Author Archives: Greener Dad

Paper: Week 4

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Notes: 15 October – 21 October

Tuesday Morning: Twinsters

Two adopted Korean girls met up online under one question: Are we related? After some digging, DNA tests, and correspondence, not only were they related – they were twin sisters. The movie was sweet, sad, and heartwarming overall.

The concept of home works becomes emboldened in this film. Both sisters found wholeness and home within each other. But returning to an adoption conference in Korea came with mixed reviews. One had amazing time, feeling like her world opened up. However, the other felt a little more empty.

But regardless, they both found home within each other and their lives. Their families expanded and so did the possibilities. They shared food, music, social media, and other forms of popular culture. One could think that this film could’ve been the movie version of our final project.

Tuesday Afternoon: Hoppin’ on A-POP

Humor is content. Comedy is performance. Self-deprecation is self-preservation. Chides are self-defense.

Most often, culturally rooted humor doesn’t always translate well because there are other unspoken, assumed concepts and experiences associated with the situations described. Much like an advanced class, one won’t understand the material if they don’t have the basics and sometimes learning the basics is hard because it can only be learned in a specific time and a specific way.

I will always know what it’s like for colorism to permeate my family and put me in the precarious spot of self-fetishization or self-hatred. Sometimes I confuse my l and my r sounds when I talk. Or chicken intestines is arguably better than chicken breast and that’s how god intended life to be. I can remember.

But I will never know what it’s like to remember generational trauma looking at a Confederate flag. I wouldn’t know what it’s like being valued as cheap labor and to have my country constantly questioned on morality. I don’t know religious persecution. I can only imagine.

Remembering and imagining have many things in common, I think. The parts we don’t know, we can fill in with an educated guess and I think that’s the hard part of humor. I think comedy knows how to lead a wide audience to the same thought.

Wednesday: Writing Workshop

If you don’t have a shitty first draft, you’re not going anywhere. Get out what you know is bad so you know what to avoid. And sometimes, what you think is garbage, is actually pretty good in it’s own trashy way. Example: Neo Yokio.

Friday: Seminar

Admitantly, I was sick and didn’t show up but I can still put out some notes about Chung’s Forgotten Country.

The thing that struck me the most is how much I disliked the parents. Yes, I can understand and rationalize the way they behaved around their daughters. Yes, they loved them with all their heart, I know. Yes, they did their very best. But I can’t justify it.

The hardships they faced that they know their children will never know personally – the decisions they won’t have to make – it creates a division between parent and child. But sometimes I wonder if that’s ok. I think it is. Oppressive government isn’t something I’d ever wish on anyone, regardless the lessons of autonomy and anti-fascism.

But I can also rationalize Hannah’s feelings and why she ran. She’s not her sister. The expectation for her to be (like) her sister is impossible. She’s her own person. I can justify it.

But that’s culture clash and the lack of shared trauma.

They differ on ideas of social contract, family duties, traditional beliefs, and how they translate in their time. Often, the parents’ brash natures and demands are because they’re parents. Regardless of who you are and how you’ve become the way you are, if you love your child, you will do what you think is right.

But understandably, part of what you think is right is out of culture and how you were raised.

Much of that culture is shared through stories and tradition – both of which are recurring themes in all of our novels so far.

Scissors: Week 4

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Looking back at my childhood, antiblack/racist thoughts came before my ability to recognize race the way I do today. I want to say Western media made me think that way and by causation, sure, but conditioning is unconscious. I don’t remember watching much Pinoy television but I assume I did because living in the West, I wasn’t confused on how to work a TV. It came naturally and I don’t know where I learned it.

As someone with sensory overload and high perception, being introspective is a hobby. But psychology makes me uncomfortable because part of psychology is knowing that I don’t know. And most of it seems really obvious. Antiblack sentiment can be transferred via media and pop culture. I was obscenely antiblack as a child and as an adult still dredged in it, though obviously doing my best not to, I had to pick it up from somewhere but I can’t recognize where.

