Dark Blue Suit
- Unions have a lot of pressures and threats to contend with.
- Candy is often a motivator for children. Against his policy, the kid takes money from a guy he doesn’t like because he’s thinking about chocolate. As a poor young child of Eastern European immigrants, Andy Warhol said that he drew a lot as a child because his mother would give him chocolate bars for his art.
- The term boundaries come up a couple times. The father creates a boundary by folding arms and a boundary to the world the kid doesn’t want to leave is created by smoke.
Rico
- Boundaries come up again. The boundaries of the poor neighborhood protect and strengthen the inhabitants while also tieing them down.
2. The kid has an opportunity at a better life. Rico doesn’t want him to trap himself in a box like he did.
3. People are trapped by themselves and their circumstances. What is it that makes somebody free?
The Second ROom
- Simple and effective martial arts style reminds me of how in some action animes the main characters that are used to tournament style combat start facing off against opponents that use lethal fighting styles.
- Building style around your strengths and weaknesses. Like Shaolin and Evergreen. This is the best way to be an artist in my opinion.
- He blended legal and illegal moves to win a fight in the end. This reminds me of a manga I read called Shamo, which features a criminal main character who fights professionally.
August 1968
- The part about being bilingual for talking to white people and each other is referring to coat switching. I notice that both of my parents coat switch when talking with their families.
2. He tests his friend and pushes as far as he can go with insults. Insults that only a good friend would tolerate. It’s like a test of the bond between them.
3. When he uses the n-word as an insult, he had never gone that far before, he didn’t know what it meant, he wanted to take power. It was a door that never should’ve been opened and it broke the bond. I’ve personally been on the receiving end of a brotherly bond being broken in that way. By a dipshit who tested how much he could get away with and then one day crossed a line he never should’ve when he got angry and insecure with me while I stayed nonchalant. Similar to this story, I didn’t fight back or show the hurt like he wanted me to, I responded coldly and cut him off. I always thought it was weird that I did that, but at the time it felt like the only thing I could do. I think this must be a natural response to being disillusioned.Home
1. Whenever I see accounts of the Vietnam war, it always seems so hellish. Man, it would’ve sucked to be there.
2. It’s strange how far people can split apart even when they used to have a lot of common ground. Different experiences can change people down to the core.
3. The immigrant parents got smart and left their slave lives as asparagus pickers, but Rico returned to Stockton and died. Rico is someone who I think likes to feel helpless so he traps himself. He does not solve problems, he wallows in them.
A life Well lived
1. My grandpa got gout. Chris used gout as an excuse. Chris was like that in the last few years it said.
2. Chris died on the inside when he realized that his people had forgotten their common purpose or never knew what it was.
3. Sacrificing dreams and a sense of vision for gratification and comforts. That is a problem with a lot of people growing up.
The Wedding
- In old age, Leo has found that he is a self-sorry loser with nothing to show for his wasted life. A dead beat full of self-inflicted wounds.
2. Leo is like the stereotypical fun uncle though, he is fun to be around and buys candy.
3. Leo is shown to be a bit of a fool. Using constant excuses to avoid growing and then becoming a doormat to people who take advantage of him.
A Manong’s Heart
1. Old people dressed up with nowhere to go is a trend I’ve noticed in real life too. There is a very old Asian lady I see on Bus 41/48 every now and then who is always dressed fancy.
2. Ahistorical denizens of the present. Uneducated, unknowing, and unflourished, they only live.
3. Athletes represent their people and when they win they are winning for their people.
Stephie
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A matter of Faith
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Dancer
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A Family Gathering
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