Dope Double Ditty" which will come out in the roll out of Bad Americans: Part II in 2026.

Narrated by an elementary school teacher named Rashan Hall, "Black Boy's Ballad" is the epic tale of a gay black librarian from Brooklyn named Stephen. Having escaped the hood into the world of books and storytimes, Stephen becomes embroiled in three significant dramas: a relationship with a white scion of a Montana rancher named Josh; his ability and/or inability to fit into mostly white hipster Brooklyn society; and a family drama deriving from the imprisonment of his former Black Panther father which evolves into an intense conspiracy mystery/thriller involving the NYPD, Nation of Islam, and various politicians.

The deepest irony and even more signs that the literary Gods love to mock me was that, after all the unfounded rejections of the other stories in Bad Americans by various journals/contests, I finally got both "Black Boy's Ballad" and "Dope Double Ditty" accepted, enthusiastically, by Rize Anthology/Running Wild Press for inclusion in their novella series, only having to decline because I was already publishing them.

Oh well...I guess this is the way the literary Gods want me to roll. So please pre-order this novella, set to be released on June 15, 2025. Even though it is 120 pages long, I'm keeping it consistent and selling it for only $0.99. Two more stories to go and then the big one: Bad Americans: Part I! #bookstagram #books #booktok #BadAmericans #blackfiction #UrbanFiction #gayfiction #romance #gayromance #novella #novelas #thriller #thrillerbooks #shortreads #kindle #kindleunlimitedbooks #preorder #preordernow #preordertoday #PreOrderHere #mystery #mysterybooks #gaylove #lovestory #blackexperience #urbanromance #noir #Crime #conspiracy #blacklivesmatter

[thenewwei]

BAD AMERICANS Stories are Ranking on Amazon!

There’s even a Google Al summary of the book and series! Not entirely accurate but I guess I’ll take it for now!

[thenewwei]

#1 New Release: One-Hour History Short Reads #CoronavirusLockdown #coronavirus2020 #COVID19 #kindleunlimitedbooks #booktok #literarycommunity #MustReadBooks #shortstorycollection #kindleebook #KindleUnlimited #shortreads #KindleShort

[thenewwei]

BAD AMERICANS: Two More Releases

I’m elated to announce the preorder release of two more stories from BAD AMERICANS as Kindle ebooks.

“Immigrants Unite!” aka “Cathy’s Story” is a spoken word tale narrated by 21 year old Taiwanese-American social work student Cathy Wei Quan. In a rhythmic and often hilarious poetic style, she tells the heartbreaking story of a Chinese undocumented immigrant named Emily who escapes to America for a better life only to face head on the rampant and open discrimination that Asian Americans experienced during the Covid pandemic.

https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Americans.../dp/B0DH5BMDQ6

Then, counteracting her story, Taylor Williams, a conservative financial analyst and former Lieutenant in the US Army, weaves “Corona Chaos,” a tight, harrowing tale of legal Ecuadorian immigrants in Corona, Queens, who are accosted by criminal elements, first by Mexican drug cartels and later by rioters during the BLM protests in Manhattan.

https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Americans-Corona.../dp/B0DZXSJX94

Both narratives counteract each other perfectly, contrasting in substance, tone and style. Yet, they are both compelling and masterfully told stories in their own right, contributing to the mosaic of the mixed American experience.

Once again, both are only $0.99 to preorder, deliverable to your free Kindle app on any device. “Immigrants Unite!” will be released on April 15, 2025 and “Corona Chaos” on May 15, 2025, but you can preorder them now.

Remember that this is a run up to the release of BAD AMERICANS: PART I, the ambitious frame novel filled with these pandemic-related stories, on September 15, 2025.

Yes, you will be able to get the whole book in hardcover and paperback from most places books are sold at that time! But you can read these individual tales for barely nothing before the release, and I believe it will be well worth it! Enjoy!

