All posts tagged: Timothy Singratsomboune

What DNA testing gets wrong about Southeast Asian heritage

Published by Timothy Singratsomboune

Photo credit to Marc McDermott As everyone knows, genetic ancestry testing is extremely popular. These tests typically involve a cheek swab or saliva sample that you send back to a company for laboratory testing. These tests give you information about your genome, the genetic material containing DNA that dictates who you are, and includes your relationships with genomes around the world. From these relationships, these tests can make informed estimates about your ancestral origins. Genetic ancestry testing is definitely fascinating, but the commercialized process of genetic ancestry testing doesn’t seem to be perfected just yet. To understand some of the issues with genetic ancestry testing, you can read this 2017 study about the testing process and this 2018 article about a journalist’s experience with genetic ancestry testing. Different companies can get different results, companies lack quality assurances, companies have limited validation of results, and there are unevenly sized sample pools. A 2018 BuzzFeed video about genetic ancestry testing inspired this article, when a Lao American had his “mind blown” when he was told by an …

In the midst of a tight race, OH Senate candidate Tina Maharath shares her thoughts on the journey so far

Published by Timothy Singratsomboune

This past Tuesday was a time full of emotions for many – it was the night of the 2018 midterm elections in the U.S. And we know many Little Laos’ers eagerly cast their ballots. Toward the end of the night, there were a few high-profile races facing possible vote recount, something that often only occurs when the results of an election are extremely close. We saw this with Georgia’s gubernatorial race and Florida’s senatorial and gubernatorial races. In my home state of Ohio, Lao American candidate for Ohio Senate District 3 Tina Maharath is also finding that her legislative race could be headed toward recount. Maharath is the Democratic candidate for the race, and she had a somewhat untraditional route to her candidacy that she discusses below. The numbers for Maharath’s Ohio Senate race currently stand at 64,176 votes for her, and 64,505 for her Republican opponent Anne Gonzales as of November 8th. Maharath is down just 329 votes, and there are still provisional ballots to be counted. We know many Little Laos’ers have been …