"On Being Mexican American" Response

I feel I can somewhat relate to Mendoza's experience. I was born in the US, just like him, but I was born Chinese, as he had said he was born Mexican. However, I did grow up in China where my native culture is strongest. At that age, things like race, culture, ethnicity, labels in general, none of those really mattered to me. I wasn't particularly aware that I was Chinese. I simply lived the way I was taught to.
It was when I moved back here and started school that I began to notice certain things. My class (with the exception of kindergarten to about third grade) was made up of a majority of African Americans and Hispanics. I suppose I always knew I was different, but it became more apparent and obvious as teachers talked about ideas like diversity and tolerance, the like, and even the small things like the different ways people talked that I picked up too brought it to surface. Both Mendoza and I learned of our biological identities through schooling.
Unlike Mendoza though (since I'm much younger than him), I became 'aglocized' when I came to Whitney Young, so even before I was a teenager. My class was much more diverse than what I was accustomed to, and it took some time to adapt. But I did. An old friend of mine would always tell me every time she sees me, "You've changed a lot. I don't know you anymore." Of course, we still love each other, and she didn't mean anything bad by that, but I can see what she means even on my own. The crazy arguments I get into with my mother are solid evidence of this (what they are about I will leave out of this).
The line that stuck out to me the most in this piece was, "We need to decide once and for all who we are and stop trying to be what we are not." I believe in a balance that we must all find as well. This was very wise of him to say. I hope I find mine.

King Still King?

 In "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, he discusses his ideas of a nonviolent campaign to bring about the "tension" to surface, so negociation would be possible, why breaking the law in doing so is not contradictory nor wrong because of the "two types of laws: just and unjust", that "groups tend to be more immoral than individuals", among others. I believe these beliefs still stand very true today, but not quite in the context they are used.

2011. Internet, phones, TV, all very efficient means of communication to help people learn about one another. The Civil Rights Movement is over, and immigration had increase more and more over the years. The United States has never been more diverse. Racism and prejudice obviously still exists, but it is illegal on paper, and it is not an every day aspect of our lives. There is no longer a need for any protest because we are all llegally equal. However, King's ideas can still be applied to other fields that have not seen the improvement or progress wanted. An example of a nonviolent effort would be the Walk-Out from last year. It was brought up in class yesterday. It was peaceful, although unlawful. In the end it did make a difference, because many of the teachers who were supposed to leave never did.

So I guess King really is still King.

Response to "Children of the Sea"

I didn't expect to enjoy it at all. I usually don't find required reading for classes entertaining or fun at all, just busywork to pass the course. However, this excerpt was an exception. It was captivating and interesting from the very beginning. Though not straightforwardly stated, the situation in the story became very clear and was easy to understand and interpret. I like that in the writing I read: creative wording and description, a good balance of plot and detail, etc.

They say that writing reveals more about the author than they want or expect. I noticed that Danticat used simple sentences in general throughout the entire piece, for both parts. They were simple, but expressed complex and deep ideas and thoughts. I sensed a vague, dark feeling from her words too. Hmm. Maybe it was because she compared the man's experience on board to those of the slaves all those years ago? I wonder what she's like. Probably a history person who's proud of her roots? (I suppose get some of this from the other article we read.)

I'd like to end this blog by saying I really thought "Children of the Sea" was a great start to this unit. :D

Music Review

The first thing that popped into my mind was the original work on Youtube that I'd come across. It was pretty difficult choosing which song I wanted share, because there's so much good stuff that people come up with!!!

In the beginning I was going to talk about a medley that I found by Sam Tsui and Kurt Schneider (found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoNdr0AbttI They've got a few others you should check out too.) of some of Lady Gaga's big hits. (For those who don't know, a medley is pretty much just a mix up of songs -- yes, I have talked to people about this who didn't know what it was.) But then I remembered a girl I found a while back and how much I loved the messages and simplicity of her songs.

I might be my love for really good acoustic guitar playing, her voice or lyrics with meaning and creative  and clever wording, but this song really stuck out to me when I first heard it. The song is called "Common, Simple, Beautiful Ways" by Jennifer Chung. You can easily tell it was written and sung beautifully from her heart.

I read a little about her on her website. She grew up in the bay area in Korea and was raised by a single mother, a Korean dancer, who took care of her and her brother. Because of her situation, she was really close to her mom who still a big influence in her life. This song pretty much tells her story and expresses how much her home and her roots mean to her.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. :)

Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eg3l79KR4U&feature=related

Jay Gatsby and Nick Carroway

Yes, actually I do think their relationship is pretty fraudulent. I bet it if weren't for Nick's connections to Daisy, Gatsby would never have gone out of his way to officially invite Nick over to one his extravagant parties. After all, the whole purpose of his everyone-is-welcome parties are in hope of seeing Daisy among the unfamiliar crowd. He tries so hard to make Nick comfortable around him and like him so that he'd do him that favor of inviting Daisy over for tea too.....it just seems like the kind of effort you'd put into someone you aren't very close to, to put up a good image. With others like friends and family, usually people are much more relaxed and unguarded around them. (At least that's the case with me.) The fact that Gatsby constantly calls Nick "old sport" makes it even more like he's really trying hard to create maybe even a temporary "relationship" to use his relations for his own benefit. Now that I think about it, Nick is always calling him Gatsby in the book, years after they'd known each other. They aren't very far apart in age, so it's not that much of a respect issue. That might actually be the reason why I keep calling him Gatsby myself. At first when I heard the topic of the week, I had no idea who Jay was for the longest time. Anyway that's that.

A Winter Poem

The year's first snow fall

Starts with a single, lonely snowflake

Dancing on its own, the sky its ballroom and 

The wind its music.

Then a companion of his soon follows, and then many more

Make their way to the already wet ground to

Finish their performance and leave their audience

With an enormous white blanket,

Speechless and awe-struck.

-Happy Winter!

Thankful for A Classmate

Thanksgiving is the time of the year when Americans get together with their familes and stuff themselves with homemade goodness, then afterwards make the New Year's resolution to lose the weight they gained from all that turkey, which of course, we all know, never happens. I did nothing of the sort, with the exception of stuffing myself. My grandmother wasn't home, and my parents were too lazy to cook, so we went out to eat in Chinatown for both brunch and dinner, their excuse being that the only open restaurants on Thanksgiving were in Chinatown. (I don't know how true it really is but I know they only went because they're not too open to new foods.)

This being an American holiday, I felt that it was only right to do at least something American to observe it. That is where this blog comes in, a little "tribute" (would that be a good word?) to my good friend Kennedy Baldwin. 
I met her in seventh grade, when we first became academic center students (also referred to as "ackies" within the school). It wasn't until our second year as ackies that we started to talk. And now that we have more classes together, we got to spend much more time with each other this year. She's great to talk to about pretty much anything, and her sense of humor is amazing. Hanging out after school with a girl like Kennedy is especially fun. :D
There are others that I am thankful for to be in the same American Literature class as me (like Mia) however I was only allowed to mention one person (too late :P). There are people outside of the class I am really thankful for too, but I suppose they're just going to have to figure it out without me directly telling them, "I am thankful for you." 
Have a nice holiday everyone!