Today the AGE UP media team met up at Bananas Grill with an exiting individual clad in purple and green paisley. Who could this be? JORDAN ALAM! She is a really cool lady from Seattle but now she works in New York on a blog that is by and for Asian American artists and activists called As I Am.
Age Up Media Team: How did you hear about AGEUP?
Jordan: I heard about AGEUP through Jude. Jude and I worked together at the Washington Bus. We became friends and would talk to each other about stuff and that eventually came up.
Age Up Media Team: Which age groups are you mostly directing your blog for?
So when I first started, it was mostly for middle and high school students or young college students, but now we’re aiming a little older. We’re trying to make it accessible for multiple age groups, so there’s language that everyone can understand.
Age Up Media Team: If you inherited a million dollars what would you do with it?
I would roll around in it! Just kidding. I would want to radically redistribute the new wealth. And maybe invest in As I Am, and other cool organizations.
Age Up Media Team: What’s one of your favorite things you’ve put up on the blog?
It’s called “Deconstructing my Depression”. It is a short film about mental health in the Asian community, which I like because it relates to other work that I’ve done. It’s generally a taboo subject, and one of the problems about it is that people sometimes pretend that mental health doesn’t even exist.
Age Up Media Team: If you could have any pet you desired what would have?
I definitely love cats but if I were not to have a pet I would have angora bunnies because they’re so fluffy and soft and cute.
Age Up Media Team: Do you play any sports?
I did I played tennis for a really ling time and I wanna play roller derby. Its a mostly woman’s sport. It’s really hard because you have to able to skate well and compete well. I’m on the end of being abetter skater.
Age Up Media Team: What will you do with your blog in future years?
I really wanna grow as this to being a semi professional thing, I wanna be able to pay all the staff and not just the writers, that is just the short term goal the long term goal is to take over the internet!
Age Up Media Team: Why do you do the work you do?
I started it because I didn’t see anything like it at the time. My inspiration was another blog with South Asian music and art, but it went down about a year ago. I wanted a place where people could all come together and talk about issues.
Age Up Media Team: If you were awake in the middle of the night and you could be anywhere, would you rather be on top of a roof with five dogs singing to fireworks by Katy Perry or hanging from a tree listening to music while drinking milk from a baby bottle?
I think the second one, honestly.
Age Up Media Team: How do you feel about sloths, and why?
I love sloths so much and I really think you should watch the video of Kristen Bell reacting to the sloths. I like that they look like they are smiling a lot.
Age Up Media Team: What’s the hardest thing about running a blog?
I think the hardest thing is the capacity, which is that we have limited staff, and with our live it gets really busy, so we might not post things for a month. But people expect us to update our blog and always have new things. Also other things like fund raising, I want to do more of it but there’s no time or anything.
Age Up Media Team: How many jellybeans do you think you can you fit in your mouth?
I don’t eat jellybeans so I will pretend they’re M&M’s so I say about 40 M&M’s.