[thenewwei]

The Thread Ceremony, which in Gujarati is called a Janoi (Upanayana in other traditions), is a Hindu rite of passage where Brahmin (priest caste) males become “men”— I. E. where they learn the Vedas (spiritual knowledge) and officially enter their social duty/responsibility (it’s somewhat similar to the Bar Mitzvah in the Jewish tradition—also it is done for Kshatriyas (warriors) and Vaishyas (merchants) in some traditions). The meaning has changed over time as in the ancient days in India, this ritual was performed when they were about to enter the ashram to learn under a guru for the first time. Later it started being done when the kid ended his schooling and transitioned from the brahmachariya life to the householder stage. Nowadays, it’s often done before the kid enters college, as that’s usually when they leave home for the first time, but are still learning (in fact I got mine right past my 18th birthday, in between my freshman orientation at Wesleyan and the start of my classes). For my three nephews, they were 18, 16 and 13 respectively—it was easier to do it together and anyway, the main thing is that it is done, not when. The thread looks simple but it has multiple strands which convey different types of meaning. You’re supposed to wear it daily for the rest of your life—I tried hard to do this but it proved impractical—and at some point in college I gave it up. But of course I still maintained its essence and teachings, especially the part about living your life with restraint, moderation and self-control while still enjoying said life. In fact, when the priest at the ceremony asked if there was anyone in the audience who still wore the Janoi, only my Father raised his hand. He then helped out in the ceremony. I was supposed to have a special role as a “Mama”—which is an uncle on the mom’s side (I’m Vibhuti Naik Desai’s first cousin who grew up closely with her—she doesn’t have any brothers). There’s a fun tradition where the mamas chase the inductees and catch them—this is to symbolize how the newbies try to escape their new responsibilities and want to “get thee (back) to the nunnery” or something similar—but their loving mamas, who tend to perpetually baby them in Indian families, make sure they’re brought back into the fold. Unfortunately this didn’t end up being done as the priest doing the ceremony didn’t believe in it—maybe for the best because I remember scraping my knee on hard cement when I was caught by my Manishmama in 1999–but we bribed them anyway so it was ok 🙂 But seriously, best of luck to all three nephews—Talin, Taj and Arjun—and may they maintain the essence of the Janoi!—with Anasuya Desai Trupti Naik Sattu Desai #ThreadCeremony #janoi #hinduism #hindu #traditional

[thenewwei]

I’m very happy to announce the Kindle Ebook pre-order release of the first story in The Great American Pandemic Novel BAD AMERICANS: “On the Frontlines” AKA “Andrea’s Story.”

You can preorder this novelette now and you will get it delivered to your free Kindle app on any device on March 15, 2025! It’s only $0.99!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DWQPBK89

Each Story in BAD AMERICANS is being released once a month as a Kindle Ebook until September 2025, when the frame novel with the first six stories will be released in multiple formats including hardcover and paperback. Get your taste today!

Schedule here:

Http://tejas-desai.com

About BAD AMERICANS and “On the Frontlines”:

It's Summer 2020 and the Covid-19 Pandemic is raging. New York City has been locked down for months. 12 diverse Americans, lonely and single, are selected via a dating app competition by billionaire Olive Mixer to stay at his ornate Hamptons mansion complex for 12 nights.

During the day, the guests meet, compete, date, dine, flirt and fight. Each night, one must tell the group a story.

The narrator of "On the Frontlines," Andrea Mendoza, is a hard-working Filipino-American nurse at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, New York City, the hardest hit institution during the pandemic. Her story embodies the exhausting struggle to fight the virus and exposes the bureaucratic hurdles in the process.

"On the Frontlines" is one of the most moving stories in BAD AMERICANS. It's also a rare glimpse into the internal realities of the physical fight against the Covid pandemic at its height.

The tales in BAD AMERICANS range widely in subject, style, length and decorum. Many stories respond to each other. They trigger passionate resistance and fiery defense. They change how characters perceive each other and affect the trajectory of the frame narrative. They make us ponder the nature of storytelling itself.

More importantly, each story portrays a different aspect of American life in a vivid, accurate, innovative, entertaining and thought-provoking way.

BAD AMERICANS is the 2nd volume in the anthology series THE HUMAN TRAGEDY. Kirkus Reviews said the first volume, Good Americans "speaks volumes about the human condition and modern life in America."

I hope you enjoy this morsel of a complex recipe! #bookstagram #book #bookrelease #newrelease #newreleasebooks #literature #literaturelover #mustread #mustreadbooks #MustRead2025 #BadAmericans #thehumantragedy #humantragedy #storytelling #shortstory #shortstories #story #novelas #novel #pandemic #pandemic2020 #PandemicChallenges #pandemichistory #Decameron #realitytv #reality #realityshow #diversity #multicultural #crosscultural #culture #Satire

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DWQPBK89

[thenewwei]

Strange but fab night that included Monster Jam @ Barclays Center followed by watching hard rock all-girl band Homade and electronic beat duo West Division at Dark Room 2 in Gowanus. @homade.nyc @westdivisionmusic #rock #hardrock #electronicmusic #brooklyn #gowanus #darkroom #barclayscenter

