Andrew’s Book Writing updates!

I have been in the throes of writing the Moving Rasa guide book since before COVID. I am so grateful to the many folks who have helped me edit along the way. Kimberly T and Kris S with the first coffee table edition; Joanna Fitzick, Real Eguchi, and Perry Sheffield with the next iterations; Nhu Nguyen for piloting sections with their University classes; and finally Leslie H.

I am ready to start sharing pieces from the work. Please email me at andrew@movingrasa.com if you have any feedback!

September 21, 2023.

From the Introduction:

"My journey, like the unfolding narrative of Semar, weaves through the intricate tapestry of identity, heritage, and belonging. In 1979, I entered this world as Andrew Suseno. Andrew, a name associated with Andrew Jackson, whose face graces the twenty-dollar bill—a face intertwined with the painful history of the Trail of Tears, a chapter in American genocide often overlooked. And Suseno, a name that means "beautiful conviction," borne from the complexities of Indonesian authoritarianism yet carrying the enduring hope of my family. My name encapsulates the quintessential Asian American experience.

Similar to many non-European descendants, such as African-Americans, Latinx-Americans, and Arab-Americans, my name, as an Asian-American, carries a hyphenated marker. We are compelled to clarify what kind of American we are, a task not demanded of our white counterparts, often assumed to be simply "American." This hyphen, this tension between my names, symbolizes my ongoing struggle to find my voice and identity in a nation that demands assimilation while perpetuating the subjugation of non-white cultures.

My parents, like numerous first-generation Asian immigrants, intentionally raised my sister and me to be like, "Americans." To them, this meant adhering to the rules of white America to ensure our success, often necessitating a low profile to avoid upsetting "the Americans" with whom we shared our spaces. It's only as I write this work that I've come to realize the striking parallels between my parents' experience of being Chinese in Indonesia and my own yearning to connect with Indonesian culture in the United States."