Part of it is probably neurosis as to why I can’t remember but also because it probably wasn’t obvious.

Now I wonder if my kids’ antiblackness, to whatever degree, is also by that unconscious conditioning or because things aren’t being labeled as they were anymore (aka racism being portrayed as an alternative way of thinking instead of being called racism).

How does a parent go about trying to guide their children in media when they as a child couldn’t recognize it either?

Paper: Week 3

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Notes: 8 October – 14 October

Tuesday Morning p.1 – Library Research Workshop

Admitantly, I was not actually in attendance for this workshop. However, I’ve had the pleasure of attending a different research workshop by Stokley and can guess most of the content.

The library includes resources, more than just books such as audio, original art prints (rare book room), and videos. There are also services such as the various labs and the online research databases. History texts are sufficient but primary and secondary sources are exceptionally useful as well.

Tuesday Morning p.2 – Hoppin’ on A-Pop

Why do we as a general society use the term Asian American? Why cross currents? We (APIA among many other communities) pass on our hopes, dreams, achievements, and memories to our progeny and those like it. From the way we dress to the things we believe, we can pass them on through the content we create.

Tuesday Afternoon – Better Luck Tomorrow

A film of successful yet unfulfilled APIA high school students who turn to illegal activities to find a sense of self. They cast has two things in common: APIA identities and academic excellence. The movie screams one word to me, “happiness.” But what will make them happy? Drugs? Money? Power?

I personally struggle with this concept as well. I was raised to believe that anything less than a 4.0 meant I’m probably not going to go to a prestigious college and will most likely die unhappy and unsuccessful if I don’t succumb to depression and “well-deserved” poverty. It’s obviously internalized classism – being taught to believe a mercy kill would save me time and money if I don’t get into Harvard (which I did ironically and I still don’t feel fulfilled).

My biggest concern with the plot was the idea that these kids were invincible. With guns, intellect, and money, they could get away with cheating, drug moving, and even murder. There was no proper conclusion and an implication that only the people who get caught face the consequences. At face value, this movie may perpetuate the idea that APIA are some elite organization of masterminds if not scrutinized.\

Also, these characters were three dimensional. Money, smarts, sports. What else? Virgil clearly expresses some form of depression or anxiety? Why? School? Parents? Some trait about him that would build his character past “the dumb one” stereotype? What about Ben? Why does he want to succeed so much? Was it his parents? Does he actually want to be a doctor? Who are these kids?

Wednesday – Writing Workshop/Discussion

The term Asian American is hegemenous and commits erasure due to media’s focus on East Asian heritages. However, this term came out of necessity for simplicity. The traditions and historical roots of APIA are wide and diverse, not rooted and concentrated like Black Americans or Latinx. But the construction of race was for division, not a symptom.

And it is that division that that we focus on today to come together. It is a powerful phrase and identity, though not perfect.

Friday Morning Seminar – Part of coming of age is coming to terms with the parts of yourself you did not have control over such as race, family, heritage, etc. Donald Duk, the main character of the novel of the same name by Frank Chin, explores his Chinese-American heritage through his family history, cultural tradition, and dream sequences.

With the guidance of his father, uncle, and self-insert dream sequences, Donald comes to appreciate who he is. He is not perfect and “completely rehabilitated” but he has acknowledged his internalized self hatred and society’s racism and fetishization of who he and his family is.

Much like Otsuka’s When the Emperor Was Divine, both boys of the family were exposed to mainstream white culture, most likely because of their wealth. They identified with this culture and initially rejected that part of themselves. But through their dreams of home, they come to accept it was part of them. But Donald was proud of it, he became part of the “they” he resented where as the boy from Otsuka’s novel accepted who he was but subscribed to a life of second class citizenship.

Rock: Week 3

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If I’m going to study representation and identity, it would do well to delve into racial identity development. There are three core development models.

