Second Opinion / OTHER MEDIA : YOLK : How an Asian American Magazine Got Its Name

Obviously, Yolk was chosen because the yolk of an egg is yellow. It really has nothing to do with the fact that an egg white surrounds it or that it is surrounded by an outer white shell (or brown, if you choose to eat brown eggs).

Some people say that the yolk symbolizes the birth of something. I’ve also heard someone refer to the body builders’ use of the phrase “getting yolked up” meaning getting bigger in size or more muscular and, when used for Asians, meaning empowering ourselves. Another observer said that the yolk represents the Asian American struggle to “break free from our shells.” These are all good, but I prefer a simpler explanation.

Yolk simply stands for the color of our skin. If you think about it, our skin color is really the only thing that connects Asians with other Asians and Asian Americans. It goes beyond geographical lines, cultural lines, language lines, age lines, gender lines and class lines.

And since self-esteem seems to be a major part of growing up, I would add that skin color goes beyond beauty lines as well. Yolk, above all else, stands for the belief that “Yellow is Beautiful.”

From an editorial by Managing Editor Larry J. Tazuma in the inaugural issue of Yolk, “a magazine for the New Generasian,” published in Los Angeles.