By Leland Kim

The recent brouhaha over ESPN’s use of the term “chink in the armor” to reference Jeremy Lin’s turnover-prone loss against the New Orleans Hornets made me think about race relations in the U.S. Let me start off by saying that MOST people (black, white, Asian, Latino, etc.) for the most part have embraced the Jeremy Lin phenomenon, as a feel-good story about an underdog achieving surprising success. Very few have turned this moment into an opportunity to dust off 60-year-old racist taunts and direct them at Lin.

To ESPN’s credit, they acted swiftly and decisively to correct the error and to fire the writer who wrote that racist headline on ESPN.com. Anchor Max Bretos has apologized for his faux pas, and I do believe he did NOT have malicious intent when he said it. His wife is (according to Bretos) Asian after all. I think his 30-day suspension is a bit harsh, but ESPN seems to be sending a message that racist jabs at Jeremy Lin won’t be tolerated.

This is all well and good, but up until a couple of days ago, it seems that sports anchors, writers and retired athletes felt it was perfectly acceptable to take racist jabs at Jeremy Lin. Let’s think about this for a second. No one in the world of sports today would even THINK to make similarly racist jabs and quips against an African American athlete, so why has it been acceptable to target Jeremy Lin?

The sad thing is some of the perpetrators like FOX Sports columnist Jason Whitlock are African American. Surely he and others know how horribly Jackie Robinson was treated when he broke the color barrier in major league baseball. Surely he knows the overt and covert racism Tiger Woods endured in the PGA (and still do), especially during his early years.

Some say Lin is overhyped because he’s Asian. Well, as ESPN pointed out at today’s game, Lin stands shoulder to shoulder to some of the great point guards in the NBA. His 229 points and 86 assists in his first seven NBA starts are better than Magic Johnson’s, Isiah Thomas’, and John Stockton’s stats.

Granted MOST sports analysts and former NBA greats are now giving Lin his due. They were skeptical or cautiously optimistic but with a stellar performance against the Dallas Mavericks today, they’re becoming believers.

Magic Johnson, one of the best point guards in the history of the game, said today: “We don’t have many guards that can do all three. This guy (Lin) can score, pass and lead at the same time.”

I understand the need to be clever and use creative puns in the news. But it’s possible to be imaginative without resorting to juvenile racists double entendres.

Being the first at anything is a heavy burden to bear. Greats like Jesse Owens and Jackie Robinson held that distinction with tremendous honor. Jeremy Lin is the first Asian American NBA player to have the potential to reach that level. Before him, guys like me had to resort to NBA Live or NBA 2K12′s “create-a-player” function to custom build an Asian American basketball player who could compete in the NBA.

Time will tell if Lin will become one of the great point guards in NBA history, but he’s shown his considerable character thus far. He quickly accepted responsibility for the loss against the Hornets (even though his teammates also weren’t having a good game), yet gave credit to his teammates and God for the victories he was a part of.

Jeremy Lin is a great AMERICAN story, reaffirming the notion that if you are talented and work hard enough, the sky’s the limit.

By Leland Kim

I was in junior high school when I discovered this album at my local “Music Plus” record store. I was immediately captivated by the image of a young Whitney Houston.

She very regal-like on a her debut album cover, which featured an unknown princess whose stunning looks made the record look like an art piece. I bought it and fell in love with Whitney’s voice.

Like millions of her other fans, I cherished every chart-topping single and every #1 album. Her first single “You Give Good Love” showcased not only her powerful voice but her MTV-friendly beauty. And her hopeful single “Greatest Love of All” captured the hopes and dreams of young people.

In 1988 her single “One Moment in Time” captured the collective pride and optimism of the nations participating in the Seoul Summer Olympics.

I watched as she quickly influenced a generation of young female singers whose “style” came to be an imitation of Whitney Houston’s signature voice. She represented THE standard of female singers during the mid ’80s to the late ’90s.

Her rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl XXV in 1991 came at a time when U.S. patriotism was a high during the early days of the Gulf War. Her power and patriotism captured the mood of most Americans. It remains my favorite rendition of our national anthem.

Although her recent personal struggles have been the subject of tabloid fodder, I think most will remember Whitney for the incredible talent she was. Her music will live on long after people stop speculating about what could’ve been done to prevent this needless tragedy. Rest In Peace, Whitney. Thank you for the gift of your music.

I saw him at UCSF’s Lunar New Year event, sitting in the front row, enjoying the movements of a graceful Chinese dancer in front of him. He was a cute, elderly Chinese man with a smile that lit up Cole Hall. He reminded me of senior citizens I encounter in Chinatown, a bit absent-minded and unable to communicate in English. So I didn’t strike up a conversation with this man in front of me because I assumed we wouldn’t be able to talk to each other since I don’t speak Chinese.

The senior citizen had a plastic water bottle with him. He was trying to open the top but wasn’t successful. He turned to me and said, “Excuse me but could you open this for me?”

That’s when everything changed. I gladly opened it for him and asked him how he ended up coming to UCSF for the Lunar New Year celebrations. Well, it turns out he graduated from UCSF with a degree in PharmD. Not only that he taught at the School of Pharmacy.

Dr. E. Leong Way is 95 years old, born on the Year of the Dragon. In a career that lasted almost 50 years, he published almost 400 publications related to substance abuse. He studied heroin, marijuana and amphetamines. Dr. Way has collaborated with more than 70 American and international scientists. He is a very accomplished and interesting man. I never would have known this if he hadn’t asked me to open the top to his plastic water bottle.

So I learned a valuable lesson: leave my assumptions aside and talk to people, even if I think they won’t be able to communicate with me. Thank you, Dr. Wey. You’re still teaching the next generation even at age 95. Kung Hee Fat Choy!

This vaporizer is used in some hospitals for patients who need cannabis as part of their treatment.

By Leland Kim

I recently wrote two articles about medical marijuana studies that were completely unrelated to one another. Both got a lot of attention in the media and by marijuana advocates. It also resonated with the average person because it seems people are interested in marijuana whether or not it’s a regular part of their lives.

For me, it was a learning opportunity because, frankly, I knew very little about marijuana. One of the things I learned was about a device called a vaporizer. It looks sort of like your average kitchen blender with a produce aisle plastic bag on top of it.

Using the vaporizer is the preferred method in a health care setting vs. smoking a joint. Inhaling cannabis vapors through this device looks a bit more “legit” than smoking it. Also, the vapors are contained within the bag, so you don’t have the problem of second-hand marijuana smoke.

The two recent findings are fascinating and, not surprisingly, generating renewed debate about the merits and pitfalls of legalizing marijuana.

This scale is used to weigh cannabis to ensure the patient gets the right dosage.

The first study, published in December, suggests patients who suffer from chronic pain could experience greater pain relief if their doctors add cannabis to their opiates-only treatment. It’s a treatment that could be safer since opiates are highly addictive and potentially lethal since opiates can impact the respiratory system.

The second study suggests low to moderate use of marijuana is less harmful to users’ lungs than exposure to tobacco, even though the two substances contain many of the same components. The study focused on lung function, so it did not look at long-term effects of marijuana usage on brain function, which could be a different story.

Either way, two fascinating studies conducted by brilliant researchers at UCSF. Your thoughts on the topic?