Cross – POC Identity Model (Originally for black poc [1971] but can be applied to non-black poc. [1991])

Helms – White Identity Model

Poston – Biracial/Multiracial Identity Model

(Lecture by Rashida Love from TESC’s First Peoples Multicultural Advising Services)

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Scissors: Week 3

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The terms weeb and otaku are loosely defined. I learned them through social media, not cultural context. So for the purposes of this post, I will define them as I’ve learned them.

weeb – (n) someone, usually white or at least culturally Westernized, who really loves anime

otaku – (n) a Japanese individual who obsesses over Japanese created animated content, not necessarily anime since this includes video games, movies, and other consumable media that may not be strictly defined in the anime genre

First and foremost, I’m a weeb who will fight other types of weebs.

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Scissors: Week 2

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“I’m a person of color and I don’t believe racism exists because I have never felt discriminated against.”

Good for you???

Was it your light skin? You cis gender identity? The fact you live in a “good neighborhood?” Your heterosexuality? The weaponizing of your melanin not against white supremacy but the other melanin who don’t know their place?

Probably a combination of these that apply and those I didn’t even mention. (Hint: How marginalized are you?)

I used to envy you – unaware to the subtle jabs at your humanity and personhood. It flies over you instead of through you like the rest of us. You don’t have to feel second class, less human, ugly, weird, other – not normal.

But if I see the car coming at me, I can get out of the way. You didn’t even notice you were crossing the street.

To live comfortably is to live ignorantly. Deny the dangers around you. Laugh at jokes that perpetuate the idea that people like you and me aren’t as good as the Becky with the good hair. (Fuck you, Becky.)

V. S. Ramachandran (The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Quest for What Makes Us Human) explains that humans, the only animals capable of metaphysical thought, have the most complex humor. Why do we find someone slipping on a banana to be funny? They could have really gotten hurt, breaking a bone or being impaled by a foreign object? Because it didn’t happen. It might be a defense mechanism, knowing the danger is close but not close enough.

So I suppose that danger is closer to me than it is you.

Go ahead and feel uncomfortable.

I wish discomfort was the worst thing I could feel.

 

Paper: Week 2

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Notes: 1 October – 7 October

Tuesday Morning – Tacoma Art/History Museum

Though I acknowledge the museums hold more than APIA related content, that’s all I want to discuss. The history museum’s art rooms featured art by Takuichi Fujii, moved by Order 9066 to be relocated at an American concentration camp. Utilizing the little art supplies he had, he created watercolors and sketches of the scenery and the people. The colors were usually dark and monotonous as neither the subjects or tools had vibrant colors.

Other parts of the museum acknowledged Washington state’s history with API. Exhibits acknowledged the crimes against humanity conducted by the state and federal government such as the xenophobia (namely the Chinese) and the shady motives behind the creation of the atomic bomb. Homes and possessions were unlawfully seized, people forcibly relocated, and any other tactic used to disenfranchise immigrants and their progeny.

Tuesday Afternoon – Chinese Reconciliation Park

The park was… modest. Not even minimalist modest. For one of the plaques to say no one can imagine what it would be like, how much better Tacoma would be, had they not ran the Chinese out of town, the park was small. It was off to the side and though the view had potential, it doesn’t do much to really show the gravity of the violent history. It’s a start, but it’s no means to an end.

Wednesday – Writing Intro

Culture and nature have changing definitions through schools of study. The nature of people and the nature of chemicals have two different implications. America has a culture but so does bacteria. That is to say, diction is decisive.

In a creative essay, there is an interaction with the reader, writer, and the subject as opposed to the five part paragraph structure and academic texts. Not only does is the research incorporated, it is used not to show but to tell through scene, character, voice, dialogue, setting, and transitions. It’s personal.

Friday Morning – Blog expansion.

Friday Afternoon Movie – A memory can be created and crafted. The history and it’s present form are connected and that connection may be you.

