This week had some major ups and downs in regards to my project. I knew what I wanted my topic to be, but how would I put it into just one word? All I could thing of was how my many memories were intertwined with my five senses. When I allowed myself to just relax and think I kept coming up with smells that triggered memories or music that would draw me back to a specific time and place. My family’s immigration experience and the difficulties in adjusting to knew surroundings. Then I would drift into the  traditional meals that my Grandmother made and how different they were from the mainstream food in the United States. Then to the music and watching Lawrence Welk every weekend with my grandparents and loving it. This felt like “Home” to me, I was safe and happy with them, I felt “Home” all around me.

I kept thinking that the five main senses were my answer. How can I work with those to create a paper that will convey all that I want to my reader? How can I capture my audience  and drive my meaning of “Home” into something that they can really identify. I managed to write seven more pages of thoughts and ideas down on paper, in hopes of being able to connect the dots and create a so-so second draft. It would really be nice to move from a shitty draft to a not so bad paper.

Then while speaking with Chico, and getting the approval of using the seminar books  have read. I can now integrate some of the pertaining points for my annotated bibliography. This will be a great help to me, as many of these books deal with immigration. My topic is connecting my home to other individuals that have immigrated and the similarities that occur.

This afternoon I was able to speak to Chico regarding my “Home”. Oddly enough it came full circle for me. When I started this project I chose Cooking as my topic. After much soul searching and thought this is it. I tried others and it just did not flow. Now, as simple as it sounds, Cooking is it. My plan is to connect my topic (Home) with Asian Americans through just that….cooking and connect the similarities. Cooking as a sense of family tradition and connection. Cooking is more than a simple act.