[thenewwei]

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Combating Racism Series Dinner to celebrate our widely praised webinar series on 1/15/25! with Annette Olivia Brown, Kacper Jarecki, Fred Gitner, Mia Shah-Dand, Brenda Bentt-Peters, Jacqueline Carr. #esrt #nyla #library #authors #racism #diversity #DEI #diversityequityinclusion #diversityandinclusion #AI #artificialintelligence

[thenewwei]

Racial Profiling in the Age of TTT

Apparently the era of racial profiling has returned with the advent of TTT (Trump, Tech Bros, & Tariffs) in the TT (Turbulent Twenties). While micro-incidents occur constantly, here are a few more obvious instances that occurred to me personally the last couple of weeks.

On Saturday night, while in Phoenix, Arizona, for the ALA LibLearnX Conference where I gave a well-received presentation the day after, I attended the Suns-Wizards game with 5 other librarians, an ethnically, sexually and age-diverse group of 3 women and 3 men (including myself). However, when we entered the area of the stadium, only I was singled out to go into a special line to be screened, which took an additional five minutes or so - I had to empty my pockets and go through a metal detector, which I passed with flying colors.

At the airport on the way home, I emptied my pockets and went through the metal detector. I was through without ringing and cleared by the security guy, only to be pulled back by a "random" screening. So I went back through the detector I had cleared and to the side. After waiting for a bit, I went through the scanner where you raise your arms and wait 3 seconds. I was cleared again, but then I had to sit in a chair and remove my shoes. My ankles were scanned and inspected, and then my shoes were put through the item scanner again. The old white dude "randomly selected" after me didn't have to sit down or remove his shoes, his ankles were inspected over his shoes, and he was able to get out of that area before me.

The most egregious incident (and most disturbing to me, anyway), didn't occur with an authority figure, or even at a security clearance. It was on the way home from Auckland, New Zealand to New York. I actually got very lucky - American Airlines had overbooked their flights, so I was switched to a non-stop flight on Qantas and was able to get home 7 hours faster, on a better airline with better food and better service, and I didn't have to go through customs in LA and check my bag/go through security again. The only issue was that I was sacrificing two aisle seats for a middle seat on a 15 hour flight, but even that was rectified when an elderly couple from Long Island wanted to sit together and gave me the aisle seat next to them.

The trouble began when I conversed with the couple next to me. I usually do befriend my fellow travelers, and they were a nice and accommodating couple for the most part, traveling with their kids and grandkids (they were paying for a two-week vacation for the entire family to Australia and were transiting through New Zealand) who were sitting in a different part of the plane. But when the couple told me they were "going home," and I happily said I was going home too, there was complete silence and the man started becoming very defensive. "My grandfather was the first person to live in those towers in Fresh Meadows" he said angrily when I mentioned the neighborhood where I lived. We kept conversing though on various topics, and hours later, when I mentioned that I was born at Flushing Hospital, he immediately and aggressively asked, "You were born here or there?" Even though I had already told him. I had to explain to him that my parents immigrated as permanent residents in the 1970s, I was born in the early 80s in NYC, they served NYC for nearly 40 years and I lived my whole life there except college etc. Later, again seemingly perplexed and in disbelief, he asked, "Where did you go to high school?" Then I basically told him my entire schooling (2 hr subway/bus trips through hell etc.) and life story. By the end of the flight, perhaps impressed, he implied I should court his unmarried, similarly-aged daughter, and while she might be very nice, I don't exactly want an ignorant and racist father-in-law like the character in my story "Old Guido" (in Good Americans).

After all, why did I have to explain all this to him? He certainly wouldn't have reacted that way or asked me any of that if I was White. I could have been on a tourist visa or an undocumented immigrant and he wouldn't have questioned anything I had said if I was White. But because I'm Brown, he needed extra convincing that I was Natural Born. Whether that even convinced him that I was "American" is yet another question. We didn't discuss politics - although I did express my dissatisfaction with Congestion Pricing - his position was that it was an obvious money-grab and while he would pay through his teeth because he had to drive into Manhattan twice a week to take his wife to the doctor - she was coughing half the time with a lung condition - he didn't mind because he was rich enough not to care, yet another example that supposedly "progressive" policies like Congestion Pricing just benefit the rich - but either way, I wondered whether his anger was influenced by anti-woke godfather Vivek Ramaswamy's recent comments at the time that were spun by many as implying that Asian-Americans were superior to White Americans. https://x.com/VivekGRamaswamy/status/1872312139945234507?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1872312139945234507%7Ctwgr%5E3ae9ed9858039ba3b70a645b1ed1680748b68877%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fstory%2Fopinion%2Fvoices%2F2025%2F01%2F14%2Fvivek-ramaswamy-tiger-parents-burnout-school%2F77421962007%2F&mx=2