Friday Afternoon Seminar – Anti-blackness is rampant through out APIA culture. It’s biggest allies are non-black poc who have subscribed to color blindness and the denial of racism and systematic oppression.

In Julie Otsuka’s When the Emperor was Divine, the narrator tells the story of a Japanese family during Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066. The boy, girl, mother, and father were nameless due to their story not being especially unique. It was a shared experience of the generation.

However, one can infer from the text that this family in particular was financially well off compared to other families with their silk articles of clothing and their original priorities. Their dialogue also shows their subscription to the American Dream of working hard and living a wonderful life. By the end of the story, it is implied they have internalized the xenophobia and anti-blackness of America, living the true American Dream of what the government considers, “The American People.”

Rock: Week 2

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Stereotypes and expectations, a Venn Diagram or complete synonyms?

stereotype (n) – a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing

  • strong synonym: pattern
  • mild synonyms: average, boilerplate, convention, custom, fashion, formula, institution, mold
  • poor synonym: received idea

expectation (n) – a strong belief that something will happen or be the case in the future

archaic – one’s prospects of inheritance

  • strong synonyms: assumption, chance, confidence, fear, forecast, hope, intention, likelihood, notion, outlook, possibility, prediction, promise, prospect, trust, view
  • mild synonyms: apprehension, assurance, calculation, conjecture, design, expectancy, motive, presumption, probability, reliance, supposition, surmise, suspense
  • poor synonym: looking forward

tvtropes has an absurdly long list that I’ll delve in at a later post.

I originally had this all typed out and explained with context but honestly, I need to lay down.

 

Scissors: Week 1

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  • Is it worse to be dehumanized by a racist/white supremacist or a yellow fever fetishist?
  • Do people deny the Holocaust (and/or severity of) since America’s concentration camps, though still awful and a crime against humanity, were not as depraved as Germany’s?
  • It’s interesting to note the Model Minority myth and it’s cultural impact. Many APIA’s feel “less” within their culture if they don’t exceed expectations. Terms like “white Asian” and “black Asian” by personality and not actual genealogy. It enforces the white/black racial binary that not everyone fits into.
  • Not much of the book discussed the inventions and innovations brought over by immigration.

Paper: Week 1

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Notes: 24 September – 30 September

Tuesday Morning – Introduction to Asian/American: Pop Culture Crosscurrents. Syllabus, covenant, schedule discussed and preliminary questions answered.

Tuesday Afternoon – Ghost in the Shell

The most recent adaptation of Ghost in the Shell received major backlash for whitewashing. A Japanese story featuring Japanese characters with clearly Japanese names was replaced by names considered Western/European and pivotal characters were played by Caucasian people. With monotonous acting, the dynamic story became static.

One could attempt to argue that the focus was on the profit over people villain concept or a social commentary on how capitalism values whiteness over people of color. But the story did little to address the race change or the class gap between the city and non city citizens.

The race change implies that to be palatable to America, they have to be white.

Wednesday – Creative Essay Introduction. What is home to you? Utilizing that definition, articulate how APIA’s find that meaning of home through popular culture.

Also, this program will help students become better writers. Writing is not a good/bad binary and to believe so limits aspirations and progress. Writing is a process with no end as one can only get better with practice.

Friday Morning – Blog set up and introduction. This is where we will post our assignments and notes which can help us track our progress of our learning and our final paper.

Friday Afternoon Lecture – It is important to remember history. History shows us how and why things happen so that we may learn what to avoid or what to pursue. The past shapes the present and predicts the future.

Friday Afternoon Seminar – APIA history is a legacy of balance – American/APIA, authenticity/caricaturization, profit/pride, and so forth. With a precarious position, many immigrants struggled to stabilize income, citizenship, and culture. Many had to perpetuate someone else’s oppression to alleviate their own, should they choose to relieve themselves of the burden.

Yet throughout their tumultuous journey, they’ve made history by planting the seeds of some of today’s common occurrences. APIA food, holidays, language, entertainment, etc. can be enjoyed throughout America.