I had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to shoot last night’s Mr. Hyphen 2008, a sig­na­ture event by Hyphen Mag­a­zine.

Back by pop­u­lar demand, Hyphen and the Oak­land Asian Cul­tur­al Cen­ter (OACC) present the 3rd annu­al Mr. Hyphen com­pe­ti­tion on Octo­ber 4, 2008, cel­e­brat­ing the men of the Asian Amer­i­can com­mu­ni­ty. Each year, Hyphen and OACC cel­e­brate Asian Amer­i­can men who devote them­selves to wor­thy com­mu­ni­ty caus­es. While struc­tured like a pageant with rounds of tal­ent, fash­ion and Q&A, Mr. Hyphen turns stereo­types on their heads in front of a sold-out crowd. Strik­ing a blow for equal-oppor­tu­ni­ty all-in-good-fun ogling, Mr. Hyphen is an ener­gy-filled evening of fun and char­i­ty. Rounds will be decid­ed alter­nate­ly by an audi­ence vote and by an illus­tri­ous pan­el of judges. The man who is crowned Mr. Hyphen wins a $1000 cash dona­tion to his non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tion.

Host­ed by writer/performer: Saman­tha Chanse

Con­grat­u­la­tions to all of the par­tic­i­pants, espe­cial­ly to Run­ner-up Mau­rice Seaty and Mr. Hyphen 2008 him­self, Aris­to­tle Gar­cia (pic­tured above respec­tive­ly). Spe­cial thanks go to Flickrite/Vaindeer/Hyphen Mag­a­zine’s Lan­lian for giv­ing me the oppor­tu­ni­ty to check it out and pho­to­graph. It was both enter­tain­ing and edu­ca­tion­al. Good times.

Hyphen Mag­a­zine’s Mr. Hyphen 2008
@ Oak­land Asian Cul­tur­al Cen­ter
388 9th Street, Suite 290
Oak­land, CA 94607
(510) 637‑0455