Fish Out of Water

For my “Fish out of Water” activity I decided to attend my friend’s sister’s quinceanera. A quinceanera is a Mexican coming of age ceremony for girls on their fifteenth birthday. The ceremony has two parts, a religious part that takes place in a church, and then a big party for the girl. The party is kind of like a sweet sixteen birthday for American girls.
When I got to the event I realized that what I was attending was actually the celebration after the actual ceremony. The ceremony was apparently held before at a church where there was some sort of religious event that happened for the quinceanera. I was not present for this so I had no idea what went on there.
What I was present for was an enormous party that took place after the ceremony. There was a lot of alcohol and many of those present including myself wasted no time in partaking in the festivities. Since it was my friend’s sister’s quinceanera I did know some people there, however it was kind of awkward that I was the only person of Asian descent there. It was also awkward for me because many of the people there did not seem to know how to speak English. However, even though I could not communicate with many of them I was received with many smiles. Unfortunately, I also think that I was the victim of a number of jokes. Some of the men there said some sentences with the word “chinito” in them, which means Chinese person. After these sentences they would laugh. I assume since I was the only Asian there they were referring to me.
As the night progressed on, a lot of people became very intoxicated. One of the men there, who I believe was one of the birthday girl’s uncles came up to me and started speaking Spanish. I had no idea what he was saying and all I could do was nod along and pretend to laugh at what he was saying. Fortunately my friend came and saved me and took me to another area of the party. There was a huge dance floor and a Mariachi band. The dancing at this party seemed to be traditional Mexican dancing. I learned a little bit of it toward the end of the night. It felt like a quicker version of ball room dancing.
Overall I had a fun and interesting experience. Even though at times I felt like a fish out of water, I would gladly repeat this experience.

Word of the Week #10

1. Nixed
2. Before I'd even thought to ask, one of the two soldiers escorted me, Arkansas National Guardsman Mikel Brooks, nixed the prospect of looking inside the freeze he and another soldier said contained "30 or 40" bodies. Source: Myth-Making in New Orleans from Mass Media Textbook
3. Verb: to veto; refuse to agree to; prohibit
4. After arguing for about an hour with my friend, I stilled nixed his idea to ditch school.

Japanese Internment Memorial Essay

The Japanese American Internment was the forced relocation and internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry by the United States government during World War II. About 110,000 Japanese Americans living on the west coast were forced from their homes and shipped to internment camps in the Midwest.
In San Jose many Japanese were taken from Japan Town. The Yoshiro Uchida Hall at San Jose State was used as a transfer point that evacuated Japanese residents from San Jose and Santa Clara.
Ruth Asawa was taken along with her family to one of these internment camps. During her time there she learned art and sculpture and would eventually create the memorial for Japanese Internment.
On our field trip to the memorial I saw many interesting vignettes that had to do with Japanese internment. The first vignette that stood out was a sculpted picture of a ship called the Taiyo Maru docking at Angel Island. The ship had Japanese men, women, and children all huddled together on the deck. The sculpted picture also showed the Japanese families coming off the boat. All were still dressed in traditional Japanese attire such as Kimonos. Many of the Japanese had a lost look on their fast as if they did not know where they were going.
Another vignette that I saw was a couple buses that were in a Japanese neighborhood and were loading Japanese people up in them. The stores in this neighborhood had Japanese writing on them. Every person getting on the bus only had a few belongings with them. Many of these people were women and children. The houses in the neighborhood had signs saying “eviction sale” and there was a bulletin put up in the middle of the neighborhood saying “Japanese must report to be interned.”
The third vignette that I thought stood out was of six Japanese American soldiers cooking by a fire. They looked cold so I assume that they were in the European front the war. This vignette symbolized all the Japanese men who enlisted in the army even while their families were being interned. This vignette also showed many graves that symbolized all the Japanese American soldiers that died during the war. It also showed a weeping family that had lost a son in the War and was being told that by an American army officer.
Overall I thought that that visiting this memorial was a good experience and I learned a lot about Japanese Internment. I believe that something like this could happen again if we let fear, prejudice, and ignorance guide us. Hopefully we will make sure that this injustice never happens again.

Word of the Week #9

1. Habituate
2. Gardner explains that when a news story becomes repetitive, people "habituate"-- the technical term for what happens when they no longer take in information. Source: Whatever Happened to Iraq? by Sherry Ricchiardi from Mass Media Textbook
3. verb: to accostom, as to a particular situation.
4. After being homeless for so long he finally habituated to his lifestyle.

In My Humble Opinion #1

In my humble opinion this country needs to greatly reform its immigration policy. For years illegal immigrants have been frowned upon and much injustice has been done to them. For example, if an illegal immigrant has a child in the United States that child is a citizen, but the parents can still get deported. Angel de Jesus Barrera, an American citizen, will be three next month. Angel suffers from a disease that targets the left side of his cranium leaving him with many illnesses. In order to stand a fighting chance at life Angel must stay in this country. However, his mother is an illegal immigrant coming to America in 1995. (http://www.themonitor.com/articles/son-37328-brownsville-consequences.html) Angel’s mother then had eight children in America. If his mother gets deported than he and his seven other siblings have to go with her almost ending his chances of having a good life. Medical treatment in Mexico can just not compare with that in America. Angel would have no chance at recovery in Mexico. In fact the doctors that have been taking care of Angel told Angel’s mother that “he will not live much longer if I take him with me to Mexico.” Sending Angel’s mother and Angel back to Mexico is basically giving Angel a death sentence. Illegal immigrants actually serve a purpose in this country. They are not simply here taking American jobs. In fact they are doing jobs that most Americans do not want to do. In fact Ruben Navarrette Jr. of CNN states “We create the demand for illegal immigrant labor not because of anything we do but because of all the things that we will not do.” (http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/04/09/navarrette.illegal.immigrants/index.html?section=cnn_latest) Are there currently any Americans training to be fast food workers and farm workers for when they grow up? I think not. These jobs are mostly done by illegal immigrants because no one else will do them. What do illegal immigrants get for doing all this work? They get substandard wages and no right to vote and have no health care. Many live in poverty. Immigration policies in this country must change so that these injustices can end.

Word of the Week #8

1. Relegated
2. Should Comedy Central's South Park be relegated to safe-harbor hours? Source: Mass Media Syllabus
3. Verb: to send or consign to an inferior position, place, or condition
4. After he was unable to meet the expectations of his job he was relegated to a lower paying position.

Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

The story from Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer that I chose to read and write about was called “Every Tongue Shall Confess”. This story was about a nurse named Clareese who happened to be a very devout Christian who is disgruntled with her life and her Pastor. She attempts to do god’s will by trying to save patients. ZZ Packer tells this story in a very interesting way. Packer tells the story through a third person narrative through the nurse Clareese. Packer uses quotes when other characters in the story are speaking and when Clareese is speaking to other characters. For example, when Clareese is speaking to a patient Packer uses quotes for what the patient says and then on what Clareese says to the patient. However, Packer does not use any quotes for when she is describing what Clareese is thinking. Packer also uses lots of anecdotes throughout the story. Packer frequently has Clareese think back on events in the past while she is in her current setting. For example, the main setting for story is in a church and while Clareese is in the Church she is thinking of past events that occurred before she got there. Packer also uses a great deal of description to describe scenes. For example, Packer writes “men like Deacon Julian Jeffers, now setting in the first row of pews, closet to the altar, right under the leafy top of a corn plant she’d brought in to make the sanctuary more homey”. This describes the scene perfectly and is only one example of ZZ Packer’s great writing style.