Tuesday Morning Notes

Mississippi Masala

• instead of leaving home, being forced out of your home
• Indians considered white in Uganda, black in America – colorism.
• finding home in your culture but your culture might be rejecting you, leaving you feeling homeless
• having to choose between cultures instead of integrating (leave Uganda, choosing your partner over your family, subscribing to the regular tradition or running away, etc.)
• I appreciate the family genuinely loving each other and still upholding tradition as opposed to “tradition dictates that you…”
• The divisiveness of race is not always necessarily white/non-white.

Tuesday Afternoon Notes

• the borders of South Asia changed historically, creating different borders as immigration policies and attitudes changed
• the “inbetweenness” of white and black of South Asians led to a similar colorist view on what it is to be white and black, one South Asian creating a case similar to Ozawa vs US
• the stereotype of APIA being very skilled is the fact many immigrants were only allowed in if they learned very valuable skills such as medicine or engineering
• many south asian representation is from weird fetishization of culture though actual representation does exist
• after 9/11, many South Asians were mistaken for Muslims and increased discrimination/a lot of confusion in representation mixing Muslims and South Asians incorrectly

Wednesday

Writing Workshop

• remember: Writing is cyclical. There is no such thing as a perfect writer, editor, or story.
• Easybib and other citation generators aren’t as good as your high school teachers and previous professors claim.
• Get your Academic Statement together.

Tuesday

The Beautiful Country (film)

• First and foremost, Tam didn’t need to die to emphasize the treacherous journey of leaving your country if you don’t have money. The way they were treated like cattle and labor machines made it clear enough. If it was for shock effect, that’s even worse.
• The captain’s white saviorism made me feel very scared for Binh. I thought he’d be tasked with hard labor and inhumane working conditions but the captain was just had weird (disgusting) fetish eyes.
• Developing relationships based on English is very Eurocentric when I felt like people could have different things in common that they’d care about more like needing money for survival, familial love, etc. These things don’t have to be communicated verbally.
• To me, it seemed like the father left because he was just a GI creating war children and my heart sunk when he walked past Binh. But later finding out he was blind and didn’t want to burden his wife was probably the first sigh of relief I had throughout the movie.
• In a similar note, we see Binh lose family and hope often but I think his most telling outburst was when he was painting the fence with his father. Arguably, that was also his most expressive. I don’t recall what was said but I do recall leaving his mother, Tam, and Ling, Binh was very quiet but clearly upset. For him to throw things and walk away (aside from the time he fought the gambler on the ship or finding out about free airfare), it was more of an outburst than silent suffering.
• The theme of home was everywhere, especially leaving home as they were places, people, and livelihood.

Friday Morning

• Your theme and color palette affects accessibility and navigation – just as important as content.
• If you’re feeling confident or have some fail safes, toying with CSS would be nifty, especially if the themes don’t have the combination of features you want.

Friday Afternoon

Vietnamese Music Videos

• Both MV’s utilized English – as much of non-European pop media does anyway.
• All performers had very light skin.
• Interestingly enough, the first music video’s subtitles did not translate the Vietnamese into English but just had pronunciation.

Seminar

• Post-colonialism/imperialism doesn’t exist (yet) since the mechanics and mentalities remain the same.
• The major recurring themes throughout all texts is finding home, family secrets, war/war scars, and fathers (though this book wasn’t as father centered as the others).
• Vinh reminded me of one my sons and how I feel about him – it is because I love him I will not excuse any crimes against humanity. It really fucked me up, honestly.
• White saviors do not heal the scars of colonialism/imperialism but agitate them if not reopen.
• There was a dream like feeling sometimes and much like Donald Duk, sometimes it’s best if the reader isn’t entirely sure what is reality or if what is being described should be a literally taken.

Tuesday:

Popular Music: Three Things

1. pop music incorporates much of pop culture
2. Edward Liu, some aints
3. “Most of my heroes don’t appear on no stamps” – Elizabeth Wheeler, Dialogics of Rap

Boxing in Pinoy Culture

• a sport Pinoy can claim as our own/something regarded as American that we’ve made ours
• historical use of financial support
• metaphor for resistance
• tbh every papa boxed in their life, either casually or professionally don’t lie

The Debut

Dante Basco is one of the most iconic Pinoy film stars, permeating music through his previous roles. In The Debut, he (in my opinion) perfectly demonstrates the seemingly mutual exclusiveness of American and Pinoy cultural expectations. As all coming of age stories, it seems he has to choose between two worlds before learning how to reconcile the two worlds he lives in.

The movie also depicts the toxic masculinity/dedication to patriarchy the Philippines still emboldens even to this day. Also, even characters acknowledge/demonstrate the anti-blackness nonblack light skin poc participate in for self defense, whether they know it or not.

Wednesday:

Peer Reviews

• includes honesty, kindness, and collaboration
• speeds up learning process
• historically successful
• argues everyone has innate talent
• teachers are writers who teach people to be writers – a self-sufficient machine
• What? Why? How?
• an opportunity to receive non-evaluative feedback
• a group of peers may help more than one teacher

Friday

Dark Blue Suit – Peter Bacho

• chasing the American Dream
• Fathers as the pivotal points, beginning and end which include some sort of death
• rise and fall of people, cultures, eras, and attitudes (that still live on)
• coming of age happens more than once and for many reasons
• where is the line between excusable and inexcusable evil acts for good?
• appropriation of black culture by nonblack poc for self defense and preservation but also the perpetuation of white supremacy
• for many second generation kids, “home” is a distant, unfamiliar land since their origins and their current dwellings may contradict. self-discovery, exploration, and research will probably take a life time and then some

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.

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.