And while I don't like Vivek at all, he basically was making a "Tiger Dad" argument about American parenting culture, not race, that Asians tend to force their kids to be "extraordinary" academically while White parents tend to want their kids to be "well-rounded," focus on sports and therefore are likely to be "ordinary." That's generally true parenting-wise (although not in my case) but it's certainly not true that being a nerd is the only way to be "extraordinary" and how can one even be "extraordinary" if most people aren't "ordinary"? You need both in any society.

So my plane buddy could have been angry about that, I don't know, and especially about the fact that Vivek defended the H1-B Visa because those individuals are coming in based on merit, which Vivek values and believes could happen here too if American parents just kicked enough ass. But that doesn't just apply to Indian nationals - after all, the Danish guy I sat next to for 12 hours in Sydney on New Years Eve while waiting for the fireworks - whip smart as far as I could tell - was also studying software engineering and also desperately wanted an H1B Visa to the USA so he could make a lot more money than in Denmark (so was an Indonesian girl I met later).

Something else that occurred to Vivek Ramaswamy might also be worth mentioning here. It was his interview with Ann Coulter while he was a Presidential candidate, where she began by praising him to the moon (she agreed with pretty much everything he said, more than Donald Trump and any other Republican candidate, she claimed), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SQyWQIE2yU but that she couldn't vote for him because he was "an Indian." Vivek (and Ann) tried to spin this in a later interview by saying that Coulter meant he wasn't Second Generation, as some douchebags, including a Republican African-American friend of mine ("and I'm the black guy saying that," he stated about my potential candidacy), have implied because First Generation Natural Born Americans are too "suspicious" and tied to their parents' countries/cultures (This is not true at all Constitutionally, or Rationally).

However, this is not what Ann Coulter said, nor is it, I think, what she meant. She said it was because Vivek was "an Indian," which would apply even if he was an Eighth Generation American (improbable, but possible, there have been ethnic Indians in what's now the USA since the 1600s). Basically, as my White American plane buddy figured, he and I are "perpetual foreigners," as are all Asian Americans.

Whether this is sentiment prevails among a majority of Americans (or even the half that voted for DT) is more questionable, but it clearly is an issue that persists (the glass ceiling, the fact that we're constantly confused for each other etc.) I recall a statistic when Andrew Yang was running in 2020 that Americans would be more comfortable with a gay white male President than an Asian-American one (though not an Atheist - although curiously it's okay to vote in a twice-impeached insurrectionist, sore loser, traitor, liar, cheater, draft dodger, convicted felon and rapist, and aspirant Dictator).

Indian-American women seem to have a slightly easier time - obviously there's Kamala Harris (lost), Nikki Haley (lost), other Indian American governors and an endless succession of Indian American CEOs, White House-Pentagon department heads and staff, even a Miss America.

Thankfully, I don't plan to run for POTUS anytime soon, which might be for the best because let's face it, a Tejas Desai Independent run will be a 1,000 times crazier than a Donald Trump run, so maybe I will spare the world, or maybe not, it depends how bad things get…

Yet you know I'm going to spin all this towards my new book BAD AMERICANS, which starts to come out in March 2025 and will be published a month apart until April 2026. Because this issue is front and center in several individual stories - particularly "Immigrants Unite!" "Love Liability" and "Cape Conundrum" - as well as the frame story. The first 6 ebooks are ready to go and I'm debating whether to put them as pre-orders or not. But you can start to read about them here, and there will updates soon!

[thenewwei]

ALA LibLearnX in Phoenix—giving a widely-praised presentation on Reinvigorating Green Spaces for Library Services in front of a packed audience—Suns-Wizards game with 5 other librarians (two not pictured)—first ride in a driverless Waymo car, apparently safer than a Lyft that smoked out and left us in the desert—Phoenix Art Museum, Scottsdale Contemporary Museum of Art, my first Cornish pasty, robots reading, other presentations. #library #LibLearnX #ala #conference #Waymo #greenhouse #GreenSpaces #community #gardening #communitygarden #communitygardening #communitygardeners #art #robot #reading #storytelling